From abandoned hideaway to teen hotspot, this Utah retreat is getting a glow-up
When Cameron Jensen first saw the abandoned buildings that sit beyond the mouth of Logan Canyon, he didn鈥檛 know their disturbing lore.
No one told him they were supposedly home to the sinister soul of a vicious head nun. He didn鈥檛 know of the ghastly Dobermans that, as legend put it, patrol the area with red eyes aglow.
When he explored the property for the first time in August, all he knew of the dilapidated, eroding structures was their detailed woodwork, hand-laid stone walls and staples of dated luxury now plastered with spray-painted graffiti and covered in rat feces.
He was sold.
鈥淚 saw it for what it was,鈥 Jensen said. 鈥淚 got it under contract.鈥
, is dead set on restoring these buildings that became a magnet for teenage mischief to their ritzy roots by opening a resort 鈥 complete with a coffee shop, pilates studio and spa, reports .
Only after he told his wife, Carlee, that he was in the process of buying the buildings did he learn of their haunted tales, which Carlee found on the internet.
鈥淪he audibly gasped,鈥 Jensen said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 like, 鈥楧o you realize that babies were drowned in that pool?鈥 and I was like, 鈥榳hat are you talking about?鈥欌
Haunted or historic?
Babies, of course, were not drowned in that pool.
As Jensen started researching the real history of the buildings, which sit on a plot of U.S. Forest Service land, it started to make sense to him why no expense was spared in their construction. The property started with a single-cabin family retreat and evolved under .
After Hezekiah Eastman Hatch put up the first building in 1915, his son Lorenzo Boyd Hatch and Lorenzo鈥檚 brother-in-law, Floyd B. Odlum, expanded the complex, adding several houses, a pool and other amenities, according to documents submitted to the National Register of Historic Places.
鈥淥dlum is known as the only person in the world that made a fortune out of the Great Depression,鈥 Jensen said. 鈥淗e had lodges and properties all over the world. 鈥 Hatches were obviously extremely wealthy, too.鈥
While under Hatch and Odlum ownership, the Logan Canyon property hosted famous actors, politicians and other accomplished people, records show.
Among them was pilot Jacqueline Cochran, Odlum鈥檚 second wife, who was the first woman to break the sound barrier.
鈥淚t鈥檚 rumored that Marilyn Monroe stayed,鈥 Jensen said. 鈥淛oan Crawford, which is before my time 鈥 but she鈥檚 someone really famous. That鈥檚 who鈥檚 staying here.鈥
In 1950, the families donated the complex to the . The church renamed the property from Hatch鈥檚 Camp to St. Ann鈥檚 Retreat, and used it as a nun鈥檚 retreat and youth camp for years before the buildings fell into disrepair and were eventually sold in 1990. Since then, they鈥檝e changed hands multiple times, but have not seen any significant improvements.
It was while the camp was in the church鈥檚 hands that dark rumors about the place began to flourish in the community, said Lisa Gabbert, the director of .
The cluster of buildings became known locally as 鈥淭he Nunnery.鈥
鈥淭he Catholic Church and, I would say, Cache Valley, were both very closed societies,鈥 Gabbert said. 鈥淥f course people are going to be curious. What is a nun? What do nuns do? 鈥 Those kinds of stories about nuns having babies and committing, essentially, infanticide, are actually ancient.鈥
Ghost hunting in Logan Canyon
The Cache Valley community readily filled knowledge gaps with fanciful tales of what could be lurking some 8 miles into the canyon, and Gabbert said it became common for people to explore the property.
Jason Watson, who grew up in Tremonton, became curious about the place while attending USU.
One rainy night sometime around 1991, he visited the retreat with his friends. Many in the group, he recalled, were initially unconcerned or intent on making fun of people who grew scared.
鈥淲e went up,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 was pretty blas茅 about it.鈥
But on that drizzly, dark evening, what started as curiosity grew to a fever pitch of terror when his group stumbled upon the Hatch children鈥檚 playhouse and found miniature dishware in its cupboards.
鈥淭here was something just kind of inherently creepy about this abandoned space,鈥 he said. 鈥淏eing in this really dark, abandoned space just freaked us all out. Everybody stopped pretending that they weren鈥檛 scared, including me.鈥
Horror to hospitality
Jensen, who鈥檚 stayed alone at the property overnight, said he has yet to have any paranormal encounters. The buildings are, however, still haunted by curious teenagers looking for ghosts. These days, though, they are more likely to find the alarms Jensen has set around the complex.
As he juggles historic preservation rules on U.S. Forest Service land, Jensen鈥檚 also balancing the cultural significance of his buildings鈥 fables with his desire to give the retreat new life.
鈥淚 learned how passionate people are and their opinions on the place,鈥 he said. 鈥淪ome people are like, 鈥榙on鈥檛 touch it, keep it haunted.鈥 鈥 But I鈥檓 not going to base the history of this place and the beauty of this place on a few passionate folks.鈥
Jensen plans to open his resort next year. He鈥檚 already replaced a bridge over the Logan River and rebuilt several of the buildings鈥 roofs.
For the next three months, he has to pause construction to compile a historic report to ensure he restores the property in line with regulatory guidelines.
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