In the heart of Santa Fe, New Mexico, stands the Loretto Chapel, home
of a famous spiral staircase said to have been built by a divine
stranger who was passing through in 1878. Unsolved Mysteries did a piece on it, and there’s even a 1998 made-for-TV film, The Staircase.
According to the legend, the chapel, which was stationed at the end of the Santa Fe Trail,
was completed without a set of stairs leading to the choir loft. The
Sisters of the Chapel were uncomfortable with their practice of climbing
a ladder to the loft before mass, as it allowed any passerby the
opportunity to look up their habits. Plans to install a standard
staircase were rejected, since the chapel was fairly small, and space
was limited as it was.
To solve the problem, the nuns began a nine-day novena
to St. Joseph, patron of carpenters, in the hopes that he would give
them some sort of solution. On the final day, out of nowhere, a man
with a donkey and a box of tools appeared, looking for work.
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