10 Haunted Places In Michigan That Will Make Your Skin Crawl

1. Mackinac Island

Visitors to the island say even in the middle of summer some places here just feel colder and more ‘off’ than others. Maybe it has something to do with the fact this is one of the most haunted locations in all of Michigan? Over 100 individual ghosts have been reported on the island including Native Americans, soldiers, students, and tourists occupying different buildings and spaces.

Mission Point Resort is one of the most popular spots for ghost sightings. Built by the Moral Re-Armament movement in the 1950s, the resort housed the world headquarters of the international moral and spiritual movement that strived to cultivate world peace.

The building was then donated to be used as Mackinac College in 1966, a four year school that graduated only one class in 1970. One of the most famous ghosts of the island was a student at the school believed to have killed himself in the midst of heartbreak. Locals report the ghost flirts with the female tourists and plays jokes on the guys.

2. Pere Cheney – Grayling

Pere Cheney, near the town of Grayling, was established by lumberjacks but has since taken on the reputation as a literal ghost town. Although it was known in the 19th century as a busy and well populated sawmill village, diseases including small pox, diphtheria, and cholera took over the majority of the town, dropping the population down to the double digits. The town became abandoned sometime after 1912 when the post office closed.

Some believe the town was cursed from the beginning as it was built on top of Native American land. Legend has it neighboring towns tried to burn this town down twice in an effort to stop disease from spreading to them.

3. The Paulding Light – Paulding

For the past 40 years a mysterious light has appeared in the woods nearly every night between Paulding and Watersmeet. Reports say the light appears to be someone carrying a lantern and is the haunting of a railroad worker who died while trying to change the tracks at night. The team from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not along with a slew of paranormal investigators have been here to figure out the truth behind the nightly phenomenon but no one has been able to understand what’s going on. Other legends say the light is from a father who was carrying a lantern searching for his lost little boy.

4. River Raisin National Battlefield Park – Monroe

The only battlefield park from The War of 1812, this is the site where hundreds of soldiers lost their lives in the deadliest battle of the war and continue to linger while living in the inbetween. Witnesses have claimed to see apparitions of solders in 1813 military attire; others have heard cries of agonies, sounds of war, and figures in doorways and on the field.

5. Michigan Bell Telephone Co. – Grand Rapids

Warren and Virginia Randall made this once lavish mansion in downtown Grand Rapids their home in 1907. Although Warren had a good job as a brakeman on the G.R. and Indiana railroad his luck quickly turned when he lost his leg in a railway accident and had to replace it with a wooden one. Becoming increasingly insecure with himself Warren accused Virginia of having affairs and would regularly get into violent fights with her. The cops once found him chasing her down an alley with a straight edge razor. Although she didn’t press charges she left him later that summer.

Shortly after that Warren tried to make amends with Virginia and coaxed her into a carriage ride. The two ended up back at the mansion late at night where they got into one last fight. Warren beat her to death with his wooden leg then sealed every opening in the room with towels, taking a gas fixture off the wall to let the fumes invade the room. He then took out a straight razor and slashed his throat with it.

The bodies were found two weeks later when the office building next door started complaining of a strange odor coming from the mansion. Many board members and an official from the gas company broke in to find the bodies so badly blackened and decayed they were only able to identify them by Warren’s wooden leg.

The house was torn down 10 years later and Bell Telephone Co. has occupied the space since 1924. Although the house no longer remains many witnesses claim they can hear the screams and cries of Virginia begging her husband for mercy.

6. The Masonic Temple – Detroit

In 1920 Mr. Mason was a wealthy gentleman in Detroit who was the financier behind The Masonic Temple. With over 1000 rooms, concealed passageways, and several hidden staircases, Mr. Mason went way over his budget and eventually became bankrupt. When his wife left him over money problems Mr. Mason jumped to his death from the temple. Security guards claim they still see sightings of Mr. Mason and visitors often report an eerie feeling of being watched.

7. The Henderson Castle – Kalamazoo

Four ghosts frequent this 115 year old castle turned bed and breakfast: the castle’s original owners – Frank and Mary Henderson, a Spanish-American War veteran – Clare Burleigh, an unidentified little girl, and a dog.

The local Kalamazoo paranormal team has investigated the castle nearly half a dozen times since 2008. The ghosts favorite forms of communication include tapping people on the shoulder and appearing suddenly in period clothing. Ellen Creager, a writer from the Detroit Free Press visited the haunted locale and explained her experiences.

“I don’t believe in ghosts, but it was very strange,” Creager wrote in an e-mail. “I was sound asleep in the Dutch Room when I felt a tap, tap, tap on my forearm. I woke up and it was pitch dark. I heard a woman’s voice say, ‘Go away.’ I lay awake for a while. I knew it wasn’t a dream, but if it wasn’t a dream, what was it?”

8. Old City Orphanage – Marquette

This Catholic orphanage, formerly known as the Holy Cross Orphanage, was built in 1915 and abandoned in the ’60s. The French nuns in care of the orphans were known to be incredibly cruel and violent, both emotionally and physically abusive, to the children. There are many sad and scary stories that have come from this place but the greatest legend surrounds a young child that wandered out into a blizzard one night to play in the snow. It’s said the nuns were so furious with her that after she died from pneumonia they displayed her body in the lobby of the orphanage for the other children to learn a lesson from.

Many people who have lived near the orphanage have reported seeing glowing lights moving from floor to floor or window to window when no one else was inside. Other visitors say they can hear the sounds of crying children when they pass late at night.

9. The Bruce Mansion – Brown City

The Bruce Mansion has a long history of its owners dying tragically either inside of the house or somewhere on the grounds. In 2009 the Waite family became owners of the mansion after gaining it in a foreclosure, reporting it was still occupied with former deceased owners who never left. They quickly called paranormal investigators to find out what was going on.

When Beyond Paranormal came to the house for an investigation in 2011 they recorded one member of their team being pushed while another record captured a camera which was video recording suddenly toppled on its tripod as it was capturing the voice of a small child saying “Grandpa”. The Waite’s were allowing ghost tours into the house until recently but no longer offer them.

10. Bone Head’s BBQ – Willis

Unlike other places on this list there doesn’t seem to be any known reason for why this location is haunted – it just is. Built in the 1860s this building has been a post office, butcher shop, coach shop, and ice house but there’s no recorded troubled history during any of these time periods. The ghosts that frequent the place range from an older woman with her hair in a bun believed to have lived in an upstairs apartment when the building was a general store to a young girl that lives in the woman’s restroom.

James and Nikki LaChance opened Bone Head’s in 2009 and immediately began having trouble with the ghosts when they started renovating the space. When they began breaking vases Nikki told the local news she explained to the ghosts what they were doing with the place. “I talked to the ghosts and assured them that we are taking care of the place,” she said. “After that, they stopped breaking things.”