Haunted Places Archives - Lost In Michigan

The Ghost in the Dompierre House

Posted on July 23, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, upper peninsula .

I was roaming around the town of Michigamme in the Upper Peninsula and I saw a sign for the Dompierre House. It is an old log cabin that sits on the Michigamme Historical Society property. I walked up to the house and took a few pics then looked in the upper left window and my heart literally skipped a beat. I thought I saw a ghost but then realized it was a mannequin standing in front of the window. The historical society was closed when I was there so when I got back home I looked up some info on the old house and I am thinking it is probably haunted after what I had learned.

The original builder of the house was the Michigamme Mining Company and was one of the first structures in town. It has two entry doors because it was most likely a duplex when it was built. In 1896, Napoleon Beauvais purchased the home from the Mining Company. He and his wife, Julia Cadair Beauvias, moved in. Unfortunately, in 1903, Beauvais’ son from his first marriage attacked Julia and then killed himself. Julia was able to summon help before she died herself. The home remained vacant until 1916 when Eusebe Dompierre purchased the home for his daughter and her family for $200 which would be about $4560 today. The home remained in the Dompierre family until it was moved to its present location and restored in 2000.

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The Great White Castle of the North

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, upper peninsula .

Standing near Little Bay De Noc in Escanaba is a place known as The Great White Castle. No, I am not talking about fast food place where you get the little hamburgers, I am referring to the magnificent House Of Ludington hotel. It easy to find some historical information about it since there is a Michigan Historic Marker next to it that reads:

In 1864, E. Gaynor built the Gaynor House hotel, which he renamed the Ludington House in 1871 after lumberman Nelson Ludington. In the late 1800s proprietor John Christie enlarged the hotel and renamed the establishment the New Ludington Hotel. An advertisement in the 1893 Michigan Gazetteer and Business Directory read, “New Ludington Hotel – The Largest and Only hotel in the city having Baths, Steam Heat and Electric Call Bells – $2.00 per day.” The hotel exemplifies Queen Anne resort architecture, popular in the 1880s and 1890s.

An old postcard of the hotel, year unknown but looking at the cars I would say sometime in the 60’s

As with any large old structure, there are rumors of ghosts the reside in the historic building. they say they are friendly and like to play with the elevator controls and some people have claimed to see them in the hallways. I don’t know about spirits roaming around but I can imagine over the years many travelers, tourists, and business professionals staying at the hotel enjoying ” Pure Michigan”.

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Michigan’s Haunted Castle

Posted on April 17, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Houses .

Henderson Castle sits on a hill overlooking Kalamazoo. The massive stone mansion was completed in 1895. It was built for local businessman Frank Henderson and his wife Mary. Sadly Frank died shortly after moving into the house. He could only enjoy his beautiful home for about five years. Mary lived in the house until her death in 1908. Both of them are buried in the cemetery across the street from their former house.

The home changed owners a few times but now it is owned by Master Chef Francois Moyet who runs the stone mansion as an inn allowing guests to experience this historic home and his french cooking. Hospitality may not be the only thing you experience. According to paranormal experts, the home is haunted by the ghosts of Frank and Mary. They loved their home so much that it is believed that their spirits are spending eternity together in their Kalamazoo home.

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The Iron Bars of Boyne Falls

Posted on March 2, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Parks .

I see a lot of interesting things at local parks around Michigan. From historic monuments to old locomotives but the park in Boyne Falls has some old jail cells on dislplay. They go back to the lumbering days when they needed to incarcerate rowdy lumberjacks. It is rather strange to see them in a park but they are an interesting piece of history. I know I would not want to be inside when those iron bars slam shut and the lock is put on them.

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The Haunted Sage Library

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Library .

Near the Historic Midland Street district in Bay City is the magnificent brick Sage Library. A green Michigan historical marker stands in front of it giving a little history of the building.

Henry W. Sage (1814-1897) founded the village of Wenona (later West Bay City) in 1863. A merchant and philanthropist, he was also a founder of the Sage, McGraw & Company sawmill. In 1881 he donated property, building funds and $10,000 for books to West Bay City for its first public library. The structure was built in 1882-1883 at a cost of nearly $50,000. Charles Babcock of Cornell University designed the French Chateauesque-style building, and the local architectural firm of Pratt & Koeppe superintended the construction. The library was dedicated on January 16, 1884, in a ceremony presided over by Cornell’s Moses Coit Tyler. Michigan Supreme Court judges, congressmen and state officials attended. Offering continuous public library service since 1884, the library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

What the sign does not tell, is that the historic building is rumored to be haunted. According to the book Haunted Bay City, Michigan the library has had some strange occurrences over the years. Librarians have sometimes heard loud heavy footsteps behind them as they work. After turning around no one is there. When closing up at night all the books are neatly organized and in the morning sometimes a few books are found strewn about as if a storm or something, or someone has moved them in a disorderly manner. Most disturbing is people have seen a little girl in a white dress on the third floor. Legend has it she died over a century ago by contracting smallpox from a book she borrowed from the library.

I am not sure if any of the ghost sightings are true but it is a beautiful old library with a lot of history.

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Michigan’s Urban Legend of Hell’s Bridge

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places .

Northwest of Rockford this rickety old metal footbridge crosses the Rogue River and has been dubbed as Hell’s Bridge. Urban legend has it that this is the spot where a man killed several children you can hear their screams at night and see their faces in the water of the flowing river. I have read different variations of the legend on the internets but As the story goes, In the 1800s, a man by the name of Elias Friskie who lived near the river either kidnapped children or was asked to watch a group of children. He took them down to the river where the current metal bridge crosses it. they say he was summoned by a demon to murder the innocent children. Either he buried their bodies under leaves near the river, or threw them into the river to be carried downstream. When the townspeople of Rockford began looking for the children they found Elias Friskie covered in blood and hanged him from a bridge over the Rogue River.

That is the gist of the urban legend. I am not sure how true it is or if any of it is true. I looked for Elias Friskie on www.findagrave.com but I did not see him listed on there or anywhere else. I am thinking he was a fictional person and a story created to scare the local teenagers and it has grown over time and especially on the internet. I think the name of Elias Friske was taken from Friskie Road which is where the trail to access the bride state from.

I stopped by and visited the legendary bridge, but did not see or witness anything out of the ordinary other than the graffiti on the tree. From what I could tell it looks as if it is a spot where you could launch a canoe or kayak. There is a small parking lot with a bulletin board, although nothing was posted on it. It looked like it was meant for public access, but there are houses around so I did not wander off the trail because I assume the surrounding property is private. I am guessing years ago the local teenagers hung out and partied at the remote spot on the river and that is how the legend of Hell’s Bridge began.

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Sturgeon Point lighthouse and the Legend of the Native American Spirit

Posted on November 10, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Lighthouses .

The cape cod style Sturgeon Point lighthouse was built in 1869 after it was determined there needed to be a lighthouse between Tawas and Alpena’s Thunder Bay. The brick tower stands 70 feet tall and has a 3.5 order Fresnel lens that was originally installed at Oswego New York. Sturgeon Point is one of a few lighthouses left on the great lakes still using a Fresnel Lens.

Legend has it if you press your ear to the lighthouse’s tower, you may hear the echoes of a Native American man that fell inside the tower. The story goes that he was ascending the tower when he caught his foot on the cast iron circular staircase, hanging himself upside down. When he died, his soul entered the staircase’s suspension pole. Sometimes visitors can still hear his cries for help.

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Pere Cheney Cemetery

Posted on October 12, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, Haunted Places .

I visited the Pere Cheney cemetery several years ago when I started Lost In Michigan. I happened to be in the area so I figured I should stop by and see how it looks since I visited last. I was happy to see a stone monument near the entrance with a little bit of history of the town that is now gone. I also saw a lot of coins and trinkets left by visitors so the old remote and secluded graveyard must receive a lot of visitors.

The town of Pere Cheney was started in 1873 by George Chaney about 15 miles southeast of Grayling. The town’s population grew to about 1500 people but two epidemics of Diptheria in 1893 and 1897 killed most of its citizens.

Most of the headstones in the cemetery are gone and of the few remaining some have toppled over or been vandalized. The tallest monument in the old graveyard is for Frank and Frances Barber’s children.

Hattie, Ray, and Roy all died in December of 1893. That must have been a terrible Christmas for Frank and Frances and the entire town of Pere Chaney as death swept through the northern Michigan town.

If you want to know more about Pere Chaney you can see my post about the infamous town HERE or in Volume 1 of my Lost In Michigan book series where I give detailed information on how to find the Cemetery. You can order them from Amazon HERE

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The Haunted Library

Posted on October 10, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Library .

Some claim that this historic library in Belding is haunted. They do not know who it is that haunts the Alvah N. Belding Library, but according to the internets when doing a little googling some say that they have heard children laughing in the children’s section when nobody is around. I don’t know about this place being haunted but it is a beautiful old building. The historical marker out front proudly tells some of its history.

Alvah N. Belding erected this library in 1917/18 as a memorial to his parents, Hiram and Mary Wilson Belding. Alvah and his brother Hiram began peddling silk around Belding (then Patterson’s Mills) in 1858. With the help of their brother Milo they began the internationally known Belding Bros. & Company in 1863. Michigan’s first silk mill was erected here in 1886 and operated until 1932. This library, which cost $50,000, was dedicated and presented to the City of Belding on May 14, 1918. It is the only structure built by the Beldings still being used for its original purpose. An example of Classical Revival architecture, the limestone structure features a Spanish-tile roof. Its interior contains trim of marble oak and pine.

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Secrets of the Octagon House in Dansville

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Historic Places, Houses .

This oddly shaped two-story octagon house stands near downtown Dansville. The small town is on M-36 about 25 miles southeast of Lansing. The historic octagon house was built in 1863 by Doctor. D.J. Watson. Rumors have claimed the house was used on the Underground Railroad. Legend has it, escaping slaves would hide in the basement while lookouts stood watch in the cupola. There was a tube that ran down the cent of the house for the lookouts to alert the slaves. If they needed to escape supposedly a tunnel leading out the back of the house to a wooded area whey they could leave undetected. None of the rumors have been proven to be true. A tube did run from the cupola to the basement but it was used for ventilation. It was also believed a tunnel was in the basement, but that had lead to a garage that is gone now.

Rumors are also circulating that the house is haunted by the spirits of runaway slaves that may have died in the house. But they are probably just imaginative ghost stories to go along with the Underground Railroad theories. Whether or not the house was used on the Underground Railroad, it is a unique house that has stood since the time of the Civil War. It is one of only a few Octagon Houses standing in Michigan.

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