Across the Great Divide

Michigan Hauntings

I’ve had the fortune of visiting many interesting places to come away with some amazing personal experiences and evidence.  I’ve included links, where appropriate, to photos and EVPs from these locations.  Just click on the image thumbnails or the sound clip to access the links.

In the spring of 2008 I was involved in the investigation of a house in the historic city of Mount Clemens, Michigan.  Nestled in a quiet neighborhood, under the shade of centuries-old oaks and maples, sits a home that was built in the 186o’s.  With such a long and profound history of the house and its neighborhood it was not surprising that tales of supernatural events would surface.

The homeowner reported an astounding amount of odd occurrences in and around the home.  On quiet summer nights the sound of horse-drawn carriages can be heard galloping down the street.  In the house itself, there are reports of numerous interactive spirits including men, women, and children.  One of the key entities is kindly referred to as “Victoria” who goes into all areas except the kitchen; another more malevolent presence is confined to an upstairs closet.  The owner notes that most ‘entities’ are gentle and treated as extended guests.

Occupants and visitors see shadows and lights, and experience feelings of being watched or being in the presence of others; lights flicker, especially at dusk/twilight hours (it should be noted that the home was completely rewired in 2006) and the sound of children laughing can be heard.  While on an initial investigation of the home I felt physically and emotionally pulled to the back of the house.  Upon questioning this, I discovered that visitors to the home had similar experiences.      Objects have been thrown both in general and at people and any type of remodeling or painting stirs up activity.  Technology also seems to draw activity.

During the preliminary investigation dining room lights and stand-alone lamps began flickering around dusk/twilight for roughly an hour and faint whispers were heard.  During a tour of the home a presence/cold spot quickly passed around me and into the hallway as I was given a tour of the home.

During the investigation while in the former back servant’s quarters a whistling sound was heard by investigators and did appear on audio recordings.  Also in the servant’s quarters while conducting an EVP session the chains on the ceiling fan began to move by command to specific questions and answers.  A cold spot with no traceable origin was documented in the children’s/guest room.

The most shocking documentation was a vortex/plasma light seen in a photograph of the kitchen as well as an EVP.  During a session the question was asked “Can you tell me what year it is?”  Immediately afterwards a very faint, gruff male voice says “Seventy Nine”!

There were no shortages of personal experiences either.

Another investigator, while in the children’s room, saw a black shadow three separate times while looking in a mirror.

I was conducting an EVP session in the servant’s closet that had the reports of a malevolent entity.  Upon ending the session and preparing to leave I felt a pull.  When I turned on my flashlight, a long string of yarn originating from behind boxes and bags was wrapped around my flashlight and leading back into the pile of boxes.  I didn’t make any exaggerated movements during the session and was sitting in the same position the entire time.

The owner noted that most activity ceased immediately for a period of several weeks after the night of investigation but has since resumed a normal level of interaction.

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Located on Kidder Road in Bruce Township, Michigan sits Goodrich Cemetery.  This “final resting place” is home to some of the most interesting experiences, photographs, and EVPs I’ve experienced.

Hidden way in the back, almost forgotten, stands a lone obelisk and Worden family marker.  Perhaps coincidentally, this was also the location of plasma lights captured one night.  The following pictures were taken mere seconds apart.

EVP recordings of a very deep and menacing male voice have been captured on very active nights.  I’ve provided links to the best ones: Goodrich 08/20/2007, Goodrich Growl, “He’s Mine”.

While orbs are rarely evidence of spirit activity, the following picture from Goodrich is quite interesting.

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Memphis Cemetery in Memphis, Michigan is the final resting place to some of the most prominent names in the history of Saint Clair County, with citizens interred from the founding days to the present.

There are literally hundreds of stories revolving around the cemetery and many more centered within the town itself from long dead soldiers of early American wars to jilted lovers out for revenge.  The most well-known legend is of the Memphis Witches’ Ball.  At the very back of the cemetery, where some of the oldest headstones reside, there is a huge black marble stone locals call the “Witch’s Ball”.  Many children are buried here from the age of a few days to adolescence.  According to locals if you get close enough you can see faces and shadows in the stone, voices have been heard and apparitions have been seen.

One story came from older members of the community who said that after having heard noises from the ball a few too many times they went out with axes, pitch forks, and other tools and took turns beating up the marble orb, claiming it hasn’t been active since.  No record exists of this desecration, but there are chip marks, scratches, and dents on the stone that would coincide with it being struck by farm tools.

From my very first visit to Memphis I’ve walked away with numerous EVPs of young women with clear and distinct words, some of which are direct answers to questions.   These are some of my best EVPs to date: “Bridgit”,  “Date” or “Robin Day”, girl laughing, “Why don’t you believe me”.

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Michigan, just like any other location across the planet, has a long and complex history.  It is only logical that urban legends, folktales, and other stories are told from generation to generation.  As with any urban legend there is some underlying truth to the story but time and interpretation have added to the mythos.

Belle Isle is a Detroit city park located in the Detroit River and open to the public.  First off we have the classic “honk your horn” legend.  The story goes that if you drive your car onto a bridge that’s on Belle Isle, turn your engine off and honk your car horn three times, a spirit will appear from the woods, motioning for you to follow her.  There have never been any reports of anyone following her into the woods.  The ghost of Belle Isle has a couple different versions to the story, either there is a certain bridge or any bridge on the island will call this spirit.  One version even mentioned she was an elderly woman.

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Haunted roads make for fascinating stories but are the most difficult to investigate due to so many contaminating factors, least of which are other cars- something that also makes these locations dangerous.

One of the most widely talked about roads is Morrow Road in Algonac, Michigan.  So popular is the story that a movie was filmed about the legend.  Interestingly, and perhaps an indication of the validity of the legend, there are widely-differing versions of the story.

In one version a woman walking along Morrow Road was attacked and raped sometime in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s.  She became pregnant and left the baby by the bridge where she had been assaulted.  A severe snow storm started and she couldn’t stop hearing the cries of the baby and when she went back out to retrieve the baby it was buried in snow and the mother died from exposure.

In another version, the child in later years wandered away from home one night during a snow storm.  The mother ran out in search of the child and both reportedly died from exposure and their bodies were never found.  The mother now spends her afterlife in search of her lost child.

Whatever version you hear, both tell of the ghostly mother appearing to the random passerby looking for her lost child.  She’ll ask people, “Where is my baby?!”  People have claimed to have seen her, been chased in their car by her and have heard the sounds of a baby crying.  Proponents of the story claim that if you park on the road by where the bridge used to be and wait with the car off a light will appear down the road and if you speed off towards it the light will follow and then mysteriously disappear.

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In the early days of Troy, Michigan, Henry Blount in the 1820’s purchased land near Long Lake (18 Mile Road) and Rochester Road and built a sprawling two-story home.   This is now the Sylvan Glen Golf Course.  He and his wife, Elizabeth, raised seven children in this home.  Two of Blount’s grandsons, Harry and Frank, continued to farm the land after his death.

In the early 1900’s, the house was modified into separate living quarters for three maiden aunts of the Blount family and descendants of the family continued to live in the home until May 13, 1924 when the home and land were sold to develop the golf course.  The home was then remodeled into a restaurant donning several names through the twentieth century including The Double Eagle, The Wooden Horse and Shark Creek Inn.  The former Blount family home has been home to Camp Ticonderoga since 1996.

The Ghost of Camp Ticonderoga is referred to as Hannah.  The legend passed on through employees of the various restaurants that have occupied the Blount House and according to the story Hannah hung herself in one of the upstairs bedrooms and now haunts the building.  Strange noises have been heard and unexplainable things have been witnessed, such as doors slamming shut, lights turning on and off, and rattling dishes and objects falling for no reason.  Employees will not close by themselves.

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Butler Cemetery, also known as William Ganong Cemetery, is widely considered the “most haunted cemetery in Michigan”.  Butler Cemetery is located outside of Westland along Henry Ruff Road, just down the street from the old grounds of the Eloise Mental Asylum.

The cemetery is now neglected and overgrown with weeds and other debris.  A wire fence that runs around it is grown over with vines and a rusty gate is broken at the entrance.

A witness reported encountering a woman in white crossing the road in front of the cemetery.  He swerved to avoid her and she vanished right in front of his eyes.  A year later, he saw the same woman again in the graveyard itself.  He claimed to see her standing next to a tall monument and nearby was another apparition of a man wearing a uniform.  He stopped his car for a closer look and the two figures faded away.

The stories of ghosts at Butler still continue today and researchers have pointed out that there have been an inordinate number of auto accidents along that stretch of road near the cemetery perhaps due to sightings of this lady in white.

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Located on Michigan Avenue in Westland, Michigan, and coincidentally a few streets away from Butler Cemetery, stands Eloise.  This was once one of the largest mental hospitals in the country.  Eloise opened in 1839 as the Wayne County Poorhouse to house the mentally ill.  There were many reports of patient beatings as well as patients being housed in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions.  The majority of it has now been torn down or made into of office buildings. The few buildings that do remain on the property of the old Asylum are the D building now known as the Kay Beard building, also the fire house, the power plant, and the bakery.  The ghosts of many of the tormented patients walk the halls of this asylum. Voices are heard in the empty halls; lights are turned on and off; and growls and moans are heard near the playground built for the use of the office workers’ kids.

General information, history and video footage and a map of the grounds can be found at http://www.talesofeloise.com.

If you have a personal ghostly encounter, or know of a local legend, I encourage you to share your story here and add a comment.