Eloise Asylum, Haunted for Fun and FOR REAL: Westland, Michigan

The Eloise Asylum, also known as the Wayne County Poor House, was built in 1839. The original poor house was eventually turned into a hospital for the mentally unstable.

Similar to what you see in some horror movies, treatment of these patients included lobotomies, shock treatment, and insulin shock.

The poor house land sprawled out over 902 acres with a whoppin’ 70 buildings. Over the decades, just 50 acres and eight buildings remained.

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The hospital closed in 1984. The Great Depression took its toll on the asylum; funding dropped significantly and the patient population followed.

Okay, so the asylum has been closed now for forty years.....but some things remain. The all-too-real tortures of the therapies that were implemented sparked stories about deceased mental patients that still roam the halls and grounds.....one that has been seen by a handful of witnesses is the apparition of a woman in white. Others who have walked by the grounds claimed they heard screams and moans that resembled the sounds of human torture.

These stories escalated to an extent where visitors – those who sought permission and even those who didn’t - said jars were found stuffed with human body parts.

Implemented in 1910, the last burial was in 1948 and then ignored for decades...for so long, that grass and weeds covered the unmarked graves until the whole thing was completely forgotten. Some believe the hauntings are from the spirits of around 7,000 unclaimed, unmarked, unknown, and unidentified mental patients buried there. Now the grounds of the cemetery are said to be haunted along with the asylum. Sitting alongside Henry Ruff Road, it looks like an empty field...you would never know there are thousands of bodies buried underneath.

The former asylum is located at 30712 Michigan Avenue in Westland and opens every Halloween season. That’s right...this is one of those haunted attractions that not only has volunteers dressing up to scare you, but real hauntings. The possibilities of actually experiencing a paranormal happening is real. Do you think you’ll be able to tell the difference between the real and the fabricated?

Pay a visit this Halloween season and find out...the hard way.