Photo by Dan
Butler Cemetery, also known as William Ganong Cemetery, is in Westland, Michigan and the classic “lady in white” has been spotted in the graveyard. There is supposedly an unusual amount of traffic accidents by the cemetery as well. Enjoy the stories below that have been sent in over the years. Do you have a story to share? Comment below or send an email.
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I actually live in the mobile home park that “surrounds” the cemetery. It’s on the boarder of Westland and Inkster. It originally was stated to have over 322 people buried there but there are nowhere near that many headstones. It is speculated that the mobile home park is built on several dozen of those graves. There have been a lot of weird noises that can be heard in the cemetery when walking around the mobile home parks back area at night. Crying, whispering, a lot of footsteps, clanking and rustling sounds. It also gives an overall bad vibe feeling not just within the cemetery but in the park as well.
Some people believe that the man who originally started the cemetery may not have been on the “up and up” and that perhaps there is a “curse” or bad juju emanating from the cemetery. Which if you look at the parks history over a span of several years, it does make some sense. A lot of bad things have occurred in and directly around the park/cemetery. It really is just an overall eerie place, and not because it’s a cemetery, because I myself happen to really love exploring old cemeteries and such, but this one just feels” off”. My oldest son has gone in there a few times and even he has said it’s “creepy” and we had an issue several years back with a group of people going in there and trying to conduct “rituals” of some sort or another and unfortunately they had no clue what they were doing and mostly it resulted in them defacing the headstones and trying to sacrifice things and basically other random acts of stupidity.
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My name is Mark A. France, and I am owner and lead investigator for the Michigan Paranormal Research Society (M.P.R.S.), based out of White Lake, MI. A few years back, a group of fellow investigators and myself, checked out the Butler/William Ganong Cemetery in Westland, MI, with some interesting results.
As stated by another visitor, the high number of accidents could be attributed to the sharp curve by the cemetery, as well as the fact that there is an entrance/exit to a trailer park, which surrounds the cemetery on two sides.
The particular evening the group and I went, we parked in the lot across from the cemetery. One of the investigators with the group spoke to the spirits before we entered, stating our intentions with our visit. Using digital recorders and several cameras, we broke off into small groups and searched the cemetery.
As I made my way around the cemetery, I felt drawn to the back of the grounds. It’s hard to explain exactly what I felt, but it was as if something wanted me there, in particular, it felt like a young girl. I looked at a number of the tombstones with my flashlight, in the area where the feeling was strongest, and finally came upon a small stone which was sitting by itself next to several tall trees. Upon inspection, it was discovered to be the grave of a small girl by the name of Sarah. What made this even eerier was the fact that one of the other investigators showed up in the same spot, stating that she, too, was feeling drawn to that area for some reason.
As the night progressed, we noticed that some of the residents from the trailer park were taking notice of our presence (from the flashlights, I presume). Finally, one resident started yelling, “Alright, you’ve been there long enough, you need to leave.” This went on for about ten minutes before we finally decided to leave. As we were exiting the cemetery, we noticed three men walking down the road in our direction, carrying baseball bats.
Mark A. France
Michigan Paranormal Research Society
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Hey I just wanted to let you all know I have been to Butler cemetery on three separate occasions. I have never seen anything while there. The reason there are so many accidents is because there is a curve right before the cemetery. People claim they see a woman in a white dress walking and that is what causes the accidents.
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My name is Dan. I was checking out the web site because my friends and I like to go to the “haunted places” around Michigan. Everything seemed pretty cool and now I want to visit some of the places that I heard about on your site, especially the Felt Mansion after seeing your video.
While I was looking through the cemetery section I noticed you didn’t have much on the Butler cemetery so I thought I would share a story…
After looking through the Shadowlands website, three friends and I decided to visit the William Ganong Cemetery or “Butler Cemetery”. Around two A.M. on a very chilly March night we arrived at the cemetery. Now I’m more of, I guess you could say, “excited skeptic.” I don’t really believe in ghosts, but I’m always excited to be proved wrong. We heard stories about the “lady in white” causing a bunch of accidents on the turn. After going through the turn and almost sliding off the road because of all the ice, we decided that wasn’t the case, so we parked in some random person’s driveway and walked through the gates. We were instantly creeped out. It was a clear night with no wind. We decided to walk around in the small cemetery and take pictures of the grave stones, walking around casually, ducking whenever a car passed. It was all lighthearted fun until weird noises came from deeper in the cemetery. It almost sounded like a hyena laughing. Creepy.
So naturally I took off running to the front gates and stopped when I realized no one was following me. They all decided to check out what made the noise. So about twenty minutes and three cigarettes later, my friends came back and we got in the car and headed home. That’s when I started looking through my pictures on my camera. Now I read the thing on your website about cheap cameras and the orbs going away after buying a good one. I have a Canon Powershot 12.1 megapixel digital camera and I’ll admit some of the “orbs” are probably dust. But some of the pictures I have no explanation for. Anyway, I just thought you might think that story was somewhat interesting.
**All cemeteries should be entered with respect. Leave them like you found them. Don’t litter, don’t vandalize anything or so help me, 10,000 demons will strike you down. If the cemetery has hours posted, respect that or find out how to get permission to be in after hours. Many times a simple phone call to the right person will grant access into a cemetery after it’s closed. If you can’t get access, enjoy the cemetery during open hours. I am a firm believer that spirits don’t just come out at night. I think it’s just “ghost hunters” who only come out at night. Respect nearby private property and don’t trespass where you do not belong.
I lived in the park behind this place for about 10 years. I moved there when I was 11. I could tell a lot of stories about it. From most of the original cemetery being dug up and the coffins and bones just being dumped at the lanfill so the park could be built, (because of the cost to relocate them properly), to the legend of the oak tree that was planted on top of a witch to keep her from comming back. I have personally been in there at LEAST 200 times over the years and i jave seen things. I saw a woman, not in white, from the waist up staring at me from across the cemetery and when i walked closer, she slowly disappeared. I’ve heard the crying, laughing, I’ve placed my hand on the oak tree and watched all the hair on my arm stand straight up. The entire area from Van Born to Michigan Ave, Middlebelt to Merriman has its history. That whole area is creepy.
Hi Jason, thanks for sharing!
An old girlfriend and I visited there several years back. Yes, you can see the trailer park from the back of the cemetery almost at the fenceline. No unusual feelings there.
Most people don’t realize there is another cemetery right next door. It is a “Potter’s Field”. Folks buried there were patients at the old Eloise Asylum. You have to look closely to spot the small circular cement markers. I was only able to see various numbers on the markers.
I’ve been here twice. I went last summer with my friends and saw nothing, we were pretty disappointed. But yesterday I decided to go again. Everything just felt so creepy. It IS winter, but I was completely fine walking down the road, and once I got in I was freezing cold. So I didn’t stay long (for a multitude of reasons). The place is in shambles. There were portions of chopped trees all over the place and many broken grave markers. It was difficult to walk up the snowy hill, but I did and saw random graves pushed against the edge of the fence. Most grave markers are illegible, having not been replaced for 150 years. I love going to cemeteries, I usually find them peaceful, but this one left me unnerved for the rest of the day and still now when I write about it. I felt like I was being watched, and I don’t even believe in ghosts. Just some serious bad energy. I think it’s a fascinating place, though. It desperately needs to be cleaned up by the city. The cemetery behind Southland mall is of similar age, though well kept and 100 times less creepy. I’d recommend it.