Faceless Nun legends

It’s a common trope in today’s horror genre to feature the more frightening aspects of religion, particularly when it comes to nuns and exorcisms, as a means to explore our fears.

Across the world, there are hordes of legends of religious spirits, including that of the “Faceless Nun.” While largely an urban legend, sightings of a mysterious Faceless Nun (nothing but flesh or darkness where your eyes, nose, and mouth should be) have in fact been reported across the globe. Anything without a face is creepy enough, but add a splash of religious attire and it’s enough to melt every spine on the block.

In Italy, three faceless nuns of the Torba Monastery are said to wander the countryside due to an unfinished mural. The three faces, perfect ovals, were never completed.

Art plays a factor in other areas as well. It’s commonly believed the original Faceless Nun was an artist in the midst of a self-portrait (a selfie made with paint and patience) who was called to service without the time to paint her facial features. She died an unfortunate death before she could ever complete the painting and, to this day, her spirit is cursed to walk the earth with no face. A 1940 account placed this tale overseas in France, while another focuses on St. Mary-of-the-Woods in Indiana at around the same time.

The Terra Haute, IN, legend states the nun perished of an illness before she could complete her self-portrait. Numerous accounts of a ghostly nun have persisted in Catholic women’s college, including one from a nun who encountered a woman sobbing in the college’s church. When she approached the pew where the woman sat, she realized she too was a nun, but not just any ordinary nun. This one had no face.

While the account of the college’s faceless nun has been disputed by someone who was there at the time, stories of a faceless nun have only grown over the years. My new city, Tucson, is even thought to be the home of a faceless nun – perhaps the same faceless nun but likely another wandering soul with no smile.

Cathedral of St. Augustine in 1897

The Cathedral of Saint Augustine, at 192 South Stone Avenue, is the seat for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. Built in 1858, the church has changed a great deal since its meager two-room beginnings. Like most old buildings, it has its share of ghost stories, including its very own tale of the Faceless Nun. There the apparition has been seen levitating above the ground in the courtyard, at least according to a local ghost guide. From there the tale has only grown.

Is there a Faceless Nun or other famous apparition where you live?

patrickwhitehurst
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7 responses to “Faceless Nun legends”

  1. Kenda Avatar
    Kenda

    I just put La Torba on my list of places to visit in Italia. Fascinating story! So, you’re hanging out with ghosts in Tucson now?

    Reply
    1. patrickwhitehurst Avatar
      patrickwhitehurst

      In a week and a half I will be calling Tucson home! Still in Monterey for the moment.

      Reply
      1. Mary Avatar
        Mary

        I have seen a faceless nun when I was 9 I have never forget the image

      2. patrickwhitehurst Avatar
        patrickwhitehurst

        Scary!

  2. Courtney Avatar
    Courtney

    When I was in 4th grade, I was in a summer church camp people said was haunted by the the ghost of Mrs. Louis. We were not sure about that. However, it did give us chills. We went to this camp daily. Mostly, we stayed in a section of the church by the kitchen. Alot of us was scared by the rumors of Mrs. Louis so we went to the bathroom in packs. There had been several times we saw a figure in an upstairs window during our time outside playing. We just would tell each other ghost stories and move on. Our camp creates came up with us doing a play for us to perform at the mall. The wizard of ozone. We practiced in the room where people would gather for church. One day, me and a friend of mine where left to get things together ..tidy up before heading back to the main room we all shared. The next thing we know. We both saw something that made us stand still and then run. We both ran like people you see trying to escape something. We were trying to escape what we saw. At the time, neither of us knee what the other saw. We a running and start uttering things we saw. No face. They nun…she had no face…was that Mrs. Louis? We had no idea what we saw. We just knew we where scared . We stopped when we got outside. We were like…is that her..Did you see that?..yes! What did you see? A nun ..no face. You too!! You saw that too! I saw a nun with no face too!! This appeared in the third row of the sanctuary we were practicing our play in. It popped up..in full form..no face…then disappeared.

    Reply
    1. patrickwhitehurst Avatar
      patrickwhitehurst

      Thank you for your comment. That sound terrifying!

      Reply
  3. Shaun Avatar
    Shaun

    |My Mother’s Faceless-Nun Dream Encounter|

    *This is kind of a long story, with what seems like a useless side story at the beginning, but it adds context to her dream encounter*

    Back in 2019, my mother and I were heading to the next town over for a procedure she was scheduled to have, as our town doesn’t have a full hospital, but was rather turned into a medical clinic several years prior. This procedure she was scheduled to have was called an EGD, which is where the doctor inserts a camera down your throat, so they can check for any abnormalities in the esophagus. In order to do the EGD, they had to give her general anesthesia through an IV and also spray her mouth with a local anesthetic called Benzocaine, which is to numb her throat, so the tube with the camera on the end could pass down her throat without issue. Right before the procedure, her and I were joking around in the pre-op room about how she could do these things in her sleep, as she’s had numerous EGD’s in the years prior. However, it turned out that this would be anything but a routine procedure. It turned out that some time years after her last known successful EGD, she must have acquired an allergy to either the Benzocaine spray or the Propofol they inject through her IV, because as she went under, no more than a few minutes had passed, and she went into Respiratory Arrest, and then Cardiac Arrest shortly after. She was turning blue and wildly swinging her hands all over the place, basically fighting for her life in the Operating Room. They called a Code Blue on her, and sent in a whole bunch of doctors with a crash cart, and had to essentially break all of her ribs in order to successfully to chest compressions to revive her. As she came back, they had to send her to ICU for the night, as that was protocol for this situation. The next day, as she’s still in ICU, she had this really intense dream of being in what she perceived was an abandoned warehouse with a bunch of nurses hustling and bustling about through where she was laying at. All of a sudden, a nun, with her typical habit, comes up to my mom, while she’s laying in this hospital bed, except, this nun had no face and was just all black where her face should have been. My mother felt doom and gloom as this nun was standing over her, trying to have my mother look into where her face should have been. She tried everything she could to fight this nun off as well, as she felt as if she looked directly in this nun’s habit, she would die. She ended up waking back up, feeling completely relieved, but ultimately freaked out over this encounter. I’m aware that this encounter isn’t a real life encounter, but rather a dream encounter, but my mother has had no knowledge of these faceless nun legends, to my knowledge, anyway, so I find it rather strange how she has this particular encounter in her dream. Maybe she subconsciously knew about these legends, maybe not, but it’s frightening none-the-less. Thanks for letting me tell my mother’s story.

    ~ Shaun

    Reply

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