The South End Newspaper
http://www.southend.wayne.edu

LOCAL/STATE:  Oct/27/2004
Urban legends and ghost stories of Michigan
By Wendy Clem 
Contributing Writer 

This story is part of a two-part series; the second will run tomorrow. This story originally ran in last year’s Halloween week of The South End. 

In “Ghost Stories of Michigan,” author Dan Asfar maintains that cultures in humid climates tend to be more rife with ghostly folklore legends than those of arid regions. And, with its rich history of battles, customs and people, duo-peninsular Michigan fits the color quotient — and humidity — of which mysterious events are made.

Home to an international border as well as a cross-section of ethnicities and religions, the Great Lakes are often cited in reference to haunted buildings and many accidents, forest disappearances and other paranormal phenomenon. Epic legends have resonated for centuries, with special focus on Detroit.

“A lot of urban legends may have a kernel of truth in them and there are societies dedicated to attempting to verify them,” says Janet Langlois, Wayne State University associate professor of English, who specializes in folklore.

“Urban legends deal with stories that are told in a more informal manner and repeated accordingly,” added Langlois. “People will ask what is normal vs. supernatural, then work out answers logically, but it always leaves the possibility for debate in interpretation. So-called paranormal experiences have underlying questions, such as: Do ghosts really exist?”

Myths originating with Judeo-Christian storytelling focused on saints and associated miracles, healings or other extraordinary events. During the 19th century, legend became more clearly defined and today might be classified into five categories: religious, supernatural, personal (anecdotes or stories told in the first person), local legends or locations and urban contemporary. However, at any given time, such stories could arguably fit into any of those classifications, Langlois says.
“Legends are very modern; they cut across historic times,” said Langlois. “Folklore legends generally have their place in many unofficial parts of culture and have even been known to be apocalyptical at times.”

She separates folklore legends into three broad types: oral or verbal, customs and material. Several are typical of recurring Detroit stories.
“The story of Knock-Knock Road is probably among the most well-known in this area and although it may have originated earlier, it was first widely discussed in the ’40s and very popular in the ’60s and ’70s,” says Langlois. “It involved variations on a little girl who was said to have been hit and killed by a driver while riding her bike.”

Cars passing through the area are allegedly subjected to thumps or banging underneath, said to be from the injured/dead girl or due to a curse placed on the street by her parents. Subsequent re-paving of the road, located in the Grosse Pointes, failed to stop the disturbances. The street’s name was changed and a police officer stationed there to divert curious crowds.

The phenomenon is chronicled in Richard Dorson’s 1959 book, “American Folklore: Folktales and Legends of the Big City.” Dorson, a former Michigan State University instructor, based part of his research on students’ visits to the area. He was among the first to record modern folklore and relate legend more urban than rural. Dorson’s book is among many housed at WSU’s archives, the Walter P. Reuther College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs.

Haunted locations at WSU include Wayne’s Helen Newberry Joy Student Services Center and the Bonstelle Theatre, allegedly haunted by the ghost of previous owner Jessie Bonstelle. Bonstelle has reportedly been seen hovering near the curtain as if coaching actors.

Belle Isle is home to a 1940s legend, The Lady of Tanglewood Drive, says Langlois. The specter of a bride killed by her new husband could be glimpsed by driving over the bridge at Tanglewood and honking the horn three times.

Rumors have also circulated about The Shoe Tree outside of Novi where numerous pairs of shoes adorn branches, said to symbolize a murderer’s victims. This story gained popularity during the Oakland County child killings of the 1970s, added Langlois.

The GM Stamping Plant played host in 1964 to an image that pushed a young worker to safety from the path of a malfunctioning machine. The National Registry of Haunted Places claims that the helpful ghost had been crushed in a similar accident in 1944.

The Ford River Rouge Plant is said to be the haunt for the spirit of Henry Ford, whose shadow regularly appears, “due to his sense of responsibility” according to Linda Newman, director/founder of “Spirit.”
The Fox Theatre and Upstage Theatre are also havens for unexplained activity. Greg Bellamy, director of Fox’s Operations, related on a 1996 video, Haunted Legends of Detroit, that union stagehands provide “insurance against ghosts to keep them at bay” by nightly leaving a single stage light on, while stories have circulated for years about the building’s stone lions roaming the theater after hours.

The Upstage has a presence in its prop room that has chilled many an actor and patron during performances, and has been known to reach out and grab some in attendance.

City hospitals have experienced many dramatic occurrences, including the death of Harry Houdini in room 401 at the former Grace Hospital on Halloween 1926. Located at the intersection of John R and Willis where Harper Hospital now stands. Grace was where Houdini succumbed to peritonitis. His name has become synonymous with séances and quests to contact the dead.

Eloise Mental Asylum alternately housed the poor, the insane, tuberculosis patients and myriad others. Later renamed the Wayne County Poorhouse and then Wayne County General Hospital, it gave a television crew pause during paranormal investigations, according to Ghosts Stories of Michigan.

Located at Michigan Avenue and Merriman Road, Eloise’s buildings were eventually torn down, but smells still persist and the hospital’s cemetery is said to contain unexplained phenomena. Audiotapes recorded during an investigation reveal eerie, threatening voices.

Many area restaurants are said to have unusual activity such as Detroit’s Cadieux Café, says Langlois.

The Riverplace Grand Heritage Hotel near Belle Isle, featured in the 1996 video, claims that kitchen staff report seeing a young figure in Revolutionary War clothing walking outside the window. Its gym is haunted and room 301 has numerous instances of strange footprints and dead flies on a window especially right after housekeeping has scoured the room.

The video depicts Farmington’s Botsford Inn as home to a strange force in its banquet vicinity, believed to be the spirit of the former Mrs. Henry Ford. With the former ballroom focus of the Fords’ romantic rendezvous, Clara Ford is today said to play havoc with the table settings, lights, doors and even the busboys.

Stories about victimized children seem to recur in the urban areas. One of the most common is the tale of a small boy castrated by a stranger in a public bathroom. Often attributed to the Detroit area in particular, Langlois says these myths can actually be traced back to pre-Socratic time, intended to inflame rather than inform the public. Such stories tend to surface during times of war, race riots or other public distress, she says.

Langlois cites an instance during the Gulf War in 1991 when tales about babies bayoneted by Iraqi soldiers were unfounded, as well as the razor-blades-in-apples story during Halloween trick-or-treating.
Later, however, a Texas father actually used the information he gained from the apple/razor blades ruse to murder his stepchild.

“Children are frequent targets in these types of stories,” says Langlois. “This is probably due to their vulnerability and innocence. Yet, one shouldn’t be quick to de-bunk them — as they may indeed have happened.”

Often, says Langlois, such legends are categorized as conversations that center on “I heard it from a friend of a friend …,” and can be rooted in people trying to philosophically work out their own problems of reality.

Sociologists refer to such tales as unverified correct or incorrect information, or urban legends/rumors.

The scientific community sees such events as possible behavior or thoughts motivated by psychological processes. Symbolic expressions of fear can result in needing to develop mastery over those fears, says Shawn Ruben, 28, adjunct faculty member of the Center for Humanistic Studies Graduate School in Farmington Hills. Ruben, a Royal Oak psychologist, specializes in treating traumatized children.

“We are tantalized by the unusual and its human enterprise to bump up against these things and try to make sense of them,” Ruben said.
“Certainly, scarring events can be attributed to particular places or people.

But, over time, people ascribe meanings to those situations that puzzle, frighten or frustrate them. For instance, an old lady living alone and keeping to herself in a neighborhood may, over the years, come to be thought of as a witch — and the legends can grow from there.”

Ruben said adults carry their histories with them and shape their world around them, including childhood fears and feelings of helplessness or dependency associated with that period. External events confront adults and can play on internal events as people try to fill in gaps and blanks with their own interpretations.

“In mysterious matters, I would encourage exploring all possibilities for explanation,” says Ruben. “And, Halloween is a time to confront issues and fears and have a healthy expression of the macabre that we’re so interested in. Even children can benefit by confronting their fears at that time, from behind the safety of a mask.”

Langlois says sometimes tales are historic in nature and it’s through “legend dialect” that one can try to sort out what really did happen after an unusual experience.

“I think personal experiences are true to people and very real,” said Langlois. “Sometimes people only realize afterward that an experience has pushed the envelope of believability and begin to question what really went on. Then, as they relate their story, some listeners to it will be sympathetic, while others question it — or the teller.”

To check the latest urban legends, visit: www.snopes.com, www.urbanlegends.about.com and www.urbanlegends.com.