The haunted legend behind a Millvale church's murals

MILLVALE, Pa. (KDKA) — St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in Millvale is famous for not only being the first purposefully built Croatian Catholic church in the country, but it is also renowned for being the home to 25 nationally recognized murals, all painted in the 1930s and 40s by one famous artist, Maxo Vanka.

While the murals are famous and each tell a story, it is the story of what allegedly happened to Maxo Vanka and his friend Father Albert Zagar while he was painting these murals that has gained some ghostly notoriety.

"He painted at night, so he wouldn't be disturbed," said ghost historian Thomas White. "He liked to paint way up on the scaffolding. And one night he hears kind of a mumbling, he looks down and he sees this figure in the church, and he figures maybe Father Zagar came into pray or whatever. So he kind of ignores it but he keeps hearing it and he begins to feel uneasy."

Of course, there was no one else in the church, and that uneasy feeling would continue for Maxo Vanka while he worked and even Father Zagar, who started to keep the artist company while he painted, began having odd experiences, like the night the church's eternal flame was extinguished.

"The ghostly figure walks up to the eternal flame and blows it out. ... Now Father Zagar can't see the ghost, according to the story, but he sees the flame go out," White said.

Maxo Vanka actually took to stuffing his ears and wearing blinders while he worked because he didn't want to deal with the spirit. And while these strange occurrences kept happening, eventually he did finish the murals.

"Father Zagar and Maxo Vanka didn't plan on telling anyone about this," White said. "It was an experience they both had, but their friend Louis Adamic wanted to know how it was going. And he's a writer, so they tell him the story."

"Louis Adamic thought, 'That's a pretty interesting story. I am trying to get my friend the artist popularized in America,' so he writes a story for Harper's Magazine, telling the ghost story and highlighting the murals at the same time. Because the ghost story then attracts more attention to the murals and it kind of launches Maxo Vanka's career in America."

The Mural Preservation Society is hosting a free open house on Tuesday, Oct. 29 to celebrate their recent conservation work. And while this is not a ghost tour, who knows, maybe just being in this space will allow the spirit to be moved.