Mysterious Michigan

Strange and unusual

 

Mysterious places, odd history, monsters, UFOs, true crime, and other high strangeness.

Strange Stones – The Veiled Lady of Elmwood Cemetery

Strange Stones – The Veiled Lady of Elmwood Cemetery

Standing tall and imposing at 12 feet in Detroit’s historic Elmwood Cemetery is a stunning Carrara marble stone carved with a floating, veiled woman. The craftsmanship is gorgeous but years of weather wear on the veiled face gave the beautiful stone a slightly spooky vibe. But what is fascinating about this piece is the amount of drama this expensive stone went through to reach its final resting place…

read more
Strange Stones – Hartland Cemetery

Strange Stones – Hartland Cemetery

Have you ever seen a tombstone symbol that made you stop and pause? I LOVE visiting cemeteries and looking at old stones, but when I first saw this downward pointing finger that looked like it was forever chastising Chauncy L. Crouse on his own tombstone, I chuckled and was a little confused.

read more
River Raisin Massacre – A Bloody Disaster

River Raisin Massacre – A Bloody Disaster

This series of battles fought around Monroe, Michigan, were some of the bloodiest during the entire War of 1812 and afterward, inspired the battle cry, “Remember the Raisin,” for the remainder of the war. Some even think that the spirits of this event are still wandering the place they took their last breath. 

read more

Gravity Hills in Michigan

Gravity hills exist all over the United States and have fascinated people with their ability to seemingly bypass the laws of physics as we know them. When something as heavy as a car should be going downhill, it appears to move up hill at these mysterious parts of the planet. But are they really all that mysterious?

read more
The Banker Who Became A Bank Robber

The Banker Who Became A Bank Robber

As William Treadwell sat behind his desk at People’s Bank in Hudson, a small community in southern Michigan’s Lenawee County, he mulled over the opportunity that presented itself. It was January 1864, and area governments were depositing huge amounts of money, the proceeds of year-end taxes their citizens had paid the previous month.

read more
The Famous 1966 Michigan UFO Swamp Gas Case

The Famous 1966 Michigan UFO Swamp Gas Case

March 14 started a week in Washtenaw County, Michigan that would bring it into the spotlight. UFOs were being spotted by very trustworthy policemen. Radars showed UFOs on their screens. Josef Allen Hynek was sent by the government to investigate. All this led up to one of the best known UFO cases in Michigan — the Swamp Gas Case.

read more
The Mysterious Paulding Light

The Mysterious Paulding Light

Almost every night, strange circular lights of red, green and blue can be seen moving about. The Paulding Light is one of Michigan’s biggest mysteries and is a public spot for everyone to visit. Sometimes the lights seem to follow the power lines nearby. Since the lights were first seen, legends surround the lights.

read more
The Mystical Keweenaw Vortex – Is it Real?

The Mystical Keweenaw Vortex – Is it Real?

Prospector’s Paradise is a rock and mineral shop that houses all kinds of precious and semi-precious stones for the collector. A literal rock and mineral “Wal-Mart” as their sign says. It’s also home to the mysterious “Keweenaw Vortex”, a place some feel is bursting with natural energy from the planet, possibly because of underground rivers in the vicinity.

read more
The Mysterious Michigan Relics

The Mysterious Michigan Relics

In the late 1800’s, farmers and laymen alike were migrating to different areas of Michigan and claiming their newly acquired parcels of land. These common folk were unaware of the amazing discoveries that would soon be unearthed from the many ancient mounds that dotted the landscape. Farmers destroyed many of the mounds while preparing their lands for crops. In the meantime, other citizens were digging into the mounds out of pure curiosity. 

read more

Alexis St. Martin: The Man With A Hole In His Stomach

Alexis St. Martin lived one of the weirdest lives on record. Not only was he unfortunate enough to have part of his stomach blown off during an accidental shooting on Mackinac Island in 1822, he also spent the next ten years as guinea pig to a doctor who, among other things, dangled bits of food into St. Martin’s unhealed wound to study the effects of digestion, a process that wasn’t well understood at the time.

read more
The Discovery of the Sanilac Petroglyphs 

The Discovery of the Sanilac Petroglyphs 

For three days in September 1881, a fire ravaged much of the Thumb area in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The blaze decimated towns throughout four counties, and shot so much ash into the air that people in New England observed yellow skies and experienced twilight levels of darkness at noon. The Thumb Fire ultimately burned more than one million acres and took the lives of 282 people.

read more

The Mysterious Painter of the Michigan State Capital Muses

For about 125 years, eight painted figures have stared down at visitors from inside the state capital dome; for most of those years, no one knew exactly who had painted them. The figures, known as the muses, each represent a different means (i.e., agriculture, art, astronomy/science, commerce, education, industry, justice, and law) through which Michigan citizens can prosper and brighten the state’s future.

read more
The Michigan Merman

The Michigan Merman

On May 13, 1782, Vanant St. Germain, a Canadian fur trader, spotted what he believed to be an actual merman swimming in the cold, deep dark waters of Lake Superior. While making a stop at Pie Island in the northern part of the lake, St. Germain spotted the creature and described it as looking “child-like with brownish skin” and having “extremely brilliant eyes.”

read more

Mishipeshu, the Guardian of the Sacred Copper

The ancient stories say it lives on Michipicoten Island on the Canadian side of cold Lake Superior and has the magical ability to cause nasty storms. It’s usually associated with more bad things in life than good, such as death and destruction, but as long as an offering was made to the creature, this could perhaps keep it calm if one had to travel by water.

read more
Hatchet Man Road

Hatchet Man Road

The legend states: A fellow in the 80’s built a fallout shelter beneath his home for his family. Paranoia growing greater, he took his family down there to live. At some point he lost it and killed his entire family with a hatchet and thus the road got its nickname: Hatchet Man Road.

read more
Reynolds Cemetery and the Unsolved Crouch Murders

Reynolds Cemetery and the Unsolved Crouch Murders

For decades, people have gathered every year on the night of November 21 at the Reynolds Cemetery in Jackson, Michigan, hoping to see the reunion of two lost souls. Gathering might not be as common as it once was in the past, as creepy neighbors with shot guns and the police are a few of the factors that keep the curious ghost hunters away from the cemetery these days. So be warned.

read more
The Shoe Tree Legend of Michigan

The Shoe Tree Legend of Michigan

The shoe tree story is pure legend at its finest because there’s nothing haunted about some old shoes in a tree. It’s a little creepy, but doesn’t automatically generate ghosts. But try telling that to someone who claims that their car wouldn’t start when they were near a shoe tree and other bizarre occurrences that are said to happen by these roadside oddities.

read more
error: Content is protected !!