Pere Cheney: Once Growing Town Is Now A Haunted Cemetery

Pere Cheney started it’s village life as a thriving community but within less than 40 years, it would become a list topping ghost town.

Have you heard of it before? Are you intrigued? Read on and, hopefully, you finish with a few goosebumps and a desire to find this spooky spot for yourself!

A Little Town With Big Dreams

Just like most small towns, Pere Cheney started life with a purpose. Here, lumberjacks following the Michigan Central Railroad from Jackson to Mackinaw City, made a home centered around the sawmill owned by George Cheney. And Pere Cheney was realized in 1874.

Within a couple very short, hard years Pere Cheney had it’s own train depot, a post office and a population of approximately 1,500 people. Not too shabby, I’d say!

The Killer Arrives

By killer, I mean the dreaded Diphtheria. And it didn’t just slink through the village once. No. It ravaged this little town twice within four years.

Diphtheria consumed entire families during both manifestations and decimated the population. By the time the second occurrence finished, there were less than 25 people left in Pere Cheney by 1901.

In 1917, the population had fallen even more to a mere 18. Those soon left as well and officially made Pere Cheney a “Ghost Town” when the land was auctioned off.

And Now…

Today, you cannot tell there was ever a living soul on this ground. It is a wooded area that is heavily moss covered. The ground is spongy and you will immediately have the feeling you are not welcome.

Some of that comes from the woods and it’s eerily quietness and a whole lot of it comes from the no trespassing signs located on property nearby.

Here is what the area where the robust town once stood looks like today…

Left Behind

When the remaining residents left Pere Cheney, they went to Grayling but left behind 90 friends and families in the Pere Cheney Cemetery.

The cemetery is located across the train tracks from where the town once stood. It is maintained now but years of neglect have taken their toll on most of the headstones. Many are missing, most of the headstones are broken and worn.

There are toys and small stuffed animals left on the children’s headstones when they can be found. Coins are left on a lot of the headstones around the cemetery. And ROCKS! There are rocks left on nearly every visible headstone. If someone knows the significance of that, please let me know.

This place of rest is located far away from busy roads and yet as you walk around it you will not feel alone. You will feel like there are eyes on you, coming from the deep corners and behind the trees lining the property. Over and over my daughter and my friend both said they felt like they were being watched the entire time…so did I.

Legend Tells Us

I’ll tell you true, until Spring of 2020, I had not heard of this ghost town. I knew of some located in the Upper Peninsula but not this particular one.

Then, when I found out it was so near to Grayling (just a measely 9 miles southeast) and I was already planning a trip to Hartwick Pines State Park with my daughter and friend (Hi Shelby and Lynn!) anyhow…well, I knew I was making a detour!

Legend has it that this became a ghost town not just because of the disease that ripped the town asunder but because of a “witch’s curse”. Did you know that?! Did you get a chill when you read that? I kind of hope so. Afterall, what’s a ghost story without a few spine tingling chills…

Back to the curse…according to what I could find on Pere Cheney – which isn’t a lot – there was a woman in the village who was suspected of being a witch. The town expelled her and banished her to the woods.

Apparently, she wasn’t very happy with the arrangement and, you guessed it, put a big ‘ole curse on them all. This is where the Diphtheria comes in. The disease kills nearly everyone – don’t forget it took two tries to accomplish this though – and the witch’s curse becomes a thing.

I also read that somewhere in the middle of all this death and destruction, some of the townsfolk hunted her down and hanged her from a tree in…any guesses? You got it! The cemetery!!

Did you get the chills again? I did and I’m the one writing this!

It really should be noted too that the Pere Cheney Cemetery is listed #2 in the Top 10 Witch Graves in the Midwest, following “Bloody Mary” in Indiana.

Don’t Take My Word For It

No, really. One of the few consistent things you will read if you do your own research is that it has been reported for years – and I mean YEARS – about all the strange happenings around the Pere Cheney Cemetery.

There have been declarations of mysterious lights in the trees, orbs (and we all know what orbs mean), strange figures lurking about.

People have said they have seen actual witches and ghosts! Personally, I’m not sure I’m buying that though.

The absolute most unsettling thing I did read though involved children. People have sworn they heard kids laughing and playing in the woods! Can you imagine if you heard them?! No thanks. And several have also stated that when they returned to their vehicles, there were children’s handprints on them that were not there earlier.

Brrrrrrr. Shudder.

To Believe or Not To Believe

What do you think? Is there a curse? Isn’t there a curse?

Who knows.. I do believe in the power of suggestion for most things. I also believe there is a supernatural world that we only glimpse occasionally and I am A-OK with that.

But, I will tell you that for what should have been an easy post to write, I have had nonstop issues! I made this visit in October 2020 and I am pretty good with cataloging my pictures, etc but I couldn’t find most of them. The ones I did find were blurry so I fixed it, more or less, in editing only to have them blurry again when I uploaded them on here.

I’ve had some technical issues writing this. Everything appearing delayed and slow but on other open tabs, things are running just fine. I can usually find information and things I know I read last year, I can’t find at all now.

Could it all be quirky coinsidences? Absolutely. Do I think these are all quirky coinsidences? Not one bit!

Yay or Nay?

Sorry folks, but this week is not a clear cut Yay or Nay. It’s a little of both but probably not for the reason you may be thinking. None of them lean the supernatural direction.

With Halloween coming soon I thought this was a great post for the season. I love looking for days gone by and seeing what remenants are left behind. It’s a mixture of sadness and honor.

It’s sad to see what once held so much life be nothing but an echo. But, it’s an honor to tell the story of what once was. To not let the work and life of something so thriving be nothing but a distant memory.

If you decide you want to pay homage or quelch your curiosity, go do it! I did notice that at least it’s back on Google maps now so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it. Be prepared, once you leave the regular road it becomes a narrow, sandy trail. You will most likely need to walk across the railroad tracks to visit the cemetery so wear sneakers, boots etc and not flip flops.

Another couple of things to be aware of: there is a personal property to the East of the cemetery that have installed gates with no trespassing signs. That is their right to do so. Please be respectful and mindful that there are private residences in this area.

Secondly, someone has placed spikes in the road directly in front of the cemetery and they are very hard to see. I have no idea if they were installed to aid in drainage or to deter unwanted visitors from disturbing the area but don’t drive your vehicle on that side of the tracks. The underside of your vehicle may be ripped up or a tire damaged.

If you do journey to Pere Cheney, please let me know what you thought, found…and felt.

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