This structure was built in 1870 as a private home. Years later, it was acquired by a dentist, Dr. William Claudius Puffenberger. Sometime around 1917, Puffenberger sold the house to Harriet Chapman, who, along with co-owners Charles Stimson & Francis R. Blanchard (both doctors), turned it into a hospital in 1918. Only a few months after the hospital opened, Dr. Blanchard stepped into an open elevator door and fell to his death down the shaft.

A few years later, on August 17, 1922, Dr. Puffenberger committed suicide at the age of 45 by shooting himself.

In 1938, ownership belonged to Dr. & Mrs. Stimson and Bernice Bowman and was now named Stimson Community Hospital. Dr. Stimson passed away in 1943 and the hospital closed for good in 1957.

Nowadays the building is an apartment house with 4 units. Renters have reported strange noises coming from the basement, objects moving by themselves, household appliances malfunctioning and disembodied voices. Children spoke of an 'imaginary friend'  they would speak with; the odd thing is, all the children who admitted this to their parents all mentioned the same last name of this 'imaginary' man. 

After approximately 40 years of being a hospital, there were naturally countless deaths. Do ghosts of past patients haunt the building or is it the spirit of Dr. Blanchard who fell to his death down the elevator? Or did the entity of early owner Dr. Puffenberger return to his former home and set up permanent residence?

Care to find out for yourself? This structure is located at 101 W. Plains Street (corner of W. Plains and Main Street), Eaton Rapids.

 

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