Haunted Berlin Church

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and its former parish buildings on East Park Avenue form one of Berlin, Wisconsin’s more unusual paranormal destinations. The Romanesque Revival church was built in 1908 using granite from Berlin and Redgranite, while the granite rectory was completed in 1913 and the parish school was built in 1953. The property is part of Berlin’s Nathan Strong Park Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today, paranormal investigators refer to the property as the Haunted Berlin Church, Rectory, School & Convent, and overnight investigations have been held throughout the complex.

Reported activity spans all four buildings. In the church, investigators have described voices, footsteps, moving shadows, unexplained organ keys, settling benches, EMF spikes, and strange activity in the basement and bell tower. The 1913 rectory has a particularly active reputation, with reports of disembodied voices, loud footsteps, shadow figures, doors and knobs moving on their own, and a voice allegedly saying “GET OUT” from the attic. The former school is associated with reports of little girls laughing, a child apparition at a drinking fountain, and shadows moving through the halls and classrooms, while the former convent is also reported to experience unexplained activity. These accounts are reported paranormal experiences and alleged evidence, not scientifically established proof of ghosts.

Reported Paranormal Activity

• Disembodied voices heard inside the church and rectory, including a voice in the rectory attic saying “GET OUT”
• Footsteps heard throughout the complex, including loud footsteps in the rectory and in the church
• Shadow figures moving through the church, rectory, school and other areas of the property
• Unexplained movement of doors, door knobs, benches and other objects
• Church organ activity without anyone playing the instrument, including organ keys moving
• Investigators have reported EMF spikes and other unexplained readings during paranormal investigations
• Children laughing, shadows moving through hallways and classrooms, and an apparition of a little girl at a drinking fountain in the school