a pair of trammel points (for drawing large circles)" Others have disputed Cook's theory. Writer John Clark stated that the memo in the logbook read "Paid for wood — Mr. Rochas for N. School" and contends this refers to a nearby school the sisters hired him to build, and that the logbook makes no mention of a staircase. Similar stairs Although the design of the Loretto stairs is highly unusual, other spiral staircases without center supports are known to exist. One example can be found at the Old Washoe Club in Virginia City, Nevada, which also dates to the 1870s. This staircase was described by Ripley's Believe It or Not! as "the longest of its kind without a supporting pole", although it has fewer turns than the Loretto staircase. Further afield, another staircase is in the Gdańsk Town Hall in Poland, which was reported to the New Mexican in 1944 by a government official named Bonnie Foster. The paper wrote: "It is tall, spiral, and without steel nails, but the wood is different. It is in the town hall, of the 14th to the 16th century. How it was constructed, and whether there is a miracle story back of it, Mrs. Foster could not say. But she declared it is strikingly like St. Joseph's in design." Loretto Academy Loretto Academy was founded in 1853 and continued to operate until 1968. Afterward, the previously all-male St. Michael's High School turned co-ed in order to accommodate the Academy's female students. In popular culture The story was the subject of the 1998 television film The Staircase, starring Barbara Hershey and William Petersen. The case was investigated and subsequently re-enacted in the Unsolved Mysteries episode "Miracle Staircase". Young-adult author Ann Rinaldi based her book The Staircase on the Loretto Chapel. See also List of churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe References External links Loretto Chapel home page Engineering miracle or just good carpentry? Sisters of Loretto song by Kate Vargas Loretto Staircase at Snopes Sisters of Loretto Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe Roman Catholic churches completed in 1872 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Museums in Santa Fe, New Mexico Religious museums in the United States Former Roman Catholic church buildings in New Mexico Wedding chapels in the United States Roman Catholic chapels in the United States Roman Catholic churches in Santa Fe, New Mexico Gothic Revival