The Haunted Town

By first accounts, Peninsula Bay, Michigan looks just like any other ordinary town in the state, but as you cross the Stevenson Bridge into the quaint town, you first realize that there is something about this town that is out of the ordinary.

Johnson’s General Store just past the bridge looks like it might have materialized out of a Steinbeck novel. Locals still congregate there on a summer evening to sip root beer as the sun goes down.

Victorian era houses line the main thoroughfare through the town to the Heaven’s Gate cemetery on the west side of town. There many of the “founding fathers” are buried there and still seem to have a say in what goes on in local government.

One is immediately drawn to the quaintness of the town, but many visitors also are drawn there for another reason. As you drive across the Stevenson Bridge you immediately feel an energy surge that is felt in most areas of the town and if you a lucky enough to be there after sundown you soon find out what is the cause of the energy.

A local couple, Candy and Sam Jones contacted us late in the summer about anomalies that they were getting in their photos. They reported many orbs of different colors throughout the town. Recently retired Sam and Candy’s children had given Sam a new camera so that he would have something to do while enjoying his retirement. No one suspected that this camera would open up a whole new world for the Joneses.

While taking photo’s around their quaint Victorian house they noticed many orbs, some blue and some white, in many areas of the home. One place in particular that was littered with orbs was a beautiful window seat area in their living room. Here also was one of the many beautiful ornate stained glass windows. This window looked out over the side yard to the barn area. On either side of this window were two elaborate electric candles that when lit would give this area an eerie glow.

At first Sam and Candy did not know why someone would build a window seat with electric candles on either side of the window. But upon research into the history of their house, they found out that this was a place that was used when the house was first new to lay out the deceased members of the family before burial. This would account for the lights and the stained glass window. And this would also account for the many orbs that were photographed in this place.

Their large formal entry way was also a very popular place for orbs to congregate we felt that this was because of the many antiques that they had along the walls in this room. Sometimes antiques seem to hold paranormal impressions around them associated with a former owner much as a home would also have.

The barn on the Jones’ property was also a very busy place for orbs; here Sam photographed many orbs zipping through the old horse stalls in the lower portion. An old garden area too seemed to be a hot bed of paranormal activity. The area outside the window that housed the window seat held a different kind of phenomena, there Sam photographed what appeared to be a chain of orbs with a large hook on the end. This hook seemed to anchor it’s self against the wall of the patio and the other end of the chain seemed to disappear into the house. Upon investigation of the area there was nothing that could explain the anomaly in the picture.

But we were soon to find out that their property was not the only one that seemed to have orbs when photographed. The old mill that now housed the historical society had many orbs that seemed to zip around the old mill wheel. Also the Johnson General Store had it’s share of orbs as well as something else that Sam photographed that was very disturbing.

While taking pictures at the store Sam snapped a picture of the side nearest the Stevenson Bridge and once developed he discovered a different type of anomaly in this picture. Instead of orbs Sam captured a picture of a dark shadow that resembles a person’s silhouette, that is hanging from the near by tree. The noose resembles the chain of orbs that they photographed on their property. They began to wonder if there was some connection to the hanging person and their property.

They researched their house some more and found that a man named Christianson built their house in the early 1900s and from all accounts it was the showcase of Peninsula Bay. Neighbors would watch as the many carpenters and architects labored to finish this show place. Mr. Christianson who was a very proud man wanted everything just right with his house; he wanted a house that he could be proud of.

Upon completion of the house the Christianson’s held a gala party for the towns folk, many of the townsfolk had never seen a house like this. The rich woodwork and flooring were beyond what their small houses had ever imagined. This house even boasted indoor plumbing something that none of the other homes in the area had. It seemed that the small town of Peninsula Bay had come of age with the Christianson house.

Soon many families from the area cities had bought land and made summer homes in this secluded area of Michigan. The town folk although they liked the money that the summer folk brought in, they were very suspicious of anyone that did not grow up in their town. So they became very close mouth in folklore in the area.

Sam and Candy found this out as they tried to find a reason for all the orbs in their pictures; having not grown up in the town, no one seemed in a hurry to tell them anything about their home.

We went there to see if we could find out anything. We were immediately assaulted with the energy as we crossed the Stevenson Bridge as well as many areas of the town.

We had planned on researching the Heavens Gate Cemetery on the west side of town because on a recent walk, Sam had captured many orbs in the center. Upon investigation Sam discovered many graves of the founding fathers of the town there. While looking at the monuments, Sam heard a man’s voice, he turned to see who had spoken and found no one. But in the direction of where the voice seemed to come from Sam saw a grave as he walked over to it, the energy feeling increased and as he got to where he could read the name in the dusky light of the setting sun, he was surprised to find that this was the grave of the man that had built the house that he and Candy were now living in, here was the grave of Mr. Gerald Christianson. 

Sam decided to go home and get a tape recorder and see what he could pick up if anything around the grave. He set the tape recorder on the monument and walked around continuing to snap away on his camera. After a while he picked up the recorder and hurried home to see if anything had recorded.

Sam and Candy sat at the table listening to the play back of the tape, they could hear the sound of the summer insects and the occasional sound of the snap of a camera, but nothing else until almost at the very end of the tape, there was this strange sound of what could be described as wind and then a very gravely sounding voice. As the voice talked it seemed to gather strength and what is was saying got clearer and clearer. Soon what it was saying over and over again was “you come down with me,” both of them immediately felt a cold envelope them as they sat in their warm kitchen. It was as if someone had turned on a large air conditioner.

We arrived at Sam and Candy’s house and made plans on investigating what we could in the town. As we drove over the bridge into town the energy was very apparent as was it in many of the areas that Sam and Candy had gotten the pictures. Later on in the evening we drove to the cemetery and waited to see what would happen.

We were so surprised to see many entities forming that night, almost as if at last to have someone to talk with. They approached both Candy and Debbie and seemed to be communicating their messages.

Everyone that night could see and hear the entities. The grass was moist from the evening dew and as one stood quietly still one could hear the sound of footsteps approaching. And in the direction of those footsteps you could see a form. This form was like those images that you see on a hot summer day as you drive along a stretch of road. It looks like there is water on the road, a mirage of sorts. Well these entities looked like that as they approached you, they seemed to shimmer in the dusky light like a mirage. As they got closer to you, details about them could be made out. The entities images seemed to blink and with each blink the detail became clearer and clearer.

That night we were visited by a woman that was looking for a long lost child, and fireman that was trying to convey a message that he wanted someone to visit his grave and another entity of an old woman that seemed to be lost and needed some direction in the way for her to go.

Even though the true cause of these entities and the many orbs in the pictures have not yet been found out, it was an exciting place to investigate. We hope to go back next summer, where hopefully Sam and Candy will be able to break through the silence of the towns people and gain some insight into what could possibly be the cause of the many hauntings in this town.

See a case picture here