Saint Mary’s College: Heffron Hall
Two priests were once feuding over who would be the head of the local church, and one of the men ended up being killed by the other in one of the halls on campus. There have been many reports from students that moaning is heard in this hall from the deceased priest, and one side of the hall is cold while the other is hot, when there is no heating and air conditioning in the building. Another report came from a girl who claimed that while brushing her teeth, blood came out of the faucet in place of water. Yet one more story tells of footsteps being heard leading to the bathroom, and when the chaser caught up with the footsteps in the bathroom, he was shocked to see blood appear in the toilet.
This is the worst one I’ve heard yet
Comment by Jasmine | 01.16.2006 | 9:58 pm
sorry, no offense but your stories sometimes sound like fairy tales, you start the background with “one day” and “once” and stuff like that.
Comment by sdr | 01.20.2006 | 11:47 am
oo ho
Comment by ED | 02.4.2006 | 6:51 am
g wiz
Comment by joe | 03.2.2006 | 12:36 pm
ur shiet ish ga*y a$$ h3ll gurlo or wat eva u ish welps its horible dumba$$ hahahahaha
Comment by lilo gurlo | 03.14.2006 | 11:09 pm
Are all of you who respond like ten years old? People learn how to type and if you dont have anything intelligent to say - dont say anything at all.
Comment by abeliever | 03.26.2006 | 1:29 am
I’ve just moved to winona last summer, and find your story interesting (St. Mary’s haunting) I’ve always got a strange feeling about that place mainly because its got that Catholic/cryptic feel to it (so I thought). I am very skeptical of stories like this one, but I am going to ask the locals about it. I’d like to hear more facutual info to make this story more beleiveable. -thank you
Comment by Eric | 04.4.2006 | 3:55 pm
i have lived in winona for 14 years and i have been to saint marys many times even been in Heffron Hall but i have heard strange noises i have never had that feeling like someone was there everywhere i went i could feel it when i was in the bathroom i felt someone touch the back off my neck turned around and no one was there i left faster than i wish i would have but i was scared i have never gone back
Comment by cherry | 05.1.2006 | 4:43 am
sup dudes i think this story is *** and its not true i have lived in winona for 10 years and have been in heffron hall like 5 times and have never felt anything
Comment by tito is gay | 05.10.2006 | 11:06 am
Woa nelly!
That IS bad but i have heard worse!
Go to ghostsource.com!!!
There are good ones there!
Comment by Billbo | 05.28.2006 | 9:52 am
OK OK Take this from a REAL MINNESOTA RESIDENT. This story is, as some of you may already know, only somewhat a fabrication. Yes there is a Saint Marys in Winona, yes there is a Heffron Hall and finally yes 2 priests did argue in this very hall and the argument DID end in one of the priests demise. HOWEVER…… The facts are not totally true. The priests were actually arguing over who turn it was to sneek into the little boys rooms and make them be naughty and who was supposed to stand in the hall and play ‘lookout’ for the perverted priest. Sick ******** them Catholic Priests.
Comment by TAPS Investigator | 05.31.2006 | 2:17 pm
I have lived in Winona for 22 years. I know St. Marys like the back of my hand. I’ve gone hiking, and exploring through there for as long as I can remember. I’ve had friends who’ve lived in that hall and others. Not a single one won’t admidt they think it’s haunted. I know it is, I’ve seen the ghosts. I’ve felt the hot and cold, I’ve watched the tv’s turn on and off for no reason and the channels go nuts! I’ve heard doors slam when no one was around. Every time i would go walking in the woods alone, something weird would happen. Like when my walkman would go dead even though i just put new batteries in. Or my CD would skip even though it has no scratches. It’s winona, it’s a black hole. You want a real scary story look up S.W Brown!! He’s buried in Woodlawn Cemetary. Thats a whole different kind of spooky. Thats evil spooky!
Comment by Crazylady | 07.12.2006 | 8:48 pm
I am a student at Mary’s and there are weird things that go on in Heffron. I’m going to live there on the second floor and not the third. Here and there you will hear of things happening.
Comment by Sof | 08.2.2006 | 3:15 pm
I went to St. Mary’s college basketball camp. And we stayed on the 2nd floor of Hefforn Hall. And one of the nights stayed me and a couple of the other girls stayed up in the third floor. We stayed in one of the rooms there. And we heard footsteps, we quick looked outside and no one was there! But the thing they have story they have up there isn’t all true. he was killed in the church. and they weren’t aruging about going into a little boys room. they werent Mikeal Jackson. Geez.there is alot more to the story!
Comment by kal | 08.8.2006 | 7:11 pm
Heres the real story.
The incidents first began in August of 1915 when bishop of the Winona diocese, Patrick Heffron, was celebrating mass in the empty chapel at St. Mary’s College. It was early in the morning and the Bishop was surprised by the sounds of someone entering the chapel. He turned to see Father Lesches, one of the college tutors, standing behind him with a gun. The priest fired and the first bullet struck Heffron in the left thigh, the second in the chest, puncturing a lung and the third bullet shattered the top of the altar. The assailant fled the church and the Bishop staggered after him, finally collapsing in the doorway of the chapel. He was discovered by Father Thomas Narmoyle, who had seen Father Lesches fleeing just seconds before.
Ten minutes later, Lesches was arrested by the Winona police. He was found in his room with the pistol and he made no effort to resist the officers. Interviews with the Bishop, who languished in the hospital for some time, revealed that the two men had known each other for seventeen years and had never gotten along. Heffron, committed to education, had single-handedly raised the funds to establish the college. He was respected and loved by the students but was known to deal ruthlessly with colleagues who failed him or who failed to meet the high standards that he set for the staff of the school. Father Lesches had never met those standards. He was known as an arrogant man with little tact or patience and few friends. Days before the attack, Lesches had pleaded with the Bishop for a parish of his own but Heffron believed the man to be too unstable of such a responsibility and refused.
Lesches was brought to trial in December with the recovering Bishop Heffron as the main witness against him. He testified that Lesches was mentally disturbed and unable to tell right from wrong. The trial lasted two days and the jury deliberated for only two hours. Lesches was acquitted on the grounds of insanity and was sent to the State Hospital for the Dangerously Insane in St. Peter, Minnesota. Lesches, although angry, cooperated with the doctors and by 1931, he was pronounced to be in sound mental health. Bishop Heffron had passed array from cancer in 1927 and his successor, Bishop Francis Relly, refused to sign the necessary papers to have Lesches released from the hospital. Lesches passed away in the hospital from a heart condition in 1943 at the age of eighty-four years. He had been hospitalized for twenty-nine of those years. His remains were returned to Winona and buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery, a short distance from the campus.
But that was not the last that St. Mary’s College would hear from Father Lesches…. In 1931, twelve years before Lesches died, another strange event occurred at St. Mary’s that many people claim the mad priest was responsible for… even though he was still in the state hospital at the time.
In May, shortly after Lesches was denied release from the asylum, a maid entered the rooms of Father Edward Lynch on the St. Mary’s campus. The priest was lying dead across the bed, his body charred all over as if it had burst into flames. His bible had also been burned but nothing else in the room had even been singed, including the sheets that he was lying on.
The priest’s death was a mystery although many blamed Father Lesches, although how he managed it was unknown. Lynch and Heffron had been good friends and an enemy of Father Lesches. The two men had lived nearby one another and had argued constantly. Had Lynch’s death been the result of some sort of curse? That same year, another priest on campus died in a fire and three others were killed in an airplane crash.
In 1921, a new dormitory on the St. Mary’s campus had been named Heffron Hall after the beloved Bishop. In 1943, shortly after the death of Father Lesches, students living in the hall began reporting strange footsteps in the night, tapping sounds and cold chills and drafts on the third floor. Papers lifted from bulletin boards in the upper hallway when no wind was blowing and no natural explanations could be found for the chilling spots. Students had other strange encounters on the third floor. One student claimed to be restrained by an invisible force while another came face-to-face with the ghost of Father Lesches himself. He struck the figure in the jaw and broke nearly every bone in his hand.
The stories continued for years and in 1969, staff members of a weekly student publication on campus launched an investigation into the haunting of the building. Photographers, researchers and witnesses were brought in and the team spent two nights on the third floor of the hall, using high-speed cameras, infrared film, equipment to measure changes in temperature and tape recorders. Also present was the faculty advisor to the student publication and several other staff members.
In the early morning hours, the equipment started picking up drastic temperature drops in the long corridor and natural causes were all ruled out. There was nothing to explain this, or the sightings that have continued over the years, save for the ghost of Father Lesches, still acting out from beyond the grave.
Winona, Minnesota is located in the far southeast corner of the state, along the Mississippi River and just across the border from Wisconsin. St. Mary’s College is located on the west side of the city and Father Lesches is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery, about 2 miles from campus.
©Copyright 1998 by Troy Taylor. All Rights Reserved.
Comment by Jesus | 09.16.2006 | 3:32 pm
this is so nasty
Comment by yer | 10.4.2006 | 12:21 pm
this toally sucks
Comment by yer | 10.4.2006 | 12:21 pm
why won’t jesus will be on here anywaize!!!!
Comment by unknown | 10.4.2006 | 12:22 pm
do you really believe in stories like this one? I meanhow do you even know if it’s true!?!
Comment by selene | 10.15.2006 | 6:40 pm
Umm…it is WSU’s Lourdes hall that is haunted…3rd and 4th floor!
Comment by Alex | 10.16.2006 | 11:46 pm
I have heard all about Heffron Hall as my ex resided there for a spell!! I would like to know more about that S.W. Brown ghost at Woodlawn Cemetery!! Any info?? Email me at karilmark@hotmail.com Thanks!!
Comment by Kari | 11.2.2006 | 10:39 am
Why is it that the stories on here always need to be corrected by the readers?
Oh, and as for the blood in the toilet… It would seem more logical to say that someone was probably just on the rag.
Comment by jUke boX hERo | 11.9.2006 | 1:49 pm
I have no idea whether or not the story is true. But I am always amazed at the disrespect of non-believers, name calling, etc. Some on here obviously don’t seem to speak English or slept during English class. Let’s be respectful of everyone and allow folks to express their experiences w/o ridicuol-sp? Anyway, grow up those that are so rude!
Comment by Steph | 02.12.2007 | 8:42 pm
this is bull..i dont believe in ghosts ..or jesus.. its all a big lie to keep people entertained.
Comment by kayo | 03.4.2007 | 4:12 pm
this is bull..i dont believe in ghosts ..or jesus.. its all a big lie to keep people entertained. and to blame their oddities and mistakes on..
Comment by kayo | 03.4.2007 | 4:13 pm
The story is true from “Jesus” . I lived by ST.Marys & went over there to hang with friends many times. It is also true about WSU Lourdes hall 3rd and 4th floor. Yes S.W. Brown grave is also brought bad luck to people who disrespect it. I have know 3 people who have died from doing bad things to the grave tomb.He is said to have been a warlock, whether or not if its true I don’t know. But Winona has many haunting sights. Knoppe Valley was built on a Indian Barriel ground. I lived there growing up. We moved there in 1988 and when I was in the basement watching t.v. I would see an Indian shadow I always thought it was because I was tired or my eyes were messing with me. Then I found out about the valley once a Indian barriel ground . It answered a lot of the strange things that happened. I was also inform that bad witch craft was going on in this town long ago & curse was put on it. I know I was walking my dog on St.Marys & in some of the very back trails I found a cat gutted hanging from a tree and there was blood on a boulder & blood smeared designs needles to say I got out of there. The grave yard where S.W. Brown is ,is also very messed up & many things have been seen & the house on the street have many haunted problems.
Comment by Lora | 06.14.2007 | 11:09 am
I have lived within 5 miles of St. Mary’s my whole life. I attended college and then worked there. “Jesus” details of the events are accurate. If you choose not to believe, then why are you reading about this stuff? When I worked at St. Mary’s, I had the wits scared out of me in a stairwell, there was someone behind us going down the steps, I was with my best friend - Jackie - each time we would look behind us, no body was there. Finally when we were beyond freaked out, we grabbed each others hand and ran as fast as we could down the steps, just before reaching the door to get out of the stairwell, some strong force hit between us, breaking our hands apart and knocking Jackie to the floor. I helped her up and we ran out of the door. I don’t think I slept a wink for 3 days. The fear I felt that day was beyond anything I can express. I told my boss I would no longer work at night, and I never went anywhere alone while at St. Mary’s. Even today I dread the thought of going on campass for anything.
Comment by lifelongwinonan | 06.19.2007 | 2:26 pm
If you dont believe in ghosts then why would you bother reading about them? And also why would you waste your time actually having to write about how you dont believe? Grow up and little and open your mind, there are ghosts all around you, and
I hope one day you will run into one and open your mind a little bit…why do people with closed minds always open their mouths?
Comment by April | 06.28.2007 | 5:46 am
This all sounds real, but only if it was in a different position. So therefor this all seems unreal. The bad ghosts dont belong to god, they belong to the devil, and in this situation those ghosts are bad. Priests dont belong to the devil, they belong to god. This story is not believeable. But if it was changed or so, remade into a story where there were no priests, then it might be, what some would say…horrifying.
Comment by susanna | 06.28.2007 | 11:22 pm
I agree. If you do not have a general interest in the topic at hand, there is no point in commenting. Priests are meant to be men of God, but many of them are not. Everyone belongs to God but we decide ourselves if we want Him in our lives. Just because someone is a priest doesn’t mean he wont be damned. Some people do not even consider Catholics to be christians.
Comment by Justinia | 07.11.2007 | 3:53 pm
Well as far fetched as the story is, I cannot tell you honestly if it is true. I have stayed at Hefferon hall and it is honestly haunted. Be it priest or something else. I stayed there for one week in the summer time for some religious things; we started to get “chills” and just kind of that uncomfortable feeling. The next days just kind of got worse. I saw things that I cannot really say; I was scared shitless to say the least. Everything for lights going on and off, curtains falling off the walls, crucifix becoming animated and priest that were just as scared as the rest of us. The point is simple, don’t believe any of this, go see for yourself!
Comment by Thomad | 10.7.2007 | 4:36 pm
This is for Billbo- your website is to SELL stuff relating to ghost stories. Thanks for nothing.
Comment by loco | 10.16.2007 | 4:29 pm
That was really interesting. I have never been there but lan to go there to see this very interesting place. =)
Comment by ~ELMO'S WIFEY~ | 10.30.2007 | 10:45 am
For the truth & the “antecdotes” about the ghost of heffron hall, there is really only 2 things to do. 1) go to Heffron hall yourself and hope to encounter the ghost yourself. or 2) hear the tales & the facts from the foremost scholar on the Ghost, Mr. Patrick Marek, VP of the Winona Post. Patrick has been researching & distinguishing fact from “tale” regarding the ghost since his days as a student & editor of the university’s paper in the 70’s. He was the first reporter to gain access to classified university files from the administration, so the truth could be told & rumors could be put on record as rumors. Check out his reports at WinonaPost.com, (click on the “Ghost of Heffron Hall” link). Also, if you have experienced the ghost, Patrick would love to collect your tale for his archives. Happy Haunting.
Comment by WisconsinGod | 10.31.2007 | 3:10 pm
OK so here it is…I was born and raised in winona and have heard of the stories in heffron hall, and have sstayed there too. It is haunted and people should get their **** straight and for the person who says they lived in “knoppe valley” your a dumbass. I lived there too and if since you lived there you should know that its spelt “KNOPP VALLEY” so get your information straight before you try and play it cool like yo know everything because im pretty sure you don’t!!!
Comment by True Winonan | 03.26.2008 | 11:21 pm