Like Stepping Back in Time: Haunts of the Sieting Hotel, Kalkaska
Michigan has an endless amount of hidden haunted treasures; this one is really cool. Not just for hauntings, but because of its look...like it came right out of Dodge City.
It’s the Hotel Sieting in Kalkaska.
Dating back to 1912, it began as the Manning House in the late 1800s. It became one of the hundreds of structures all throughout Michigan that burned down in the 1800s. The property was purchased by the Sieting family, and a new structure was built and turned into the Hotel Sieting. It opened for business on Thanksgiving Day, 1912.
The hotel did great business, thanks to the railroad doubling as the main street through town. For a building of this size, there were surprisingly 22 rooms, all about ten by eight feet – the size of a walk-in closet. Each room contained a bed, brass heater, pedestal, and wash basin.
Still operating well into the 2020s, it is still run by descendants of the Sieting family.
To find out for himself about any paranormal activity, the current Sieting owner went into one of the rooms where a man had passed away years ago. He had recording equipment with him and asked the question, "do you know what year this is?” On playback, he heard a voice answer, “1920.” Afterward, he went home and did research; he discovered that a man by the name of Judge James Herriot passed away in 1920 in that same room.
Customers have had their own experiences.
“We stopped there to check it out to see if it was really haunted.....you could 100% feel the ghosts.”
“It's missing a brick in the basement and I saw a girl in a white.”
One of the spirits who are said to haunt the place has been nicknamed “Slender-Man” but no info on that one.
This whole place is rich in atmosphere...it has the appearance of the Long Branch Saloon, or any other hotel or saloon that you see in the old westerns. Very cool. Don’t expect the Hilton, Holiday Inn, or any other hotel/motel where the perks run rampant...you ain’t getting that here.
Located at 356 S. Cedar Street in Kalkaska, you need to see this one for yourself...