HAUNTED MICHIGAN: Riverside Hospital, Trenton

The Old Riverside Hospital in Trenton is one creepy place.....and extremely haunted.

A man by the name of Austin Church built a house for himself and his family in 1897 on W. Jefferson Street. In 1912, he sold the property and built a more impressive mansion along the Detroit River on Truax Street. The family included three children, two boys and a girl. The girl, nine years old, had a love for horses, so daddy made sure she had five of them on which to shower her affections. One day, the girl was out riding and clumsily fell off the horse, breaking her arm. Her father got so intensely angry, he blamed the horse for hurting his daughter. One day, after his daughter went to school, pop went outside, killed the horse in retaliation, and buried it next to the house.

When the girl came home from school and found out her horse was dead – and daddy was responsible – she was heartbroken beyond belief. From that day on, when she got home from school, she would go to her room, shut herself in, lock the doors, sit in her rocking chair in front of her bedroom window, and quietly sing to herself. To this day, the horse grave is still there. If you notice an odd mound on the grounds where the house once stood, that's it. The horse stables still stand.

Once all the family members died off, the relatives refused to take possession of the mansion and soon put it up for sale. So who should come along and purchase it, but Henry Ford himself. He bought it in 1943-44 and renovated it into a hospital.

Once the hospital was functioning, one particular patient, an old man, was staying in the hospital room that just happened to be the same one that used to be the little girl's bedroom. On occasion, he would be lying in bed and hear footsteps and faint singing. Once he was released he set up cameras in the room. Upon reviewing the footage, he saw the figure of a small girl standing by the window. She had curly, brown hair with bows and was wearing a white dress. Sobbing and subdued screams have been heard and the window blinds have been seen opening & closing, up & down on their own.

After building a brand new Riverside Hospital, the old one was shut down, thanks to black mold. The new one also got closed because it was too costly to maintain. Outside the newer hospital is a tunnel, which used to be the morgue. Inside is a type of furnace where hospital staff burned amputated body parts. The old Riverside Hospital was demolished in 2013, leaving an empty hole among the later hospital buildings, itself now abandoned and slowly falling apart.

The area still holds onto the phantoms that roamed the institution and is frequently investigated by professionals and amateurs.

Wanna read more ‘Haunted Michigan’ locations?
Click here for more of John Robinson’s Haunted Michigan!

MORE HAUNTED MICHIGAN: