The Whitney, a restaurant in a historic Detroit mansion, is also one of the city’s most famously haunted places. According to The Whitney’s house historian and information published on its website, construction of the building was completed in 1894 for lumber baron David Whitney Jr. and his family. It was the family’s home until Whitney Jr.’s wife Sara, then a widow, passed away in 1917. After her death, the house was used as the offices of The Wayne County Medical Society and The Visiting Nurse Association. It was turned into a restaurant in 1986.

Talk of paranormal activity at the mansion dates back decades. It’s been going on since the medical society and Visiting Nurse Association occupied the building and persists to this day with guests and employees sharing stories of their paranormal experiences on the premises. The bar on the top floor of the building is named The GhostBar in reference to the ghosts who are said to reside there. At least three people are confirmed by historical record to have died in the house: David Whitney Jr., his wife Sara, and Sara’s brother, officials connected to the mansion said. 

Chad and Heather Dye, a husband-and-wife team who operate Dye Paranormal, are The Whitney’s official paranormal investigators. Twice a month, Dye Paranormal leads paranormal dinner tours, which are open to the public. After dinner in the restaurant, Dye Paranormal takes its guests on a ghost hunt around the property and its famously haunted carriage house. It’s there one of the Whitney daughters took care of orphans and some guests have reported hearing children’s voices. More information about the ghost hunts can be found on The Whitney’s website.

One Detroit’s Chris Jordan, Andrea Riley, and Leland Stein accompanied Dye Paranormal on a ghost tour and Jordan spoke with the Dye Paranormal owners and The Whitney’s house historian Yvonne Szymczak to learn about the home’s history.