Est. 1901 · Benedictine Heritage · Orphanage History · Monastic Cemetery
Benedictine University traces its roots to 1887, when Benedictine monks of St. Procopius Abbey established an all-male institution on Chicago's West Side to educate men of Czech and Slovak descent. In 1901, the college relocated to Lisle, DuPage County, approximately 25 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, seeking a more spacious and rural setting. The new campus sprawled across 108 acres and was anchored by Benedictine Hall, dedicated in September 1901 and built in the Romanesque Revival style with limestone and brick construction.
Before the university occupied the land, the property housed St. Joseph's Bohemian Orphanage (1898-1956), a significant institutional presence in the area. During its operation, twenty-three orphans died and were buried on the grounds, their graves marked by small, identical headstones. The St. Procopius Abbey Cemetery, containing the remains of Benedictine monks and university founders, predates the orphanage and continues to serve as a burial ground for the monastic community.
The university underwent significant institutional evolution in the late 20th century. It became coeducational in 1968, adopted the name Illinois Benedictine College in 1971, and was officially renamed Benedictine University in 1996. The campus expanded across multiple locations, though the Lisle campus remained the primary residential and academic hub. As of the 2020s, Benedictine University operates as a private Catholic institution with an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students.
Sources
- https://ben.edu/about/history/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedictine_University
- https://thecandor.wordpress.com/2019/10/16/benedictine-university-might-be-haunted-not-clickbait-real-story-people-died/
ApparitionsShadow figuresPhantom voicesPhantom soundsObject movementDisembodied laughterEquipment malfunction
The St. Procopius Abbey Cemetery has emerged as a primary focal point for paranormal reports. Visitors have documented orbs and shadow figures in photographs taken among the rows of stone crosses marking monastic graves. A particularly notable incident, widely circulated in student folklore, involved a group of students who brought a Ouija board to the cemetery hoping to contact a young woman said to have been killed on the grounds. According to accounts, the session resulted in one student experiencing convulsions, disorientation, and utterances in multiple languages—a condition severe enough to summon monks from the adjacent abbey, who reportedly performed an emergency exorcism on the fifth floor of Benedictine Hall.
Multiple residence halls have accumulated reputations as active paranormal sites. In Benedictine Hall itself, witnesses report voices emanating from the art wing and the presence of a clergyman on the fourth floor. Jaeger Hall residents have reported stereos activating independently in the dead of night and descriptions of disembodied hands in the basement. Neuzil Hall, considered by residents one of the most actively haunted dormitories, has generated accounts of child apparitions (reportedly captured on infrared film during investigations), doors that unlock and relock spontaneously, and persistent unexplained phenomena. Ondrak Hall has been the subject of reports involving lights cycling on and off, television volume fluctuating independently, and accounts of hair being pulled during showers.
Campus folklore also includes sightings of a small child wearing a blue t-shirt and shorts who has been observed wandering the grounds before vanishing. This apparition is often connected to the historical orphanage that occupied the land before the university's arrival. The convergence of monastic death, childhood loss, and institutional tragedy across more than a century has created a complex folkloric landscape among the student population.
Notable Entities
The Blue-Shirted BoyThe Fourth-Floor ClergymanThe Possessed Student