Stickney House

Stickney House in Crystal lake, Illinois is a haunted mansion that was designed to be built without any corners.

The Stickney House was built by George Stickney and his wife Sylvia when they came to Illinois is 1849. The couple suffered great tragedies in life. Nine of their 12 children died before they reached adulthood.

The Stickneys became very interested in spiritualism, holding seances and attempting to contact the dead. They wanted to build a large mansion in a secluded area so they could have the freedom and privacy to conduct their seances.

The strangest thing about their plan was that they wanted to build a house that didn’t have any corners. The reason for this was that they believed corners attracted evil spirits. It was said that ghosts would become trapped in rooms that had corners. Since the Stickneys conducted so many seances, they didn’t want to take the risk of having a trapped spirit in their house.

Unfortunately for the Stickneys, a mistake was made during the construction of the house and one room was left with a corner.

When George Stickney died, he had the misfortune to pass away in the only room in the house that had a corner. He was discovered slumped in the corner of the room and had died from heart failure. They say that when his corpse was found, he had a look of terror upon his face and many people believe that his ghost is still trapped in that room today.

When Sylvia Stickney died, the house was sold and passed through a number of owners. According to legend, at one time, it was bought by a group of devil worshippers who practiced black magic rituals in the large ballroom on the second floor.

In the 1970s, a man named Rodrick Smith bought the old Stickney house. however, after staying there for only a few days, the new owner fled from the old place in terror. He claimed that he heard strange noises at night and got the feeling that something was not right with the property. He was convinced that something evil now inhabited the house.

Over the years, many people have explored the old rounded house and swear swear they have experienced the creepy feeling of being followed and have heard threatening voices warning them to go away. The current occupiers say they hear strange footsteps walking around the ballroom after dark and the sound of human voices whispering at night.