Chestnut - Haunted Anchor Bay, Michigan

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC
www.historypress.net

Copyright 2017 by Debi Chestnut

All rights reserved

Front cover image: authors collection.

First published 2017

e-book edition 2017

ISBN 978.1.43966.293.9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017945013

print edition ISBN 978.1.62585.988.4

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is dedicated to my husband, Lonnie, for his continuing patience and understanding; the people of the New Baltimore Historical Society for their continued encouragement and support; and my favorite breakfast place, Benvenutos, for taking care of me and never letting me run out of coffee while Im writing.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

Welcome home. Weve been waiting for you.

Those were the first words I heard when I stepped inside the all-but-abandoned mansion known as the Hatheway House, or the House on the Hill. I was new to the Anchor Bay area, having just moved there a few short weeks before the fateful day a new friend introduced me to the area. Those words changed my life.

Ive been a ghost hunter for decades, and the Anchor Bay area is like nothing Id ever experienced in my life as a paranormal investigator and a psychic medium. Certain locations along the shores of Lake St. Clair seem to crackle with spirit energy to the point that it can almost become overwhelming.

While Ive always had an interest in local history no matter where Ive lived, no place has sparked my interest more than this area. Many people here seem to embrace their history and the ghosts from the past in a loving, caring manner and would rather live with their phantoms instead of having them leave. Its as if the loss would be too great to bear.

A lot of people in the Anchor Bay area have also embraced me for who I am and have accepted my ability to see and talk to spirits in a positive and matter-of-fact way. This, too, is something Id never experienced. I hid my gifts for years because, according to my mom, what I did wasnt socially acceptable. However, looking back, I think she did it to protect me from people thinking I was mentally ill or some kind of freak. Even now, I still run into the haters and must face the prejudice of narrow-minded people who dont believe in or understand exactly what I do. Some of them think Im a freak because I dont fit into their closed view of the world or with their religious beliefs. I know this because a few of them have been bold enough to say it to my face. Ive learned theres no point in arguing with these people; its kind of like hitting your head against a brick wall, because it feels so good when you stop. Im not one to force my beliefs on other people, and in return, I ask that they not try to impose their beliefs on me. Live and let live, I say.

Its been my experience that history and paranormal investigating go hand in hand. Almost every ghost has a story to tell about the pasthow they lived, how they died and everything in between.

Knowing the history of a placediscovering information about who lived there, who died there and the events that took place at a specific locationcan oftentimes tell you a lot about who the spirit and/or sprits are that haunt that house, building, cemetery or church.

Most ghosts and spirits generally haunt a place they loved when they were alive, or they linger around their friends and relatives who have yet to pass on to their own eternal slumber. They do this for many reasons. Sometimes, they have a message they want to deliver. In other cases, they may be there to help a loved one move on after theyve passed or, in some circumstances, protect the living from something they perceive may be a threat. The reasons can be as varied as the ghosts themselves, and every haunting is different.

After being in the Anchor Bay area for about a year and discovering not only the history, but also the ghosts of the area, my friend Linda and I wrote Ghosts of Anchor Bay. It chronicled some of the interesting encounters wed personally experienced.

That book ignited my writing career, and I went on to compose four more books about the paranormal: Something Wicked, Stalking Shadows, So You Want to Be a Ghost Hunter? and How to Clear Your Home of Ghosts and Spirits.

Which brings me to this book, Haunted Anchor Bay. I wrote this book, not only because I desperately wanted to, but also because it was becoming almost impossible to walk down the streets of New Baltimore without someone stopping to ask me when I was going to write the sequel to Ghosts of Anchor Bay. So, to all those people, I thank you for your encouragement and interest in learning more about the history and ghosts that roam the streets beside you, even when youre not aware that they are there.

Welcome home.

As usual, it was quite an exciting experience researching and gathering additional information and stories for this book. Some of the tales you may recognize from other books, but there is updated and current information included in themfor example, how Mabel Hatheway Dunham died and the journey her body took before she came to her final resting place at Oakwood Cemetery.

Speaking of Oakwood Cemetery, there is some updated information about that place, which, of course, revolves around the Hatheway family and why lily of the valley may have been planted on Mabels grave so long ago and continues to bloom to this day.

As some of you may notice, Ive changed publishers and am now with The History Press. Due to their publication guidelines, I cant relay a lot of the individual experiences Ive had at the locations in this book, because the focus is on the history behind the hauntings.

Another momentous change is that Im allowed to use pictures! I cant tell you how excited I am about being able to give you, the reader, the opportunity to see a location not just through words, but also through visual aids. However, The History Press does not publish pictures of ghosts, phantoms or other anomalies inside the printed pages of this book. So Ive set up a website, HauntedAnchorBay.com, to show you the photographs and share my firsthand experiences at some of the locations included in this book that the press wouldnt let me use.

Personally, the biggest takeaway for me while researching and writing this book is that we need to fight to preserve the historical locations in the area we still havethose that have not been torn down to make way for progress or victimized by the greed of money-grubbing investors who dont care about the history of a location and arent interested in preserving the past. We cant sacrifice our history and historical locations for the sake of small-town politics or allow people in power to manipulate the system to their advantage. We need to demand better of ourselves and of our leaders. And, indeed, some investors are buying historical buildings and preserving and repurposing them to fit into modern society without sacrificing the past. Bravo! We should applaud these forward-thinking people, support their efforts and frequent their businesses.