This Week on One Detroit: 

Haunted Detroit Pt. I: Searching for paranormal activity at The Whitney in Detroit

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. 

Haunted Detroit Pt. II: Searching for paranormal activity at the Orson Starr House in metro Detroit

Built in 1845 as the home of cowbell manufacturer Orson Starr and his family, the Orson Starr House is the oldest existing house in Royal Oak, according to the city’s historical commission. It is also said to be among the state’s most haunted places. Orson Starr was one of the most prominent businessmen in the early history of Royal Oak. The property includes eight acres around the home, and a nearby park and church still use the Starr name.

Five generations of the Starr family lived in the house before it was sold in the late 1970s to Royal Oak to be turned into a museum, Royal Oak Historical Commission Chair Alexandra Kerrigan said. It was restored to be as accurate to its original state as possible and furnished with period-accurate furniture and artifacts. It was added to the state’s register of historic sites in the early 1980s. 

The museum is open one Sunday a month during the fall, winter and spring with guided tours by Kerrigan. The house also has resident paranormal investigators, John Yost and David Boyer of Flyer Paranormal, who do public ghost tours of the house one weekend a month on Saturday nights. More information on the ghost can be found on Flyer Paranormal’s website. 

Several members of the Starr family died on the property, either in the current house or the cabin that stood on the property before the house was constructed, Kerrigan said. Five of the Starr’s ten children died young, with three passing away within the same week, she said. Orson Starr and his wife Rhoda Gibbs Starr also both died in the house. City workers have long shared stories of ghostly experiences within the house, particularly in the children’s bedroom upstairs, with spirits of several of the Starr children who passed away being said by some to still reside there. 

One Detroit’s Chris Jordan talked with Kerrigan to learn about the house’s history and spoke to Yost and Boyer about the paranormal activity said to take place there. Plus, Jordan participates in a late-night paranormal investigation with colleagues Andrea Riley and Nate Turner to see if they could experience the ghostly activity.

Things to do in Detroit this weekend: October 25, 2024

It’s the weekend before Halloween and Southeast Michigan has plenty of spooky events to enjoy. There’s the Hush Haunted Attraction in Westland, Nightmare on Groove Street in Detroit’s North Rosedale Park neighborhood, and Halloween Science in Bloomfield Hills. Plus, there’s a handful of music performances to enjoy, including a masquerade evening with Detroit Opera’s resident artists, a performance from the Vitamin String Quartet, and more. See what’s coming up this weekend around the region on “One Detroit Weekend.”