Because of George Stickney’s belief in spiritualism, he designed his house with no 90-degree angles inside so that no spirits would be caught in the corners. The Stickneys had 10 children, but only 3 lived to adulthood, and they are said to have regularly conducted seances on the 2nd floor to speak to their children. Currently the building houses the local police department, and many spooky events occur here. Tenants after the Stickneys, and later, police officers, have noted apparitions, moving objects, electrical phenomena, doors opening by themselves, and more. The Holcombville Cemetery where the Stickney children are buried lies nearby, and they are said to haunt the entire neigborhood along with the spirit of a passenger killed in the crash of American Airlines Flight 191.
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- 1600-1916 Cherry Valley Rd
Bull Valley, IL 60050
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 42.300727018955406, -88.35264803068844
- County:
- McHenry County, Illinois
- Nearest Towns:
- Bull Valley, IL (1.4 mi.)
Crystal Lake, IL (4.5 mi.)
Prairie Grove, IL (4.9 mi.)
McHenry, IL (4.9 mi.)
Lakewood, IL (4.9 mi.)
Woodstock, IL (5.0 mi.)
McCullom Lake, IL (5.6 mi.)
Wonder Lake, IL (5.8 mi.)
Holiday Hills, IL (6.6 mi.)
Greenwood, IL (6.6 mi.)
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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
Although I’ve never been to the Stickney house; I did live in a haunted house in Grayslake, IL on Junior Ave (I can’t give the house number as we have since moved and without permission of the current owners; it’s better I do not) We moved into this home on Junior Ave in 1969; we noticed things being moved; but things really started to ramp up when our dad started to remodel our home; tearing one wall down; ripping up carpeting; painting; wallpapering etc. To name few of the events; one night our mom was sitting out in the living room waiting for my older siblings to get home; as she waited a pillow was thrown at her from across the room hitting her! When I was 11 and my sister was 10 we shared a double bed and one night I was either bitten; or fingernails were dug into the back of my head; I was not happy so I smacked my sister thinking she did it; she was in a dead sleep and I kept hitting her until she woke up half out of it; she said she didn’t do that to me; then approximately 3 nights later my sister is hysterical pointing to the foot of our bed muttering almost incoherently that there were 4 people standing at the foot of our bed and she was really upset that I could not see them; she described them wearing period clothing from around the early 1920’s; a man, woman and two children; one boy and a girl. Later in my sister’s life she was a police officer for Waukegan; she knew a lot of state/government people and was talking one time to the coroner at the time (Mickey Babcock) he had said to her that he knew an interesting fact about the home we lived in on Junior Ave; apparently back in the early 1920’s a husband/father murdered his wife and two children in our home! When I was in my teens I loved to clean the house; I would have my mom take the younger siblings out for a few hours so I could clean the house top to bottom (2 story house with a full basement) when I was just about finished cleaning this particular time; I heard loud and clear an awful male voice yell “GET OUT”, I was petrified! I have so many incidents that happened there, too numerous to share in this post; but I’d be willing to share more if you would like. I moved to Door County WI right after h.s. graduation; and I have often wondered if the owners that followed us have had any incidents.
Kym, I believe what you’re saying. I don’t know what it is but I had many strange happenings when I lived in Illinois. I only found this page because I was telling my daughter how, as teenagers we used to go out to Bull Valley and see how brave we were here! I hope they’re leaving you alone now!
My aunt and her friends used to the Stickney hangout back in the 70’s early 80’s. They called it “The Round House”. She told me a story about an incident there involving a Ouija board. She never went back again. But something followed her.
What else happened at 32 Junior Avenue?
Please share more!
I just moved to Illinois from California and I’m noticing that there is indeed a lot of paranormal activity here.
thats weird i would to go beacuse had happening like that before. some evil and some good.
I don’t live far from here and used to drive up and down the street that this house is on. On multiple occasions, the car I was in ran out of gas and shut off as I drove past this house. After a bit (a few minutes), the car would just automatically turn back on with the gas level back to where they were before. In addition, on one occasion, I swore I saw a witch like person riding on a broom above the house. In another instance, as we pulled into the driveway of this house, we saw what appeared to be a light in the distance. It looked far away, but appeared to be coming closer… the light was bobbing up and down as it got closer, so we determined it was a person holding a flashlight or something walking towards us. The light started far behind the house, but as it got to about even with where the house was, it was clear that if it were a person, we would see a silhouette of the person–we didn’t. The moment we realized this, the light got very, very bright white–like a headlight on high beam (our lights headlights were off). Then a flame shot out like a person with a huge flame-thrower. There were 4 people in the car and only 2 people saw the huge flame shoot out. One was the driver who BOOKED it.
Right now, the witch person is a halloween decoration, I want to know all of your storys
You ran out of gas because you don’t have gas money
My sister and her boyfriend went there to pick up a friend of her boyfriends who was drunk. My sister said they were knocking on the door and they never answered so they called the police from inside if they were there because they wouldn’t answer, the police said they never heard them knock on the door
I lived in McHenry when I was a kid. We used to drive down this road to look at this house, it’s creepy! There was also a compound of devil worshippers who lived on this same road in Bull Valley!! It was scary as hell.
I spent a few different nights at the Stickney house in the 1980 I think it was. A friend’s mom was writing a bio on the house and our friend lived there during that time. Saw some scary stuff heard scary stuff and had to force our dobie to come in the house. All I can say is it was an experience I would Never repeat
I Have Been Inside of this house before it became the village hall and police department once it was part of a historical house tour second time they had a yard sale there to raise funds to fix the place up and had the house open for walk through. Never experienced anything paranormal there, I believe it is all urban legend and gossip. there were even people that were sealing or vandalizing the place so the village would probably tear it down because they thought that the Stickney’s were devil worshipers because of there beliefs as spiritualists. In fact when I was there for the yard sale one the ladies in the house told me that night before someone had tried to steal what was left of the original balcony from the second front floor of the house!
I had no idea when I went to pay a speeding ticket I was going to a haunted house. Wish I knew it at the time. I would have had a lot of questions!
Lived near there for YEARS. Rumors about the house with no corners were: there was one corner in the basement. Someone was found in the corner hanging from a noose that was held by nothing.
I don’t know about all that jazz, BUT almost every time I went by there with a group of friends my car would have a problem, or something odd would happen.
My cousin worked there after it bacame the police department. She doesn’t believe in that stuff. BIT, several things happened to her while she was alone in the building. She would see reflections of someone standing behind her in her computer monitor and she’d be the only person in the building. Things would disappear and reappear elsewhere, etc.
Yes. Haunted. ❤️
My Ex husband introduced me to this place, Sadly the bull Valley police dept. Wouldn’t let us tour the place. He told me so many stories ! And of the place just up the road. They should male this beautiful place a museum.
My aunt and her friends would hangout at “the round house” when she was a teen. The house was abandoned and a popular hangout for teens to drink and play with ouija boards. She told me of a frightful experience there. She also seemed to be haunted since. So many strange things I witnessed when she was visiting us when we moved to South Carolina. Always at night when she was in bed next to me.
Place is haunted. Especially the road! We went to a end where they had dead animal’s hanging from trees. I had a chevy extreme in 2001-02 and took a bunch a friends in the back of my truck. I heard them screaming go go!! Somewhere outta the blue was a car coming toward us. I flew. Looked in rear view mirror it was gone! We never went back. You felt the spirts and cold.
It’s ABSOLUTELY haunted! I was investigating the outside of the hall/house… When a very nice police officer invited me inside. He told me there was a lot of paranormal activity & there was also a retired officer who had a big book full of pictures of spirits taken from many different workers &, visitors! Unfortunately, I never called the retired man. I definitely believe this place is truly haunted!!!!