Haunted Places in Michigan

From LoveToKnow Paranormal

Considering the fact that there are so many tales of murder and death along the Great Lakes region and all throughout the state, it is no wonder that there are so many haunted places in Michigan.

Finding Haunted Places in Michigan

There is no shortage of haunted locations in the State of Michigan. From the phantom ships and haunted lighthouses of the Great Lakes to the ghostly activity in the cottages that are nestled within the Michigan forests. Michigan is a state where the spirits are restless.

Some excellent resources for locating some of the more haunted locations in the state include a 60 page PDF listing titled "Haunted Places in Michigan". The Shadowlands is also always an excellent source for more information about hauntings in Michigan.

The Ghost of Minnie Quay: Forester Michigan

The small village of Forester, Michigan rests on the eastern Michigan coast. It is in this town where James Quay and his wife lived. They built a tavern here in 1852, and this tavern still remains yet lies abandoned. James and his wife had a daughter named Minnie who, at fifteen years of age, fell in love with a sailor who occasionally visited Forester.

The town, and Minnie's parents, greatly disapproved of the relationship. During these times, "good" girls did not marry sailors. However, Minni Quay fell deeply in love with this particular sailor. One spring in 1876, word arrived that the sailor had perished in a storm out at sea. Young Minnie was so heartbroken that she committed suicide by jumping off the town pier where she drowned under the icy waters of Lake Huron.

As the decades passed, people who visited this part of the Lake Huron shoreline reported hearing a mournful crying from the water. In the ensuing years, young women have reported seeing a teenage girl beckoning them from the water. One girl in particular reported that she had seen this apparition before. Shortly after telling her friends, she was found in the lake, another teenage drowning victim.

Today, the Old Quay tavern still stands across the street from the Forester Inn. It stands as a testament to the abandoned dreams of a lost love. Does the restless spirit who once lived in that inn still search mournfully within the dark waters of Lake Heron for the sailor she loved?

The Haunted Ghost Village of Sheldrake, Michigan

Is it possible for a town to disappear off the face of the earth? This is exactly what happened to the village of Sheldrake located four miles north of Paradise, Michigan. The earliest settlement of this town was in the early 1800's, and the primary industry was lumber. The village seemed destined for tragedy, since several major fires swept through the town. The last significant forest fire was in 1926, after which most of the residents moved south and founded Paradise, Michigan. In fact, many of the ancestors of Paradise residents were residents of Sheldrake Village.

Of the few buildings left today, most of them are haunted.

  • A sea captain has been spotted standing on the local dock.
  • Lights in the abandoned Palmer House turn off and on, and shades move on their own.
  • Residents report seeing glowing movement from within the Hopkins House.
  • A large logger with a beard and overalls can be spotted through the windows of the abandoned Smith House.

The Ghost Calls of Grand Rapids, Michigan

Warren Randall lived with is wife, Virginia, in a large mansion called the Judd-White House. Warren was a local brakeman for the G.R. and Indiana Railroad. In 1908, Warren had a terrible accident at the railroad and lost his leg, and it was replaced with a wooden one. Warren's accident marked a point of psychological distress and constant arguing between Warren and Virginia. Warren was convinced his wife was unfaithful, preferring other men who were not disabled.

The paranoia reached levels of violence at times, and police were reportedly often called to the Judd-White house to end domestic disturbances. Finally, after Warren failed to kill her with a razor, Virginia left him. No one knows what happened on that fateful summer night in 1910, but somehow Warren convinced Virginia to come back to the Judd-White house once again. That night, they had another argument that ended when Warren beat Virginia with his wooden leg. He proceeded to seal up the room using towels, opened up a gas fixture in the room and allowed it to fill with fumes. Unable to wait for his own death, he slashed his throat with a straight razor.

Unfortunately, the couple went unmissed for two entire weeks. Finally, workers from the office building next door noticed a strange smell coming from the house and reported it. When representatives from the Board of Health and workers from the gas company broke open the door, they discovered a cloud of noxious fumes and the two horribly decayed bodies.

The Judd-White house was reportedly extremely haunted with lights, sounds, screams and the sound of a woman begging for her life coming from the abandoned house. Ten years later, the house was purchased by the local phone company and torn down. The Michigan Bell Telephone Company offices replaced the building in 1924.

Unfortunately, ever since the new building was built, residents of Grand Rapids started reporting odd phone calls late at night. When the calls were eventually traced, they were found to originate from within the phone company office building.

Ghost Hunting in Michigan

Experiencing the paranormal activity associated with haunted places is very easy in Michigan because so many locations are haunted.

Additional haunted places in Michigan include:

  • Reynolds Cemetery in Jackson, Michigan
  • Butler Cemetery in Westland, Michigan
  • The ruins of Au Sable near Oscoda, Michigan
  • Pine Cottage on Mackinac Island, Michigan
  • The Old Shopbell House at Lake Odessa, Michigan
Retrieved from "http://paranormal.lovetoknow.com/Haunted_Places_in_Michigan"

 


Comments

Hi Phil, Thank you for sharing your story. You have some very precise activity going on in your home. Portals are very difficult to live with because anything and everything can come through them. The portal itself isn't discriminating. However, if you've been living in the home for ten years, then chances are you've learned to cope with the activity. There are things I'm sure you know to do to protect yourselves. Also, remodeling tends to stir up spirits, so hopefully once your basement is finished, some of the activity will stop. It doesn't sound like you've had any hostile encounters. It seems that you have a support system and know a psychic, who might be able to assist should you need it. Keep us updated and thanks again for sharing your experience with us!

-- Contributed by: Sally Painter

One of the most haunted places I've ever experienced is my basement in Warren, MI. I have come across apparitions and poltergeists before, mainly in the old farmhouse where I used to live in England before moving to the states. It was built in 1780 but that's a whole another story. Getting back to my basement. My wife and I moved in on May 29th 1999 and that's when everything started. To begin with we would hear what sounded like voices, many voices, but to indistict to make out any actual words. It was like the sound you hear in a large hall where many people are gathered, you know people are speaking but the sounds all blend together. The basement was not finished so that has been my project for the last ten years and I'm glad to say I've almost completed it. No sense in rushing things! Before I did anything I took a lot of "Before" photos to compare to the "After" photos when the project was finished. Well I haven't taken any "After" photos yet but what astounded me was the amount of varying orbs I discovered in the before pictures. I have never seen so many and of all different shapes and sizes. In fact there were so many, that the entire basement resembled the reflections given off by a seventies disco ball! Then as I was working down there one day, I heard the front door open and someone walking across the kitchen floor. I walked to the bottom of the stairs and shouted to my wife, "I'm down here." After a while when she didn't appear I thought she hadn't heard me so I went upstairs. My wife was not there, her car was not even in the drive and the front door was locked. This particular phenomenon has happened to both of us many times. Then objects started to fall off of the walls all by themselves. At one stage, a music box that had been broken for years suddenly started to play. All of this was bad enough until once again I was on my own working in the basement. I stopped what I was doing as I felt as if I was being watched. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and my heart began to race a little. Then there was a hand on my shoulder that proceeded to gently squeeze me. I think it must have been at least 20 nano seconds before I reached the top of the stairs and flew out the front door on my way to the local bar for a large stiff drink! I explained what happened to my wife when she came in from work. She went down in the basement and told what was ever there to leave as the house now belonged to us. Things were quiet for a litttle while but never seems to stay that way for long. We have been told by a physcic that our basement is a portal to another world and souls are continually passing through it. Now, I'm not sure if that is the case or not but one thing is for sure, there's definitely something going on.....

-- Contributed by: Phil Connor

Hi Eastpointechild, Thank you for sharing your experience. 24 years is an amazing length of time. I'm sure people would enjoy reading about your paranormal experiences in a book.

-- Contributed by: Sally Painter
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