Spook Central: The Fenton Hotel, Genesee County
Old hotels are perfect places for ghosts to hang out – whether it’s a guest who died while spending the night, a former owner, or an unknown entity that has attached itself to the property, Michigan has more than its share of haunted hotels.
The Fenton Hotel (in Fenton, Genesee County) was built in 1856 and definitely has its share of secrets and mysteries. Over the last 170 years, there were enough guests who checked in but never checked out. And now these souls are rumored to be regular, permanent 'guests' of the hotel.
The Fenton Hotel is now a restaurant, with the second and third floors being where former hotel guests stayed for the night. The place has kept its historic atmosphere, upstairs and down, with antiques, artifacts and a cool old ballroom on the second floor. The Fenton has been written about and appreciated for so long, that it has its own official Historical State Marker, proving its historic worth.
As for the ghosts, just who are they supposed to be?
One of the ghosts is Emery, the hotel's old custodian. His footsteps can be heard walking around upstairs in his old room that has been unoccupied ever since he passed away.
There are other spirits that get blamed for grabbing waitresses on their arms - and other places. These ghosts are believed by some to be the spirits of former guests.
The bar seems to be the center of most paranormal activity. A bartender told her experience of witnessing wine glasses just 'jumping' off their perch and flying across the room. An unseen presence called her name when the place was empty and has been touched several times. The weirdest occurrence was when customers told her they saw someone hugging her when she could see or feel nothing or anybody.
Then there's Table 32. A man will appear there from time to time and order a Jack Daniels; after pouring the drink, the bartender will attempt to serve it, but the man always vanishes. Why? Some employees believe the ghost is desperate enough for a drink that he'll make himself visible...then realizing he hasn't money to pay - or the ability to actually drink it - he just dissipates to where he came from.
On the third floor are the hotel's cheapest rooms, where the prostitutes would take their customers. One tale says one of them became pregnant by a hotel guest, so she hung herself in despair. Her ghost has been seen in the ladies' room and a guest who was using one of the stalls once felt someone touch her hair and pull a few strands as she sat.
Some other weird occurrences include a disappearing black cat, a spirit that grabs the rear ends of waitresses, voices coming out of the bar speakers when the PA is off, a disembodied whispering female voice can be heard on the upper floor, a bearded man has been seen outside a second story window, the vision of a tall man in a top hat, window shutters open & close when there's no wind, disembodied voices & footsteps, and lights acting strange by flickering & shutting off by themselves.
Evidently – to quote a line from Ghostbusters - this sounds like “Spook Central”. Why not visit for yourself? It's located at 302 N. Leroy Street, Fenton.