By Logan Fairchild
Any native Michigander who loves the spooky has probably heard of the Bruce Mansion. Thanks to the Detroit Paranormal Expedition group (DPE), we could spend a few hours inside this historic Victorian house.
The mansion was built in 1876 by Scottish immigrant John G. Bruce in Brown City, Mich. It mysteriously survived a fire that destroyed the entire town in 1881. Cynthia Smith purchased the mansion before passing away inside in the early 1900s.
In the 1920s, John Walker moved in with his wife. After his wife left him in 1925, he fell on hard times. Walker was found dead in the home with no official cause of death a year later. Legend has it he hanged himself in the tower, but we have no objective evidence.
Around this time, the mansion started hosting local funerals. Hosting funerals in your home was typical in that time period. Given that Bruce Mansion was the biggest, most beautiful house in Brown City, it became the hotspot.
The mansion has been said to be haunted by all these deaths surrounding it.
Guests have heard growls in the basement and other disembodied voices and some have witnessed a full human apparition. There have also been stories of a prankster spirit who likes to try and barge in on men in the restroom, with reports of the door knob jiggling. The ghost of a cat can also be seen on the first floor sometimes.
This has caused many ghost hunters to come through seeking paranormal answers.
In 2019, however, new owners moved in intending to make it a private family residence, thereby suspending all tours and ghost hunts that formerly took place inside. However, thanks to DPE, a small group of 12 people got in for a ghost hunt on Sept. 23, 2022, from midnight to 2 a.m.
The house is three stories, almost four if you count the cellar. While the two main floors are gorgeous with Victorian architecture, the cellar is a dark, dirt-floored, cramped quarters with bricks and stones everywhere kind of place. An old coal storage room sits in the corner, and on the opposite side is a large cement cistern used for water collection.
Access to the mansion’s cupola tower in the attic was available, which was probably the most iconic thing about the mansion. When we arrived at the top, we were doused in red lighting that shone through the tower.
The rest of the attic, and the house, were pitch black. The main level and the second floor are attached by a grand mahogany staircase that is rather ominous when looking down it in the dark.
We only visited and hunted in the few rooms with the biggest hotspots, but guests were allowed and encouraged to roam the level we were on. I spent a good portion of my time wandering the dark halls, snapping photos with my flash just to see where I was going.
And yes, I did get frightened when my flash revealed a fake skeleton hung up in a closet; in the room that also contained an Ouija board. The house had other creepy dolls and such lying around, which could only be noticed when you flashed a light on them.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get much actual ghost evidence. A few possible spikes on the EMF and REM pod, and some voices were coming through the spirit box, but nothing exciting.
At one point, I did think I caught an orb on camera. However, it turned out to be a paper plate reading “DO NOT ENTER” taped to a door across the room.
Nonetheless, it was a great experience getting to roam this historic house. I may not have encountered any damning evidence of the paranormal, but I certainly felt the fear all ghost hunters do when faced with the pitch-black rooms and scary stories of ghost hunters’ past.
Maybe the Bruce Mansion will open its doors again for a whole new generation of ghost hunters in the future. And maybe by then, there will be a new slew of ghost stories.
