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