MANITOWOC (NBC 26) — Father Ambrose Oschwald founded St. Nazianz in the 1800's, the stories only start there.
- Father Oschwald Ambrose came from Germany to found St. Nazianz in the 1800's.
- The spooky stories begin on the night Oschwald died when houses shook around town.
- Many stories revolve around the seminary grounds where Oschwald worked.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
When you create something, do you ever truly leave it? Father Ambrose Oschwald is the founder of St. Nazianz, a town that many call … “One of the more haunted communities in Wisconsin."
Born in Germany in 1801, Ambrose moved to Wisconsin more than 50 years later with a dream of a utopian community.
"He was the guy who created St. Nazianz,” town historian Bob Domagalski said.
A commune where everyone shared everything, Domagalski says the father had a special gift healing people through faith.
"Crutches and things leaning up against the Lorretto Chapel that were left behind by people who had been cured by him,” Domagalski said.
After a life spent in this village, Father Oschwald became ill in 1873.
"After he died, there were a lot of strange things happening in town,” said Domagalski.
Legend has it on the night of Oschwald's death, houses across town shook and were overtaken by an unexplained light. Except for one, the sickroom that housed Oschwald before his death.
The stories don't stop there ...
"On the floor in that room there was a suitcase,” Domagalski says. “People would go in there and see that the suitcase was moved from one area to another."
The stories of hauntings brought me to the Manitowoc County Historical Society. Director Amy Myer and archivist Phil Groll have heard their share of stories, ranging from the ghost of Father Oschwald riding a white horse to phantoms at the seminary grounds.
"Did a spirit stay because they loved the area, so they walked the halls?”, Groll asks. “I don't know."
In a more sinister myth, a tale says sisters would drown unwanted children in a nearby lake. Stories that Myer says have never been proved.
"When there's history to something or something you can't explain,” she says. “You automatically assume, it's haunted."
A testament Domagalski agrees with. He says he's researched for two decades and found no proof of the supernatural, but …
"I'd love to come face to face with a ghost,” he said.
Father Oschwald's mausoleum and the seminary grounds sit on private property and the ministry asks for respect and privacy.
