The Crazy History of Grass Lake

What could a tiny town in Mid Michigan do to be called crazy? The rumors about the haunted buildings or mysterious murders that go unreported? What do you think could happen in a town where there are no reports or evidence of anything out of the ordinary? Did someone make that happen, or did really nothing happen here? Out of its 1,331 people living in the small village, only a few have heard of these stories and even fewer believe them.

So, what happened? We’re going to skip past the boring stuff and get straight into why this village could have haunted activity. In 1839, 7 years after Grass Lake became a settlement, the Federal Government removed the original settlers and Native Americans to Iowa. Now you can imagine how angry and upset these people were to be kicked out of the place they called home. This would be the first of Michigan’s official state history to showcase just how awful some of these white colonizers were. Of course, theres no documented history on if any Native Americans were killed during the removal process, but we can assume there was a lot of blood shed because of this. During this time, the underground railroad was being started in Detroit, about an hour East of Grass Lake. The underground railroad passed right through Grass Lake, mostly staying along what is now Michigan Ave. Fun fact, I had a friend in grade school that lived in a house that still had remnants of the underground railroad being within the house.

Let's take a second to pause, and talk about the old houses of Grass Lake. While Michigan Ave certainly showcases a majority of the old houses and other buildings Grass Lake has to offer, it does miss a few. Starting off sweet, a lot of the houses on Michigan Ave. were built by the men that later went off to fight in the countless battles and wars our country was going through and with that came Widow’s Peak. A room at the top of the attic with windows on all sides so the soldiers wives would know if they were becoming a widow or not. At this time the trees were being harvested so the land was quite bare and they could see for miles. These houses would be seen all over the country for years to come. Okay so that wasn't so sweet and neither is this next house. The Sarossy House is known for it's spooky stories, to those that believe, believe hard and those that don't, dare to go into the house. This house was built sometime in the 1900s on top of a hill, next to Sarossy road, the house itself sits on Bohne road. This house is accompanied by a barn and a small shed, the barn is where it gets spooky. Rumor has it that back in the 70s or 80s twin girls lived in the house with their parents, these girls were in high school and were the outcasts of the school. They were bullied with no help from anyone else and eventually, they broke. They were found hanging in the barn by their father who called the police and they cut them down. Up until 2013-2014, there were still two ropes hanging by a support beam. No one knows if they are original, since the barn was actually a very sound building with no issues so it was hard to tell what kind of age that would do to some ropes. Since 2001 the house was in and out of the market being sold by families that seemed to just move in. After a while someone bought it and just let it sit. The house was vandalized countless times but that didn't stop young-goers from entering into the house and barn to get a fright. Of those that went, they were more than frightened by being touched by things that aren't there, or seeing people that aren't alive anymore. It's been said that when you go into the barn, sometimes you can see the girls hanging as if it just happened, their limp bodies swaying from the momentum. In the house, no one knows if it's the girls or something acting like the girls. Stories have been told that people have contacted demons or other worldly entities within the broken walls of this house, and most people believe it. Maybe it's the house being run down that makes it feel…absurdly dark or maybe it's something inside that makes it dark. With it being abandoned for so long, pentagrams and other symbols started to show up along the property, where these here for protection and warding or to attract and open up portals so anything and everything can come to this place? In 2021, the new homeowners had started their renovations and maybe they’ll be the longest running homeowners the house has seen in decades.

1835 was the year that Michigan decided that slaves were their own people and they needed to be freed at once. There were some people who were not happy about this in the slightest. On Washburn Road in Washtenaw County there is a plot of land, shrunken down by farm land surrounding it. What's left of this land is 4 pillars along with a few headstones surrounded by dense woods in this small plot of land. The headstones have been defaced and most of them removed from the site, of those that are left, mother nature has taken back her precious stones leaving a bare, clean face. There is little to no history of the family that once lived here back in the 1800s, the most you can find is that the land now is haunted. Haunted by what? It’s hard to know for sure but it's not far off to assume there are human remains buried deep within the hills that this once Pink Palace, a Victorian home, stood on. The land this palace overlooked spanned miles and miles in all directions. It is believed that the original homeowners were also Southern bred slave owners meaning they did not want to set their slaves free and treated them poorly. With all of the negative energy this land holds, it is believed that the slaves that once cared for this land, were murdered on top of it and buried deep within the ground so they’d never be found. In the 1990s into the 2010s, the house that still stood was constantly broken into and used by Satanic cults to practice their worship while other people went to check out the family cemetery that's in the front. With how many people have visited and left feeling watched and scared, there is little to no information on this property and its history. Some say to never visit this site because whatever is there is evil and will follow you out, others have said they saw this Pink Palace and inside saw a pair of red eyes staring back at them. This is one of the few cases where we will find out when we join them on the other side.

So, a town that's been here since the 1830s and very little reported on ‘strange’ things. Does this mean the town has somehow dodged the twisted and dark? Or have all reports, if any, have been destroyed? Do you believe that in the 192 some odd years that Grass Lake has been established there hasnt even been as much as a fire let alone murders, disapperences, or even satanic cults? Grass Lake is small, the township today is 48 square miles with mostly farm land and a lake that takes up over 300 acres, how has there not been anything odd going on? No corruption during its days of establishment? No drownings in the lake? Since the 1970s theres been murders, drownings, accidents, and fires that have been reported but it's almost like before the 70s Grass Lake didn't exist. In my lifetime, more things have been reported but not investigated like the house fire on Bohne Road in 2013 where an abandoned house caught fire in the early morning in September. September isn't an odd month for things to catch on fire with the land drying out getting prepared for winter but this house was intentionally set on fire by someone, but who? No one knows still to this day and the house fire is still a mystery. A mystery that was passed off by what most thought was just a teenager, but why would a teenager, at around 5-6am on a school day, set a house on fire? Teenagers can do and be lots of things but an early raiser? On a school day? Starting a fire on a house that's been abandoned and hidden by mother nature? Why this went uninvestigated will always be a wonder on my mind.

While this town is full of its own mysteries, we may never know the full extent of what has happened here. With the popular rumors we can hope that more gets uncovered and more people start to dig into the little town's history. Until then, it's us and whatever else is out there, lurking and watching all of us.