Mystic Mitten Paranormal Investigates: Memphis Cemetery

I had read some stories from a local Michigan group and was intrigued. I had reached out to Mystic Mitten about a specific location they had posted about over summer, got some information from them about who they are, and on this cemetery, and asked them to tell their full tale. Special thanks to Hillary and Jessica for taking the time, and for the thrills!! I def got some shivers and some emotions from your EVP clips,  and I hope the best for you cats, and for Brian! Let me know if I can ever tag along.

Memphis Cemetery – Memphis, MI.

Memphis is a quiet, small town in Michigan about 50 miles north of Detroit. Dating back to 1835, the Memphis Cemetery is nestled on a bluff overlooking the Belle River, surrounded by cornfields and grassy hills. Growing up a few towns over, we had heard rumblings amongst the kids at school about a so-called ‘witch’s ball’ somewhere “over near Armada”. Supposedly ghosts would appear reflected in the ball, and it would spin on its own. Of course, this was absurd, but it made a pretty fun story around Halloween in almost-rural Michigan and has been the subject of local lore since its construction in 1903. People also claim the cemetery is haunted in general, with reports of full-bodied apparitions dancing between tombstones and voices coming from the woods.

On the evening of June 1st, 2018, we arrived at the Memphis Cemetery:

{Jessica Krutell – Lead Investigator} “The Witch’s Ball is a highly reflective surface and images from across the cemetery can be seen in its reflection. Is it possible that the spirits seen when you gaze into the ball are reflections of others visiting the cemetery? Another theory to this legend is the act of matrixing; this is when you see connections because your mind wants to. It is human nature to look for faces within everything. The human face is the first thing we see when we are born and often the last thing we see when we die. Because of this, the process of pareidolia (noticing patterns that don't exist) begins early on. This causes people to see faces in random patterns and shadows.

Does the ball really move? Yes, but for a scientific reason. The ball, being made of granite, can shift slightly with atmospheric changes. I have visited the Witch’s Ball many times in my life, and only after part of the marker broke off did I see a shift. This was likely from the weight of the ball readjusting. In the visits afterword, no noticeable changes were made.”

{Hillary Stone - Medium} “We parked our car along the side of the gravel road towards the back of the cemetery. The sun was just beginning to set as we sat waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. I started to relax and began observing the energy of the cemetery. As I started to sink into my own thoughts, I noticed a vague flash of a man who appeared to be walking towards us through the tombstones. Although the image of him remained burned in my mind, he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. He was wearing a white baseball cap, a blue flannel shirt over a t-shirt, jeans, and brown work boots. A few seconds later I saw a flash of the boots, floating empty and walking away.

The rest of the team arrived, and we began our investigation with a spirit box session at the Witch’s Ball. We sat until we became frustrated, and after reviewing the footage, it became obvious that whatever spirits had gathered to communicate with or observe us had become equally fed up. At one point I felt the distinct sensation of someone behind me, messing with the back of my head. I felt what I can only describe as the experience of having someone come up behind me and whack me in the back of the head. I lowered my head and held it in my hands and closed my eyes trying to interpret what was happening. I brought my head back up and we sat for a while longer. I started to open, hoping to encourage communication from whatever entity had been lingering behind me. I said, “We’re just trying to see if anyone’s here...” to which a boisterous laugh, emitting from the spirit box responded; “We are here”, said a woman’s voice. Even between the flicking sounds of the P-SB7 Spirit box, we could hear the annoyed tone to her statement.

We moved to another area in the cemetery, settling on a grave with a unique marker. We began calibrating our equipment and switched the spirit box back on. Immediately a voice boomed, as if stuck in an endless loop: “TESTING, TESTING, TESTING, TESTING, TESTING” the voice continued. Another voice began, as if layered above the other as a mere whisper: “TESTING, TESTING...”. The voices continued, repeating the word ten times. This freaked us out. The Spirit Box had been scanning as usual, and THAT isn’t supposed to happen, nor can it be chalked up to glitch.

Excited, we settled in around the grave. Jessica began asking questions and I sat down to focus and clean the grave marker off. As soon as I began brushing dirt and dead leaves away, I heard my name quietly whispered into my ear… “Hillary” the breathy voice sighed. I knew no one in the team had said anything to me, but just to confirm I asked, “Did you just say my name?”. Although no one in our group had said anything, upon reviewing the files on our audio recorder device, we discovered an incredible EVP captured at the exact moment I heard my name … We think we hear a little girl with an English accent saying, “It’s her”, to which I reply, “Did you just say something to me?”. It is spot on. 

 EVP of Hillary and the little girl

I wonder if I “brought her from home”, as I have a penchant for collecting photos and trinkets that once belonged to Victorian little girls. She could also have a connection to the cemetery, and just found me to be familiar. Maybe there’s more to it than I can even understand at this point, but it’s inspired more questions than answers – business as usual for evidence of the Paranormal, I suppose.

A while, and many questions later, my focus began to wander back to the grave we were visiting. I noticed a laminated memorial photo that somehow, I had totally missed for the 15 minutes we had been sitting there… I felt the wind knocked out of me as my mind made the connection that the man in the photo was wearing both a white baseball cap and a blue flannel shirt … just like the apparition I had seen earlier before the sun set.

“Did I see you earlier?” I asked aloud. “Yes, Dear”, a man’s voice responded through the spirit box.

I began describing exactly what I had seen to the others, imitating the walk and describing every detail down to the color of the man’s boots. “It’s Brian!” the voice exclaimed abruptly, causing a significant disturbance in the operation of the spirit box for a moment until it resumed as normal. The entire team was stunned, as Brian is the man whose grave we stood at – the man in the picture.

 Cheers to Brian for hanging out

He knew we were filming, and knew we intended to share what evidence we collected, and he chose to identify himself. Maybe in our case he saw an opportunity, or a platform and took the opportunity to present himself; maybe even someone other than us.

If we capture something, it’s intentional – meaning whomever creates the evidence does so knowingly and willingly. To capture evidence of the Paranormal is a granted privilege. Regardless of how important we view ourselves as investigators, we are never really in control. There is always an exchange taking place and approaching it with genuine gratitude will absolutely increase the chance of receiving evidence of spirits. When we experience something that relates to relevant information or confirms the identity of the person I’m communicating with – there’s a reason and permission to share the evidence is granted by default.

If you do decide to investigate the Memphis Cemetery, make sure to be respectful of both the living and the dead. Make sure that future generations of nervous teenagers will be able to visit the Witch’s ball to look for spirits that evidently, can be found in the Memphis Cemetery.

Check it out for yourself by watching the full video here:

Mystic Mitten Paranormal Group is an all-female Paranormal Research group from Metro Detroit, Michigan. Founded by a Medium Hillary Stone and Photographer Jessica Krutell, Mystic Mitten seeks to provide “answers for those who seek, help for those in need, and light for those lost in darkness”.

For more information visit their website: mysticmitten.org

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Detroit Masonic Temple- Active? Absolutely.

This past fall season I spent a lot of time downtown at the Masonic Temple Detroit for Theatre Bizarre. This building is incredible- at 1,037 rooms it's the largest Masonic Temple in the world. It has secret staircases, hidden compartments and room after room of majestic architecture, pass throughs and dead ends.

Photo by Ken Jacoby

There is a small ghastly history surrounding the construction of this building, which is still possibly just a rumor, but is just enough to keep your eyes open while wandering around these floors. It's said that architect George D Mason schlumped up to the rooftop one evening and leapt to his death after suffering a few professional blows- financial ruin, wife left him, wanting to corrupt the Freemasons into a more specified cult style and got overthrown- usual stuff! Well, some say he died peacefully in his bed years later, but some swear they've seen him mounting stairs or touring the halls!

I have not seen him. I don't personally know anyone who has, that I now of yet. However, I do believe this place to be active, if not completely haunted. It's common ghost knowledge that not all ghosts haunt the places they died for "unfinished business" reasons. Some spirits move to their favorite places from their more living days. So, with that thought, it's easy to see how the Temple may have acquired some tenants. From my most frequented spots I have created a short list of noticings: 

The Theatre-Like any theatre, really, there's a constant feeling of being watched. I've noticed that it doesn't matter if it's a full venue or empty, there's an intense feeling of someone over your shoulder almost no matter where you are. (I've mostly stayed on the Stage Left side of the theatre as a guest and worker) Some have reported seeing a full crowd when they're looking out from the stage after closing. Some feel movement in an empty room. I have felt that, and can understand logically why it happens, but not the tense gut feeling I have when it does. Leave that ghost light on.

Ghost Light

The Elevator near the Theatre: This one I have tried to capture many times. It definitely feels that you're sharing that space with someone in one of those slightly awkward ways when you know Sally from Marketing is right next to you but you don;t have anything to say so you both just stare at the elevator doors until one of you can get out... That's the feeling. Slightly awkward but not as bad if you pretend to look through your purse or at your phone for any reason....

The Green Room: I only know it as the green room from Theatre Bizarre, I'm not sure what it is normally. It's on the 3rd floor, Archives floor, just next to the elevator. I've spoken about this room many times and nobody understands me. This room- it smelled! It was the weirdest, most horrid smell I think I have ever happened upon and there was no source. None. It didn't smell like old food, dead animal or even a homeless person. It was a stench that stung nearly all of my senses (I could feel it in my fingers, I swear), that was so bad I couldn't breathe for the small and flavor, so thick was it in the air. BUT it was ONLY in this room, could only faintly be smelled from the hallway and seemingly nobody else really took it in as much as I did. I tried to avoid this space until TB was open and the room was cleared out for actors to move in. It was cleaned up and smelling like dryer sheets after a while, but I still don't understand why I am the only one to have taken this specific room so badly. I don't think I caught anything here, but a visual is good. Maybe someone will recognize it. 

The Crystal Ballroom: Some people had mentioned some rumors but I do not think it was anything Serious. Granted I had only been in the ballroom during times of great hubbub, which acts as a hindrance to noticing spooks, but nothing seems out of the ordinary here compared to other spots. I mean, I love spectacle, don't get me wrong, but for something as delicate as ghost sightings can sometimes be, not ideal. But isn't it lovely?

The ballroom during Theatre Bizarre Gala.

So, is the Masonic haunted? Yes. Did I see a ghost? No, but I hope to. What I did notice were random scents coming from nowhere, cold spots in places in the building that wouldn't make sense, and the constant feeling of someone watching you. It's not all together unfriendly. A friend and I were discussing how we both treat the Masonic more like a person than just a building. And tht's how we really feel about it, it's a friend, a main character rather than a set. 

For more information on the Masonic and their free tours check here.

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