Haunted Grand Rapids

[Allison Slater]

Wasn't the Michigan Bell haunting shown to be fake -- at least for the back story?

[wpar_nicole]

Wasn't the Michigan Bell haunting shown to be fake -- at least for the back story?

I am writing a section in the book about "Grand Rapids Urban Legends," and I think the Michigan Bell Building will end up there. In Gary Eberle's book, he named a specific newspaper article that talked of the deaths of the Randalls. So far, we cannot find anything on the date he specified about any deaths. I cannot find the Randalls on the census for that time period either.

As I love writing about hauntings and legends, I will also write about locations that I have proved to be only urban legends.

[GRDadof3]

Is that like manbearpig?

I've read stories about the Dogman of Michigan. Freaky stuff.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=dogman+...;fp=kE0CVI1PqvM

[Rizzo]

I am the author of an upcoming book that will feature haunted locations in and around the Grand Rapids area.

I am currently looking for locations to add to the book. If you have ever lived in a haunted house, I would love to hear from you. All identities are kept confidential and not disclosed in the book.

I am curerntly working on Hells Bridge and the Michigan Bell Building, but I would love to hear about any location.

You can either message me on here or email me privately at:

[email protected]

On the Paranormal Michigan Book Series website (URL is below), we are trying to create the largest database of Michigan hauntings, UFO sightings, Dogman, etc. Feel free to use the online form to submit a location or two! Paranormal teams are welcomed to submit their cases as well!

Thanks!

Nicole

Paranormal Michigan Book Series

http://www.paranormalmichigan.com

Anywhere on Lee St. south of Roosevelt Park. A reserve of lost souls exists to haunt the living. Story goes that people would commit suicide by jumping at head of the commuter trains that ran in the median.

[Allison Slater]

Wow. o_o I use Lee all the time to commute to downtown, and now I don't think I can look at that grassy median the same again. o_o

[LA Dave]

Anywhere on Lee St. south of Roosevelt Park. A reserve of lost souls exists to haunt the living. Story goes that people would commit suicide by jumping at head of the commuter trains that ran in the median.

Probably not "commuter trains" but interurbans, a single-car high-speed trolley. That right-of-way served the Grand Rapids, Holland & Chicago Railway, which apparently hooked up in Holland with steamers to the Windy City. What a nice way to get to Chicago (no Dan Ryan, no Skyway holdups). Alas, abandoned in 1926.

[bostonsquaremom]

Probably not "commuter trains" but interurbans, a single-car high-speed trolley. That right-of-way served the Grand Rapids, Holland & Chicago Railway, which apparently hooked up in Holland with steamers to the Windy City. What a nice way to get to Chicago (no Dan Ryan, no Skyway holdups). Alas, abandoned in 1926.

Actually, that Interurban line went as far as Saugatuck. There were plans to extend it to South Haven (and right of way was purchased), where it would connect to another Interurban with service to Chicago. The Grand Rapids, Holland, and Chicago Railway also served the Jenison Electric Park, an amusement park located where Macatawa Bay Yacht Club, Eldean Shipyard and Piper Restaurant are now. The turnaround was in the parking lot of the old Point West restaurant.

[LA Dave]

Actually, that Interurban line went as far as Saugatuck. There were plans to extend it to South Haven (and right of way was purchased), where it would connect to another Interurban with service to Chicago. The Grand Rapids, Holland, and Chicago Railway also served the Jenison Electric Park, an amusement park located where Macatawa Bay Yacht Club, Eldean Shipyard and Piper Restaurant are now. The turnaround was in the parking lot of the old Point West restaurant.

Thanks for the correction. What a nice way to get to Saugatuck.

Imagine the trip in 1909: You get on the interburban car in downtown Grand Rapids; take about 45 minutes to an hour to get to Holland, windows open, the smell of celery and onions in the Ottawa County fields filling the car; board a cross-lake steamer that takes you across to the Windy City, band playing, couples dancing.

The trip in 2009: Get on I-196, praying that you won't hit traffic as they are re-building streches of the freeway; fight the traffic at the merge with I-94; get on the Tollroad and pay an outrageous amount to get through the fragrant stretches of "the Region;" hit the Skyway and wait; or, take I-94 to I-80 and wait; hit the Dan Ryan and wait; oh, and eventually get to Chicago.

[Raildudes dad]

Thanks for the correction. What a nice way to get to Saugatuck.

Imagine the trip in 1909: You get on the interburban car in downtown Grand Rapids; take about 45 minutes to an hour to get to Holland, windows open, the smell of celery and onions in the Ottawa County fields filling the car; board a cross-lake steamer that takes you across to the Windy City, band playing, couples dancing

Lets put the "good old" days in a different perspective. My grandfather passed away in 1929 at 49 years old and his oldest brother made it to 52. All the siblings died between the ages of 42 and 52. My father passed away in 1981 at 62. It turns out there a heredity trait in my dad's side of the family that causes moderate total cholesterol and very low good cholesterol. As a consequence, arteries plug up until the heart attack occurs. Heart catherizations were not available in GR in 1981. I was diagnosed at 52 and now have a stent and have to do the low fat no fat, chicken, turkey and fish diet.

I'll take today's highways and urban issues. If we were still living the good old days, I'd be pushing daisy's by now

[Rizzo]

Probably not "commuter trains" but interurbans, a single-car high-speed trolley. That right-of-way served the Grand Rapids, Holland & Chicago Railway, which apparently hooked up in Holland with steamers to the Windy City. What a nice way to get to Chicago (no Dan Ryan, no Skyway holdups). Alas, abandoned in 1926.

I have to disagree.

The Interurban lines of Grand Rapids were what we today consider commuter in nature. Those GR lines were the preferred transportation mode for everyone living outside the core, especially the working class who lived in the southern and southwestern suburbs. A perfect example for present observation is the famed S. Shore line between Indiana and Chicago which is known as both an interurban and commuter rail -- these terms are generally the same. What you see is modern rail equipment, but otherwise the concept is there.

The rail equipment used on those lines weren't really surface railway trolleys that permeated the GR neighborhoods for years. Most of the Interurban equipment was geared to some 60-90mph service, third rail electrification with the ability to be coupled. But importantly, the infrastructure was commuter in nature with passengers boarding at stations where service was scheduled, rather then on passenger demand.

I go further an assert that this line and others were commuter rail in nature with this bit of history. The line in question was very popular. When it was decommissioned hundreds of suburbanites gathered together under "United Suburban Railway" to see to it that the line remained in operation. They wanted to keep fast, efficient and safe travel into downtown intact and by rail. The chief concerns among them were parking fees and traffic. They succeeded with what I consider one of the neatest examples Grand Rapids philanthropy.

As I've said before in the Transit Thread, I laugh at the irony.

[LA Dave]

Lets put the "good old" days in a different perspective. My grandfather passed away in 1929 at 49 years old and his oldest brother made it to 52. All the siblings died between the ages of 42 and 52. My father passed away in 1981 at 62. It turns out there a heredity trait in my dad's side of the family that causes moderate total cholesterol and very low good cholesterol. As a consequence, arteries plug up until the heart attack occurs. Heart catherizations were not available in GR in 1981. I was diagnosed at 52 and now have a stent and have to do the low fat no fat, chicken, turkey and fish diet.

I'll take today's highways and urban issues. If we were still living the good old days, I'd be pushing daisy's by now

Well, you could have had your heart attack on a very pleasant lake steamer. But point made, Dad.

[Raildudes dad]

Well, you could have had your heart attack on a very pleasant lake steamer. But point made, Dad.

Every time I see my cardiologist, I tell him "I don't mind seeing you here (his office) but I don't intend to see you in the OR again". Every day in a vertical up right position is a great day in spite of getting old aches and pains

[Allison Slater]

The trick is keeping the good of the old days and shedding the bad. Unfortunately we seem to be shedding the bad like trimming a bush with an ax.

[Raildudes dad]

The trick is keeping the good of the old days and shedding the bad. Unfortunately we seem to be shedding the bad like trimming a bush with an ax.

Interesting analogy Tony I will tell you the shrubbery that I trimmed with my chainsaw looks much better today than the one trimmed with a trimmer (after my wife and the landscape architect chewed me out royally about my choice of tools )

[Allison Slater]

Hahaha, well, I could see how a chainsaw could work on a squared bush.

[baldy_priest]

Please check it out and report back. That would be awesome.

I conducted an investigation around Aquinas last Halloween (2008). I had two other people with me. We started off in the Academic Building, which is where I've seen a man's shadow pass by in the hall and heard a girl's voice in the women's bathroom. A friend of mine had gone into the bathroom one evening before class. I was with her. She suddenly started feeling uneasy and said she felt like someone was in the stall with her. Unfortunately, during the investigation, nothing happened anywhere in the building.

However, the area around Holmdene was extremely active. We weren't granted access into the building, since we were not an official club or anything. We walked through the woods behind Holmdene, went near the chapel, and back up to the garden area outside of Holmdene.

We kept hearing two sets of footsteps coming around us. We prodded with some questions and recorded what we believe to be an EVP responding "yes" to one of our questions. I went around with my digital camera and got one picture with some sort of blue mist-like thing. I tried to identify light sources that would cause it, but I've come up empty-handed. I honestly did not see it when I took the picture, and I did not notice it until someone pointed it out to me.

Not too long after our Halloween romp, my friend and I attended a special presentation Aquinas gave on the history and restoration efforts regarding Holmdene. Gary Eberle, author of the book Haunted Houses of Grand Rapids and head of the English department at Aquinas (and one of my favourite professors), gave a speech about the "ghosts" of Aquinas. Basically, the one confirmed death at Holmdene that Eberle spoke about is that of the owner's wife, Mrs. Lowe, who passed away in her beloved garden - right where my friends and I had been investigating and recorded the EVP (which sounded like a woman's voice).

We plan on doing a follow-up investigation sometime.

[Raidlux]

This is my last year at GVSU and thus my last chance to really investigate anything... Are there ANY hauntings or ghost stories at all involving either GVSU campus, or is the university simply too young to have had anything associated with it?

Offhand I've heard of the Little Mac Bridge being haunted by the man who committed suicide off it a few years ago, and also something about the basement of one of the Lake halls, I want to say Lake Superior or Lake Michigan. Being the oldest buildings on campus, I figure if any on campus were going to be haunted it'd be the originals.

[Floyd Z]

A student did jump off the little mac bridge my freshmen year (2005) not sure if there have been any hauntings

[wpar_nicole]

I conducted an investigation around Aquinas last Halloween (2008). I had two other people with me. We started off in the Academic Building, which is where I've seen a man's shadow pass by in the hall and heard a girl's voice in the women's bathroom. A friend of mine had gone into the bathroom one evening before class. I was with her. She suddenly started feeling uneasy and said she felt like someone was in the stall with her. Unfortunately, during the investigation, nothing happened anywhere in the building.

However, the area around Holmdene was extremely active. We weren't granted access into the building, since we were not an official club or anything. We walked through the woods behind Holmdene, went near the chapel, and back up to the garden area outside of Holmdene.

We kept hearing two sets of footsteps coming around us. We prodded with some questions and recorded what we believe to be an EVP responding "yes" to one of our questions. I went around with my digital camera and got one picture with some sort of blue mist-like thing. I tried to identify light sources that would cause it, but I've come up empty-handed. I honestly did not see it when I took the picture, and I did not notice it until someone pointed it out to me.

Not too long after our Halloween romp, my friend and I attended a special presentation Aquinas gave on the history and restoration efforts regarding Holmdene. Gary Eberle, author of the book Haunted Houses of Grand Rapids and head of the English department at Aquinas (and one of my favourite professors), gave a speech about the "ghosts" of Aquinas. Basically, the one confirmed death at Holmdene that Eberle spoke about is that of the owner's wife, Mrs. Lowe, who passed away in her beloved garden - right where my friends and I had been investigating and recorded the EVP (which sounded like a woman's voice).

We plan on doing a follow-up investigation sometime.

I would love to hear about what Mr. Eberle discussed at this event. I am currently working on the Holmdene Manor for the book right now and I would love to hear about anyone's experiences. Please email me at [email protected]. I cannot seem to send messages to anyone on this formum.

[fotoman311]

I would love to hear about what Mr. Eberle discussed at this event. I am currently working on the Holmdene Manor for the book right now and I would love to hear about anyone's experiences. Please email me at [email protected]. I cannot seem to send messages to anyone on this formum.

nicole, you have to make 10 posts before you have access to the private messaging system.

[wpar_nicole]

I was wondering if anyone has had any paranormal experiences at Fallasburg or Whites Bridges?