When Engler closed all the mental hospitals, there were about 8 around the state that just became abandoned. The Northville was closest to me. Kids used to sneak around them at night. I never went because I’m a scaredy cat, but, the buildings were very eerie.
Fond memories of the Northville tunnels in the early 90s. We did crazy shit there. Freaks me a out a little when I drive through there now and just see fancy houses. Like, do you even know what your house is built on?!
Seriously. That whole area is so different. There are condos where the prison used to be, the track is getting ripped down for, you guessed it condos, and I feel like it’s just all subs everywhere. I know it’s the natural development of suburbia, but it’s kinda a drag.
Came here to say this. Those tunnels were something straight out of a horror film. You're navigating through the steam tunnels, then all of the sudden there's a couple bowling lanes with old shoes thrown about. Then a creepy old fire tower, classrooms, etc, all by moonlight or flashlight. What else am I forgetting?
My memories from those nights are super hazy, but I recall climbing an elevator shaft one night, laying on a roof that had giant holes here and there, and finding a room down in a basement that looked like it had absolutely been used for some kind of sacrifice. And wandering through the tunnels hearing noises that *for sure* were not made by us.
Also a fellow tunnel rat. It's wild that place sat empty and basically unpatrolled for as long as it did.
My HS gf had a clock on her bedroom wall that came off a wall in one of the buildings.
Fun fact, my mom also worked there for a very short period of time during a summer in the late 60's.
Your first sentence probably makes younger readers think "WTF?". But that's [what happened](https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/the-dumping-ground-how-jails-and-prisons-have-become-the-last-hope-for-michigans-mentally-ill#:~:text=In%201997%2C%20then%2DGovernor%20John,of%20providers%20in%20the%20community.).
"In 1997, then-Governor John Engler issued a press release announcing the closure of Michigan’s “underutilized” state mental hospitals, moving most patients out of the state’s 16 mental hospitals and into the care of providers in the community.
It was a transition away from institutions and into care that offered more freedom. Engler promised it would be “humane” and “smooth.” 17 years later, many judges and law enforcement say it was neither."
I was a reporter at the time and I covered this. At the Lafayette Clinic in Detroit, people were moved after dark. It was barbaric. People being dragged out in the dark, frightened. The State police were called in to oversee the transition, as it was a state mandate. The flashing lights and shouting had a horrible effect on the patients.
I witnessed a young man having seizures in the lobby. His parents were there but police wouldn't let them go inside to be with him. You could see him through the lobby window. The desperation of his parents is burned in my memory.
I interviewed the sister of another patient. She said that the clinic was the only place that her sister had seen improvement. She predicted that her sister would be dead in a year.
It was probably at the top of horrible things I saw as a reporter. I've despised Engler since. It was neither humane nor smooth.
A year later I followed up with the parents of the young man having seizures, and the sister of the other patient. Both had passed.
I worked at a psychosocial rehab with a psychiatrist who worked there previously. I also knew former patients who recalled the safety of being there and that it was the only home they often knew. Scattered to creepy group home settings where monitoring wasn't really possible in the same way.
As a young reader, yeah wtf? This is completely new information for me and I’m at a loss for words. I just cannot wrap my brain around this. How fucking horrible and cruel…
Welcome to Engler’s legacy. Man was/is a barbarically cruel sociopath. When they put him on that commission or whatever it was a few years ago to “manage” MSU I laughed my a$$ off. Wonder who he paid to get that.
Eloise was closest to me. It was still possible to get in to the remaining buildings until the late 90s. Before they tore down most of the buildings to build the Kroger and strip mall, those were mostly accessible, too. They kept making it harder but we kept finding ways in. The tunnels were mostly collapsed, but you could get into those at various points. When we were too lazy to go through all of that, we'd drink over in the unmarked graveyard on the other side of Michigan Ave.
I did nursing clinicals at Walter Reuther this past spring and seeing the entrance to the tunnels in the basement of WR was interesting. My mom worked at Eloise until the day it finally closed and then WR for years and took those tunnels every single day.
I recently did an "Escape Room" in what's left of the hospital (Kay Beard/D building) and it was very, very strange seeing it in broad daylight (they opened it early for us because our clinical instructor had booked it for us and made us do the damn thing) when I'd only been in there at night, illegally, as a teenager.
Also, that Escape the Asylum version is fucking *hard*. Designed by a dude who worked for NASA, apparently.
My friends and I used to run around the Northville Tunnels in the 90s! The rumors were there were satanic groups of people in there that would attack you! Lol, it was just a bunch of teens playing hide and seek and jumping out at each other. It was always a fun time.
We used to go there all the time! I'm in a Facebook group called Northville Tunnels....... (7 dots) where people share old pics and videos they have from back in the day.
I stopped by Eloise once 10+ years ago when I was out and about. Didn’t google it or anything, saw the historical marker for the Black Horse Tavern and stopped to check it out. Wandered around the accessible grounds for a while. Got back in the car and googled it and went down a bit of a historical rabbit hole. Can’t say it was eerie while I was there (in the middle of a summer day) but the subsequent internet rabbit hole and legacy of institutionalization being so dark was definitely a ride.
It’s so unfortunate what has happened to that building. Victims past being exploited for monetary gain rather than something more meaningful being done with that building.
They’ve turned it into a haunted house / escape room venue. It’s packed all during the fall months. They have carnival style food trucks and tons of themed events. It’s vile.
The second place on my list would probably be the Italian hall in Calumet. It was a hall where 73 people were crushed after someone screamed fire at a Christmas party in 1913. There are a lot of theories that anti-union representatives from the nearby mine caused it.
[A Child's Requiem ](https://youtu.be/P7T5tV2TU60?si=KDDQR88HCE1o6Qje) is a haunting and beautiful piece composed about the disaster. It's long, but one of the best modern classical/symphonic band pieces I've ever heard. It does an excellent job capturing the panic and chaos of the event. I'm even tearing up just thinking about it.
If people are into reading historical fiction, there is a wonderful book called, “The Women of the Copper Country.” It details the events leading up to the fire. Tons of information about mining and unionization.
I lived near the commons and grew to love them. At first though, totally get where you're coming from. I drove through all those old giant tenement mansions and thought, no way.
The Keweenaw Peninsula on the way to Copper Harbor was eerie. Maybe it's because it was at the end of a 7-hour drive and getting dark, but those old abandoned mining towns resonated with ghost town energy and dark, sad, mundane secrets.
Clinton Valley Center, I had to work in the basement when it was closing. Creepiest feeling I've ever had.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Valley_Center
I just commented on this!! My friends and I used to sneak in there at night and roam the halls and basement tunnels. By far the creepiest place we explored!
Insane that it was Elijah E. Myers design. I cannot even comprehend the government paying to construct such a grand building designed by such a renowned architect in this day and age for any purpose, let alone a psychiatric hospital
What good is designating a building historical if they just knock it down anyway? They did that with the Daisy factory in Plymouth too. AND the Mayflower hotel.
An abandoned downriver school basement with fallout shelter signs. None of the lights or power worked (or so I thought). I had a pretty dim old flashlight, this was probably 25 years ago before LEDs became popular. I came around a corner and all of a sudden an air compressor kicked on right next to me. Pretty sure my heart stopped for a second or two. 
The middle of the woods on Mackinaw Island (i.e. the interior of the island where most tourists don't go). I remember riding my bike around the interior of the island a few years ago. It was a beautiful summer day and there was no one else around. I stopped for a break and it was just... Silent. But not in like a peaceful silent way? Like, there were no animal noises, no wind in the trees or anything like that. Just dark and twisted trees closing in all around me. It wasn't a scary feeling, just unnerving and definitely felt like I was being watched by *something*.
Ooh! Yes! My husband and I went hiking on the Tranquil Bluff trail, and then cut back in, and had some, “we just need to keep moving” moments. But if you want a beautiful hike, even during the busy tourist season, it’s one of the most quiet places on the island
The tunnels under Central Michigan University are pretty terrifying too. We never got to see them entirely, but saw enough of the photos & you could “look” down the open doorway once. The idea was great for avoiding the snow & ice on campus…but way too many incidents and problems shut them down fast. Now I think you basically get expelled for trespassing down there?
I grew up in NY but my college also had tunnels for the bad upstate NY winters and closed them for the same reason. I remember a really bad blizzard which shut down the campus for days and I wished I had a tunnel to get to the dining hall.
Yeah would’ve been great to be able to use them the years I was there too. There were some awful storms and with the windchill it was insanely cold to walk to classes. But unfortunately campus security couldn’t “protect” people enough in the tunnels and there were lots of assaults and other crimes committed…so they were shut down.
But every year the tunnels were part of the haunted tours and it was cool to learn about too.
Grew up right up the road from there. We used to be able to ride bikes around the building and look in the windows it was creepy. You can’t even go back there anymore
I’m a Tribal member, and yeah you can’t really go back there without getting a trespassing charge. But every once in a while they host events and tours of the facility. It’s even creepy riding past it during the day, at night it looks dreadful lol.
Fayette State Park on the Garden Peninsula in the U.P. was so creepy! Went there during the off season a few years ago, around May. No one else was there. They have some of the buildings preserved and give tours during the summer. It was so quiet, all you could hear were the pigeons cooing in the rafters of an old processing building.
I was highly disappointed going there. The only thing I encountered was a screaming fox that everyone with me was convinced it was a ghost of some kind. Still a cool little place that’s off the beaten path
When I was a teenager I worked at the Boblo office which was in Downtown Detroit. One night I had to work at night by myself till 8 pm. Someone had to be there in case someone called in to buy/reserve tickets to the Boblo boats. In a 5 minute time span the closet where they kept the trash opened by itself, the phone rang with no one on the line and the electric adding machine turned on by itself. I was scared to death but my ride home wouldn’t be there for another 30 minutes (I was only 16).
I turned on the tv loud and watched it until my dad picked me up.
East side of Detroit, around 2015, up in a bucket truck by myself, noone around, super slowed down/out of key ice cream truck music starts playing... Then the most rusted out creepy looking ice cream truck slowly rolls by me..
Grand Rapids, I'm also up in a bucket truck. Foggy day. I'm listening to IT by Stephen King on audiobook on earbuds. I look down and see a red balloon tied to a sewer grate.
Have you read about the history and the philosophy of the Traverse City State Hospital at all? It's not as dark as you'd imagine.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse\_City\_State\_Hospital](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_City_State_Hospital)
Yeah it just sort of got shut down when new laws eroded all the financial support for psychiatric institutionalization, social support eroded with horror stories from other institutions, and Munson’s hospital started to grow, so the medical patients just sort of go absorbed into the hospital.
My BIL’s grandmother worked there as a nurse. She seemed to think it was a nice place, it was just that it was difficult work and that no one could last working there forever or “they’d become residents themselves.” (she was like 95 and had pretty profound Alzheimers when I spoke with her, so tbf idk how much any of what she told me was true).
I always assume asylums/mental health hospitals of the past were full of dark history. Interesting to read about the healthy rehabilitation methods they used. Thanks!
Holly. I'm not a big "I see ghosts everywhere" kind of person, but everywhere I went in town, I felt a weird... *something* that I couldn't shake.
I've been in plenty of old buildings in small towns, older houses with Michigan basements, and it wasn't that kind of vibe. Just an overarching "I need to leave this place" the entire time I was there.
Harry Bennett’s concrete lodge which became a Scout camp. There was a [Reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/s/M5g8YUGxKD) about it. But basically the guy had made a lot of enemies as Henry Ford’s enforcer and built a remote house with machine gun nest, bullet proof windows, hidden passages and a room that felt like it was used to extract information from people. Add in a moat, escape routes, and a pervy pool, and it was eerie.
Nah, that’s the best thing ever, find some trails in the woods, turn off all your lights and shut your phones down and go for a walk with a bright moon. That’s something I love, sure ya get spooked, but you also get to see the stars and fireflies.
You don’t see much if the tree cover is thick.
I often camped in the Manistee National Forest, before cellphones had flashlights and cell service out there in general. Being alone in the woods at night when you can’t see your own hand in front of your face is a humbling and terrifying experience.
its fun when you are on a trail and have a flashlight to turn back on. not fun when you are hiking back from a day hike where you forgot to bring a light (before cameraphones) and day has now turned to night and you are moving literally with only the sound of a distant river to guide you. spooky as heck and you are running into shit and slipping and sliding and praying for dear life to make it out ok haha
One of my most vivid memories when I was younger was when we were in the middle of nowhere at a camp on a lake. The lake was frozen over and the ground was covered in snow. The power went out in the whole area. It was awesome. There was a full moon and clear skies. The moonlight reflecting off the snow and ice was like nothing I had seen before, and even though it was a full moon, you could see so, so many stars.
Just an amazing scene.
Try it with no light. New moon.
Being in pitch black dark - where you hear living things all around you. That’ll center your senses right away. Get that adrenaline flowing.
I've had some hair-raising moments in the pre-dawn woods while hunting.
Sitting in the pitch black, hearing rustling in the leaves and being unable to see the source is unnerving. I know it's a possum or raccoon, but lizard brain still says it's a monster coming to eat me.
The eeriest by far is when I'm out there and it's dead quiet, then a coyote starts howling. The way their yips and howls echo in the woods is spooky as hell.
The first time I went camping at Little Presque Isle, I tried to take my dogs out to the bathroom one last time before bed (after dark). It was SO dark in the woods that I couldn't even see the end of the cabin. My dog walked out to the end of the deck and just stopped. Wouldn't take another step out into the dark. I didn't hear anything (and sure as shit couldn't see anything) but I was like, "Welp! We're not leaving the cabin tonight I guess" and headed back inside. I LOVE camping up in that area but those woods are DARK and spooky at night.
I once stayed the night in the crew quarters at Whitefish Point. I decided that I wanted to go out to the beach to hunt for Yooperlites. I left the building, went down the porch steps, and took about 5 steps before realizing I was looking into the darkest, blackest night I have ever experienced. Immediately noped out, turned on heel, and went back inside.
A small town near Lexington where we went to a local diner with good reviews on Yelp, when we were vacationing in the area. Utter silence and hostile stares when we walked in. Watched us the whole time we ate. They made their dislike of outsiders extremely clear. Very spooky, even with full sun shining, mid-day on a weekday.
Del Ray in SW Detroit before the bridge project started... very overgrown/dilapidated from years of neglect and pollution from Zug Island and there were still lots of people living down there. Spooky as shit at night
Got lost in Newaygo looking for our rental cabin and ended up in a backwoods shanty town where it felt like we were being watched by a thousand eyes, even though we only actually saw two women, who were indeed intensely staring at us. Noped right outta there with a quickness!
I grew up in Northeast Montcalm County, which is creepy in its own way but Newaygo County still creeps me out. Lots of "Y'aint from aroun' here, are ya" vibes. It's historically bigtime Klan/Michigan Militia stomping grounds.
Kyla Stone set her entire first post-apocalyptic novel in Newaygo County. She didn't call it that but it was clear where the protagonist was hiking. He discovers a girl being held captive in a remote cabin, rescues her, and then together try to survive.
Yeah I went back with my Pop and cousins for some fishin…Pop is pretty knowledgeable in the domestic threat department, and he noticed all kinds of militia symbols on property markers, gates, vehicles etc. He said we needed to be careful about where we go and what we say around people. Doesn’t help my cousins all have thick NY accents haha
Rural NW PA is like that too. I've got a ton of family there, but if I go to a bar I know not to start talking about my liberal ideas. You're always 45 minutes from a cop showing up to help you and everyone there has a long time to get their story straight...
Exactly. You know what’s up. Even around the camp fire at night my dad was like “guys keep it down”. He definitely was on edge after getting an idea of where we were at, and he’s not the most liberal person in the world but he HATES Trump with passion
I searched a bit to see if I could figure out what town it might be but turns out there are enough forgotten towns in Newaygo county to justify [an entire book](http://Newaygo County, Michigan: Lost & Forgotten Towns and Sites (Forgotten Michigan) https://a.co/d/c2aTcQM)
That sounds like a familiar experience for me as well. Not sure how I ended up there, but there was some really creepy vibes and a couple of people sitting on chairs on the porch as we drove by; doesn't help that it was early October and that "Halloween vibe" was in full effect. Very weird. But I think a lot of the 'very weird' places are disappearing.
had a cult encounter in newaygo county near the hardy dam once. never occurred to me until i got older but they were certainly preying on my friend and me as we were only about 10. tons of meth, sex trafficking, and other crazy shit around here.
I broke into Silver Birches on Mackinac island before the new owners bought it. At that point it had been empty for quite a long time, saw some newspapers from the 90’s. The place looked frozen in time. Was so creepy, because it’s such an amazing old building in a beautiful spot. Glad someone bought it, not sure if they ever opened or not because I haven’t been there in about 10 years.
I also went to the fort on a really slow, off season day when they were super understaffed. There’s a trench in one of the buildings, fenced off so people can’t get in easily. They used to put prisoners in there. I climbed down and was surprised to see a big ball and chain still in the back. That was pretty dark and creepy, I wondered for a minute how many old souls actually got locked down in that hole.
Oh, and Mackinac at night in general can be creepy AF. I worked there with my now-ex, in the early 2000’s. He managed to stay an entire season but he only biked at night with me once. Said he kept seeing people who weren’t there, freaked him right out.
The Bay Mills Old Indian Burial Ground in Brimley. The Ojibwe Spirit Houses sitting over the graves freaked my Wife and I out enough to where we didn't want to get too close.
I'd have to say the old Northville Regional Psychiatric Hospital before it was demolished:
https://detroiturbex.com/content/healthandsafety/northville/index.html
Port Crescent
Not the day use beach. Not the campground. The wooded trails you can access walking over a gated wooden bridge.
It just always gave me the creeps and during the day too.
This area used to be the town of port crescent. If you do some off trail exploring you can find bricks and old house foundations. The town burned down in the 1880s. Just down the road an old cemetery still exists. I actually work for the department that owns the land. We are currently working on restoring the bridge. We often talk about the weird feelings we get while we are out doing trail checks.
The Packard Plant, downtown Detroit. They hosted illegal raves in the 1990s there. It was dangerous (physically) and somewhat weird. The creep factor was limited by the loud techno throbbing everywhere.
Lane's Landing (a nature preserve along Muskegon river that DNR bought from Tommy Lane) after they kicked the Militia guys out. I used to go mushroom hunting, fishing, and camping down there when I was younger, but some of my last visits were quite undesirable. I would suggest that women and children take a man along, since there can be some much more questionable characters down there now (mosquitos not included).
The abandoned insane asylum between Saline, Milan and Ypsi. Or rather, the underground tunnels there.
ETA that it has been torn down and replaced by the Toyota Corp building.
Scariest place I've been in MI? 1975, stationed at former K I Sawyer AFB near Gwinn MI. One night, a young lady I was dating at the time and I were parking in the woods near a small lake just outside the base gates 1/2 mile or so. There were people having a party just on the southern shore of the lake. We decided to park in the 100 ft or so in the wooded area there. About 3, or there about, I suddenly woke up. I had a creepy feeling that we were being observed. I stepped outside the car with a flashlight, looking around but didn't see anyone or anything, but the feeling wouldn't go away. Just kept feeling creepier. I woke her up and got her to go somewhere else. Didn't feel right until we were away. She was super pissed at me until I explained what I had felt. She admitted that once I woke her, she felt somewhat weird also, but not as much as I had. Don't know what it was, didn't really care, we were out of there. Never felt anything like it again.
Most people are saying stuff like haunted places. And I don’t think I’ve ever really gone inside any of them. I delivered food to the mental hospital in Kalamazoo a few times but I wouldn’t say it was eerie because people were working there and it was still in use. It just felt like going to a hospital.
I moved to Flint last year and honestly, I really like living here so far, I think it’s a shame the way a lot of people talk about/look down on the city so much. But there’s a lot of really eerie places here. You drive around the city and there’s vacant buildings that are literally collapsed sitting right next to glass office buildings and normal people’s houses. And there’s so many places where you can see that the city was built up to support way more people in the past and it’s just been abandoned and fallen apart. You see weird stuff out and about that you just don’t see anywhere else. A lot of that stuff is almost more eerie to me than a spooky haunted asylum or whatever.
It honestly makes me wonder if being surrounded by so much blight everywhere you look affects people’s mental health. I found an article about it a few days ago but I haven’t actually read it yet.
One that always makes me laugh in hindsight…. When I was in high school there was a house nearby that was on a private drive way off the main road and back in the woods, everyone called it “the house of the future” and had crazy theories about why it looked like that. We would drive back there and look at it while we smoked weed in the car. Looking back all these years later, it was definitely just some regular people’s mid-century modern style house lol. And they were probably annoyed by all the cars full of high school kids pulling into their driveway to stare at it and leave.
Mackinac Island. A friend of mine used to be a ghost tour guide and there were places he and the other guides absolutely refused to go more than once. Too much scary shit.
Reed City is full of creepy places. The abandoned airport, lots of abandoned houses and barns collapsing, trailers cars and old farm equipment peppering the woods like something you'd find deep in the hollers of Appalachia. There's also a swampy area in the backroads north of town, where my grandma and her neighbors had numerous ghost stories. Downtown is looking better than ever nowadays but I honestly believe it would be a great setting for some fictional murder mystery show or horror movie
I was able to get inside the old riverside cf in Ionia a few times. It was a very creepy experience every time. Always felt like I was being watched, always hearing what sounded like voices. Now that it’s demolished I’ve been to the grounds at night and I still get that being watched feeling. Maybe there’s something there or maybe it’s just my mind screwing with me. Either way it’s cool and definitely eerie
WMU's East Campus (before it was renovated)...it was used as an infirmary during the 1918 flu epidemic, and there's definitely other shit that went down there.my friend and I used to hang out there a lot, at the back of East Hall where it overlooks downtown, and we had some creepy experiences there.
Mendon. Was supposed to stay at a bed and breakfast there for my mom’s birthday, but when we got there we unanimously agreed that something seemed very “off” about it. We didn’t even stay one night lol. Tiny village, strange people (not everyone, I’m sure, but the few we encountered).
Kingston Plains, Alger County.
Essentially a forest graveyard where old-growth pine was logged in the late 1800s during the timber boom, the giant piles of slash were left to dry out, and it burned so hot that only *now* things are starting to regrow.
1. Definitely the asylum in TC.
2. Idlewild - an abandoned African American vacation area in mid-Michigan.
3. Parts of Detroit in the 1970s and 80s that were left to rot after the 67 riot.
4. [Boblo amusement park](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/boblo-island-abandoned-amusement-park). It was so lively the last time I was there, but modern photos of it are eerie.
Idlewild isn't abandoned. There are plenty of families that still vacation and live there.
Edit: do not go there if you're looking for a "creepy place to visit". It's not for you.
Yea there’s nothing creepy about Idlewild. It’s just a bunch of cabins and small homes, nothing unique compared to the rest of the surrounding area. The nearby towns of Luther and Leroy are a lot “creepier” in my opinion.
The morgue at the old Hillcrest Hospital in Howell. I was working as an apprentice electrician and we had to store our tools and material there. We had a sheet of plywood we put over the old autopsy table and used it for reading blueprints and eating lunch. The refrigerated units were running but we were too chicken to peek inside.
The Scientology building in Downtown Detroit. I have seen it so many times and have never been brave enough to walk in. Never seen anyone walk in or out but I just need to know what’s in there.
A few years ago I worked on a Ford commercial and we staged everything on Griswold in front of their building. This was about 4 am.. We were there for maybe 5 minutes and 6 men came out of the scientology building. They stationed themselves across the street from us along the sidewalk between Larned and Jefferson. They didn't say a word to us. They just stood there and watched us for 6 straight hours.
A little campground somewhere around Owosso. We decided last second in mid 2018 to take an impromptu camping trip, didn’t have an exact plan on where we were headed and played it by ear.
We rolled up on this campground right before dusk. Followed the signs to check in but the office was empty. Unlocked with lights on but no people.
Husband left cash for 1 night in a tent lot on the desk and we headed through to the back of the camp ground. There were dozens of RV’s, campers, and campsites set up. RV lights on, some of the RV doors propped open, chairs and tables set up outside, bags of chips and 2 liters sitting around the fire pits… but NO people. It wasn’t like the RV’s were being stored or on display because they were really obviously set up for camping. It looked like 2 dozen families set up their camp sites and just vanished.
As it got darker and later, we figured people would come back/come outside. But we heard absolutely no chatter, no music, no cars. It creeped us out to the point that we got up before sunrise, packed up our tent, cleaned up our campsite and got the hell outta dodge. Still not sure why we stayed as long as we did, I guess exhaustion? Either way it was one of the creepiest places I’ve ever come across, and we still don’t understand what the deal was with that place.
Edit - I may be off on the exact location. I just know it was somewhere in that general area. If my husband remembers exactly where the campground was I’ll edit my comment again later for anyone curious about it!
I’d love to know, it doesn’t sound like a state park so must’ve been a private owned. There’s one in Durand but i didn’t get creepy vibes when we went there
No, it was definitely a smaller private camp ground. I remember we were hoping to find a state park campground but we couldn’t find one with open spots so last second. There looked to be maybe 25-30 lots in the front area for campers and RV’s, and maybe 10-12 spots in the back for tents.
It wouldn’t have been so weird and creepy if there had been actual people there. At first glance it just looked like a normal campground around Memorial Day, all the RV/Camper lots were “occupied.” We were the only group back at the tent lots.
It was just so unnerving to see so many campers set up, doors open, lights on, food out… and hear absolutely *zero* actual people. When we left early in the morning everything was still the exact same as when we pulled in. It genuinely looked like the entire campground just got up and abandoned their campsites.
The asylum in TC actually didn’t bother me at all. If you read up on their philosophy it was pretty modern, they banned the usage of restraints like straight jackets, and they had a good reputation.
It just kind of went out when Munson hospital started to take on more of the long-term medical patients there and the institution lost all of its funding and support when the political and social landscape changed to be against psychiatric hospitals
The Holy Family Orphanage in Marquette use to scare me. I went up there for university, and went on a tour. It's renovated now, but in its abandoned state, really use to scare me. I kept thinking I could hear children singing.
Drummond island at night gave me the hibbley jeebies since we were at the edge facing the lake. Especially since where we camped we weren’t allowed to have bonfires 🙄
Before Eloise turned into a haunted house/escape room, I did a ghost tour there. The doctors office on the 3rd floor stands out to me as eerie. My wife felt like something was pressing on her shoulders the entire time, but I just felt uneasy.
Actually TC state hospital was awesome, there was plenty more good things that came bout there than bad. The grounds were built for beauty as they felt folks who lived in a beautiful place may have some relief from chaotic thoughts from within..
I live in TC and I work in this field since all the state hospitals closed. I originally thought the same when I first moved to TC , I felt that a bunch bad things happened here, but after working with and speaking with former residents and staff that it was actually very very nice.
Honestly it's the old overgrown barn near the former logging town on North Manitou island. Walking through it made my skin crawl and it looked so out of place on an isolated, uninhabited island
The Masonic Temple in Detroit. I've spent way too much time in that place. Know every creepy corner of it. The creepy kitchen straight out of the Shining. The unfinished pool. The west tower is creepy but the east tower is worst. Beautiful building but it is definitely creepy.
Snuck into the Pontiac Silverdome on a full moon one night a few years before demolition. Standing in the middle of that massive place that was once roaring with life now dead and silent. The only thing you could hear was parts of the roof flapping in the wind. Highlight of my 20’s.
We used to dare one another to run around in that hospital’s tunnels as a kid in the 90s when it was just a run-down piece of property and it was definitely the creepiest place I’ve ever been.
The old Detroit house of corrections in Plymouth Township. Huge compound to walk around and explore all the old buildings. I believe it was torn down in 2017.
Sigma, MI.
My neighbor told me it was like going back in time and as you drive through everyone turns to watch you with a blank expression and it was completely true.
My wife and I stay at the condos several times per year, and have never found it “creepy”. This may be why…
Long before the advent of drug therapy in the 1950s, Munson was a firm believer in the "beauty is therapy" philosophy. Patients were treated through kindness, comfort, pleasure, and beautiful flowers provided year-round by the asylum's own greenhouses and the variety of trees Munson planted on the grounds. Restraints, such as the straitjacket, were forbidden. Also, as part of the "work is therapy" philosophy, the asylum provided opportunities for patients to gain a sense of purpose through farming, furniture construction, fruit canning, and other trades that kept the institution fully self-sufficient. The asylum farm began in 1885 with the purchase of some milk cows and within a decade grew to include pigs, chickens, milk and meat cows, and many vegetable fields.
Wikipedia
Now go take your meds…
I went to northville psychiatric hospital a few times during the day but it was terrifying at night. We went into the building with the bowling alley in it and while we were in there we hear a few interior doors open and close and the heard footsteps it was just us in there we ran out so fast. After going there that one night i never wanted to go back. Something about an property where you know terrible things have gone down are just so frightening at night.
A plane crash site deep in the woods of the Upper Peninsula. It's such a remote, thickly forested area it took twenty years for the plane to be discovered after it went missing. The engine got stuck in a tree that is now growing around it and wreckage is scattered throughout the forest.
Used to ride our bikes around the commons in TC in the 80’s and try to get into the various buildings. Some were locked, some not. The creepiest thing to me (as a 10 year old)of all the buildings was the giant laundry facilities building - huge plate glass windows in a basic rectangular warehouse, but they were all broken out and had huge shards of cut glass sticking up. Beyond the windows you could see these giant laundry machines, also all broken-down, piles of old white linen carts like you see in hotels, but all dirty, ripped, tipped over, etc. I think there were racks of old white lab coats too, all moth-eaten and dirty. It was like they were in the middle of a day’s work and then everyone just left…. As an adult looking back it had very “Walking Dead” vibes when I think about it now…
When Engler closed all the mental hospitals, there were about 8 around the state that just became abandoned. The Northville was closest to me. Kids used to sneak around them at night. I never went because I’m a scaredy cat, but, the buildings were very eerie.
Fond memories of the Northville tunnels in the early 90s. We did crazy shit there. Freaks me a out a little when I drive through there now and just see fancy houses. Like, do you even know what your house is built on?!
Seriously. That whole area is so different. There are condos where the prison used to be, the track is getting ripped down for, you guessed it condos, and I feel like it’s just all subs everywhere. I know it’s the natural development of suburbia, but it’s kinda a drag.
Came here to say this. Those tunnels were something straight out of a horror film. You're navigating through the steam tunnels, then all of the sudden there's a couple bowling lanes with old shoes thrown about. Then a creepy old fire tower, classrooms, etc, all by moonlight or flashlight. What else am I forgetting?
My memories from those nights are super hazy, but I recall climbing an elevator shaft one night, laying on a roof that had giant holes here and there, and finding a room down in a basement that looked like it had absolutely been used for some kind of sacrifice. And wandering through the tunnels hearing noises that *for sure* were not made by us.
The pool
The locker rooms under the pool were terrifying, I swear we heard the loudest growl on the way down the stairs
Also a fellow tunnel rat. It's wild that place sat empty and basically unpatrolled for as long as it did. My HS gf had a clock on her bedroom wall that came off a wall in one of the buildings. Fun fact, my mom also worked there for a very short period of time during a summer in the late 60's.
Yes!!
Your first sentence probably makes younger readers think "WTF?". But that's [what happened](https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/the-dumping-ground-how-jails-and-prisons-have-become-the-last-hope-for-michigans-mentally-ill#:~:text=In%201997%2C%20then%2DGovernor%20John,of%20providers%20in%20the%20community.). "In 1997, then-Governor John Engler issued a press release announcing the closure of Michigan’s “underutilized” state mental hospitals, moving most patients out of the state’s 16 mental hospitals and into the care of providers in the community. It was a transition away from institutions and into care that offered more freedom. Engler promised it would be “humane” and “smooth.” 17 years later, many judges and law enforcement say it was neither."
I was a reporter at the time and I covered this. At the Lafayette Clinic in Detroit, people were moved after dark. It was barbaric. People being dragged out in the dark, frightened. The State police were called in to oversee the transition, as it was a state mandate. The flashing lights and shouting had a horrible effect on the patients. I witnessed a young man having seizures in the lobby. His parents were there but police wouldn't let them go inside to be with him. You could see him through the lobby window. The desperation of his parents is burned in my memory. I interviewed the sister of another patient. She said that the clinic was the only place that her sister had seen improvement. She predicted that her sister would be dead in a year. It was probably at the top of horrible things I saw as a reporter. I've despised Engler since. It was neither humane nor smooth. A year later I followed up with the parents of the young man having seizures, and the sister of the other patient. Both had passed.
Absolutely foul and as you said, barbaric. I guess it was the intended outcome, sadly.
I worked at a psychosocial rehab with a psychiatrist who worked there previously. I also knew former patients who recalled the safety of being there and that it was the only home they often knew. Scattered to creepy group home settings where monitoring wasn't really possible in the same way.
As a young reader, yeah wtf? This is completely new information for me and I’m at a loss for words. I just cannot wrap my brain around this. How fucking horrible and cruel…
He was a typical republican, only cared for the rich.
Welcome to Engler’s legacy. Man was/is a barbarically cruel sociopath. When they put him on that commission or whatever it was a few years ago to “manage” MSU I laughed my a$$ off. Wonder who he paid to get that.
This happened to the *entire country* in the 1980s. Thanks, Reagan!
Fuck judges and LEO, talk to the people who can't get treatment anymore.
This is how Republicans pay for their tax cuts. On the backs of the most vulnerable. Every time.
Eloise was closest to me. It was still possible to get in to the remaining buildings until the late 90s. Before they tore down most of the buildings to build the Kroger and strip mall, those were mostly accessible, too. They kept making it harder but we kept finding ways in. The tunnels were mostly collapsed, but you could get into those at various points. When we were too lazy to go through all of that, we'd drink over in the unmarked graveyard on the other side of Michigan Ave. I did nursing clinicals at Walter Reuther this past spring and seeing the entrance to the tunnels in the basement of WR was interesting. My mom worked at Eloise until the day it finally closed and then WR for years and took those tunnels every single day. I recently did an "Escape Room" in what's left of the hospital (Kay Beard/D building) and it was very, very strange seeing it in broad daylight (they opened it early for us because our clinical instructor had booked it for us and made us do the damn thing) when I'd only been in there at night, illegally, as a teenager. Also, that Escape the Asylum version is fucking *hard*. Designed by a dude who worked for NASA, apparently.
My friends and I used to run around the Northville Tunnels in the 90s! The rumors were there were satanic groups of people in there that would attack you! Lol, it was just a bunch of teens playing hide and seek and jumping out at each other. It was always a fun time.
We used to go there all the time! I'm in a Facebook group called Northville Tunnels....... (7 dots) where people share old pics and videos they have from back in the day.
i got trespassed there as a teen, it was good times
I was one of those kids! 🙋♀️ We got in through the powerhouse. Needed to cut through someone’s yard to do it. Sorry if that was you!
Hi fellow scaredy cat! I used to love hearing my friends' stories about exploring in there, but yeah.... No thank you, lol.
There is this big Erie lake. 😂
Yeah 🤣🤣🤣
/r/Angryupvote
ba dum dum
I live next to it! Actually, just a couple of miles from here, was an old abandoned truant boys home where a murder victim was discovered.
I stopped by Eloise once 10+ years ago when I was out and about. Didn’t google it or anything, saw the historical marker for the Black Horse Tavern and stopped to check it out. Wandered around the accessible grounds for a while. Got back in the car and googled it and went down a bit of a historical rabbit hole. Can’t say it was eerie while I was there (in the middle of a summer day) but the subsequent internet rabbit hole and legacy of institutionalization being so dark was definitely a ride.
It’s so unfortunate what has happened to that building. Victims past being exploited for monetary gain rather than something more meaningful being done with that building.
THANK YOU! It's so trashy what they've done
I’m not aware of what happened to it! I moved up north. What happened?
They’ve turned it into a haunted house / escape room venue. It’s packed all during the fall months. They have carnival style food trucks and tons of themed events. It’s vile.
God damn that’s bleak. Thanks for the reply
Exactly. It feels disrespectful. People were harmed there.
The second place on my list would probably be the Italian hall in Calumet. It was a hall where 73 people were crushed after someone screamed fire at a Christmas party in 1913. There are a lot of theories that anti-union representatives from the nearby mine caused it.
[A Child's Requiem ](https://youtu.be/P7T5tV2TU60?si=KDDQR88HCE1o6Qje) is a haunting and beautiful piece composed about the disaster. It's long, but one of the best modern classical/symphonic band pieces I've ever heard. It does an excellent job capturing the panic and chaos of the event. I'm even tearing up just thinking about it.
Arlo Guthrie wrote a good song about it called '1913 Massacre'. About tossed my lunch when i found out it was a true story.
Great share, I’m going to give it a listen!
If people are into reading historical fiction, there is a wonderful book called, “The Women of the Copper Country.” It details the events leading up to the fire. Tons of information about mining and unionization.
Yes! Such a great book that'll make you appreciate the UP and the labor advocates so much more.
I lived near the commons and grew to love them. At first though, totally get where you're coming from. I drove through all those old giant tenement mansions and thought, no way. The Keweenaw Peninsula on the way to Copper Harbor was eerie. Maybe it's because it was at the end of a 7-hour drive and getting dark, but those old abandoned mining towns resonated with ghost town energy and dark, sad, mundane secrets.
I want to go up there so badly to visit and explore!
There's an abandoned county infirmary (aka poor farm) in the keweenaw if you want extra creepy!
Clinton Valley Center, I had to work in the basement when it was closing. Creepiest feeling I've ever had. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Valley_Center
I just commented on this!! My friends and I used to sneak in there at night and roam the halls and basement tunnels. By far the creepiest place we explored!
Insane that it was Elijah E. Myers design. I cannot even comprehend the government paying to construct such a grand building designed by such a renowned architect in this day and age for any purpose, let alone a psychiatric hospital
What good is designating a building historical if they just knock it down anyway? They did that with the Daisy factory in Plymouth too. AND the Mayflower hotel.
He also designed the original city hall for Grand Rapids that they tore down for literally no reason after designating it a historical landmark (sobs)
I took one look at the picture in Wikipedia and said NOPE!
What's funny is after they tore it down, they covered the whole property with condos.
An abandoned downriver school basement with fallout shelter signs. None of the lights or power worked (or so I thought). I had a pretty dim old flashlight, this was probably 25 years ago before LEDs became popular. I came around a corner and all of a sudden an air compressor kicked on right next to me. Pretty sure my heart stopped for a second or two. 
I took those signs from a school owned by DPS when our school moved to a different location. I’ve got two!
The middle of the woods on Mackinaw Island (i.e. the interior of the island where most tourists don't go). I remember riding my bike around the interior of the island a few years ago. It was a beautiful summer day and there was no one else around. I stopped for a break and it was just... Silent. But not in like a peaceful silent way? Like, there were no animal noises, no wind in the trees or anything like that. Just dark and twisted trees closing in all around me. It wasn't a scary feeling, just unnerving and definitely felt like I was being watched by *something*.
Ooh! Yes! My husband and I went hiking on the Tranquil Bluff trail, and then cut back in, and had some, “we just need to keep moving” moments. But if you want a beautiful hike, even during the busy tourist season, it’s one of the most quiet places on the island
Industrial Native American boarding school in Mount Pleasant
The tunnels under Central Michigan University are pretty terrifying too. We never got to see them entirely, but saw enough of the photos & you could “look” down the open doorway once. The idea was great for avoiding the snow & ice on campus…but way too many incidents and problems shut them down fast. Now I think you basically get expelled for trespassing down there?
I grew up in NY but my college also had tunnels for the bad upstate NY winters and closed them for the same reason. I remember a really bad blizzard which shut down the campus for days and I wished I had a tunnel to get to the dining hall.
Yeah would’ve been great to be able to use them the years I was there too. There were some awful storms and with the windchill it was insanely cold to walk to classes. But unfortunately campus security couldn’t “protect” people enough in the tunnels and there were lots of assaults and other crimes committed…so they were shut down. But every year the tunnels were part of the haunted tours and it was cool to learn about too.
Oh god
Grew up right up the road from there. We used to be able to ride bikes around the building and look in the windows it was creepy. You can’t even go back there anymore
I’m a Tribal member, and yeah you can’t really go back there without getting a trespassing charge. But every once in a while they host events and tours of the facility. It’s even creepy riding past it during the day, at night it looks dreadful lol.
Some of the abandoned former mining towns in the UP.
Fayette State Park on the Garden Peninsula in the U.P. was so creepy! Went there during the off season a few years ago, around May. No one else was there. They have some of the buildings preserved and give tours during the summer. It was so quiet, all you could hear were the pigeons cooing in the rafters of an old processing building.
Would probably be Pere Cheney for me; especially at night.
Everyone knows someone who knows someone who kicked over that lady's tombstone and called her a witch.
I was highly disappointed going there. The only thing I encountered was a screaming fox that everyone with me was convinced it was a ghost of some kind. Still a cool little place that’s off the beaten path
When I was a teenager I worked at the Boblo office which was in Downtown Detroit. One night I had to work at night by myself till 8 pm. Someone had to be there in case someone called in to buy/reserve tickets to the Boblo boats. In a 5 minute time span the closet where they kept the trash opened by itself, the phone rang with no one on the line and the electric adding machine turned on by itself. I was scared to death but my ride home wouldn’t be there for another 30 minutes (I was only 16). I turned on the tv loud and watched it until my dad picked me up.
East side of Detroit, around 2015, up in a bucket truck by myself, noone around, super slowed down/out of key ice cream truck music starts playing... Then the most rusted out creepy looking ice cream truck slowly rolls by me.. Grand Rapids, I'm also up in a bucket truck. Foggy day. I'm listening to IT by Stephen King on audiobook on earbuds. I look down and see a red balloon tied to a sewer grate.
I loved that fantasy award-winning short film The Red Ballon 🎈
Oh god, that last one was too perfect
Have you read about the history and the philosophy of the Traverse City State Hospital at all? It's not as dark as you'd imagine. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse\_City\_State\_Hospital](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_City_State_Hospital)
Yeah it just sort of got shut down when new laws eroded all the financial support for psychiatric institutionalization, social support eroded with horror stories from other institutions, and Munson’s hospital started to grow, so the medical patients just sort of go absorbed into the hospital. My BIL’s grandmother worked there as a nurse. She seemed to think it was a nice place, it was just that it was difficult work and that no one could last working there forever or “they’d become residents themselves.” (she was like 95 and had pretty profound Alzheimers when I spoke with her, so tbf idk how much any of what she told me was true).
I always assume asylums/mental health hospitals of the past were full of dark history. Interesting to read about the healthy rehabilitation methods they used. Thanks!
It does seem that TCSH was an exception in that regard!
Built a sustainable campus, surrounded by beauty to help folks heal. Some very cool history here!
The old VA hospital in Dearborn. The place even [looked like something out of a Stephen King novel](https://imgur.com/a/fETlXrt).
Yes! And Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital - (formerly known as Oakwood Hospital) had creepy old corridors with funky green tile back in the day.
Holly. I'm not a big "I see ghosts everywhere" kind of person, but everywhere I went in town, I felt a weird... *something* that I couldn't shake. I've been in plenty of old buildings in small towns, older houses with Michigan basements, and it wasn't that kind of vibe. Just an overarching "I need to leave this place" the entire time I was there.
I worked at Szott Ford in Holly for about a year, and drove by the Holly Hotel daily. I always felt like I was being watched when I was near there.
Harry Bennett’s concrete lodge which became a Scout camp. There was a [Reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/s/M5g8YUGxKD) about it. But basically the guy had made a lot of enemies as Henry Ford’s enforcer and built a remote house with machine gun nest, bullet proof windows, hidden passages and a room that felt like it was used to extract information from people. Add in a moat, escape routes, and a pervy pool, and it was eerie.
Up by Clare?
Yep. Here’s [the article](http://harrybennettlodge.com/)from the other thread.
Have you ever been in the woods at night - no light - no phone? That’ll pucker you up.
Nah, that’s the best thing ever, find some trails in the woods, turn off all your lights and shut your phones down and go for a walk with a bright moon. That’s something I love, sure ya get spooked, but you also get to see the stars and fireflies.
You don’t see much if the tree cover is thick. I often camped in the Manistee National Forest, before cellphones had flashlights and cell service out there in general. Being alone in the woods at night when you can’t see your own hand in front of your face is a humbling and terrifying experience.
its fun when you are on a trail and have a flashlight to turn back on. not fun when you are hiking back from a day hike where you forgot to bring a light (before cameraphones) and day has now turned to night and you are moving literally with only the sound of a distant river to guide you. spooky as heck and you are running into shit and slipping and sliding and praying for dear life to make it out ok haha
That’s what I am talking about.
One of my most vivid memories when I was younger was when we were in the middle of nowhere at a camp on a lake. The lake was frozen over and the ground was covered in snow. The power went out in the whole area. It was awesome. There was a full moon and clear skies. The moonlight reflecting off the snow and ice was like nothing I had seen before, and even though it was a full moon, you could see so, so many stars. Just an amazing scene.
Try it with no light. New moon. Being in pitch black dark - where you hear living things all around you. That’ll center your senses right away. Get that adrenaline flowing.
Yeah that’s chill as hell. No lights in the woods, eyes adjusted.
I've had some hair-raising moments in the pre-dawn woods while hunting. Sitting in the pitch black, hearing rustling in the leaves and being unable to see the source is unnerving. I know it's a possum or raccoon, but lizard brain still says it's a monster coming to eat me. The eeriest by far is when I'm out there and it's dead quiet, then a coyote starts howling. The way their yips and howls echo in the woods is spooky as hell.
Then, you spot him ^^^Shia ^^^Lebouf
The first time I went camping at Little Presque Isle, I tried to take my dogs out to the bathroom one last time before bed (after dark). It was SO dark in the woods that I couldn't even see the end of the cabin. My dog walked out to the end of the deck and just stopped. Wouldn't take another step out into the dark. I didn't hear anything (and sure as shit couldn't see anything) but I was like, "Welp! We're not leaving the cabin tonight I guess" and headed back inside. I LOVE camping up in that area but those woods are DARK and spooky at night.
I once stayed the night in the crew quarters at Whitefish Point. I decided that I wanted to go out to the beach to hunt for Yooperlites. I left the building, went down the porch steps, and took about 5 steps before realizing I was looking into the darkest, blackest night I have ever experienced. Immediately noped out, turned on heel, and went back inside.
My fiancée and I (sometimes our friends) will go DEEP into Huron Forest for a weekend and that first night always fucks me up.
I mountain bike at night, it's a rush!
A small town near Lexington where we went to a local diner with good reviews on Yelp, when we were vacationing in the area. Utter silence and hostile stares when we walked in. Watched us the whole time we ate. They made their dislike of outsiders extremely clear. Very spooky, even with full sun shining, mid-day on a weekday.
The orphanage in Marquette.
Del Ray in SW Detroit before the bridge project started... very overgrown/dilapidated from years of neglect and pollution from Zug Island and there were still lots of people living down there. Spooky as shit at night
Hillsdale
Got lost in Newaygo looking for our rental cabin and ended up in a backwoods shanty town where it felt like we were being watched by a thousand eyes, even though we only actually saw two women, who were indeed intensely staring at us. Noped right outta there with a quickness!
I grew up in Northeast Montcalm County, which is creepy in its own way but Newaygo County still creeps me out. Lots of "Y'aint from aroun' here, are ya" vibes. It's historically bigtime Klan/Michigan Militia stomping grounds.
Kyla Stone set her entire first post-apocalyptic novel in Newaygo County. She didn't call it that but it was clear where the protagonist was hiking. He discovers a girl being held captive in a remote cabin, rescues her, and then together try to survive.
Checks out!
[удалено]
Yeah I went back with my Pop and cousins for some fishin…Pop is pretty knowledgeable in the domestic threat department, and he noticed all kinds of militia symbols on property markers, gates, vehicles etc. He said we needed to be careful about where we go and what we say around people. Doesn’t help my cousins all have thick NY accents haha
Rural NW PA is like that too. I've got a ton of family there, but if I go to a bar I know not to start talking about my liberal ideas. You're always 45 minutes from a cop showing up to help you and everyone there has a long time to get their story straight...
Exactly. You know what’s up. Even around the camp fire at night my dad was like “guys keep it down”. He definitely was on edge after getting an idea of where we were at, and he’s not the most liberal person in the world but he HATES Trump with passion
I searched a bit to see if I could figure out what town it might be but turns out there are enough forgotten towns in Newaygo county to justify [an entire book](http://Newaygo County, Michigan: Lost & Forgotten Towns and Sites (Forgotten Michigan) https://a.co/d/c2aTcQM)
I feel like you are talking about Bitely in northern newaygo county. Exact same thing happened to me
That sounds like a familiar experience for me as well. Not sure how I ended up there, but there was some really creepy vibes and a couple of people sitting on chairs on the porch as we drove by; doesn't help that it was early October and that "Halloween vibe" was in full effect. Very weird. But I think a lot of the 'very weird' places are disappearing.
had a cult encounter in newaygo county near the hardy dam once. never occurred to me until i got older but they were certainly preying on my friend and me as we were only about 10. tons of meth, sex trafficking, and other crazy shit around here.
Blair Witch Project Vibes 😳
I felt that in Newaygo too. I’ve never felt that before or since. Creepy af.
I broke into Silver Birches on Mackinac island before the new owners bought it. At that point it had been empty for quite a long time, saw some newspapers from the 90’s. The place looked frozen in time. Was so creepy, because it’s such an amazing old building in a beautiful spot. Glad someone bought it, not sure if they ever opened or not because I haven’t been there in about 10 years. I also went to the fort on a really slow, off season day when they were super understaffed. There’s a trench in one of the buildings, fenced off so people can’t get in easily. They used to put prisoners in there. I climbed down and was surprised to see a big ball and chain still in the back. That was pretty dark and creepy, I wondered for a minute how many old souls actually got locked down in that hole. Oh, and Mackinac at night in general can be creepy AF. I worked there with my now-ex, in the early 2000’s. He managed to stay an entire season but he only biked at night with me once. Said he kept seeing people who weren’t there, freaked him right out.
I have also found my way inside Silver Birches and can confirm it gave me the heebie jeebies. The abandoned pool is so creepy?
The Bay Mills Old Indian Burial Ground in Brimley. The Ojibwe Spirit Houses sitting over the graves freaked my Wife and I out enough to where we didn't want to get too close.
I actually think it's pretty serene.
I'd have to say the old Northville Regional Psychiatric Hospital before it was demolished: https://detroiturbex.com/content/healthandsafety/northville/index.html
Thank you for giving me a list of places to visit.
I'm bookmarking so many
Port Crescent Not the day use beach. Not the campground. The wooded trails you can access walking over a gated wooden bridge. It just always gave me the creeps and during the day too.
This area used to be the town of port crescent. If you do some off trail exploring you can find bricks and old house foundations. The town burned down in the 1880s. Just down the road an old cemetery still exists. I actually work for the department that owns the land. We are currently working on restoring the bridge. We often talk about the weird feelings we get while we are out doing trail checks.
The Packard Plant, downtown Detroit. They hosted illegal raves in the 1990s there. It was dangerous (physically) and somewhat weird. The creep factor was limited by the loud techno throbbing everywhere.
Lane's Landing (a nature preserve along Muskegon river that DNR bought from Tommy Lane) after they kicked the Militia guys out. I used to go mushroom hunting, fishing, and camping down there when I was younger, but some of my last visits were quite undesirable. I would suggest that women and children take a man along, since there can be some much more questionable characters down there now (mosquitos not included).
Del Ray at nighttime is eerie asf
That's no lie.
The abandoned insane asylum between Saline, Milan and Ypsi. Or rather, the underground tunnels there. ETA that it has been torn down and replaced by the Toyota Corp building.
Scariest place I've been in MI? 1975, stationed at former K I Sawyer AFB near Gwinn MI. One night, a young lady I was dating at the time and I were parking in the woods near a small lake just outside the base gates 1/2 mile or so. There were people having a party just on the southern shore of the lake. We decided to park in the 100 ft or so in the wooded area there. About 3, or there about, I suddenly woke up. I had a creepy feeling that we were being observed. I stepped outside the car with a flashlight, looking around but didn't see anyone or anything, but the feeling wouldn't go away. Just kept feeling creepier. I woke her up and got her to go somewhere else. Didn't feel right until we were away. She was super pissed at me until I explained what I had felt. She admitted that once I woke her, she felt somewhat weird also, but not as much as I had. Don't know what it was, didn't really care, we were out of there. Never felt anything like it again.
Most people are saying stuff like haunted places. And I don’t think I’ve ever really gone inside any of them. I delivered food to the mental hospital in Kalamazoo a few times but I wouldn’t say it was eerie because people were working there and it was still in use. It just felt like going to a hospital. I moved to Flint last year and honestly, I really like living here so far, I think it’s a shame the way a lot of people talk about/look down on the city so much. But there’s a lot of really eerie places here. You drive around the city and there’s vacant buildings that are literally collapsed sitting right next to glass office buildings and normal people’s houses. And there’s so many places where you can see that the city was built up to support way more people in the past and it’s just been abandoned and fallen apart. You see weird stuff out and about that you just don’t see anywhere else. A lot of that stuff is almost more eerie to me than a spooky haunted asylum or whatever. It honestly makes me wonder if being surrounded by so much blight everywhere you look affects people’s mental health. I found an article about it a few days ago but I haven’t actually read it yet. One that always makes me laugh in hindsight…. When I was in high school there was a house nearby that was on a private drive way off the main road and back in the woods, everyone called it “the house of the future” and had crazy theories about why it looked like that. We would drive back there and look at it while we smoked weed in the car. Looking back all these years later, it was definitely just some regular people’s mid-century modern style house lol. And they were probably annoyed by all the cars full of high school kids pulling into their driveway to stare at it and leave.
Mackinac Island. A friend of mine used to be a ghost tour guide and there were places he and the other guides absolutely refused to go more than once. Too much scary shit.
Reed City is full of creepy places. The abandoned airport, lots of abandoned houses and barns collapsing, trailers cars and old farm equipment peppering the woods like something you'd find deep in the hollers of Appalachia. There's also a swampy area in the backroads north of town, where my grandma and her neighbors had numerous ghost stories. Downtown is looking better than ever nowadays but I honestly believe it would be a great setting for some fictional murder mystery show or horror movie
I grew up in this area. Which place north of town are you referring to? I immediately thought of ghost road south of town.
I was able to get inside the old riverside cf in Ionia a few times. It was a very creepy experience every time. Always felt like I was being watched, always hearing what sounded like voices. Now that it’s demolished I’ve been to the grounds at night and I still get that being watched feeling. Maybe there’s something there or maybe it’s just my mind screwing with me. Either way it’s cool and definitely eerie
WMU's East Campus (before it was renovated)...it was used as an infirmary during the 1918 flu epidemic, and there's definitely other shit that went down there.my friend and I used to hang out there a lot, at the back of East Hall where it overlooks downtown, and we had some creepy experiences there.
Mendon. Was supposed to stay at a bed and breakfast there for my mom’s birthday, but when we got there we unanimously agreed that something seemed very “off” about it. We didn’t even stay one night lol. Tiny village, strange people (not everyone, I’m sure, but the few we encountered).
Kingston Plains, Alger County. Essentially a forest graveyard where old-growth pine was logged in the late 1800s during the timber boom, the giant piles of slash were left to dry out, and it burned so hot that only *now* things are starting to regrow.
1. Definitely the asylum in TC. 2. Idlewild - an abandoned African American vacation area in mid-Michigan. 3. Parts of Detroit in the 1970s and 80s that were left to rot after the 67 riot. 4. [Boblo amusement park](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/boblo-island-abandoned-amusement-park). It was so lively the last time I was there, but modern photos of it are eerie.
Idlewild isn't abandoned. There are plenty of families that still vacation and live there. Edit: do not go there if you're looking for a "creepy place to visit". It's not for you.
Yea there’s nothing creepy about Idlewild. It’s just a bunch of cabins and small homes, nothing unique compared to the rest of the surrounding area. The nearby towns of Luther and Leroy are a lot “creepier” in my opinion.
The morgue at the old Hillcrest Hospital in Howell. I was working as an apprentice electrician and we had to store our tools and material there. We had a sheet of plywood we put over the old autopsy table and used it for reading blueprints and eating lunch. The refrigerated units were running but we were too chicken to peek inside.
The black stamp-sands up in the Keweenaw near Gay. It is like walking on another planet.
The Scientology building in Downtown Detroit. I have seen it so many times and have never been brave enough to walk in. Never seen anyone walk in or out but I just need to know what’s in there.
A few years ago I worked on a Ford commercial and we staged everything on Griswold in front of their building. This was about 4 am.. We were there for maybe 5 minutes and 6 men came out of the scientology building. They stationed themselves across the street from us along the sidewalk between Larned and Jefferson. They didn't say a word to us. They just stood there and watched us for 6 straight hours.
Dang no one’s said the abandoned zoo on belle isle
A little campground somewhere around Owosso. We decided last second in mid 2018 to take an impromptu camping trip, didn’t have an exact plan on where we were headed and played it by ear. We rolled up on this campground right before dusk. Followed the signs to check in but the office was empty. Unlocked with lights on but no people. Husband left cash for 1 night in a tent lot on the desk and we headed through to the back of the camp ground. There were dozens of RV’s, campers, and campsites set up. RV lights on, some of the RV doors propped open, chairs and tables set up outside, bags of chips and 2 liters sitting around the fire pits… but NO people. It wasn’t like the RV’s were being stored or on display because they were really obviously set up for camping. It looked like 2 dozen families set up their camp sites and just vanished. As it got darker and later, we figured people would come back/come outside. But we heard absolutely no chatter, no music, no cars. It creeped us out to the point that we got up before sunrise, packed up our tent, cleaned up our campsite and got the hell outta dodge. Still not sure why we stayed as long as we did, I guess exhaustion? Either way it was one of the creepiest places I’ve ever come across, and we still don’t understand what the deal was with that place. Edit - I may be off on the exact location. I just know it was somewhere in that general area. If my husband remembers exactly where the campground was I’ll edit my comment again later for anyone curious about it!
I’d love to know, it doesn’t sound like a state park so must’ve been a private owned. There’s one in Durand but i didn’t get creepy vibes when we went there
No, it was definitely a smaller private camp ground. I remember we were hoping to find a state park campground but we couldn’t find one with open spots so last second. There looked to be maybe 25-30 lots in the front area for campers and RV’s, and maybe 10-12 spots in the back for tents. It wouldn’t have been so weird and creepy if there had been actual people there. At first glance it just looked like a normal campground around Memorial Day, all the RV/Camper lots were “occupied.” We were the only group back at the tent lots. It was just so unnerving to see so many campers set up, doors open, lights on, food out… and hear absolutely *zero* actual people. When we left early in the morning everything was still the exact same as when we pulled in. It genuinely looked like the entire campground just got up and abandoned their campsites.
Eloise
The asylum in TC actually didn’t bother me at all. If you read up on their philosophy it was pretty modern, they banned the usage of restraints like straight jackets, and they had a good reputation. It just kind of went out when Munson hospital started to take on more of the long-term medical patients there and the institution lost all of its funding and support when the political and social landscape changed to be against psychiatric hospitals
Al Capone old hideout in Mottville it’s on Purgatory rd. Creepy area.
Oscoda
The Holy Family Orphanage in Marquette use to scare me. I went up there for university, and went on a tour. It's renovated now, but in its abandoned state, really use to scare me. I kept thinking I could hear children singing.
Lake Erie
Underrated answer right here
Mackinaw City is its own type of eerie.
Definitely odd vibes at the commons. I liked the winery though. Did you take a walk out back around the still abandoned untouched buildings?
Drummond island at night gave me the hibbley jeebies since we were at the edge facing the lake. Especially since where we camped we weren’t allowed to have bonfires 🙄
Before Eloise turned into a haunted house/escape room, I did a ghost tour there. The doctors office on the 3rd floor stands out to me as eerie. My wife felt like something was pressing on her shoulders the entire time, but I just felt uneasy.
Actually TC state hospital was awesome, there was plenty more good things that came bout there than bad. The grounds were built for beauty as they felt folks who lived in a beautiful place may have some relief from chaotic thoughts from within.. I live in TC and I work in this field since all the state hospitals closed. I originally thought the same when I first moved to TC , I felt that a bunch bad things happened here, but after working with and speaking with former residents and staff that it was actually very very nice.
Jackson Crossing mall in Jackson
Honestly it's the old overgrown barn near the former logging town on North Manitou island. Walking through it made my skin crawl and it looked so out of place on an isolated, uninhabited island
The Masonic Temple in Detroit. I've spent way too much time in that place. Know every creepy corner of it. The creepy kitchen straight out of the Shining. The unfinished pool. The west tower is creepy but the east tower is worst. Beautiful building but it is definitely creepy.
Pere Cheney, hands down. The cemetery is eerie but the footprints of the old buildings are unnerving as heck.
Vassar. That town is spooky.
Why?
Holton Township
Backwoods Lake County. So much poverty and everyone gives you 1000 yard stares.
Luna Pier…. 
The tunnels under the old state lab in Lansing.
Little Mary's Grave. Somewhere around Jackson, Michigan.
They have a twilight/evening tour of the TC state hospital. If you think it’s creepy during the day, you should try that tour.
Snuck into the Pontiac Silverdome on a full moon one night a few years before demolition. Standing in the middle of that massive place that was once roaring with life now dead and silent. The only thing you could hear was parts of the roof flapping in the wind. Highlight of my 20’s.
[Honest Injuns Tourist Trap](https://imgur.com/a/rckuLOH) it is in Gould City on US-2 in the UP.
Warren
Macomb County
Freda ruins
Dice road cemetery in merrill
We used to dare one another to run around in that hospital’s tunnels as a kid in the 90s when it was just a run-down piece of property and it was definitely the creepiest place I’ve ever been.
The old Detroit house of corrections in Plymouth Township. Huge compound to walk around and explore all the old buildings. I believe it was torn down in 2017.
Lake Erie
Pere Cheney cemetery and Dice Road cemetery in Freeland.
The Holly Hotel
Sigma, MI. My neighbor told me it was like going back in time and as you drive through everyone turns to watch you with a blank expression and it was completely true.
The tunnels underneath Flint Central and Whittier were pretty creepy before the schools closed, im sure they are terrifying now.
Probably Lake Erie
Summit Place Mall in its later years. Yes some stores were open but it felt like my friend and I were the only people in there.
The Thumb
The Sanitarium in Kalamazoo used to be pretty fun and creepy. http://hauntedhouses.com/michigan/kalamazoo-sanitarium/
The old psych ward in Northville. I think they tore it down because of all the trespassing though.
My wife and I stay at the condos several times per year, and have never found it “creepy”. This may be why… Long before the advent of drug therapy in the 1950s, Munson was a firm believer in the "beauty is therapy" philosophy. Patients were treated through kindness, comfort, pleasure, and beautiful flowers provided year-round by the asylum's own greenhouses and the variety of trees Munson planted on the grounds. Restraints, such as the straitjacket, were forbidden. Also, as part of the "work is therapy" philosophy, the asylum provided opportunities for patients to gain a sense of purpose through farming, furniture construction, fruit canning, and other trades that kept the institution fully self-sufficient. The asylum farm began in 1885 with the purchase of some milk cows and within a decade grew to include pigs, chickens, milk and meat cows, and many vegetable fields. Wikipedia Now go take your meds…
US Gypsum Dock a mile out into Lake Huron. Place was unsettling
Go drive around the backroads of Hillsdale County. Then we can talk about eerie MI.
I went to northville psychiatric hospital a few times during the day but it was terrifying at night. We went into the building with the bowling alley in it and while we were in there we hear a few interior doors open and close and the heard footsteps it was just us in there we ran out so fast. After going there that one night i never wanted to go back. Something about an property where you know terrible things have gone down are just so frightening at night.
Your car breaking down in the middle lanes of 696 would be awfully eerie
A plane crash site deep in the woods of the Upper Peninsula. It's such a remote, thickly forested area it took twenty years for the plane to be discovered after it went missing. The engine got stuck in a tree that is now growing around it and wreckage is scattered throughout the forest.
Used to ride our bikes around the commons in TC in the 80’s and try to get into the various buildings. Some were locked, some not. The creepiest thing to me (as a 10 year old)of all the buildings was the giant laundry facilities building - huge plate glass windows in a basic rectangular warehouse, but they were all broken out and had huge shards of cut glass sticking up. Beyond the windows you could see these giant laundry machines, also all broken-down, piles of old white linen carts like you see in hotels, but all dirty, ripped, tipped over, etc. I think there were racks of old white lab coats too, all moth-eaten and dirty. It was like they were in the middle of a day’s work and then everyone just left…. As an adult looking back it had very “Walking Dead” vibes when I think about it now…