DETROIT – All month long, you’re likely to see decorations and costumes of ghosts and ghouls all over town, indoors and out.
‘Tis the season for spookiness in Michigan, for sure -- but let’s be real, ghosts aren’t confined to the month of October.
Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, it’s safe to say a great number of people do believe in ghosts. Perhaps that’s because they’ve literally seen it to believe it ...
Ghost sightings in Michigan
Nearly every city, township or town in Michigan has at least one reported ghost sighting on GhostsOfAmerica.com.
Some of the reports include photos -- though, truthfully, some of those photos don’t really seem legitimate. They’re still interesting to look at, all the same.
The most ghost sightings reported in Michigan took place in the city of Monroe. The city has maintained its first-place position with the most reported sightings for the past few years.
Monroe, situated Downriver, tops the list in Michigan with 49 ghost sightings reported, as of Oct. 25, 2023. Muskegon and Bay City come in second and third, respectively.
Here are the 10 Michigan towns with the most recorded ghost sightings (note: some cities are tied with one another):
Honorable mentions -- Michigan towns with several ghost sightings:
- Flint: 25 sightings
- Morenci: 25 sightings
- Port Huron: 25 sightings
- Warren: 25 sightings
- Ann Arbor: 23 sightings
- Grand Rapids: 23 sightings
- Wyandotte: 23 sightings
- Garden City: 22 sightings
- Mackinac Island: 22 sightings
See Michigan ghost sightings reported on GhostsOfAmerica.com by clicking here.
Most haunted states
Michigan used to be one of the most allegedly haunted states in America, reports showed. The state had the fourth-most ghost sightings of any state in the country reported in 2020.
However, the latest rankings for 2023 don’t include Michigan among the most haunted states, according to a report from BonusFinder.com. The casino site said it looked into data from Find a Grave, from GhostsOfAmerica.com -- the country’s primary source for ghost sighting data -- and worked with Ghostquest to determine which states are most haunted.
Here are the most haunted states (as of 2023), according to the report:
- Texas
- Maine
- Florida
- Vermont
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- West Virginia
- Kentucky
- Montana
- Iowa
Michigan tied with Ohio for 30th place, according to those results.
But a study that uses different data actually placed Michigan much higher on the list of haunted states.
Moving company moveBuddha updated a study this year that ranked all 50 states from most haunted to least haunted using three different scores.
The study’s “Spook Score” looks at a state’s haunted places, oldest cities and cemeteries and number of cemeteries; The “Creep Score” looks at the state’s number of unsolved murders by population and abandoned buildings; And the “Boo Score” identifies the number of ghost towns by population, and the number of ghost sightings by population.
All of this to say: The study found that Michigan is the second-most haunted state in the country, with its “Creep Score” coming in particularly high. New Mexico was ranked the No. 1 spookiest state in the U.S. for 2023, with West Virginia in third place, Florida in fourth place, and Pennsylvania ranking fifth.
Related: These are the most haunted Michigan bars, restaurants, according to Detroit ghost hunters