Mission Point Resort
Most paranormal investigators agree that an intelligent haunting is a haunting caused by something with consciousness. You can ask for intelligent responses to questions or see if an object can be manipulated physically.
—Noah Leigh (Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee)
The History
Mackinac Island is a beautiful getaway tucked between the bulk of Michigan, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It is a beautiful place right in our own backyards where one can escape the busy hustle and bustle of everyday life. Gone is the noise of tires squealing, horns honking, engines revving, motorcycles racing, and the clanking of tow trucks; no smell of gas, no fogs of oil burning, no traffic jams.
Motorized vehicles (with the exception of emergency vehicles) are not allowed on the island. In 1898, “horseless carriages” were banned from the island in fear they would spook the horses and put carriage riders and residents in danger. Even today, over one hundred years later, if you want to get around the island, you either take a horse-drawn carriage, rent a bicycle, or walk.
In the mornings on Mackinac Island, you are gently woken to the clip-clop of horse’s hooves and the soft chimes of bicycle bells. Everyone has a friendly smile on their face as you pass them on the street. The smell of handmade confectioneries fills the downtown streets as you walk past the many fudge and candy shops. Watch as the masters of delectable delights make peanut brittle before your very eyes. If you love shoes and chocolate, Sanders Chocolatiers has the perfect souvenir for you; a life-sized pure chocolate high-heeled shoe.
No matter where on the island you go, you have an amazing view of the crystal waters of Lake Huron. Off in the distance, you can see the timeless beauty of the lighthouse as the waves crash against the rocks upon which it stands. At night, the pale moon casts a glow in the shimmering waters like a pool of magic. Across the great lake at night you may see lights of every color, like a Christmas tree, as a giant barge glides its way across the waters. All along the island are Victorian-era houses of every color, meticulously maintained to historical detail. Gardens gently lace the grounds of these homes with flowers of every hue, sending their fragrant scents into the air. Lilac bushes adorn the streets of the island and are honored every June with the lilac festival where there is food, friendly people, and the crowning of the lilac queen. Then, just when you think you have seen it all … on either end of the island rests the majestic and historical Grand Hotel and Mission Point Resort.
If you enjoy good movies, before visiting the island you must watch the romantic and passionate movie, Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. The movie is about a playwright who falls in love with a photo of a beautiful woman from the 1800s while staying at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. He finds a way to travel back in time to meet the mysterious woman of his dreams, an actress performing a play at the theater in the Mission Point Resort. The movie was filmed on the island. It was one of the extremely rare occasions that the “no motorized vehicles” law was lifted. They used cars in the film to show the time change from the modern era (modern in 1980) and the past. If you watch the movie, many things on the island are still the same, like the island is frozen in time.
The island was originally sacred land to the Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) tribes of Native Americans. They believed the island was the home of Gitche Manitou, the Great Spirit. The island was a gathering place for the tribes to meet and honor the Great Spirit with offerings and to lay their tribal members to rest when their journeys came to an end. Across the expanse of the island are unmarked sacred burial plots, which were left undisturbed for generations until the island started to become populated, and burial sites were uprooted during construction. Even as recently as the winter of 2011 during renovation to buildings, bones have been unearthed. When this occurs in modern times, arrangements are made with the Sault Ste. Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians to have a proper Native American ceremony to re-bury their ancestors with respect.
The historical marker for the Mission House.
Photo by Andrea Mesich.
In the 1820s, a missionary by the name of Rev. William Ferry came to Mackinac Island. There, he decided to build the legendary Mission House where he housed and educated Native American children. A few years later, he founded Mission Church. Both buildings still stand today, and because of these landmarks, the southeast section of the island is known as Mission Point.
One of the most interesting historical notes pertaining to Mission Point has to do with the resort’s lobby. What is now the main lobby originally was constructed to be the world conference center for a group known as the MRA (Moral Re-Armament). The MRA was led by Dr. Frank Buchman, and existed to promote love, unselfishness, honesty, and purity among all nations. In 1954, the groundbreaking ceremony marked the beginning of what was meant to be a place for nations to come together in peace and harmony.
This structure was created in the form of a giant, thirty-six-foot high, sixteen-sided tepee constructed with majestic nine-ton tresses. It is said this tepee’s construction fulfilled an ancient Native American prophecy. “Someday, on the east end of the Island, a great tepee will be erected. All nations will come there and learn about peace.”
The MRA eventually took the organization to Switzerland and deeded the property to what became the Mission Point College. The college lasted for only four years, from 1966 to 1970, just long enough to see one graduating class. The college sold the land to popular evangelist Rex Humbard who planned to turn the area into a spiritual and religious retreat. After two years, the retreat dissolved and eventually the area became home to what we now call Mission Point Resort. Of all places on the island, the most haunted is the area known as Mission Point. Mission House, Mission Church, and the Mission Point resort are all home to many spirits that wander the halls.
Not far from the Mission Point Resort is a small and seemingly unassuming pond that has been dubbed “the Drowning Pool.” It seems so innocent, just a pretty pool of water near the “Bistro on the Greens,” which rests on a golf course. However, appearances are deceiving; the middle of what appears to be a shallow pool actually reaches depths of over twenty feet. Because of its depths, this pond was the sight of a terrible tragedy of justice.
I spoke to a married couple who were regulars at Mission Point. They seemed to know a lot about the pond. As we ate truffle fries at the Bistro on the Greens restaurant, the couple told me the story of this unassuming water.
As the legend goes, in the 1700s, brothels were popping up all over the island. These places of sin with women of the night would lure soldiers who were stationed at Fort Mackinac, fur traders, and husbands. To avoid the stigma of being seen with these women of ill repute, the men who were caught with their pants down (so to speak) cried “WITCH” much like the Salem Witch Trials that took place in Massachusetts in 1692–1693. Seven women stood accused of using witchcraft to lure these “innocent” men to commit an act of sin against their will. They were taken to the drowning pool to test their innocence. If they floated, they were witches and would be condemned to death. If they drowned, they were innocent. (Oops). So rocks were tied to the feet of all the women, and they were tossed into the deepest part of the pond. All seven drowned.
The drowning pool at Mission Point Resort.
Photo by Andrea Mesich.
It is said that the restless spirits of these women still roam the area, unable to leave because of the tragic events leading up to their deaths. They are bound to this place until they can overcome how they, innocent women, were condemned to die. In 2009, during a tour of the most haunted places on the island run by “Haunts of Mackinac,” a group experienced the sorrow of the women. The entire group witnessed a black shadow cross over the pool and hover right above the center, where the women would have been tossed in to drown. After a few seconds of hovering there, the shadow disappeared, as if it fell into the center of the pool.
In 2011, another group on a haunted tour of Mackinac, all saw a large orb of light hovering over the pool. Not only did they all see it with the naked eye, some caught the image on camera. The most interesting thing about this orb, besides being seen with the naked eye, was that it seemed to cast its own light. In fact, you could see the light reflected in the water below it. It was more than merely an orb of dust or moisture, which are not visible to the naked eye, nor do they cast their own reflection on surfaces like water. Could these events, the shadow and the ball of light, be the spirits of the women, lingering in this world till they are properly proclaimed innocent? The couple believed it was more than possible, but could not be certain, not having witnessed any of the phenomena themselves. “There’s a strange feeling there, but we’ve never seen anything.”
In the 1800s, when Mission House was still active as a home and school for Native American children, many children took ill due to an outbreak of tuberculosis. These children developed high fevers and had trouble breathing. In an effort to ease the fevers, the children were placed in the basement. Unfortunately, the cold and damp basement only exacerbated their problems and sixteen children are said to have passed away from complications due to tuberculosis or pneumonia.
At this time, according to a tour guide from Haunts of Mackinac, Mission House is used as housing for Mission Point Resort employees. Although no children reside there now, the sound of children can still be heard—feet running up and down the hall when no one is there and the echoes of childlike laughter. Lights turn off and on without reason; occasionally, employees state they see children standing before them, then suddenly, they’re not. Could the souls of these children who died from illness still be playing in the halls of Mission House?
The most famous spirits of Mission Point would be the ones known as Harvey and Lucy. Harvey wanders all over Mission Point Resort. From the main lodge to the straits lodge to the theater, he is seen, felt, and heard in many places. It would not be so odd for him to do so, since the whole resort was once his stomping grounds. You see, Harvey was a student when the resort was the college … and it was on the college/resort grounds that he died.
As the story goes, Harvey was a college student who had fallen in love with another student. The two had a whirlwind romance, and Harvey was extremely happy. In a very public display of love, Harvey got down on one knee and asked his girlfriend to marry him. His girlfriend’s feelings were not as strong as his. She looked at their relationship as more of a fling than true love, and rejected his proposal outright. Depressed and heartbroken, Harvey allegedly took his life on the cliffs behind the college, which now overlooks the resort’s pool area.
Harvey is said to still haunt the straits lodge, specifically, the room that use to be his dorm. Those who have seen Harvey’s apparition describe him as a tall and slender young man with brown hair, blue jeans, and a white T-shirt. He is said to be a practical joker, and a bit flirtatious with female guests. Females who sleep in his former dorm room will occasionally feel something or someone crawling into bed with them at night. Many women say they feel phantom arms around their waist, or touching their arms. At times, they see imprints in the sheets of a body, as if someone was just lying there, when there shouldn’t have been. In one case, there was a woman whose husband had gone to the bathroom. She felt someone climb in bed with her and put his arms around her. She assumed it was her husband until she heard the toilet flush.
Harvey seems to enjoy being a slight nuisance to the workers of Mission Point Resort. Employees have complained about cleaning a certain area of the resort, only to return and find things askew and in disorder, forcing them to clean the area again. Many times workers would put things up only to see them knocked down before their very eyes. These were practical jokes Harvey liked to play. Nothing Harvey has done is considered malicious or in ill spirit. He simply seems to enjoy playing little pranks and seeing the reactions.
Harvey is known to frequent the Mission Point Theater where some of A Moment in Time was filmed. He was known to enjoy the arts, and even participated in the theater back in the college days, so it is not unusual for him to join a few other spirits that are said to haunt the theater on occasion. Of all the places, the theater seems to get the most activity. The theater is actually a hotspot for many spirits. Another spirit that resides there is Harvey’s friend, little Lucy.
Lucy is a little girl who is usually found playing in the theater at Mission Point Resort. More specifically, she seems to spend a lot of time in the balcony. Not much is known about Lucy—not even if that is her real name. A psychic who had investigated the theater gave her the name Lucy. However, was that her real name, or simply what the little girl wanted to be called? Was the psychic picking up on a name of another spirit who roams the theater, and attributed it to the little girl by mistake? No one knows for sure. Perhaps the little girl was trying to tell the psychic about someone else whose name was Lucy and the psychic misunderstood. There is no telling. We just do not know all the circumstances of what the psychic allegedly heard or saw. But Lucy stuck and that is what the little girl now responds to.
I ponder to myself if the little girl wasn’t from just a few feet away at Mission House. Mission House is on the same property, basically a hop, skip, and jump away from the theater. Perhaps she was one of the sixteen children who died of complications from tuberculosis. Many spirits wander the island. Harvey himself goes between the main lodge, the straits lodge, and the theater. They are not stuck in one place. At the very least, it seems, they can move about a small area. While there are no documents of a child named Lucy living in the Mission House at the time children died, again, it could be possible her real name is not Lucy.
In the theater, people have heard a little girl giggling in the balcony; they’ve seen apparitions of a little child appear before their eyes and disappear just as quickly. Some investigators bring toys for her to play with. Many have seen the toys move on their own; sometimes they would leave their toys there for Lucy only to find them gone when they return. Sometimes the toys would eventually find their way back, sometimes Lucy liked them too much, and kept them.
There are more than a few ghosts that reside at Mission Point Resort, but the ghosts of Harvey and Lucy are the most famous and by far the most active; so active in fact, they garnered the attention of some very famous visitors.
Ghost Hunters is a groundbreaking reality show that made its television debut on the Syfy channel (then Sci-Fi) in 2004. The series follows the founders of “The Atlantic Paranormal Society” or TAPS, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson as they and their top team of investigators travel the country (and sometimes the world) to explore the paranormal and find answers to the greatest mysteries. In each episode they help people at wits’ end with paranormal problems, find answers to why ghosts haunt their homes or businesses, why the spirits still wander the earth, and try to learn answers to the paranormal world’s greatest questions.
In season 7, episode 706, the TAPS team made its way to Mackinac Island to investigate the infamous Mission Point Resort. They were specifically there to investigate the hauntings of Harvey’s room, and the theater where both Harvey and Lucy (as well as other spirits) are known to be most active. They found Mission Point quite interesting, and quite active. They were even able to uncover information about Harvey. He did exist, according to historical records the TAPS team were able to dig up in Mackinac Island archives. His name was not Harvey, but out of respect for surviving family members they did not release this information to anyone but Todd, the owner of Haunts of Mackinac, in private.
The Investigation
When preparing to investigate the reported hauntings of Mission Point Resort, the first thing I did was grab the book Haunts of Mackinac: Ghost Stories, Legends and Tragic Tales of Mackinac Island by Todd Clements. Brilliantly written, it contains stories of some of the most haunted locations of the island. Every nook, every cranny has a story to tell. There is the story of the Rifle Range Trail soldier along with a story of a servant girl who committed suicide in the early years of Stonecliffe Mansion. There is a woman seen at Post Cemetery weeping over graves. The book is so full of interesting and compelling ghost stories, I could not put it down. It raised my anticipation for seeing the island with my own eyes.
After seeing the segment on Ghost Hunters, I was most fascinated with Mission Point Resort and the alleged hauntings of Harvey and the little girl known as Lucy. On Ghost Hunters, many times Jason and Grant are able to find logical explanations for sights and sounds thought to be paranormal activity. However, the locations they determine could be haunted are the ones that pique my curiosity. One of those places happened to be Mission Point Resort.
After reading the wonderful book written by Todd Clements, I immediately emailed him, telling him of my curiosity about the resort and the alleged hauntings. Todd was gracious enough to extend to me a special invitation to the island, a free tour of the area as well as an opportunity to investigate the most active place on the island, the theater at Mission Point. Besides being the author of the fascinating and attention-grabbing Haunts of Mackinac, Todd also owns a business by the same name. The business is attached to Mission Point Resort near their deli. Haunts of Mackinac offers tours of the island’s haunted downtown area through Mission Point Resort. If you don’t like long walks, they offer a smaller Mission Point only tour. They also offer budding paranormal investigators a chance to investigate the theater. There is also a small gift shop.
Intrigued by the mystery of the island, I booked my room as soon as I had the chance. I made sure they gave me a room as close to Harvey’s dorm as possible. I was able to secure the room 2365, just down the hall from 2345. The whole floor is said to be fairly active, so I was hoping I could coax Harvey into playing a practical joke on me in my room or interacting with me on some level. I wanted to have a better understanding of the alleged hauntings, and how those who experienced the hauntings felt at the moment.
On a mild day in June, I packed my bags and prepared to leave for the island. I brought my mom and my dogs along so they could enjoy a small vacation from the hustle and bustle of everyday monotony. They could wander and explore the island’s many treasures while I explored the island’s many mysteries.
We arrived in St. Ignace, Michigan, and hopped onto the Star Line Ferry headed to the island. Once I got off the ferry and took my first steps into downtown Mackinac Island, I was in awe. The streets were filled with smiling people walking from shop to shop. Old-fashioned carriages pulled by tall and strong horses drove down the streets taking passengers to and from the hotels, resorts, or bed and breakfasts. People on bicycles rode up and down the streets, the occasional tinkle of bells ringing to let people in the street know there was a bike behind them wanting to pass. And there were no vehicles in sight. Looking up and down the street, the downtown looked almost exactly as it had in the movie A Moment in Time. There were gift shops, fudge shops, clothing stores … I was speechless as I took everything in.
We arrived at Mission Point Resort, rounding the corner of a beautiful garden of flowers, with a beautiful view of Lake Huron. Mission Point Resort is one of the few hotels on the island that is dog friendly, which is a great plus for those who enjoy traveling with their beloved pets. As I walked into the main lobby to check in, I was greeted by a number of other guests with their dogs. My two couldn’t have been happier as they took the time to say hello to their new friends. Inside the lobby was the legendary giant tepee that was prophesied long before it was even in the imagination of the architect. Everyone who worked at Mission Point Resort was extremely friendly. From the front-desk staff to the bellhops to the cleaning crew, no one would let you walk by without a friendly smile. You got the feeling that they truly loved their jobs.
I took my time walking from the main lodge to the straits lodge where we were staying. I wanted to get a feel for the whole area in the daylight. As my mom and I walked the dogs toward our hotel room, we passed the infamous theater where Harvey and Lucy are said to be more active. I stopped in front of the doors and looked at it for a while. My mom said it gave her a bad feeling and she didn’t want to linger. My mom is not one to get spooked. She’s a very levelheaded, rational person. So when she feels spooked (or as she calls it, “being creeped out”), my interest is even more piqued. Something may be there if it gets my mom nervous.
We took an antique-feeling elevator to Harvey’s floor, and began to walk down the hall. As we passed room 2345, I stopped and looked at the door. I was willing Harvey to come out and interact with me. That night, after settling into the room, nothing seemed to happen. No knocks on the wall, no lights turning on and off—the only sounds were my dogs snoring by my feet.
After a day of shopping, sampling the various foods at various bistros, and walking my dogs on a path near the crystal-blue waters of Huron, I headed to the Haunts of Mackinac store next to the Lakeside Marketplace, attached to the side of Mission Point Resort where the main lodge is located. It was nearly time for the tour Todd had graciously set me up on. The store had a deliberately spooky feel to it. It was dark, lit only by black lights and neon lights of purples, dark reds, yellows, and blues. The fog machine rolled a light mist throughout the store, and a robed skeleton statue greeted you at the door.
The store is filled with merchandise. The book Haunts of Mackinac by Todd Clements, a video about Haunted Mackinac filmed by the Upper Peninsula Paranormal Society, LED-lighted necklaces, bracelets and pins of little ghosts, T-shirts, and paranormal investigative equipment such as the K-II meter. On the counter there are pictures of Mackinac Island, including a photo of what is believed to be an actual ghostly shadow, and a photo of Todd with Jason and Grant from Ghost Hunters. There was a lot to take in as I paced around the shop a bit. I bought a DVD, a T-shirt, a fun ghost LED blinking bracelet, and a pin.
I introduced myself to the tour guide of the Mission Point tour. She donned a black hooded cloak as she introduced herself to the other guests who had joined us for the tour. As dusk was creeping in, we set out. While there was a whimsy to the little shop and the tour with the black lighting and hooded cloaks … the tour was extremely professional, very informative. At times, the stories pulled out various emotions in all the listeners. The chilling tales, the history, the legends were extremely interesting to hear while looking at the very places being described.
We ended the tour in the theater. The tours were not allowed to take anyone backstage or into the balcony where a lot of the activity happens, but I knew my time to see those places was coming in just a few short hours. As she spoke about the history of the theater, I took a look around. It seemed relatively unassuming. I didn’t get a sense of anything out of the ordinary. Even when the lights were off, it seemed like a normal theater in the dark.
From the theater the tour guide took us into the darkened soundstage. There we heard stories of people getting touched, scratched, people saw shadowed figures walking around, they heard phantom voice both male and female, and there was a report of someone who worked at the resort being pushed through doors while working in the soundstage after hours. One member of our tour spoke up and stated that she and her husband had investigated the soundstage before. She said it was one of the few places she felt extremely uncomfortable in. I didn’t share in that particular feeling. It was curious. With all the stories of things that happened in that room, I felt nothing that would make me feel there was something there. I was looking forward to investigating the areas to see if I would experience anything myself or find reasonable ways to explain what happened to others.
The next day I spent the afternoon shopping, walking my dogs, sightseeing with my mom, watching people flying kites, and buying life-sized chocolate high-heeled shoes from Sanders Chocolatiers. Occasionally my mom and I would sit on a park bench and watch the seagulls tease my dogs. After a fun and relaxing day, it was time to get back to my room and prepare for the investigation that evening. I gathered the equipment I would be bringing with me: two digital audio recorders, a digital video camera, and a toy for little Lucy. “Haunts of Mackinac” would be providing the K-II meters. K-II meters are EMF readers (electromagnetic fields). The green light shows it’s on, then there are various level of lights from yellow to red that shows the intensity of EMF in the area, whether man-made or natural. The theory is spirits can manipulate the EMFs around them in order to communicate. If you ask a question, you can ask a spirit to turn the lights on to red and keep it there, or to make the meter blink two times for yes and one time for no.
The evening of the investigation, I met lead investigator Cornelius Maki and fellow investigator Kimberly Cenci. While Cornelius got everything together and waited for the rest of the investigators, I had a chance to talk to Kimberly a little about the upcoming investigation. I asked a little more about Lucy, the little girl who haunts the theater. Kimberly shook her head. “Not much is really known about her. We don’t even know if Lucy is really her name … the name came from when a psychic looked around the theater. Other than that, nothing is known about her.” As I stated earlier, I theorized that perhaps the little girl was one of the children who died in the Mission House up the way. While there was no Lucy at the house, perhaps Lucy is not the child’s name. It could be the name of another spirit there, perhaps Lucy was referring to someone else and not herself, or perhaps she gave herself a “stage” name since she was playing in the theater. One thing Kimberly did note was that “she seems to enjoy playing on the balcony, and usually enjoys the presence of women. If a man is around, she usually isn’t very active.” Kimberly thought for a second and corrected her thought. “Actually, there is one guy she seems to like, and that’s Cornelius. He’s the exception to the rule. He’s been working here for so long, and sometimes he brings her little gifts to play with. Lucy responds to him.”
I asked Kimberly if there were any other spirits in the theater besides Lucy and Harvey. She stated that there were a few other spirits throughout the Mission Point Resort. Another male entity and a female entity they identify as “The Opera Singer.”
When the other investigators arrived for the night, Cornelius passed out glow stick necklaces for us to wear as a way to keep track of each other. If someone wasn’t wearing the glow stick, they probably didn’t belong there. I immediately cracked mine open and gave it a little shake to get the glow started. I placed it around my neck as Cornelius gave a few last-minute instructions before taking us in.
I followed Kimberly into the theater. It was very dark inside and took my eyes a little time to adjust as I headed down the aisle toward the stage. I placed my video recorder stage right and began recording the empty seats in the theater. Stage left, Cornelius set up an LED light grid that filled the entire theater with tiny green and red dots. The theory behind the light grid is that it makes entities easier to see. If an entity is able to manifest itself in the form of a person or shadow, that mass will pass in front of the beam and disrupt the flow of light. This in turn makes it easier to see potential entities.
Once the K-II meters had been passed out, everyone split up to cover more ground. The first place I wanted to check out was the balcony where little Lucy is said to play. Kimberly, and one other investigator joined me. Kimberly quickly pointed out the dangers of the balcony as a warning to be careful where we sat. “The railing is very low, and it just kind of drops off. In the dark, it’s not safe; so try not to go further then this row.” Heeding her warnings, I stayed back a few rows and placed my recorders in different spots on the balcony. I tested the area with the K-II meter to find any potential spikes in natural electromagnetic fields. When using equipment like a Mel meter or K-II meter, it’s always good to do an area sweep. If you find random spikes or solid spikes in EMF, any potential hits you get during a K-II session would be questionable. Once I found no random spikes, I placed the K-II meter in front of me and found a chair in which I wanted to sit. I waited to see if the K-II would randomly spike. When nothing happened after a few minutes, I began seeking Lucy.
I called on the name of Little Lucy and asked her to come out and play. I tried to talk to her the same way I talk to my nieces and nephews. I tried to make things personal to make her comfortable. I told her who I was and how far I came just to play with her. I asked her questions about herself. If she liked playing with things people brought her, if she knew Harvey, if she and Harvey were friends. I noticed an empty drink can on the ground and asked if she was upset that people left litter in her balcony. I took out the blinking LED bracelet I bought from the gift shop and showed her how it turned on and off and told her she could play with it if she wanted to. I placed it a few chairs away and asked if she could turn it on. No answer seemed to come. The K-II didn’t spike at all, and I didn’t feel any unusual presence; it was quiet.
After snapping a few photos, Cornelius called out for everyone to join him in the first row of the theater seats near the stage. I grabbed my recorders and walked down the balcony stairs. He stated that anyone who had not been to the soundstage was welcome to join him there now. Those who were already there, as well as a few others who were originally backstage, decided to join Cornelius. I was the only one who stayed behind in the theater to continue my investigation. I decided I wanted to see if I could get Harvey to communicate with me.
I sat in Harvey’s special chair. The chair was like all the others, except for a notch in the seat where a chunk of wood was missing. The chair squeaked as I gently pushed it down so I could take a seat. It was like any of the other chairs. The odd thing was, the longer I sat, the closer the room felt—an almost claustrophobic feeling, and I am not usually claustrophobic.
Harvey’s chair in the theater at Mission Point Resort.
Photo by Andrea Mesich.
I started trying to communicate with Harvey. I placed my recorders in the row where I sat, and the row behind me. I started by telling Harvey a little about myself. When I told him who I was and why I was there, I asked him to tell me something about him. “You can just tell me one word. If you’re lonely, say ‘Lonely,’ or if you’re a practical joker say ‘funny.’ I want to know.” Nothing immediately seemed to happen, so I tried a different angle. I asked him about his girlfriend who broke his heart. I sympathized with him, telling him I had a relative who had a girlfriend by the same name. They recently broke up as well. I asked if he was upset when he saw couples coming into the theater, or if he still had feelings for his girlfriend.
As I continued asking questions, it felt as if the seat was starting to shake. Even the chairs next to me seemed to be vibrating. I tried to think of what could be causing this. Perhaps air was pushing through the vents or some sort of mechanical system was turning on. I didn’t hear anything different than what I had heard all night, yet the vibrating was intensifying.
Kimberly suddenly walked into the theater after leaving the sound room, and immediately, the vibrating stopped. She excitedly told me how they were doing an EVP session and everyone heard an audible “SHUT UP.” It was an exciting moment since everyone had heard the sound and corroborated each others experience. Only true paranormal investigators get excited over phantom voices telling them to be quiet. She asked if anything odd happened while I was alone, explaining that the last time she sat in the chair, the chair started vibrating … this verified my experience before I even had the chance to tell Kimberly about it.
After a few minutes, Cornelius and the others returned to do a group EVP session in the theater. We sat on a seat in the front row, Cornelius sitting on the floor in front of us. Going down the line, we each took a turn asking a question of the spirits that may be in the theater. After everyone had a chance to ask a question, we wrapped up the EVP session and once again decided to check out the area of our choice. We all seemed to gravitate to the soundstage since there was a shared experience earlier. We hoped it would repeat itself.
I followed the group to the soundstage. I was curious if I could hear the same “Shut up!” or sounds of knocking or anything else others had been experiencing that night. I walked around a bit, placed my recorders in a few different spots, and listened carefully to someone who was asking EVP questions. I asked a few of my own, but while others said they felt various things (being poked, cold spots, a sense of foreboding), I honestly didn’t feel anything. The only thing I really sensed all night was in Harvey’s chair, and while the vibrating was weird—how it started and then stopped as soon as Kimberly entered the room—I couldn’t say with any certainty that it was paranormal and not some kind of ventilation system kicking in. I looked around the room at the reactions of others and wondered: Are they feeling what they think they’re feeling, or feeling what they believe they should be feeling based on the stories they heard? The power of suggestion.
As I looked around, I noticed Kimberly and Cornelius speaking in low voices to one another. Cornelius looked extremely pale and slightly disturbed. Kimberly had a look on her face that gave away her surprise. While I couldn’t make out what they were saying, I could tell he was upset about something. Being a bit nosy, I went over and asked if everything was all right. He seemed a bit hesitant to say anything. He seemed worried that what he was about to tell me was so beyond belief, I would probably think he was crazy. I assured him that I would take what he had to say very seriously, so he started to explain what happened.
He showed me his recorder. It was the state-of-the-art model, perfect for collecting electronic voice phenomenon with its vast amount of storage and strong internal mic with an outlet to attach an external mic. I had my eye on a similar model, but it was out of my price range. I had seen him with it earlier when we did our group EVP session. He had picked it up, rewound the audio to see if anything audible had been collected during the session, but when nothing was heard, stated he would listen to the audio on his computer later. He tried to explain what happened, but decided instead to show me.
He gently held his recorder in the palm of one hand, and easily removed the casing with the other. The recorder fell apart. Cornelius explained that he was on his way back to the soundstage, holding the recorder in his hand trying to capture any potential sounds on the way back. He stopped when he thought he felt something, and suddenly he saw his recorder lift several inches out of his hand, hover, then slowly rest back down in his hand, only to immediately fall apart. That’s when he noticed that all of the screws that held the casing together were missing. Not just one, not two, not even three … all of them. I looked closely at the recorder and he was right. All of the screws were gone. It didn’t make sense. I can see one or two screws coming loose and falling apart, but every screw? Plus, he mentioned that the recorder was relatively new, so the screws should not have been that loose. And how strange was his story that it lifted out of his hand, hovered, and was slowly placed back in his hand, sans screws?
I could tell by the look on his face and the sound of his voice, what he experienced was very real and he was not exaggerating. He was as perplexed as I was, and it had happened to him. It was a very strange occurrence indeed. Everyone else, unaware of what Cornelius had been through, continued looking around the soundstage. I was curious to move on to the backstage area. It is said that a marine was so frightened by what happened to him while investigating the backstage area all alone that he left the theater and refused to come back, even though his wife stayed. Cornelius said he would show me the way.
On the way from the soundstage to the backstage, Cornelius stopped a few minutes to search the ground where the recorder incident happened to see if he could find any screws. Not successful, we continued backstage. I placed my audio recorders in a few different places. Cornelius, sitting down, held his recorder together, then gently placed it in front of him on the ground. The recorder still worked since only the outer casing fell apart. I sat down on the floor and looked around.
I once again started asking to speak with Harvey. I tried to once again sympathize with his woeful love life. I reminded him of the story I told him about my relative who had broken up with a girl by the same name as the woman who broke his heart. I told him that I, myself, was single and unlucky in love. I jokingly said, “Maybe I’m too picky and you’re not picky enough. Maybe that’s our problem.” There seemed to be no response. I tried daring Harvey to touch me in some way. Poke me in the arm, tug on my sleeve, pull my hair a little; play a practical joke on me. Do something to interact with me.
I heard Cornelius rewind his recorder and put it to his ear. He did that several times with a look of concentration on his face. Cornelius could only say, “Whoa, you have to hear this,” as he moved closer and rewound the tape again. He held it closer to my ear, and I could hear it very clearly. As I’m asking Harvey to do something to make himself known, like play a practical joke on me … there is a male voice whispering over my own voice … “Get out.” He played it again, and it was definitely “Get out.” It seemed oddly aggressive. It made me wonder, was this Harvey’s idea of a practical joke … or was this a different spirit—the one who told everyone in the soundstage to “shut up” earlier? I quietly hoped I caught it on my own recorder. Cornelius asked, for good measure, if the entity could say it again for me. Shortly after, I took out my K-II and asked whatever was with us to show themselves by making the meter light up. It spiked once. I uttered, “that was weird” because it was only once, and then nothing.
Cornelius took off his glow stick necklace and placed it on the ground between us. “Whoever is here,” he said, “make that glow stick roll, even just a few inches. A few feet would be even better, but do something.” We sat there and stared at the glow stick, glowing eerily on the stage. We were almost willing it to move. Nothing happened. We waited a few more minutes and decided nothing was going to happen. Cornelius picked his glow stick up and placed it back around his neck as I gathered my recorders.
We started walking when a strange noise caught our attention. It was coming from this closet-like area near a wall ladder that led up in the rafters. Cornelius called out “Is someone there?” but no answer came. As we walked a little closer to the dark closet, a flash of light dropped from directly above and fell straight down onto a tarp inside the closet with a loud THUD, taking us both by surprise. Suddenly I heard running up in the rafters and what sounded like a snicker. Immediately, Cornelius turned on a light so we could see, and bolted up the ladder into the rafters. “No one is up here,” he called down in a frantic voice. “This is NOT possible. There is no one up here at all!”
I asked if there was another way down. Cornelius opened a trap door right next to the ladder he climbed up. “This is it,” he stated. There were only two ways down … to fall through the trap door, which would have been a dangerous jump in the dark, into that closet where the glow stick fell … or to climb down the ladder immediately next to the trap door, where Cornelius climbed up. Either way, the only way out was to pass us. He closed the trap door with a heavy thud. I mused to myself that it could not have been the trap door. With no way down except to jump, they wouldn’t be able to close the door behind them … and not only did I not hear a thud, the door was definitely closed when Cornelius climbed up.
Cornelius used the ladder to come down from the rafters, looking as confused as ever. He picked up the glow stick from the closet. “Someone has to be messing with us,” he murmured under his breath. “This just isn’t possible.” I asked him what his thoughts about the glow stick were. He held it up to me. “This glow stick is not attached to a necklace. We should all have a necklace around our necks. If we go back and find that everyone has their glow stick, then we have a problem. These glow sticks last maybe twenty-four hours if you’re lucky. They usually begin to dim way before then. So if we all have our glow sticks, this particular one shouldn’t be glowing.
If this was from a recent tour (although most tours are not allowed backstage), then it would be dim, if not out. If it were from the last investigation, it would be out completely. Either way, this looks like a freshly cracked glow stick, which isn’t possible. Then there is another issue. We do not usually take tourists up to the rafters, nor do we allow them to go up there when they are investigating on their own. So how would it have gotten up there? It makes no sense. The only thing I can think of is someone here is playing a joke. We need to check everyone to see if they have their sticks.”
Before we headed back to the soundstage where everyone else was still investigating, making an exception, Cornelius allowed me to head into the rafters with him. I looked around and noticed that he was correct; the only way down I could see was the trap door, which was heavy, and the ladder which no one would have had time to run down even if I wasn’t watching the area like a hawk, because Cornelius was up there before you could say boo. There was no way anyone could have escaped unnoticed. I looked around and found no one hiding. It boggled my mind. Since I could not explain the who, I wanted to try to explain the how. I found an area directly above the closet where the glow stick fell, and looked for a way it could have fallen down. I could not explain that either. I looked all around the floor. There were no spaces large enough to fit a glow stick. No loose floorboards that could be moved aside to push the glow stick through; no holes in the floorboards that it could have fallen through. There was no explanation to how the glow stick got up there, how it got down, or who was in charge.
I climbed back down and asked if Cornelius could try to re-create the glow stick falling. Cornelius did a test to see if he could mimic the way the glow stick fell straight down by tossing it in various ways from the trap door. No matter how he tossed it, he could not replicate what we saw. It always flew from the side, then straight down, or fell from an angle and landed in different places. He could never get it to appear like it was falling straight down from the rafters, and I had already concluded there was no way to do that due to lack of openings the stick could have fit through above that closet.
Cornelius climbed down once again and I watched as he placed the still brightly lit glow stick in his pocket. He informed me that we needed to get the whole group together and do a glow stick check. He led the way back to the soundstage where everyone else was still investigating. I could see the faint trace of the glow stick glowing still in his pocket. As we walked, Cornelius kept repeating that “this can’t be happening,” and “someone has to be messing with us.” Once we reached the soundstage, we gathered everyone into a circle and checked each person for their glow sticks. They all had them; I had mine, and Cornelius had his. Cornelius reached into his pocket. “You guys have to see this,” was all he could say before his face went pale.
I saw Cornelius put his hand in his other pocket, then back in the first. He looked at me silently, and I looked back at him and simply said, “I saw you put it in your pocket, I even saw it glowing in your pocket!” I retraced our steps to see if I could find the glow stick. Could it have fallen out of his pocket? With me following behind, you would think I would have seen it fall or heard it when it hit the cement floor leading toward the sound room. Still, I looked under every nook and cranny to see if I could find the glow stick. It was nowhere to be found. It disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared. I started to wonder if the glow stick was a ghost itself.
Cornelius decided since the group was all together again, we should go backstage and do a K-II session. I once again headed back to the location of the glow stick incident and placed my recorders down. We tested the area to see if we would get any spikes from natural EMF. We tested each other to make sure we weren’t carrying anything that would create a natural EMF; then we waited to see if there were any random spikes.
Once we were confident there was nothing in the area or on us that caused spikes, we began to ask questions of any potential spirits in the area. I asked if it was Harvey that played the little joke with the glow stick. There was no answer on the meters. One other member of the group asked if perhaps the joke was played by the little girl named Lucy. The lights on all of our meters lit up to red and stayed there for a full second before turning off. I asked if she was trying to impress us, and once again the light lit up as far as the lights would go on the meter, then turned off.
The K-II meters were acting as if in direct response to questions. If we said nothing, the meters did nothing. If we asked a question and there was no response, perhaps the response was no. If we asked a question and the meter lit up, then perhaps the answer was yes. It was more than simply random. As I stated before, it was as if they were lighting up in direct response to questions. Many paranormal societies do not see much merit in K-II meter results, however, what I was seeing with the meters at this time made me question skeptics. While I would not rely solely on the K-II because you can miss so much if you are paying too much attention to the lights, and while there is a risk of false hits due to natural EMF … sometimes things are too “on” to call merely random or coincidence. If it were coincidence, then it was a repeated and odd coincidence, at least in my opinion.
Making the K-II session even more compelling, whenever the lights on the meter would light up as if answering a question, I felt a tugging on my sleeve as if someone was trying to catch my attention … however no one was even standing close enough to even accidentally brush up against my arm. Everyone else was standing across from me.
We once again asked if Lucy was still with us, and the meter lit up to red. When we asked if Harvey was with Little Lucy, the meters did nothing. We asked Lucy if she was alone—and once again, nothing. When we asked if Lucy had a friend with her, the meters lit up again. Someone asked if it was the opera singer perhaps; the meter lit all the way up again. When we realized the other spirit with Lucy was perhaps the opera singer, I asked if they wanted us to sing for them. The answer came on my meter alone, as if pointing me out.
I began to sing an aria from the opera Madame Butterfly, and as I sang, everyone’s K-II meter not only lit up to the last red light, it stayed lit the entire time I was singing. They only turned off once I had completed the aria. I tried to sing another aria from Faust, however nothing happened on the meters at all. When I asked if perhaps they enjoyed Madame Butterfly more, the meters lit up. Again, it was lighting up too specifically to be coincidence. Once again, every time the meter lit up, I felt a tugging at my sleeve as if someone was trying to get my attention. A few times I brushed my arm and the tugging stopped, only to start up again.
It was past the end of the investigation’s usual time, so we all started to pack up. I handed Cornelius back the borrowed K-II with a thank you for its use, and grabbed my own equipment. I turned off the recorders and packed them in my case. I went to get my video camera, which I had left on the stage, only to find the battery drained. That was curious. I had charged the battery completely, and had enough free memory to not only have lasted through the investigation, but even for another two hours. I would have to charge the battery later and see just how much I was able to capture on camera before it shut down, if anything.
Kimberly and Cornelius walked me back to the straits lodge, braving the swooping bats feasting on the bugs around the island. It was no wonder that, in a year when the biting flies and mosquitoes were seemingly plentiful, the island was relatively bug-free. The night was gone and we were creeping on the early hours of the morning. I would be leaving for home in just a few short hours, so I fell asleep the second I laid my head upon the pillow in my room.
The next morning, I reluctantly packed my things, got my dogs, and my mom and I boarded the ferry back to the mainland. I reached home to review the evidence I had found.
The Evidence
I started with the video camera. Once I had a chance to charge the battery enough to turn it on to upload the video, I found that the battery didn’t even last twenty minutes, and during the twenty minutes that did record, the video was grainy and having a hard time focusing. The video was fairly useless to me, so I set it aside and hoped that I found something on audio. I was perplexed by the camera’s battery running out. I know I charged it fully; I bought a memory stick with enough memory to last an entire investigation, and then some. I tested all of my equipment and everything was in working order. I have used the camera before and have used it since—and this was the first and only time this has happened.
The one thing that is worth mentioning, it is believed in the paranormal community that when a spirit manifests, it takes energy from wherever it can gather it. Sometimes that energy comes from batteries, and the batteries quickly drain when equipment is in use, as a spirit tries to manifest, causing equipment to power off. Could this be what happened in the case of my video camera? Could the focus have been malfunctioning because it was trying to focus on something that was there, but wasn’t; then the battery drained as whatever it was tried to manifest? Due to the lack of useable video, I will never know for sure; I can only suspect.
There was a lot of audio to go through on my two recorders, and my way of reviewing evidence is to go over everything several times with a fine-tooth comb. When reviewing evidence, I do not ever want to leave one stone unturned. If I hear something, I want to hear it several times. I isolate the sound and listen to it in a loop, then I want to hear the entire clip and how it relates to the events around it. If it doesn’t seem to fit, I put it aside and listen to it again later. If it is something I still cannot explain by natural means, I will ask paranormal investigators I trust who are experienced in EVPs to weigh in. Perhaps they have an idea I didn’t think about. Once I have exhausted all efforts to explain what I have heard or seen, I then put it in the pile of potential evidence captured on an investigation.
I made a big pot of coffee and uploaded the audio to my computer. I got my trusted pair of headphones (over the ear headphones with a sound booster). When my laptop is at full volume, it amplifies the sound even more to make it easier to hear potential EVPs. I uploaded the audio to an audio program so I could easily tag any potential sounds I will want to review later, and got straight to work. It didn’t take long for surprises to arise.
I listened to my EVP session when I was alone in the theater, sitting in Harvey’s chair. I heard myself make a note out loud of the vibrating of the chair, but I did not hear any source of the vibration. No low hums or whirring of machinery or vents activating. I heard Kimberly come into the theater and tell me about the “shut up” incident. As we turned our conversation to the chairs vibrating, I heard a deep, male voice say loudly as if sitting right next to us, what I could only describe as the word “stroking.” There were no men in the theater with us at that moment, and the word was so out of place, it didn’t fit what was happening at that moment. I was not sure if the word being said was stroking, it could have been “spoken” or perhaps a word in another language. The thing I did know … it was a deep male voice … a voice that should not have been there. It was a voice neither Kimberly nor myself reacted to. It wasn’t like we heard a voice and said “What was that?”; it was only upon playback that the voice was heard. Could I have captured Harvey? Or perhaps, was it one of the other nameless male spirits known to frequent the theater? Whichever the answer, it was a voice that should not have been there and that I could not explain.
I continued listening to the audio. I came to the point shortly after that moment we held the group EVP session. Each of us was able to ask a question. Our hope was that perhaps the spirits would respond to one of our questions, or perhaps feel more comfortable with a certain person. Listening to the audio, you could hear each voice, the tone, the quality, the inflections in the voices; the voices also sounded distant based on where the recorders were placed in relation to where we were sitting. Suddenly, as we asked questions, you could hear a loud and audible voice; a voice that sounded close to the microphone as it sounded louder than any of us asking questions sounded. It was a childlike female voice that sounded like she was saying, “Kick the can!” I was surprised.
I listened to the audio over and over. I isolated the sound, I played the entire clip, it was unexplainable. The voice did not match a single person who spoke during the EVP session. It was too close to the mic compared to any of our voices, and it was the voice of a child. Children have a certain inflection in their voice they lose as they become adults. Even an adult female with a higher-pitched voice still sounds like an adult. We lose a certain childlike quality in our voices after puberty. Even if you were able to find that one adult with a child’s voice, that adult was not in our group. What was being said also did not make sense. We were speaking about names, and asking if anyone shared a name with one of the spirits in question. So “Kick the can” sounds out of place. One thing did make sense however. When I first investigated the balcony, there was that empty drink can someone left up there and I did ask Little Lucy if it made her mad that people littered her balcony. Later, someone pointed out that, especially in the era it is believed Lucy lived, kick the can was a popular child’s game. This wouldn’t be the last time I’d hear this same little girl’s voice.
Not long after this incident, I found myself backstage with Cornelius, trying to call on the name of Harvey. Shortly after we began our EVP session, Cornelius caught the sound of “get out” on his recorder. The sound was clear. It was a male voice that sounded nothing like the one I had caught earlier. This voice sounded more annoyed, more gruff. The voice I heard earlier gave the feeling of being more friendly. Could this be the spirit that told everyone in the soundstage to shut up? Unfortunately, the sound did not appear on my recorders, I was only able to capture the sound when Cornelius was playing the sound back on his recorder. Cornelius asked whatever spirit said that so loudly on his recorder to do it again on mine. That’s when I heard a small voice asking, “Why?” it was the voice of a child, the same female child who said “kick the can” earlier. It was such a small and innocent voice, asking why we would want someone to say “Get out” on my recorder.
I then heard myself place my K-II meter in front of me and ask whatever was with us to make the meter light up so we would know they were there. Suddenly I heard a male voice again, but not the one that said, “Get out.” This was a different, kinder voice saying in a whisper, “the child is gone.” After the whisper I can be heard saying “that was weird,” as the K-II meter spiked for the first time backstage. Could this once again be Harvey, the one who said what I assumed was “stroking” or “spoken”? What did he mean, the child is gone? Perhaps the little girl who I assume is Lucy who said “kick the can” and “why” ran off. Could she have been chased off by the spirit that said “Get out”? Maybe “get out” was aimed at her, and not at Cornelius and I.
After I heard “The child is gone,” nothing else happened until we came to the glow stick incident. When Cornelius ran up the ladder to see what was going on, I heard myself utter excitedly, “That was weird but cool.” As I called up to Cornelius to ask him if there was any other way down, you could hear the same male voice that said “The child is gone” say “You’re welcome, anytime,” as if to say, “Glad I could do something cool for you.”
During the K-II meter session, we asked if the glow stick was thrown by Harvey; you could hear me say that nothing happened on my meter. So another investigator asked if it was Lucy. We all acknowledged that our meters lit up. I asked if she were maybe trying to impress us by throwing the glow stick. I suddenly hear a very little whisper of a child saying “Yes!” almost excitedly. A second after the yes, everyone once again said the K-II meter lit up.
There were a few interesting things about these particular EVPs. They were no live reactions to the EVPs. They were loud enough that, if it were a person in the group, someone would have heard and replied … however they went unnoticed until the EVPs were played back. There was the voice of a child when no children were present in the building. When the male voice saying “stroken” or “spoken” occurred, the only people in the room were me and Kimberly. Everyone else was in the soundproof soundstage. The voices were the same. When I played the three clips that sound like a little girl back to back, it sounds like the same little girl. When I put a few of the male clips together, there were three that sounded the same (“stroken,” “the child is gone,” and “you’re welcome: anytime”), and one that sounded different, a little harsher. This leads me to believe this is more than random sounds.
Many of the voices seem to coincide with hits on the K-II meter, which leads me to believe the hits on the K-II meter were not simply random. Some of the voices seemed closer to the mic than even my own voice. Having the recorders in my sight at all times, I know that no one went up to them to speak into the mics. This leads me to believe the voices were not voices belonging to any actual person.
Other sounds were captured … laughter, faint yells, and others that seemed out of place at the moment they were happening. However, these were the clearest, class 1 EVPs. There were also many personal experiences. The feeling of tugging on my sleeve, the glow stick that shouldn’t have been glowing, that fell from a place it shouldn’t have been able to fall—where it shouldn’t have even been in the first place. Then when placed in his pocket, the same glow stick disappeared from his pocket. Plus the incident where Cornelius’s recorder rose from his palm, and fell apart the moment it touched back down into the palm of his hand. There was also the vibrating of the chairs.
When I looked at the history of the island, the hauntings that occurred from one end of the island to the other, when I hear the stories of people who have had eerily similar experiences, when I think of my own experiences, and the experiences of the TAPS team in the episode “Frozen in Fear” … I leave the island with the feeling there is something going on there that can’t be easily explained.
If you are not a believer in ghosts, I would recommend going to Mackinac Island. Visit the “Haunts of Mackinac” store and sign up for a tour. If you’re even braver, sign up for a midnight investigation of the theater. Witness for yourself what lies on the island after the sun sets and the lights turn off. Will Harvey get into bed with you in the straits lodge of Mission Point Resort? Will little Lucy come play with you in the balcony of the theater? Or will there be something else that greets you, something not as happy to see you, telling you to get out, and get out now?