West Hills

I was a lifeguard in highschool. My job at the West Hills was 5:30AM to 7:30AM before school for lap swimming. I had to open up the huge creepy main building by myself and turn off alarms, get lights on etc. It was NOT fun. One morning I was testing the chemicals and I saw a little boy skipping down the hallway. I could only see the side of him from the waiste up bc it was a half wall. He had dark hair. I went out looking for him and yelling for a parent but no one was there. I saw this same thing about 5 times in the years I worked there.

September 2024

I went to west hills lodge..i lived there for 4 months and I as well as others who lived there seen and heard things all the time!later to find out the building I lived in was the hospital for the orphanage..they would put new born babies in a box and they would die..crackers and milk was a great book written by a survivor that went through he'll and seen he'll in that place.the underground tunnels were the creepiest!!!u feel it and see it!that place is haunted for shure....

October 2020

Years and years ago I was taking an art class for beginners in one of the buildings. The classroom was in the basement of the building. Not only does it have a seriously creepy vibe and overall a bad feeling, but I distinctly remember on multiple occasions sitting in class and seeing shadows walking in the dark corners of the room next to our room. I also saw someone's silhouette kinda glide in front of a window, no one in class hearing footsteps or seeing anyone after that.
Not my experience, but my brother was doing a play in the Little Theater of Owatonna building. At the end of the night being the last one in the building he heard noises. He heard kids laughing, footsteps following behind him, and he heard a piano playing in an empty room.
This place has always intrigued me, and I've always wanted to investigate there. Hopefully one day soon!

October 2020

I used to live a couple of blocks away from west hills and I always felt off there. I once saw a adult figure in the hallway and one time riding home at night I saw a orb glowing in someone’s car. Freaked the hell outta me. We moved a couple of months later and since then I haven’t felt anything bad.

June 2020

I had been walking around West Hills one day in the later summer early fall and went to see the cemetery, and listened to the voice description about the cemetery. Durning listening to it I had seen a maple leaf fly up to the fense and stayed there and just gently shifted like as if there was a child standing there. As I got done listening to the voice description as it got done I heard a childs voice say Thank You!!!! And my ankle had started to ache while standing there listening to it, as I walked away it started to feel better then as soon as I got into my vehicle it didnt hurt anymore.

May 2019

I was there in the nigh with some friends January 3 2017 just checking out the place to see if it was really hunted and there was a little boy in the window so that night me and my friend where scared I recommend not to go just to see if they do or not scared cause they do I had to move out of my house in 513 S Oak because there was a little kid appearing in my leaving room so I moved out and idk what happen after but I hear it keeps appearing stuff in the house that’s why I no one want to buy the house

January 2019

I grew up in Owatonna, and my mother was a nurse. She took care of some of the people who were orphans who were there, some didn't mind but others have terrible stories. They even wrote a couple books. The nuns supposedly used to beat them (specific stories about the heater as punishment and beating a child with a bat.) Even worse, they supposedly used to sell the children to "parents" who needed labor done and they'd be further abused. I used to go there to workout (it's now a community center and other buildings). I will not. And I mean WILL NOT step FOOT in the shower room. The shower room was hot with steam but felt FREEZING. And overly quiet, the kind of low decibels that hurt your ears. And you feel different, unbalanced, not flight or fright fear, but like you're suddenly so heavy you can't move. I wouldn't be caught anywhere on that side of TOWN at night.

July 2018

I lived in Owatonna back in 2008-09. I visited West hills one day just for something to do. I knew it was haunted.
So I brought my digital camera with me. I snapped pictures in dark rooms and the cemetery. I didn't look at the pictures at the time.
Once I got home a few hours later I looked at the pictures. Every picture had orbs everywhere! But what caught my eye was a couple pictures of a child. One picture in particular creeped me out and sent chills down my spine. In one photo I caught 3 shadow children, 2 taller (probably adult) shadows and 4-5 ghostly children's faces.
Later that night I realized someone followed me home. I was in my room laying down for bed. All of a sudden I hear giggling, running and things hitting the floor in my living room. My apartment complex and NO children living there. I go and check it out and I see I shadow in the corner and my remote to the TV flew across the room.

June 2018