George Stickney House
Encyclopedia
The George Stickney House or simply Stickney House or Stickney Mansion is located in rural McHenry County, Illinois
, in the small village of Bull Valley
, near Woodstock
.
The Stickney House has housed the Village Hall and Bull Valley Police Department since 1985. The structure has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
since 1979.
The house is widely considered bizarre due to its design, which was based, in part, on George Stickney's belief in Spiritualism.
The Stickneys may have drifted toward spiritualism as a way to communicate with their dead children; they had twelve children but only three survived to adulthood. It is known that the family conducted seance
s on the second floor of the building. In the years since the house left the hands of the Stickney family, owners have reported supernatural occurrences.
In 2005 Bull Valley Police Chief Norbert Sauers described his experiences with possible paranormal
events in the Stickney Mansion. Sauers said that village employees have heard numerous sounds that seem to defy explanation. He described hearing footsteps in the second floor ballroom, a room that today is used only as storage for village records but was used for seances when the Stickneys owned the mansion. The footstep sounds have extended out onto the stairwell at times. Other occurrences include hearing human sounding noises or voices. They sometimes even hear the toilets flushing when they are alone in the house.
The Chief said he has also personally experienced objects moving around on his desk, lights turning off and, door knobs turning and a door opening, seemingly by themselves, and voices from thin air, having once heard a shout in his ear when no one was around him. Another police officer in Bull Valley claims to have come face to face with an apparition
of Stickney's father-in-law.
According to a local news report, "[o]ver the years, two men who carry a badge and gun" have quit their jobs over the supernatural
events.
McHenry County, Illinois
McHenry County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 308,760, which is an increase of 18.7% from 260,077 in 2000. Its county seat is Woodstock. This county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest county, in...
, in the small village of Bull Valley
Bull Valley, Illinois
The village of Bull Valley is a village in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 726 at the 2000 census.-General:McHenry County has gently rolling, glaciated terrain. Some of the County's larger hills border the rural area of East Central McHenry County between Crystal Lake,...
, near Woodstock
Woodstock, Illinois
Woodstock is a far northwest suburb of Chicago in McHenry County, Illinois. The population was 20,151 at the 2000 census. The 2010 Census shows 24,770 residents. It is the county seat of McHenry County...
.
The Stickney House has housed the Village Hall and Bull Valley Police Department since 1985. The structure has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
since 1979.
The house is widely considered bizarre due to its design, which was based, in part, on George Stickney's belief in Spiritualism.
Round corners
As an adherent to spiritualism, Stickney believed that the spirits in his house required the freedom to roam without getting caught in corners. Therefore, the home's interior was designed with no 90 degree angles between the walls. However, presently, only exterior "corners" in the house are rounded.The Stickneys may have drifted toward spiritualism as a way to communicate with their dead children; they had twelve children but only three survived to adulthood. It is known that the family conducted seance
Séance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
s on the second floor of the building. In the years since the house left the hands of the Stickney family, owners have reported supernatural occurrences.
The supernatural
Today the mansion is occupied by the Village of Bull Valley and its police department.In 2005 Bull Valley Police Chief Norbert Sauers described his experiences with possible paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
events in the Stickney Mansion. Sauers said that village employees have heard numerous sounds that seem to defy explanation. He described hearing footsteps in the second floor ballroom, a room that today is used only as storage for village records but was used for seances when the Stickneys owned the mansion. The footstep sounds have extended out onto the stairwell at times. Other occurrences include hearing human sounding noises or voices. They sometimes even hear the toilets flushing when they are alone in the house.
The Chief said he has also personally experienced objects moving around on his desk, lights turning off and, door knobs turning and a door opening, seemingly by themselves, and voices from thin air, having once heard a shout in his ear when no one was around him. Another police officer in Bull Valley claims to have come face to face with an apparition
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
of Stickney's father-in-law.
According to a local news report, "[o]ver the years, two men who carry a badge and gun" have quit their jobs over the supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
events.