These 5 Creepy Asylums In Michigan From The State's Past Are Quite Disturbing
By Serena Maria Daniels|Updated on October 04, 2023(Originally published March 10, 2021)
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Serena Maria Daniels
Author
Serena Maria Daniels is an award-winning freelance journalist in Detroit, by way of Chicago, by way of the West Coast. She writes about Michigan for OIYS. Serena enjoys learning about language and culture and taking road trips with her beagle Ralph.
The very thought of an asylum conjures up disturbing images of lobotomies, patients wasting away in decrepit cell-like rooms, and the criminally insane mixing dangerously close to those who pose no threat. It also has us thinking about the thousands of unfortunate souls who had no chance of ever leaving. Instead, they were left to die, their ghosts forever remaining to haunt the halls of their earthly prisons. Here are some abandoned asylums in Michigan with stories that can keep you up at night with fear.
Perhaps the creepiest place in the Traverse City area, this state hospital originally opened as an insane asylum in 1885. Patients with tuberculosis, typhoid, diphtheria, and polio were also treated in this facility which was appropriately designed in the Gothic style.
Underground tunnels were constructed beneath the hospital to transport sick patients, without exposing them to the elements.
Rumor has it that there is a portal to Hell under what is known as the "Hippy Tree." If you're looking for scary places in Michigan, this is the place to visit!
Today, guided tours are available on the grounds. Just try to walk through these eerie halls and not feel uneasy. You can book a tour of Traverse City State Hospital.
See what it’s like to explore the tunnels underneath this asylum:
Also known as the Wayne County Infirmary, Psychiatric, and General Hospital Complex, this once sprawling asylum served the invalid and mentally ill for more than 150 years. Abandoned in the 70s, the facility remained a spooky oddity for thrill-seeking teens, where it was said that discarded medical waste and even human bodies remained. The place has since been razed and turned into a golf course.
Check out a paranormal investigation of the Eloise Asylum:
In its heyday, this facility, also known as the Southwest Michigan Tuberculosis Sanitarium, was considered a state-of-the-art facility for treating patients suffering from TB. As the deadly threat of tuberculosis subsided in the 1960s, the place became the Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital. Neighbors of this building have said they've heard the wailing of souls of those who spent their last years confined to the institution.
Another former institute for treating tuberculosis patients, this sanitarium opened in 1907. Like the Kalamazoo facility, it also switched to treating the mentally disabled, changed hands a couple of times, and then was shuttered for good in 1982. Years later, the property was torn down to make way for upscale housing, however, the area was said to be haunted.
This facility opened in 1952 and was considered one of the finest facilities in the country for treating psychiatric patients. But that reputation did not last, as reports became public decades later that patients were forced to sleep in hallways, were left with nothing to do but chain smoke and watch television all day, and were even subjected to attacks by staff members and other patients.
Though aged markedly by the weather, this sprawling facility stayed quite intact until it was demolished in 2018.
These are some of the more prominent sanitariums, state hospitals, and asylums in Michigan with haunting pasts. Which of these do you find most creepy? Have you taken a guided tour through any abandoned asylums in Michigan? Tell us in the comments!
