When police Officer Ken Hoffman was told during his job interview that unexplained things had happened in the Bull Valley police station, he said he laughed out loud. But it took only a couple of weeks on the job before Hoffman experienced what would be a series of strange events in the Stickney House, he said.

The house at 1904 Cherry Valley Road in Bull Valley, which is home to the village police department, clerk, and Village Board meetings, is known for its rounded corners – designed for easier communication with the dead – and association with strange occurrences.

Hoffman said he did not believe in ghosts, but he admitted to experiencing five events in the house in the past two years that he could not explain.

The first happened while he and a police sergeant were talking with Clerk Phyllis Keinz in the clerk’s office. All of a sudden, a drawer on a desk next to where Keinz was sitting began to open slowly. Then, another drawer opened, and the desk began to tip over, Hoffman said.

Hoffman’s first reaction was to find a logical explanation, he said.

“I was thinking, ‘Why is the drawer opening by itself?’ I’m not sure if it was off-kilter or if the floor was not level,” he said.

But strange things kept happening. Just this month, Hoffman and Police Chief Norbert Sauers both saw a woman dressed in white walk past a front window while they were chatting in the chief’s office. When they went outside to see who she was and why she was outside, she had disappeared, Hoffman said.

“I still don’t believe [in ghosts],” he said. “I think there are things that occur that we can’t explain. There probably is a logical explanation. But given the history of the house, it’s kind of cool to be a part of it.”

George Stickney built the two-story yellow brick house between 1849 and 1865 and became one of the first settlers in Nunda Township, according to a history of the house prepared for the village in 1991.

The Stickney family practiced a religion called spiritualism, which held the belief that spirits hid in corners. In order to better communicate with the dead, the Stickneys had the outer walls of the house built with rounded corners.

The house was deeded to the village of Bull Valley as part of an annexation agreement in 1985 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, Sauers said.

“What’s unique is that when you drive down the road toward [the Stickney House], you can still visualize a different time period, and we don’t have enough of those [buildings] around anymore,” said Nancy Fike, director of the McHenry County Historical Society.

But to maintain the old house and eventually restore it to its original condition will take a lot more money than is currently available, Sauers said.

The Stickney House Foundation was established in 1991 to collect donations to restore the house so that eventually it can become a museum, said Sauers, who also is the president of the foundation.

Tax money is not used for restoration so that donors can give to the foundation and get a tax deduction, Sauers said.

The foundation has about $61,000 from fundraising events and donations but needs about $50,000 more just to restore the front entrance and balconies, Sauers said.

“There isn’t a house like this in a five-state area, and I think it’s very imperative that we try to keep this house from falling into disrepair and losing its historical value and also the folklore and the legends of this house,” Sauers said.

“This is part of McHenry County from its beginning.”

Sauers said he had not seen a ghost in the house, but he believed that the house had a special energy.

He has heard footsteps and pounding in the walls, seen lights turn on and off, and had more than one of his officers quit after experiencing strange things in the house, he said.

Visitors come to the Stickney House around Halloween every year, hoping to take a look inside and, if they’re lucky, spot a ghost, Sauers said.

Fike said she hoped that someday the visitors would come year-round.

“Maybe sometime when there’s enough money, we won’t just get calls at Halloween time,” Fike said. “It’s a beautiful building, and it deserves preservation.”