Traverse City State Hospital

Hidden by large pine trees, tucked away in Traverse City lies the eerily beautiful buildings of the Traverse City State Hospital. Built in 1885, it was first known as the Northern Michigan Asylum. The hospital’s original theme was "beauty is therapy." The hospitals first superintendent, Dr. James Decker Munson, felt that if people were surrounded by beauty and tranquility, a lot of their mental problems would cease to exist. The use of straightjackets wasn’t even allowed. 

Like any old asylum from days past, the reputation of being "haunted" precedes it. Add the fact that deterioration set in quickly after the buildings had been abandoned for a number of years since the hospitals closing in 1989. Peeking into one of the windows offers a view of peeling, mint green lead paint, long corridors, forgotten furniture and the occasional graffiti. Many of the porches are surrounded with metal grating, most likely for the patients who were not so well off.

During a 2004 trip to the hospital we noticed the buildings were getting restored to their old glory. Buildings that once housed the mentally unstable and the sick were turning into condos, office space and even a restaurant! The majority of restoration is focused on building 50. Building 50, the hospital's first and main building, was designed by architect Gordon W. Lloyd and followed the "Kirkbride" plan for mental hospitals. Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride influenced how mental hospitals were to be built for years with his book On the Construction, Organization and General Arrangements of Hospitals for the Insane published in 1854. Building 50 is the last Kirkbride building standing in Michigan.

On a 2006 trip to the Traverse City State Hospital, we explored some of the grounds away from the buildings and found the old water tank that has some amazing graffiti work on it. I wasn't paying too much attention while we were approaching the tank, so I was a little wierded out when Tom climbed up a tree to peek onto the roof of the tank and began talking. There were three teens on top of the tank just hanging out. We climbed up and took a look around and introduced ourselves to the kids. I asked them about stories told about the hospital. I expected a ton of stuff being locals but they said all the usual like just being plain "haunted" and "creepy.” They mentioned the woods we were in by the water tower gave people a strange feeling.

Enjoy some pictures that were taken before the huge renovation project began of all the buildings.

 

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Reader Submission October 2011 -

My name is  D___ and I have a story about the Traverse City State Hospital. I was hired as a painter and general laborer by the construction company contracted to restore the hospital back in 2003 and worked for them until 2007. This is just one of the many stories I have after my four years of working on the old place. I was working in building 50 on the third floor by myself. The third floor was the men's most disturbed ward. I was up on a ladder scraping the paint off an old door transom on the north end of the ward when I heard a scuffing noise all the way down on the other end. I stopped what I was doing for a minute and looked down to see if I could see what all the commotion was. I kept my eyes fixed on the area were I heard the noise but didn't hear it anymore so I went back to doing my work. A few minutes went by when I heard it again but this time very loudly. I got down and went to see who was making so much noise but nobody was there so I started back to my ladder and got about half way down the ward when I heard the sound again. I whipped around as fast as I could to see a man peeking out of the last room on the end. I was just down there and I knew I was the only one in that section of the building. I knew immediately what I was looking at and could feel it looking at me, if that makes any sense. I bolted out and down the stairs as fast as I could and the whole time I felt it behind me till I made it out the door. Luckily, I coned another worker to come help me for the rest of the day and we didn't see anything else that day, but I could still feel it looking at me until I left for the day.

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Reader Submission September 2010 - First I want to say how much I enjoy your site and I visit often. Last fall I submitted an article I wrote about Pere Cheney Cemetery and you added it to your page (which made me very happy, lol). I have yet another story for you, this time about the TC State Hospital.... More of an anecdote, maybe.

When my daughter was born, she was six weeks premature and I was taken to Traverse City to give birth in a facility that was more equipped to deal with a premature birth. She was in the NICU at Munson Medical Center for two weeks and I stayed at the Munson Manor (Hospitality House) for those two weeks. Doing my laundry at the Manor was very daunting because of how uncomfortable I felt in the laundry room. On two occasions, the door slammed shut (and it had been propped open with a door stopper) and would not open for a couple minutes. I felt as though I were being watched very intently by something that didn't want me there. I tried to avoid the laundry room at all costs except when necessary.

I had read the other anecdote about the Munson Manor and I had to include my creepy laundry room story. Thank you for reading :-)

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Reader Submission June 2010 - I am a local of Traverse City and have been here for 15 years. I have researched this area and I work for a local news station. I was tapping a policeman doing a story about teen’s destruction of property. Now on to the spooky stuff! When I was recording with a video camera, I got some loud and very spooky voices. When I edited the tape I could hear the following. The voices said, "Get out Now!”,"Leave now or you will be sorry" and “watch out Mike". The scary thing is the officer’s name was Mike! It was like the sprit was talking to us in real time!. Sadly I tried to find this video in our company's archives but failed. You should have been there! Me, the policeman and the cam dude were freaking out. I mean, it was not a faint voice, it was a loud one! it was 10:30pm so NO one was around after the police removed the teens.

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Reader Submission October 2009 - We were staying at the Hospitality House at Munson in Traverse City, which is in one of the old state hospital buildings. We were in the laundry room in the basement and the door which had been open, slammed! We tried to get it unstuck and open it but it appeared locked. Seconds later it swung back open. Nobody else was around because it was late in the evening. Needless to say we didn't go near the basement again!

 

SHAMELESS PLUG!! A climb down into a gross old water tank gets eerie and a spirit goes free!

This story and more about the old hospital can be read in the book by Michigan's Otherside, "Ghosts & Legends of Michigan's West Coast" by Amberrose Hammond. Click on the book to your left to get your copy today!

 

 

 

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