Growing up in the 80s there seemed to be devil worshippers everywhere. Each small town had some abandoned building where children were forbidden to wander, because that was where the devil worshippers gathered to make sacrifices to the dark lord of hell.  That place in my area is known as the Novitiate.

Now it is just an old abandoned mansion, but it has a history of opulence, grandeur and violence. I’m a bit rushed, so I will quote some extant sources.

Wikipedia: (the Brothers mentioned are the Alexian Brothers, a Catholic ministry)

Early history

Original mansion left, monastery addition right.

Original mansion left, monastery addition right.

The Novitiate was originally a home for New York widow, Jennie Peters and her disabled child in 1939. Mrs. Peters was wife to Frank M. Peters, an inventor and former executive of the National Biscuit Company.[4] The home was a Georgian style mansion with a two-story stone portico, large windows, thirty-five rooms, servants’ quarters, and a second story balcony overlooking Freeborn Falls on the Red River. Her daughter would not live to see the home completed. The structure had been built with the intention that it eventually be donated to the Brothers, as Frank Peters had formed a strong connection to them in his youth in Chicago.[5]

In 1948, Mrs. Peters returned to New York and the building was turned over to the Brothers, with the final acquisition occurring in 1950 and in 1951 would begin admitting novices. The area encompassed approximately 232 acres. This building was expanded in 1954 to include new dormitories, a cloister, chapel, and other facilities. More land was also purchased in 1955, to provide a farm to feed the novices. Further updates to the property were made so that the novitiate would become self-sufficient.[6]

Following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the Brothers ultimately decided to move their operations to Chicago, putting the novitiate building up for sale in 1969, with the last brothers moving out in 1972, with only a caretaker staying behind. Attempts to sell the property stalled for several years, until 1974, when the property was offered to a group of Native Americans from Green Bay for an unknown “nominal cost” with the intent of converting it into an alcohol rehabilitation center.[7] However, the seizure of the Novitiate in 1975 ended this potential deal.

Seizure of the Novitiate

On January 1, 1975, an armed group from the Menominee Tribe, called the Menominee Warrior Society, seized the property and took the caretaker and his family hostage. The independent group was inspired by similar takeovers done by the American Indian Movement (AIM) at Alcatraz and Wounded Knee. They demanded that the Novitiate and property be turned over to the Menominee Reservation, claiming that federal law allowed them to retake the land once it was no longer used for religious purposes.[8] Tensions ran high as shots were occasionally exchanged and negotiations largely stalled. Three days into the standoff, the warriors attempted to negotiate a ceasefire, as they had secretly run out of ammo. However, no deal was reached. Local law enforcement cut off power to the novitiate, which resulted in pipes freezing, causing extensive damage to the property.[9] The National Guard moved into the area and sealed it off behind several checkpoints.[10] Negotiations went nowhere in January, as the Brothers refused to hand over the deed except for a reasonable price and the Menominee Warrior Society demanded it be turned over free, as they felt it already belonged to them. Complicating this further, some people in Menominee, Gresham and the nearby city of Shawano sympathized with the Society and others didn’t wish for the National Guard to be there. Vigilante activity was common, as groups of armed locals would access the property on snowmobiles to fire on the novitiate. The surrounding woods and riverside allowed for both vigilantes and members of the warriors society to bypass the guard units, making security a difficult task .[11]

Although they were not involved with the planning of the takeover, several AIM leaders travelled to the Gresham to offer support and help with negotiations.[8] The presence of AIM also brought the actor and Native American rights advocate, Marlon Brando, to the scene to support the Warriors Society.[12] The arrival of outside supporters upset many of the locals who feared the seizure would launch a larger movement in the region.[8]

On February 2, 1975, the standoff ended with a deal between the Brothers and the Society.[13] Fearing that the incident would end like similar situations at Kent State and Attica Prison, the Brothers instead chose to sell the property to the Menominee Reservation for one dollar. The standoff ended and the 39 members of the Menominee Warrior Society were arrested.[14] The month-long standoff resulted in no fatalities or major injuries.

Recent history

Since the standoff, the Novitiate has struggled to find a purpose in the area. The Menominee Reservation was unable to maintain the building and surrendered their claim to the property within a few months. In October 1975, a fire severely damaged the building.[15] In November, the Brothers turned the area over to Crossroads Academy, based out of Milwaukee.

Here  is Marlon Brando talking about it in an interview from the January 1979 issue of Playboy Magazine:

PLAYBOY:Then, in 1975, you joined a group of Menominee Indians who had taken over a monk’s abbey in Gresham, Wisconsin, in their attempt to get back the deed for land that had once been theirs. Didn’t that turn into violence?

  • brando: they were shooting bullets twice a day, in the afternoon and at night. dog soldiers came and they were fighting it out for over a month. one guy was shot, a white guy. i was in there for about a week, with father groppi and some other priests. it was unbelievable, people going out with guns and ammunition, lying in the snow and firing at 2:30 in the morning; everybody sleeping, huddled, trying to get warm, bullets flying around. i was up on the roof one time and bullets started sizzling by me, whheew, whheww—sounds very funny. the bullets come by before you hear the gun.

PLAYBOY:Were you scared?

  • brando: no. the indians were determined that they should get that deed to the land. it was previously indian land that had just been grabbed. the church wasn’t using it, it was just sitting around in a catholic bank book. there were contingent plans to go in with percussion bombs and gas. that would have killed a lot of people, because the indians wouldn’t have surrendered; the expression they had on their arm bands was deed or death. they finally got the deed. and then those goddamn alexian brothers, the group of priests who owned the property, took it back after everything died down. those lying bastards! i was right there in the room when they were negotiating. they gave their word that the [abbey] should go to the indians for a hospital and that the land should be returned to the menominee reservation. they subsequently, arbitrarily, took it back, broke their word. after the indians were arrested, they said, “we didn’t mean that.” there was no noise about it then. and some indians are still sitting in jail.

The property was sold to a new owner in 2020. I’m not quite sure what plans they have for it. When the sale was upcoming the Green Bay Press-Gazette  did an article that has some more in depth information if you care to learn more.