Story submitted by Jennie from Hartford, MI
North Shore Memory Gardens, Hagar Shores, MI
Okay this story is as told to me by my father. Both of my parents worked here shortly after they were married, and at one point actually lived in one of the houses owned by the cemetery. My dad was a grounds keeper/cremator (yuck) and my mom worked there for a short time restoring the statues on the grounds.
All of the strange stuff happened to my dad. First off, just about all of my family and friends are buried here, so I have spent a bit of time in the place and you just get the weirdest feelings when you’re out there, like someone is watching you. You expect something to peek out at you from behind one of the statues. All of the headstones are flat in the ground but there are these huge statues of biblical figures throughout the cemetery, which is creepy in itself. But any way, on with the story.
While my dad was working there, the owner’s wife had committed suicide and her body was entombed in the mausoleum. It was after this that strange things started happening.
He was up on the crematory furnace working one day when he heard the water turn on in the sink. He climbed down to see if his coworker had come into the building but no one was there, so he shut it off and went back to work. A few minutes later he heard the water turn back on and climbed down again. No one was there! This happened one more time again and he finally got fed up and told “the owners wife” that he has work to do and would she please knock it off. No more problems for the rest of the day.
He also told me there were lots of times they would turn the furnace off after a cremation, only to come back in a while later and it would be back on again. Tools that he knew he had just a short time before, would disappear only to be found later on top of the crematory. And this is the kicker here. He was working one day in the summer and it was a typical hot day, about 90 degrees. He was walking around the grounds trying to find a cool place to sit and have his lunch. He walked past one spot under a large pine tree and the temperature just dropped to what felt like 70 degrees. As he sat there and had his lunch, he said he got the most peaceful, relaxed feeling that he couldn't explain. Later that day, he came back by the area and the cool feeling was gone.
He did not understand it until nine or ten years later when he was burying his mother. She was laid to rest under the same pine tree. He had nothing to do with the burial plot. My grandmother’s second husband bought the plots when she was diagnosed with cancer. Fifteen years later when my grandfather passed, my grandpa Tom gave my dad the other plot to bury his father so he could lay in rest next to my grandma. So both of his parents are now buried under that pine tree by no doing of him.
Also, my best friend’s daughter was buried there in the children’s section. She would go out there a lot in the evenings. She and her husband were out there one night and they both clear as day heard someone or something say her name.
And just a little something more, nothing paranormal, just kind of funny and spooky all at the same time. My dad and his coworker were getting ready to cremate a guy and when they slid the body into the furnace, he sat straight up and turned to look right at my dads coworker! The nerves were still jumping in the guy, which caused it. It scared his coworker so bad he left work immediately! Of course, my Dad’s sick sense of humor thought it was hilarious!