The Haunting of Dunn’s Tomb, Oakland County

The Legend of Dunn’s Tomb is one of Michigan's most intriguing haunted tales and one of the area's best-known spook stories.

The tomb in question is a mausoleum found in Lakeville Cemetery, 1½ miles northwest of Lakeville in the upper right-hand corner of Oakland County.

Inside the tomb are the bodies of James and Elizabeth Dunn, who ran a local sawmill in the early 1890s. James passed in 1930, Elizabeth in 1952.

Now, you may think it's the spirits of the Dunns that haunt the tomb...well, keep reading.

There are three urban legends about this mausoleum:

LEGEND ONE:
Many years ago, a teenage boy and girl were dared to spend the night at the tomb. To prove their courage, they agreed. So, one night a friend who owned a black car dropped them off at the mausoleum and left, agreeing to pick them up the next morning. When the friend in the black car came back next morning, he discovered the bodies of his two friends, who died under mysterious, unknown circumstances. So nowadays, if you drive a black car to the cemetery, get out, and put your hands on Dunn's tomb, two smoky apparitions will appear and attempt to approach your car.

LEGEND TWO:
A man who paid a visit to the tomb, possibly a friend or family member paying respects, somehow got locked inside. Stuck inside overnight, he panicked, went crazy and killed himself. Since then, anyone who dares to even touch the mausoleum will return to their vehicle and find mysterious handprints all over it.

LEGEND THREE:
An axe-wielding serial killer would slaughter his victims and store the bodies inside Dunn's tomb.

So which is true? All or none? Even hard-to-believe urban legends are based in some kind of fact, so who knows?

Lakeville Cemetery is located at 825 Drahner Road. This is a designated Michigan Historic Site...it's marker reads, "In 1843 Addison Township settler Ernest Mann donated one acre of land to the local community for use as a cemetery. The cemetery has since expanded to more than eleven acres. Among the first to be buried here was Private Derrick Hulick, a veteran of the American Revolution who enlisted in the New Jersey militia in June 1776. The Lakeville Cemetery Auxiliary was established in 1910 to maintain the cemetery and preserve its history".

Seek permission if you want to investigate after hours. Protect yourself and don't ruin it for other visitors. Be respectful and obey all posted hours and rules.

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THANKS TO:
Lake Orion Legends