Ghosts of Kemper Hall




















These photos were submitted by ghost research David Paul Schmickel of Kenosha, Wisconsin who has done extensive research into the history of Kemper Hall. According to him, the legend of Kemper Hall goes back to 1861 when Charles Durkee, and his second wife, Caroline Lake, built a brick mansion on the shore of Lake Michigan in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

the Durkee's family lived in the home until 1865 when he petitioned President Andrew Johnson to become the Territorial Governor of Utah. He donated his home to the Episcopal Church for use as a female seminary. On June15, 1865, the school opened, and was called St. Claire Hall. By early 1867, the female school became Kemper Hall, in honor of a famous missionary, Jackson Kemper.

In 1883, Sister Margaret Clare, came to the female seminary to take the position of principal. Sister Clare is the nun that has been rumored for nearly ninety years to haunt the hallowed halls of Kemper. She ran the school until 1918, with an iron fist. Some claim that she fell to her death in the Kemper Hall observatory tower.

In the 1930's, a lady working in the Kemper Hall bakery, alleges to have seen a female figure in a black monk-like robe on a stairway. The supposed ghost, gripped the railing with a hand consisting of nothing but bone. Other reports tell of young girls dressed in school outfits walked across the Kemper grounds, and suddenly vanished.

Dave's Notes:
Notice the window on the lower left side of the photo. I have made an enlargement of this window and it is shown in the second photograph. The apparition in the window appears to be wearing a white robe with a cross! This could be the reflection of the window frame, but than again. . .

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Copyrighted 1997 by Dave Oester