Brick Experiments... The Providence Academy Didn't Disappoint.

On Friday January 31st I received a much anticipated prize from across the Sea... A piece of the Boleskine house.

There is a theory that Boleskine house is the location where the Loch Ness monster, Nessie, was conjured and that Aleister Crowley is responsible for this cryptid. Jimmy Page also worked magick amongst the walls here. Recently it was purchased and has had a couple of fires. There is a nonprofit foundation that is trying to restore it by selling the charred remains that cannot be used in the rebuild. A great overview of the project is here.

Of course I had to have a piece of the sandstone. Stones are sort of my thing, and a stone from the house of where the "Wickedest Man In the World" did black magick? If bricks and man made building materials can be reactive or "haunted," a piece of the Boleskine house should be nice and juicy. 
  
My friend A.P. Strange was compelled to buy the charred wooden remains, and before our prizes arrived we discussed sharing our loot among ourselves so we each got a bit of everything. I hoped that the heat from the fires had weakened the stone that I could break it, and that the stone would be big enough to halve.

When I got my nicely sized stone, I saw it had weak spots, and clearly my intuition that I should share was right on the money.

The original prize.

I spent a few minutes talking to the rock, before I prepared to break it and felt solid in my decision to do so. Not only can I experiment with this stone, some of my weirdo family can as well. That's basically the Liminal Earth mission, cataloging and sharing the strange, and why I became an Ambassador in the first place. 

I tapped it gently to the pavement in the box and nothing happened. I sat with it another moment, briefly pondered a hammer and decided against it. Suddenly, clearly the words "drop it" came into my head. My husband, seeing me standing with a rock in my hand like a lunatic, opened the patio door and also said out loud, "Just drop it. It will break."

Message received, I gently dropped the brick on concrete once and it showed me it wanted to be shared with more than just A.P.

Coming soon to a weirdo mailbox near you!  The Boleskine stone has spoken.

Let's get weird fam. Those of you that receive pieces, I do hope you'll share with me anything interesting that happens, and maybe even blog about it.  My kid was relieved my prize from Scotland showed up on a Friday night instead of a school night - ha ha!

I even saved the sand dust from the box.. tiny jars!?!

I decided to keep the largest piece for myself and I plopped it right on my Brick Altar. Also? I decided to take a piece with me, in my pocket, inside Mother Joseph's "cursed" Providence Academy tour. Can't think of a better "trigger object" that will get a ghost nun's attention better than bringing a piece of the home of the Wickedest Man In the World into her cursed building she obsessed over. 

Dividing it up to mail to my friends, my cat who is obsessed with crystals would not leave it alone. She kept trying to stick her face in the jar and I had to run her off. These are very fragile and crumble from even gentle handling.

Is the stone "juicy", or just smell interesting? 

The first Saturday of the month the Providence Academy provides a free tour. Today was our day. We made sure to give a donation at the end, because our Docent Carolyn knew what was up and was willing to talk about anything. The normal tour is only $5 which is an absolute STEAL. The best part? Our docent was a student there, from the final graduating class of 1966. Her grandma was an orphan and lived here. And as she got to know us she spilled lots of personal stories. She realized quickly I knew my bricks and she loved to talk about them. I've got a book list started now, thanks to her. 

This corner is where the El Presidente Restaurant used to be.

The original cornerstone from the St. Joseph Hospital sits outside the grounds. 

Also outside, the site of the original well, where the water for the academy came from. 

The Foundation of the building is several feet thick, making this one of the strongest laid foundations in the area.  It is similar in foundation to the Hidden House, but more extensive. We learned on our tour that even the site of where Mother Joseph purchased her land seemed somehow guided by unknown Providence.

The original area where the first land claim and St. James Church stood was built too close to the river. There were no dams to control it whatsoever and so the area flooded significantly and with frequency, so Mother Joseph looked for land up above the flood plain. The land parcel she chose for the Providence Academy is special - it's the only naturally occurring large slab of solid basalt in the Vancouver area. This area will survive a massive, massive earthquake. Of all the land parcels to buy, she chose this one. There is no other parcel of land with the same basalt feature in the area. Mother Joseph had no idea when she purchased this land just how special it was, they had no way of knowing at the time. 

Office buildings in the basement, or "first floor". 

Our docent Carolyn told us about how back when the building was originally built the upstairs attic floor was the only habitable place, as the heat rose up from the smart construction of the building. There were no windows downstairs, and that's when Mother Joseph started her begging tour and "Adopt a Window or Door in the Academy" program. 

Bell Tower in the Center. You can ring it on the tour, if you want.

The Old Laundry. Condemned.

The old laundry building and powerhouse are currently condemned and too dangerous to go inside. They will soon be demolished, but the bricks will be saved and repurposed on the grounds here. There will be a large garden on the grounds, much like when the Academy was operating, and the plan is to use the bricks in the works to match the pathways around the rest of the grounds. They may also be re-purposed in that apartment building coming in a few years.

A peek inside the condemned power station The roof is caved in.

The Iconic power station chimney may be able to saved in the renovations, but its not guaranteed.

Fancy detailed herringbone brick patterns on the powerhouse, with rounded arches echoing the main Academy Building.

Additionally, we learned technically the parking lot is currently condemned and that the City has given special permit for them to remain. The reason for this is the area is so old there is no drainage system, and so the it literally turns into a flooded lake when its rainy enough. The basement can have problems and flood frequently as designed. They plan to manage this with part of the new renovations happening. 

Hidden Bricks line all the paths here.

The front doors from Evergreen Blvd, underneath the avant-corps. The statue nook under the cupola used to hold St. Joseph. 

The tour begins with a walk in the front door, where there's a few pieces of art and a neat history timeline about the Sisters of Providence and their work in the area. It's a good half hour history lesson and was a great refresher of my research.

The carriage loop is in the shape of a heart, honoring the branches of care the sisters spread in communities in the Northwest.

There's also a lovely original oil painting of Mother Joseph in the Lobby done by artist Vivian Smith. She painted this portrait of Mother Joseph while working inside her art studio in the Providence Academy in 1974.

Immediately inside, you find yourself on original floating floors, hand cut and laid together. They have a very distinctive squeak. They are not built on ball bearings like the Crystal Ballroom (I asked) but under a different sort of technology I unfortunately didn't catch the specifics of. They feel very similar to the floors in the Crystal Ballroom, however, walking on them.

Bouncy!

To the right, you see a large spiral staircase. It's currently being restored to its original status, which is wonderful, as it goes up clear to the Bell Tower. Immediately you notice the stairs are different in construction inside. The handrails are at a height comfortable for children. The steps are shallower and easy for kids to easily take. Mother Joseph really did build this to serve the orphans. The steps actually angle backwards as you walk, making it feel off for people with large feet.

I asked our docent if she ever got in trouble for sliding down the wide wood grip, as I immediately wanted to do so myself. She smiled and told me, "No, I never got caught."

This staircase goes clear up to the tower that holds the original bell.

We headed upstairs to the second floor and the chapel entrance. This is a photo from the third floor entrance, but they are similar and here you can see the rope that is attached to the chapel's bell, which can be rung from the attic, 3rd floor, or for weddings in the chapel if needed. 

Ding dong church is on!

This bell was also rung to announce Mother Joseph's death:

The chapel is breathtaking. I can't imagine how wonderful it would have been with all of the relics still inside. Most have gone to two local parishes in the area. There used to be a copy of a Pieta depicting Mary and Christ as well as a painting of Jesus' Sacred Heart as the centerpiece. The chapel was restored to be as non-denominational as possible to serve the community while honoring the Sisters' legacy.

The darker pews in the front two rows were carved by Mother Joseph

Side Altar

The side altars caught my attention for a couple of reasons. The art has been moved to other churches in the Diocese. Later when we were in the attic I noticed an area outside where the windows looked odd. These windows obviously accommodate the internal side altars.

Funky window alert

I knew that being the perfectionist Mother Joseph was, she wouldn't be digging how these windows looked from the outside, and guessed they were a later addition. I was right.

This door leads to Mother Joseph's room. 

Inside the church among the original woodwork for the stations of the cross, there is a door to the left as you walk inside, about half way in that Carolyn advised was Mother Joseph's room and where she died. When cancer sadly made her blind she used to open a small window opening in the wall (now it is the Bride's Dressing Room) so she could still hear her orphans sing and still participate in church services. As she lay dying she rewarded the kids with treats as they recited the rosary or sung hymns to distract her from her suffering. Her friend Bishop Blanchet also came here to say goodbye to her in this room a few days before she passed in 1902.

Mother Joseph herself (along with the help of another sister as an apprentice) carved this altar of wood. It is interesting for a few reasons. The detail is unbelievable. The tour is amazing, you are allowed to gently TOUCH these things. 

The Blazing Sacred Heart of Jesus, with gold highlights

There are a total of 5 altars in the chapel Mother Joseph carved.

I cannot imagine how long this would have taken her. This has been recently restored, but it's not restored quite how you would imagine. As mentioned before, the 1960's weren't kind to historic buildings and to make things look sparkly and new they slapped white paint over them. This happened to the altar here also. It and many of the doors in the building were painstakingly painted by an artist to look like wood grain again. The chapel was essentially gutted, the contents sold, and has since been carefully restored. 

The wood is from Belgium and MJ sourced the metal from New Orleans.

When Robert Hidden bought the Academy to save it from destruction in 1969 he put out a public plea to members of the community that bought items from the Sisters of Providence immediately before the facility's closure to please return them. There are many items that are simply lost forever, but Robert and his wife drove up to the Seattle Diocese to retrieve pieces of the altar, with the understanding that they needed to stay with the building and were on "loan" from the Sisters. This is all prior to Robert selling to the Historic Trust, who now manages the restoration project. 

Back to the tour.

As I was sitting outside Mother Joseph's room, in a church pew carved by her own hands, I took a few moments to pull some oracle cards. Again, I was given Tan, The Kind, but this time paired with Timehunter. I like these cards a lot because they don't send people screaming in fear like some regular tarot decks do. 

"The Pew"

Is the same person I sensed in the Hidden House checking up on me here too?

Sitting there, quietly zoning out on the tour a bit (sorry Carolyn), we were all sitting in the pews quietly listening. The only other noise was the shutter from a large SLR camera another person was using to photograph the altar from another pew. 

Dave and I locked eyes as I pulled cards (I felt like I was breaking the rules and enjoyed the mini rebellion, having been scolded for acting out in church as a kid) and there instantly were several loud, distinctive squeaky footprints from the church balcony above. I didn't count the first set, but I believe there were about five. 

The balconies from the pew where I sat.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, even Carolyn. I then in my head thought, "Ehh, there's offices on the second floor, it's probably someone walking up there." I looked around behind me and realized everyone had taken a seat behind me, no one was on the move.

As soon as the thought hit, again there were three distinct "Squeak, Squeak, Squeak" steps from above. I know what steps on that floor sound like, as I had been taking them myself for about 40 minutes that morning. I took the photograph above. It was definitely coming from the balcony. 

The tour guide may have not known I was doing witchy stuff in church, but someone definitely noticed I was. Probably knew I had a piece of the Boleskine House on me too.

Even the stained glass windows had to be restored as they were stripped in the 1960s.

As we left this part of the chapel, I asked if there was balcony access upstairs. Carolyn advised yes, we were headed up to the next floor and can get inside. Oh, of course, someone's up there, I brushed it off. 

She smiled at me and showed me the key. It was locked. No one was up there. We'd already lightly danced around the haunting here. Earlier she said she hadn't had an experience but it wasn't uncommon. She also said she never heard of a curse over an agreement between Mother Joseph and the Hidden family but she told a fun story how MJ fought a local bank who wanted to pay her in paper money. She refused, and demanded only coins. Eventually they caved. So I am calling "the Curse of the Bricks" FALSE.

I pulled cards on the front left pew.

No one here but some more pews.

View from the balcony

The balcony used to have people from the infirmary or orphanage out here so they could attend church as well. There are more pews Mother Joseph carved up here also. One of the original doors is still missing.

The entire building is in the design of a giant cross, and the effects there can be unsettling, much like the hallways in the Bally Hotel in Las Vegas. It gets a very funhouse-like atmosphere. It feels like there are mirrors everywhere but there are none. The fourth floor attic is in the early stages of renovation, and is in a current state of gorgeous decay. This is an active renovation in progress, and that's probably why the past is still making itself known here. 

The bell tower was unfortunately closed due to active renovation. Pretty bummed about that as I've seen an awesome photo of graffiti in there that reads "MOTHER JOSEPH WAS HERE BEFORE ALL OF YOU!"  (They're right!) There was other graffiti from years past to entertain, however. When the school was closed and thought to be facing demolition the students were invited to come upstairs and write their names on the walls. That plus years of vandalism have taken a toll on some of the old peeling walls.

A view of the octagonal bell tower from the Third Floor.

How many faces looked out this window...?

Long, long hallways feel confusing.

There was no indoor plumbing or water access until a remodel in the 1920s, it was all chamberpots. You'd have to walk these long, cold hallways at night and haul your pots outside. Not so plush accommodations for the early residents. Mother Joseph designed the building so that the heat would rise, and everyone lived on this top floor in the early days. The winters were brutal, and they had one particular winter where food was insecure and they almost didn't make it. 

The angles due to the cupola are unsettling. Pink paint from the 1940s remains.

In researching the building I learned that these little rooms with angled doors were the original "rooms" up here, the only original room partitions, when the original sisters moved in back in 1873. The rest was basically an open floor plan. Brr!

Welcome to the funhouse. You can't get lost but you feel lost.

Bunks used to line this room on both sides, with orphaned girls.

Original Confession booths from the Chapel are up in the attic.

An interesting thing happened to Dave while we were up here in the attic. It wasn't warm, in fact, it was a chilly February morning, and yet suddenly he began to feel hot and sweaty. He said "It feels like I'm swelling up," as he played with his wedding ring that was suddenly uncomfortably tight on his left hand. "It's super weird in here," he said. He wasn't uncomfortable enough that he wanted to bail out, but he was having some feelings up there. 

Immediately after taking the long hallway down and back down to the second floor the swelling stopped and he could easily remove his wedding ring.

I kept coming back here. I want to spend hours here specifically.

The original wood lockers from the sister's living quarters are still here. Many of them are cedar as it was thought to keep the moths away. This is the original space where they lived in the 1870s. Some of the old desks from the classroom are still waiting for students to come and sit back down in them. 

In the attic, you can look and see exactly where the original Academy building ended and the later addition began as the needs grew.

We took a tour of the Blanchet Ballroom (named after the good Bishop mentioned above) that can be rented out for events. In a similar turn of events like the chapel, there are some marble columns in there that aren't really marble anymore, but are painted to appear so. Outside the ballroom, they have a neat history display with a Hidden Brick, some found items from the excavation and a great photo of Mother Joseph where she's almost smiling!

Unearthed in excavation

Smiling MJ!

The tour ended with a little loop outside, and I talked to Carolyn about my personal interest in the building some more. She pointed me towards a few new sources to geek out over. I can honestly say I believe the Providence Academy to be authentically haunted. 

Corbelled brick hoods over the windows, a Georgian architectural technique.

The heart shaped carriage turn around.

Looking over where the Kindergarten used to be. It's now a daycare. 

After our tour we went down to Brickhouse, the old Hidden Brick Office. They've covered up a lot of the bricks inside since I was in there and I wasn't very happy about it. Lunch was decent. Nothing interesting here today... except some of the little details outside the bar on the way in. 

They covered most of them. Sigh.

Wallpaper. Boring. 

Are we done with Hidden Bricks? I highly doubt it, but this is basically where the end of Mother's Joseph path leads. I haven't heard back from the Hidden Family about my request for more information on the old equipment. I also plan on going back to the Academy, and it may even have an important part in a future plan of mine if everything lines out as I'm hoping it will in a few months. Maybe my Brick Mojo might just help me more than I realize.