Not too much to report on this cemetery at the moment. Butler Cemetery, also known as William Ganong Cemetery, is in Westland, Michigan and a lady in white has been spotted in the graveyard. There supposedly is an unusual amount of traffic accidents by the cemetery as well.
If you have visited this cemetery, seen something unusual or even experienced car problems in front of the place, let Michigan’s Otherside know about it.
Reader Submissions
Submitted October 2009 - My name is Mark A. France, and I am owner and lead investigator for the Michigan Paranormal Research Society (M.P.R.S.), based out of White Lake, MI. A few years back, a group of fellow investigators and myself, checked out the Butler/William Ganong Cemetery in Warren, MI, with some interesting results.
As stated by another visitor, the high number of accidents could be attributed to the sharp curve by the cemetery, as well as the fact that there is an entrance/exit to a trailer park, which surrounds the cemetery on two sides.
The particular evening the group and I went, we parked in the lot across from the cemetery. One of the investigators with the group spoke to the spirits before we entered, stating our intentions with our visit. Using digital recorders and several cameras, we broke off into small groups and searched the cemetery.
As I made my way about the cemetery, I felt drawn to the back of the grounds. It's hard to explain exactly what I felt, but it was as if something wanted me there, in particular, it felt like a young girl. I looked at a number of the tombstones with my flashlight, in the area where the feeling was strongest, and finally came upon a small stone which was sitting by itself next to several tall trees. Upon inspection, it was discovered to be the grave of a small girl by the name of Sarah. What made this even more eerie was the fact that one of the other investigators showed up in the same spot, stating that she, too, was feeling drawn to that area for some reason.
As the night progressed, we noticed that some of the residents from the trailer park were taking notice of our presence (from the flashlights, I presume). Finally, one resident started yelling, "Alright, you've been there long enough, you need to leave". This went
on for about ten minutes, before we finally decided to leave.
As we were exiting the cemetery, we noticed three men walking down the road in our direction, carrying baseball bats.
Mark A. France
Michigan Paranormal Research Society
"Hey I just wanted to let you all know I have been to Butler cemetery on three separate occasions. I have never seen anything while there. The reason there are so many accidents is because there is a curve right before the cemetery. People claim they see a woman in a white dress walking and that is what causes the accidents."
-Random Email
Dan Runs While Friends Check Out Strange Sound
"My name is Dan. I was checking out the web site because my friends and I like to go to the "haunted places" around Michigan. Everything seemed pretty cool and now I want to visit some of the places that I heard about on your site, especially the Felt Mansion after seeing your video.
While I was looking through the cemetery section I noticed you didn’t have much on the Butler cemetery so I thought I would share a story…
After looking through the Shadowlands website, three friends and I decided to visit the William Ganong Cemetery or "Butler Cemetery". Around two A.M. on a very chilly March night we arrived at the cemetery. Now I’m more of, I guess you could say, "excited skeptic." I don’t really believe in ghosts, but I’m always excited to be proved wrong. We heard stories about the "lady in white" causing a bunch of accidents on the turn. After going through the turn and almost sliding off the road because of all the ice, we decided that wasn't the case, so we parked in some random person’s driveway and walked through the gates. We were instantly creeped out. It was a clear night with no wind. We decided to walk around in the small cemetery and take pictures of the grave stones, walking around casually, ducking whenever a car passed. It was all light hearted fun until weird noises came from deeper in the cemetery. It almost sounded like a hyena laughing. Creepy.
So naturally I took off running to the front gates and stopped when I realized no one was following me. They all decided to check out what made the noise. So about twenty minutes and three cigarettes later, my friends came back and we got in the car and headed home. That’s when I started looking through my pictures on my camera. Now I read the thing on your website about cheap cameras and the orbs going away after buying a good one. I have a Canon Powershot 12.1 megapixel digital camera and I’ll admit some of the "orbs" are probably dust. But some of the pictures I have no explanation for. Anyway, I just thought you might think that story was somewhat interesting."
Photo submitted and taken by Dan
- *All cemeteries should be entered with respect. Leave them like you found them. Don’t liter, if you smoke, pocket your butts and for the love of every god, don’t vandalize anything or so help me, 10,000 demons will strike you down. If the cemetery has hours posted, respect that as well or find out how to get permission to be in there after hours. Many times a simple phone call to the right person will grant access into a cemetery after hours. If you can’t get access, enjoy the cemetery during open hours. We are firm believers that spirits don’t just come out at night. I think it’s just ghost hunters who only come out at night.