Spooky nursing home

NEW LONDON - For nearly a century, people have shared all kinds of stories about the old Villa Apartments on Pearl Street in New London. The building has served many purposes over the years, and its history includes legends about former tenants haunting the place.
According to the New London Public Museum, the land was purchased by Dr. A.C. Borchardt with the intent to build a hospital, along with his son, M.A. Borchardt.
In 1931, the Community Hospital was opened. However, the planned “New London Memorial Hospital” was never completed and remained vacant until 1950.
In 1944, D.J. Rohrer purchased the vacant building from Fred LaMarche for $11,000. Five years later, a remodel began to transform it into the Outagamie Home for the Aged. By 1950, residents were admitted, and in 1958, the facility was renamed the “Golden Age Home.”
The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Zams purchased the home and renamed it Villa St. Vincent in 1962. Electrical and plumbing code violations forced the closure of Villa St. Vincent in 1972.

McFaul Enterprises opened the building as apartments and called it the Villa Apartments in 1974, and Edwin Wulf and family purchased the Villa Apartments from Dan McFaul Sr. in 1977.
The apartments were closed again in 2008. Then, in 2012, a private owner purchased the property and began housing tenants.
Knowing that the property has exchanged hands for several years, with tenants coming in and out, has helped build its reputation for ghost stories.
Those stories even attracted the Travel Channel series ‘The Dead Files,’ which conducted its own investigation. The show added some theatrics for entertainment, showed various rooms within the building, and shared a few tales of paranormal sightings, but did not go much further into detail regarding the outcome of their investigation.
Even so, this historical residence in New London has sparked plenty of chatter over the years throughout the little community, creating a spooky enough atmosphere to make the imagination run wild, especially during Halloween time.