Maybury State Park Paranormal Experiences -- Northville, MI

**matthewherch** · September-17-13, 11:02 PM

Hello all,

I am the founder of a local paranormal research group, The Detroit Area Paranormal Research Society. We are working on a new web series highlighting Detroit haunted locations and telling the very personal stories of those who experienced paranormal occurrences.

To get to the point, since I was a child I had always heard stories of a haunted Sanatorium in Northville, MI. It was only recently that we found out just where that sanatorium once was. It is now Maybury State Park. I've heard stories of strange occurrences on the grounds of the sanitorium such as apparition sightings, dark figures, and strange sounds.

My question to the DetroitYES community is have any of you or anyone you know had a paranormal experience either when the building was still standing or now when the property is a state park?

Please let me know and go into as much detail as you can. Thanks again.

**Downriviera** · September-18-13, 07:08 AM

That was a very scary place even in the daytime. Seeing the padded cells was un-nerving. We used to go all the time. Never saw anything but I thought I heard faint screams once. Could have been the alcohol and or other things we were partying with though. I always got a weird feeling around there that is hard to describe. I know a couple guys who tried to spend the night there, they didn't last long. Hope to hear some others stories of that place on this thread.

**sumas** · September-18-13, 07:18 AM

Frankly, I am confused. Northville had a mental hospital on the next street over from 6 mile between Haggerty and Northville rd.

**DetroitPlanner** · September-18-13, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by Downriviera

That was a very scary place even in the daytime. Seeing the padded cells was un-nerving. We used to go all the time. Never saw anything but I thought I heard faint screams once. Could have been the alcohol and or other things we were partying with though. I always got a weird feeling around there that is hard to describe. I know a couple guys who tried to spend the night there, they didn't last long. Hope to hear some others stories of that place on this thread.

I think you have this confused with the State Hospital. The sanitorium has been gone for a very long time [[1970-ish). It was located at roughly 8 Mile and Beck. Maybury was a TB hospital. http://www.mayburysanatorium.com/#/history/4526191819

I have been to the park and have found some foundations for buildings still there. I also got close to a garter snake which was not too scary!

**Pam** · September-18-13, 07:58 AM

I've been to Maybury many times and never experienced anything weird. My great-grandfather died there, but he hasn't been back for a visit.

By the way- in the past few years, the park has put up markers where the different hospital buildings were.

**gnome** · September-18-13, 08:14 AM

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/MayburySanatorium/media/NorthvilleNov.gif.html]

image from DetroitPlanner's link shows Map that includes a home for Feeble Minded Teens.

...edit: grrr, the image didn't show up. Sorry, but it is kind of a pain in the rear area to post pics to this forum since the "upgrade".

**Jimaz** · September-18-13, 08:46 AM

Use "[center][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/MayburySanatorium/NorthvilleNov.gif[/img][/center]" to get:

Ha! Feeble minded. Don't hear that phrase very often anymore.

**NoHeartAnthony** · September-18-13, 08:55 AM

It is physically impossible for ghosts to exist.

Next.

**subsidized** · September-18-13, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by NoHeartAnthony

It is physically impossible for ghosts to exist.

Next.

Yes. This. Maybury has nice mountain bike trails though.

**canuck** · September-18-13, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by NoHeartAnthony

It is physically impossible for ghosts to exist.

Next.

Who needs ghosts for a scare when you can find it right here amidst the living.

**DetroitPlanner** · September-18-13, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

Use "[center][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/MayburySanatorium/NorthvilleNov.gif[/img][/center]" to get:

Ha! Feeble minded. Don't hear that phrase very often anymore.

Can't be the same thing. Sheldon Road is shown on the map. This is a couple of miles West.

**RickBeall** · September-18-13, 01:23 PM

When I was in high school, when the buildings were still there, we used to get real drunk and run around there at night. I remember English tudor style buildings. Also, the police regularly patrolled there. If you saw headlights you dived for the bushes. You had to park your car at the service station so it looked like it was being repaired.

We never saw any ghosts. I figure we probably scared them away, so we were doing a public service.

**RickBeall** · September-18-13, 01:26 PM

I am glad that the experts on this site can authoratatively tell us that it is physically impossible for ghosts to exist. Whew!

**rb336** · September-18-13, 06:00 PM

I visited Clinton Valley for a class project. Talk about your creepy places!! I had a few of the patients tell me not to go into a certain building because they will steal my brain. The building in question was boarded up and chained, but there were lights on inside, and I peeked through a gap in the boards. There were specimen jars with formaldehyde - and BRAINS. That is when security escorted me off the campus.
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Name: Clinton_Valley_Center.jpg
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**Gistok** · September-18-13, 07:09 PM

Welcome to the forum Maththew... I am going to say in all sincerity that I'm a "not sure" when it comes to supernatural occurrences... but an open minded one. As someone who has travel quite a bit in Europe, I've heard a lot of unusual stories, especially in some English Manor Houses.

Being an east sider, I don't know anything about Maybury...

**canuck** · September-18-13, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by RickBeall

I am glad that the experts on this site can authoratatively tell us that it is physically impossible for ghosts to exist. Whew!

I watched a few minutes of those TV shows about the supernatural and they confirmed my suspicion that ghosts are cobwebs in people's brains.

**rb336** · September-18-13, 07:44 PM

Don't believe in an afterlife, don't believe in ghosts. even though I saw them a lot when I was a kid. If anyplace is haunted, it would be a psychiatric hospital.

Just for clarification - many hospitals for incurable, communicable diseases used the term "sanitorium/sanitarium." That is actually the definition - a place where chronic diseases are treated. The confusion comes from the word "sane" - both from the latiin word for health

**WaCoTS** · September-18-13, 09:46 PM

this spring i learned that Fort Wayne is haunted. that SyFy tv show the "Haunted Collector" proved it, because the ghost of a roofer, who was putting a roof on a blg downtown during the '67 riot fell off the roof...or got shot...or something....blah blah blah something about he lived at the Fort or whatever...anyway this roofing cleat was in a blg i guess and it belonged to him, so he haunted it? and thats why Fort Wayne is haunted? but i guess it's not anymore, because the Haunted Collector guy with the beard figured out the mystery? i think?

LOL

**sumas** · September-19-13, 04:04 AM

Lived in Northville for a bit, never heard about Maybury Park's past. Fascinating.

Supposedly, my home has a ghost. Never seen her. People who have, don't deviate in their stories. A little black girl about 10 wearing a coral colored dress. I joke about this but who knows???

We have a separate computer set up on the third floor servants quarters we rarely use. There is a door to a large closet and if I lean on it I end up falling through, I latch the door and still fall through. Again who knows???

**jefferson78** · September-19-13, 07:33 AM

My wife and I used to live in Northville in the early 90's. I used to ride my bike on the trails at Maybury almost daily. I always wondered why there were so many asphalt or paved areas that were overgrown with weeds and such. I always thought that it used to be an area that was used for camping or something.
I find it interesting that a sanitorium use to be there.
We used to walk the trails with our kids and joke that the woods were haunted by the Maybury Witch [[a take on the Blair Witch).
All in all, it is a nice park and we haven't been back there in some time.

I still believe that the old mental hospital on 7 mile would be full of spirits, since obviously plenty of patients died there.
I'd love to do a walkthrough at night and see if it's true.
Never seen a ghost personally, but I keep an open mind. There are too many experiences or hauntings that I've seen or heard about for me to totally dismiss the idea. Besides, it is that time of year, right?

**JBMcB** · September-19-13, 08:54 AM

Chicago Road near Halmich Park in Warren is supposedly haunted. People have reported seeing apparitions roaming around at night.

I've never seen a haint there, but I've seen deer walking around, probably eating apples from the crab-apple trees at the park, then heading back to the Red Run drain. I'm sure the two are in no way related.

**night-timer** · September-19-13, 09:25 AM

I once experienced a minor supernatural experience in my apartment after attending a séance, although nothing that would be relevant to the OP's question about a sanatorium. Other friends have experienced genuine supernatural experiences - both incidents occurred in houses where genuinely bad stuff had happened. I am generally a skeptic, but I can report that these were genuine friends with no reason to concoct stories. One incident involved musician friends who were squatting a dump whose toilet was in a creepy basement. No-one wanted to go down there, but everyone needs to use the john now and then. Strange tapping noises began occurring whenever you were in there. And someone had painted a mural on the wall of the basement at some time. When you looked at it, you saw either one of two things: to some people it looked like a portrait of a smiling soldier. Others said when they looked at it they saw a woman with a bullet hole in her head.

**Django** · September-19-13, 11:35 AM

Went to Northville once, made torches and explored the tunnels in the middle of the night. That was fun but no ghosts.

**JBMcB** · September-19-13, 11:57 AM

Recommended reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World

**gazhekwe** · September-20-13, 08:07 AM

In Anishinaabe tradition, the time of year is approaching when the Spirit World and the Earth are closest, and the veil between them is thinnest. Though honoroig the ancestors is done at any time of the year, the first week in November, the time between the Falling Leaves Moon and the Freezing Moon, is our traditional time for Ghost Suppers. It is interesting that in this tradition, the spirits are regarded as honored relatives who maintain a nurturing relationship with the living descendants rather than feared beings who mean harm.