Haunted Mt. Pleasant Center

Mt. Pleasant Center - Mt. Pleasant, MI



I moved to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan last year. Since I have interest in the paranormal, I asked around about any haunted locations around town. The name that always came up was Mt. Pleasant Center. This is said to have been one of the largest but poorest run State Hospitals for the criminally insane. Once someone was sent here, no matter what their crime, they were there forever...apparently no releases were granted. Other than one side of the building where the worst of the worst were chained, the patients were allowed to wander freely, no fences or
electrical locking doors and, of course, many escaped. An orderly was tortured, raped then murdered when one of the patients broke into her house, which was provided by the hospital and was only a few hundred feet from the hospital. Police guards patrol the grounds because there are still buildings that are being used but the mental hospital has since been closed down. Still, shadowy apparitions are seen roaming the grounds and moans, screaming, crying and voices are commonly heard. The entire 300 acre complex was shut down in 2010 and has been abandoned. That’s not all. After doing a little research I found that the location used to be Indian Boarding School (large Chippewa population here).



In 1889 the U.S. commissioner of Indian Affairs declared, "We must either fight Indians, feed them, or else educate them. To fight them is cruel, to feed them is wasteful, while to educate them is humane, economic and Christian." He suggested using boarding schools to prepare Indian children to live in American society. At boarding schools, Indian children would be introduced to English, vocational skills and Christianity. On January 3, 1893, the U.S. government opened an Indian boarding school at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. It offered a nine-year program, beginning with kindergarten. By 1911 the Mt. Pleasant school had eleven buildings, including dormitories for both the girls and boys. Although the school grew from an original enrollment of 59 students to more than 300 students a year, it created tension among the Indian community. Some Indian parents opposed sending their children away to learn "the white man's ways." However, the poverty and hopelessness of living on reservations led other parents to hope that these boarding schools promised their children a better life. Sometimes, the government took Indian children and forced them to attend the school. Life at the boarding schools was often a shock. One girl recalled being held down as her hair was cut short. She later explained, "among our people" only "cowards" wore short hair. Another student remembered that attending a boarding school was like being "suddenly dumped" into "another world, helpless, defenseless, bewildered, trying desperately and instinctively to survive it all." Students awoke to reveille, dressed in military-style uniforms, marched to class and went to bed with taps. Half the day was spent in class; the other half was spent in vocational training. The students also kept vegetable gardens and apple orchards and cared for livestock. During the summer months, they worked as seasonal laborers on area farms. English was the school's official language, and students might have their mouth washed out with soap if they spoke their native Indian language. Students were also encouraged to take a Christian name in place of their Indian name. They had little privacy, sleeping in dormitories with 30 to 40 students in a large room. Violating the rules led to punishment, which could be harsh. Sometimes students were beaten with a strap or rubber hose. Some endured the school; others ran away. The Mt. Pleasant Indian School closed in 1933. In exchange for the buildings, the state of Michigan agreed to allow the Indian children to attend public schools.

Then, I found this story from the native news Network:

700 Possible Indian Children Remains Cause Concern for Tribal Officials
by Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Currents.

The reports that there may be as many as 700 sets of remains of American Indian children, who died while enrolled at the Mt. Pleasant Indian Industrial School, buried on abandoned property are of great concern to tribal officials of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan. The tribe is based in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. The abandoned property is known as the Mt. Pleasant Center. Buildings on the property have not been occupied for years - perhaps decades. Some have broken windows. There are signs at entrances that read: No Trespassing. State of Michigan Property Facility Closed. “I very much try to approach my job from a business perspective, but I cannot deny the emotional side to this,” commented Frank Cloutier, public relations director of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, as he discussed the property with the possible 700 sets of children’s remains. West of the empty buildings lies the cemetery with the remains of Indian children. The tribe is fearful other unknown graves may be present on other parts of the property. “Our concern may extend beyond the known cemetery,” said Cloutier. “If it is determined children remains are found on property beyond those known, we want to work with archeologists to ensure the remains are handled properly.”

Sounds like a creepy place with a pretty nasty history. I would like to check it out in person but it is heavily patrolled for good reason. Maybe get Ghost Adventures out there?

In the second photograph i thought a ghost was going to pop up when sliding to the right, like in hollywood movies

Great thread, S&F.

Hope you are able to follow up with some type of investigation.

I know I'm late, but what an interesting thread! I especially thought the part about it being an Indian boarding school was interesting.

Sounds like it was more of a brain washing/ slave labor camp. Very sad.

Originally posted by Ireminisce
I know I'm late, but what an interesting thread! I especially thought the part about it being an Indian boarding school was interesting.

Sounds like it was more of a brain washing/ slave labor camp. Very sad.

edit on 15-11-2012 by Ireminisce because: (no reason given)

Thank you. Glad you found it interesting. I've only lived here for about a year and a half and I'm starting to find some locations with cool history and stories associated with them. I'm new to ATS and haven't seen too many threads on mysterious locations. I've already posted about a few things here and Michigan and I posted a bunch of stories (some personal) from my alma mater Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. You can check them out below.

www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Excellent work on this post!!!!! This is a place that has a huge impact on me. I live nearby and have been to this place countless times. I am not one to believe in ghosts, but there is something here at this place. It draws you in and almost makes you unable to stop thinking about it. If it is true about spirits attaching themselves to you then i have to admit something has heppened here...

Funny that the children said it was like being thrown in an alien world, completely different from anything they knew...
But wasn't that the point? Better to help a child adjust and grow to learn these things than an adult who wouldnt be able to function in society.
We can argue whether it is right or wrong foro the natives to have to assimilate in the first place, but it was a fact and we can't change that now. But in hindsight it seems that the school was trying to do something positive, especially in light of the poverty on the reservations.
Assimilation is a part of america. It's why we are called the great melting pot. ANY people coming here (or, in this case, who were here) needed to become a part of society or they would flounder at it's fringes without an ability to make a life for themselves. The Irish, Jews, Italians, etc all had to assimilate to a degree in order to live and have a hope at prosperity.
Again, we could argue whether thats right or not, but its a fact... it's our history.
I hate this revisionist look at things and putting modern sensibilities to past events. One mist look at them in context only.
I'm not sayin it was right... but it makes sense and I fail to see what was so "nasty" or "wrong" about it. They tried to give these kids and future generations a fighting chance.

reply to post by jtrenthacker


Why would you, or anyone consider having anything to do, with dead and quite possibly tortured and murdered children ? I would most likely vomit.

reply to post by jtrenthacker


Or you can just go in at night, be very quiet and bring back a video for ATS. I have heard of a few of those places being patrolled but people seem to always have no issues getting in.

I know I am super late on this post, but I live in Mt. Pleasant and have recently been having strange occurrences happen in the townhome I live in which has caused me to look into the Mt Pleasant Center thinking there may be a possible connection to what is going on with my home.

I am a student at Central Michigan University and my roommates and I live about 15-20 minutes away from the remains of this hospital. We have all heard what sounds like footsteps running up the stairs at night, some of us have seen shadows walk by, televisions have turned on by themselves, and waking up in the middle of the night to a banging sound on our walls multiple times. None of this has been tooo serious until yesterday. As of yesterday, objects in my bedroom were moved on two separate occasions while myself and my roommates were away at class. The first time the objects were moved (knocked over, set on their sides, turned in the opposite direction) I put them back the way they should be. When I returned from class they were in the exact same position I found them the first time, except this time my crucifix necklace which lies on my workbench had also been moved across the table in an upside down position.

After seeing this I took my .99c iphone EVP app (I recently purchased this as a joke not really thinking it would work) and set it in my room while I left for about 8minutes. When I came back I sat down and listened to the recording and what I heard really frightened me...The first 3mins you hear nothing, but at about 4mins you hear something shuffling around and then what sounds like a pencil tapping followed by a deep breathe right into the microphone, which is then followed by 3 more breathes each of which progressively got louder.

I live with one of my best friends from my childhood and he knows that I have had a few encounters with "strange" things such as seeing the ghost of my grandfather, having hypnagogic dreams, etc. and he 100% thinks whatever is in our house is because of me, since he has no experience with this type of thing, and quiet frankly he's very upset along with my other roommates. It's safe to say that I am getting very concerned.

I know that my roommates aren't pulling a prank on me because first, they are terrified of this sort of thing. second, nobody was home when these objects were moved. third, they all believed I was pranking them trying to scare them since I know how scared they are of paranormal stuff. and fourthly, they realized I was serious when they saw me sleeping on my roommates floor because I didn't want to sleep in my room alone (I am a pretty big guy, played football throughout high school and for the most part I am spiritually happy and I usually don't have anything to be scared of, but this was nerve-wracking so I apologize for sounding like a panzy...) and now all my roommates are freaked out.

Part of me feels like I screwed up by getting that iphone EVP app a few days ago because we haven't had anything serious happen until yesterday when my crucifix and other objects moved like I mentioned. Can EVP's be similar to Ouija boards? I've never messed with a Ouija Board because I've heard scary stories and I'm not trying to go there...But can an EVP do the same thing as a Ouija Board in the sense of bringing in an unwanted spirit?

I apologize for this long rant, I am just a little concerned and have never dealt with anything to this measure before. I am thinking that Maybe its a spirit from this mental hospital that has roamed it's way to my townhome? I just don't know...If anyone in the Mt. Pleasant area has experienced similar things OR if anyone can give me advice on what measures I should take to rid my house of this, I would appreciate it if you could let me know.


Thank you.

reply to post by Honestabe28


That's crazy. Is there anyway you could upload the EVP you captured? I would love to hear it. Not sure if you read it or not but CMLife did a story on the place.
Cen tral Michigan Life
There was a lot of abuse and torture on the grounds of that place. If you live close, maybe some of the souls stuck there could be coming to your house looking for help (if you believe in that sort of thing). I wanted to go exploring this summer but I hear they have it pretty heavily patrolled. I hope they turn it into a museum so that everyone can see and learn about the place. Either way, I would really like to see TAPS or Ghost Adventure guys have a look.

Keep us posted if anything else weird happens. Thanks for the story!

reply to post by Honestabe28


Sorry I can t help you may want to write a post more people would see it and you may get some answers

Trenthacker, Unfortunately, this app doesn't allow you to download what you hear you can only keep it on the app (kind of ridiculous, I know. but that's what you get for spending .99c). I definitely will check out that article they wrote about the place, thanks for putting that out there.

But, I probably posted this in the wrong area, I apologize for that. I just saw Mt. Pleasant Center and thought I'd throw it out there haha

reply to post by jtrenthacker


The Center is under demolition...has been now for a few months. A couple of the buildings are already gone, including the water tower which came down last week.