Haunted: The Leland, Detroit

For those who don't know, the Leland is and was a historic hotel in Downtown Detroit. Currently the first few floors are hotel, the top most are apartments and the basement is storage and "storage" with an outer sub-basement that's an unattached "goth" club.
I can't say if it's a ghostly experience I had here or just my own nerves amped up from Little J and I not B&Eing in to wander around (we were let in by helpful fellas who thought we were staying there), but it's definitely something. We went in thinking we were Nancy Drew investigating gangs and Jimmy Hoffa, but really, we were just hooligans who wound up feeling like the sneakers became the snook! (Parks and Rec reference)

This was with no flash. Wonky lighting. That's a window to the lobby.

Same floor. Looks normal for an operational business.

After acting like we belonged there enough to find the elevators (about 20 feet from the door) we walked through the mezzanine. The lighting here was weird, the hallway nearest the elevators had lights, the far side of another hallway down the way had lights, but in the lounge area, no lights! But in that darkness we had spotted, helped only by me holding down my camera flash button, an old broken piano and the whole place is covered with dust. It was a weird feeling here, intriguing but not sinister. Nothing felt sinister, more like we were constantly being watched throughout our journey. Though we didn't break in illegally, we felt like we didn't belong anywhere in this place. Like when you're staying at someone else's home for the night and have to get out of bed in the middle of the night for something but you're too scared of making an unwanted noise. We felt like middle of the night bathroom steppers.

The fourth floor is completely blocked off- the elevator opens there but there's a black iron door padlocked, welded/rusted and blocked shut with mysterious bullet(?) holes. Rumored to be Jimmy Hoffa's favorite hang, the 4th floor used to be a bar. Now it's dead. I tried to get my camera though cracks and holes, alas, nothing really worked. You can peer in slightly and see that it's still set up like a bar area from long ago, which would have been really cool to see, or reopen for business, but, nothing could be committed to camera. Even though we could see clearly with our eyes, the camera had a consistent black view.

Death's door?

Like classic buildings born in the 20s, there's no 13th floor mentioned. Somehow people thought that by not naming it the 13th floor made it less likely to be unlucky, despite floor 14 still being the 13th floor. Well, this place IS unlucky. J and I heard what sounded like muffled TV all over one floor but only actually heard actual audibles coming through one door in the very last apartment on the furthermost hallway to the center of the maze. But we no doubt heard the same tv sounds the whole way through the floor, and then it didn't even get louder the closer we got to the actual apartment with sound-which seems scientifically impossible. We joked about soundproofing but we couldn't hear the other floors, sometimes we heard nothing at all and then that blasted tv floor.

Creepy Titanic ghost tv halls

We also climbed through an open storage area (I say as a question) and onto the first sub-rooftop, which was where the "roof jumpers" must have dove from during and after the Depression, and absolutely, according to historical description and photos, was where the Purple Gang threw people from the roof and made it look like accidents. Interesting!

I read once, long before I knew about residual hauntings (playbacks of a past event where it's energy based, not ghosts) that people could be seen at night throwing themselves off of the building from here, but I call malarkey on that. Being on this sub-roof was the ost like ourselves that we had felt the whole time here. It's like the energy is strictly encased within the walls themselves.

We found our way to some abandoned apartments, which is weird for me, because the Leland has become half-abandoned? Is that even a thing? Some of the apartments on the floors you could hear tv, people talking, babies crying, normal apartment stuff. Then two doors down you have possible death traps and tetanus activators like these. It's so odd that one door is a door to a home, and the next is a door to a caved in and battered apartment that looks so abruptly vacated that I wondered if cops were involved. But if that were to be the case, would a family with children stay living next door? Or move in after the fact? Look at this mess, it had NO DOOR! Where did the door go? why didn't anyone fix it? Rumor was that it was so paranormal that people just ignore it and go about fixing the stuff people actually live in and just avoid the ghosts (of the paranormal and this sad show of physical form) all together.

Would you move your family in with this just a three inch wall away?

 So, all in all, a great time was had. I can't promise you is it 100% factually haunted, but I can say that it's either incredibly weird and active, or not sound proof at all. In any area. But the number of vicious crimes done here, the urban legends about mobsters, gangsters and murder, these walls would have a lot to say. For a poplar night club in the underground of this hotel and living space, you'd think it would have had better upkeep. The hotel side where guests can see may be nice, but we actually avoided that area and went from Mezz to 3rd floor directly. You know when you're not welcome somewhere because there are no lights. They don't bother lighting the areas because they're unclean, unsafe and completely uninhabitable. It's just so odd to me that half of each floor looks like this, and people still live there, pay to be there, and pay for hotel stays. I'm pretty positive it's haunted, but it could also be based on the foreboding factor and ick of the living spaces.
That 4th floor, though.... still so intriguing!

Wonder if he did that?

Stay safe out there, kiddos, and add me on Insta.