Local 4 viewers share their ghost stories

Hello and Happy Halloween! It’s the last official day of spooky season (although it’s always spooky season in my heart) and a handful of viewers were kind enough to share their ghost stories.

This is what they shared:

Visit from a great-grandmother

This story comes from an anonymous viewer in Rochester: In 2019, both of my grandparents’ health deteriorated and they came to Metro Detroit from Northern Michigan. Six months later they died five weeks apart. Our family was devastated to lose them both so close to each other. A year later I was staying up late doing homework, one warm summer evening around midnight I was in the family room when I suddenly saw a young woman floating across the floor in a white dress. She looked straight at me and smiled at me. That’s when I realized it was my great-grandmother (my great-grandmother was my grandmother’s mother). As mentioned above, I am devastated by the death of my grandparents. I felt like she had come to see me and the family because of our losses. Even though I never met my great-grandmother, there are photos of her. Yet to this day I feel her presence.

Ghost hunting

This story comes from John Yost of Pickney: My team Flyer Paranormal hosts public ghost hunts at The Orson Starr House in Royal Oak. Last Saturday, during a public hunt, my head was pushed by something invisible during the Estes Method experiment. It’s a sensory deprivation experiment while listening to a ghost box.

Waiting for a plate

This story comes from Denine Chamberlin of Rives Junction: After my father-in-law passed away, he came back to our house to check on the grandchildren. I saw him in the hallway watching them. The next day I told my mother-in-law and my oldest daughter, who was four at the time, said, “I saw Grandpa in the hallway looking at me too.” It was a wonderful feeling to know he was with us and it gave my mother-in-law peace. She had been waiting for some sign from him that he was okay.

“Daddy!”

This story comes from Jenna Bernardi of Canton: My husband died suddenly of a heart attack when I was six months pregnant with our second daughter, so she never met him. One night, when she was 1 year old, she started crying, so I brought her into my bed. It was pitch black and the middle of the night, and I just lay there trying to get her back to sleep. Suddenly she started doing something where she shook her head, and then paused and watched you shake your head at her and laugh, and then repeat it. This lasted about 30 seconds to a minute, except I didn’t shake my head at her. Then she pointed to the corner of the pitch-black room and said, “Dada!”

Heavenly happy

This story comes from an anonymous viewer in Washington: Our brother-in-law’s son recently got married at the Holly Belle wedding venue in Holly, Michigan. Our brother-in-law passed away over a year ago, but he always wanted his son to marry his old, beautiful girlfriend.

Well, in September the time had finally come! A beautiful location, graced with the presence of an even more beautiful bride and groom! Our brother-in-law was a huge model train enthusiast and loved everything to do with trains. As everyone took their vows to each other, a passing train whistle blew three times as everyone took their vows! We asked the son if they had planned that train whistle and he had no idea what we were talking about, while everyone at the table had a chill running down their spines.

My husband has an office in Holly where he works staggered days, mornings and afternoons and that same train passes by his office and he has never heard that train whistle in over 20 years! I think Dad was heavenly happy!

“She has no legs!”

This story comes from Brittany Kyewski of Detroit: When I was about 8 years old, my sister, cousin and I rode our bikes in our subdivision in Sterling Heights. We came across a cemetery (Saint Paul Cemetery). We got off our bikes to pay respect to the gravestones. We saw a little girl, in a white dress, with a stuffed animal in her arms. She said, “I’m looking for my mother, can you help me find her?” And the little girl, who was now crying, we told her we would help. Then I noticed, being the oldest, that she had no feet. My eyes wandered up, “No legs,” I screamed, “She has no legs!” We got back on our bikes and rode away terrified.

She was still with us

This story comes from L. Koz of Clinton Township: After my mother passed away in 2022, my father had to pick up a few things and then go to the funeral home to arrange everything. When he started his car to leave, he noticed that the phone automatically connected to Bluetooth. It greeted him with my mother’s name on the screen. The strange thing is that he didn’t have her phone, but his own phone. That same morning, my son stayed at her home in Shelby Township while we made arrangements at the funeral home. As he sat on the couch, he looked at her chair and saw her sitting there and watching TV with him. After about a minute she disappeared. I truly believe she wanted us all to know that she was still with us.

Bump in the night (and day!)

This story comes from Sandra Place of Jackson: We moved into a house that had not been lived in for over six years. Its history was that of a renovated, very old private almshouse. After I moved in, things started happening at night, during the day, and anytime! A few examples of the ghosts that lived in our house: the stacked pans that were thrown from the cupboard onto the floor; hearing the sounds of the books on the shelves in the living room flying off the shelves and hitting the floor. Only they didn’t have that. Other evidence includes the strong smell of gardenia and overhead footsteps on the second floor. Only one visible ghost has been seen: a man dressed in 1930s-style clothing at the end of the living room. So yes, we share our home with ghosts. We have made peace with them and are comfortable with their presence.

—> Here you can read last year’s stories.