What makes a great paranormal story?

Someone who is a complete nonbeliever, running into a ghost…or two. As of summer 2007, the city of Grand Haven (MI) tore down the Ottawa County Jail in the downtown area to make room for a beautiful new courthouse that will look much like it did during the turn of the last century. The former jail and courthouse were cold, bleak buildings put up in the 1960’s, when everyone seemed to lose site of what made a building beautiful. But it seemed to be the right atmosphere for two ghosts that haunted the former halls of the Ottawa County Jail.

My friend Matt didn’t believe in anything paranormal. He enjoyed talking to me about all of our paranormal endeavors and was open minded, but nevertheless, still didn’t have a spark of ghostly faith in him. Matt had worked in the local jails for sometime and never encountered anything strange except for some of the people he was booking into jail.

Matt’s first experience occurred while checking the cells on his first day of work at the Ottawa County facility. It wasn’t a maximum security jail and the inmates were on work duty, so he was alone. Matt was walking along a catwalk in the jail when a feeling came over him he couldn’t explain. The catwalk had doors that

(Old Post Card of the original Ottawa County Courthouse)

had to be opened and locked every time he went through them and at that moment, Matt couldn’t move quickly enough. The keys in his hand shook while he was trying to jam them as fast as possible into the lock. As soon as he was out of the area, he felt relief wash over him. He didn’t know why he had felt that way or what came over him and he didn’t mention the experience to anyone.

The second experience happened in an uncomfortable situation: the bathroom. Matt was in a single person bathroom when he got pushed from behind while standing at the toilet. Thinking one of his co-workers were playing a game with him, he turned around ready to launch some choice swear words, only to find no one there. It was just him standing in the bathroom. But the push had felt real enough. After that, Matt knew something strange was going on and he finally asked the other guys he worked with about it.

He explained the two occurrences and the other guys came forward and told him about the two ghosts that haunted the jail hallways. One was called Hallway Herbie. They felt he was the ghost of an inmate who had hung himself in the jail a long time ago. Whenever he was around, people got bad feelings, which might be the reason why Matt couldn't get out of the catwalk fast enough. He might have been the ghost who had pushed him in the bathroom as well. It was also brought up that the area Matt had his first terrifying encounter in, was the area where they used to keep the "loony" and unstable inmates when that was the only jail in the area.

The second ghost who wandered the hallways was a guard. Inmates would report seeing him and be confused when a second, "living" guard would come right through after the ghost. One co-worker told how he was convinced his partner was standing behind him. He had glanced behind him and seen a man in a brown uniform. When he turned fully around, no one was there.

Are the two ghosts still with the property, waiting for the new courthouse to be built so they can move into their new home? Perhaps. We might never know.

 

If you had worked at the previous Ottawa County Jail and have an experience of your own to share, please write us.

  • Story by Amberrose Hammond