Community Corner
Haunted Stillwater: Ghosts in the Warden's House?
The haunted history of the Warden's House will be the topic of discussion Oct. 22 with Michael Norman, author of "The Nearly Departed: Minnesota Ghost Stories and Legends."
Stillwater's history runs deep, so it is not a surprise that some of it is haunted.
There are a number of books and internet sites with ghost stories, legends and spooky stories with Stillwater as the back drop.
One of the places in town, rumored to be haunted is the , which will host an event at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 with Michael Norman, author of "The Nearly Departed: Minnesota Ghost Stories and Legends," who will be sharing spooky, bone-chilling stories of local haunted mansions and more.
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According to Kirsta Benson Sanchez, the Warden’s House curator, she has heard a few stories about the house, but has not experienced any ghosts in the six years she has worked at the museum.
The Warden's House Museum was built in 1853 as the residence of the Minnesota Territorial Prison warden. Over time there were 13 wardens that lived in the house until 1914 when the prison moved to its present site in Bayport.
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The last warden to live in the house was Henry Wolfer. Wolfer had a daughter he called Trudy. Trudy grew up in the house, married and moved to Blue Earth, Minn.
She had a son and she died shortly after of appendicitis. Trudy’s father took the baby in and raised him in the Warden’s house until Wolfer and his family moved west, according to a book entitled “Ghost Stories of Minnesota.”
Sanchez says there have been psychics that have investigated the house. The psychics claim to see a young woman searching for her baby and complaining of stomach pains.
Sanchez also heard about a young girl asking the tour guide if “that woman” is always there in the Master Bedroom during a tour.
There is also a story about people hearing sounds coming from the basement that sound like someone is shoveling coal, Sanchez said.
Here's a couple of other popular ghost stories from the area:
- The Arcola Trail Bridge
- Stillwater Prison supposedly has a living unit that is called B West has an ghost which appears on the 3rd floor between cells 301 and 732 has an inmate that supposedly died while in prison standing in the corner by a mop sink.
