Something within the story of Avondale Cemetery must be haunted: the Holiday Inn, the Flint City Cemetery, nearby businesses or parking lots...and the Avondale Cemetery itself.

Avondale Cemetery in Flint is not only one of Flint’s oldest graveyards, but it seems to have a good share of disturbed spirits. This historic old creepy graveyard has plenty of deteriorating old 1800 tombstones and gothic mausoleums that make it all the eerier.

Zip over to the Flint City Cemetery – located at Linden Road and Pasadena Avenue - which was established way back in 1842. Neglect, overgrowth, and litter soon engulfed the cemetery, to a point where it just about disappeared by the 1950s. What to do with this forgotten hunk of land? Why, the city decided to re-develop it. So, excavation on the bodies began. Out of approximately 1200 bodies, 925 had no identification. Not only that, but many of these were bodies of early settlers, as proven by the jackets made of buckskin (like Daniel Boone) found on some of the corpse remains. Other bodies were found buried on top of others.

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Albert J Koerts bought the property in 1958, who reburied some of the remaining Flint City Cemetery bodies in Avondale Cemetery including 122 grave markers. These markers can easily be found in Avondale by the tight row they were lined up in – called “Pioneer's Row” - each stone touching the other, leaving hardly any room for bodies to be buried. What did they do with the rest of the bodies? It's rumored that Koerts moved the stones but left many bodies, just like in the film “Poltergeist”.

Then, in 1985, ground was broken for the new Holiday Inn Express at 1150 Longway Boulevard and I-475. Over 25 bodies were found as workers dug out the new basement. What did they do with the bodies? They re-buried them over in the Flint City Cemetery. But where were they actually supposed to be be buried? Flint City or Avondale or another graveyard? Koerts has been long dead so he can't answer.

That raises the question: just how much property did Koerts own? Did he own the property where the Holiday Inn sits? Did he own other properties? And do they contain other bodies buried under other businesses and parking lots? It's widely believed that's the case.

Thanks to all this displaced body mish-mash, paranormal investigators have a field day here and psychics claim the area – especially Avondale – is filled with plenty of restless spirits. The gallery below contains a few photos of the Avondale Cemetery.

Haunted Avondale Cemetery, Flint

MORE MICHIGAN CEMETERIES:

The Ghost Town & Cemetery of Shackhuddle

Forgotten Cemetery in Salem, Michigan

Vintage Michigan Graveyard Photos

 

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