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| Stockton Center by Ari Napolitano |
Stockton Center at Spring Grove is probably the most
haunted place I’ve been to in Flint.
I spend almost every Friday evening at Stockton
Center. I attend The Serenity House’s Holistic Healing workshops which include
Reiki, Aromatherapy, Acudetox, and Meditation on Friday nights. (First Fridays
are Aromatherapy at 6 followed by Acudetox at 7, Second Friday’s are Reiki at 6
followed by Meditation at 7:15, and the remaining Fridays are Reiki at 6PM)
I absolutely love the building. It is the perfect
combination of beauty and spooky. The original house is absolutely stunning
with all original hardwood floors, wood moldings and trim, gorgeous plaster
ceiling rosettes, and a beautiful staircase and banister.
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| Stockton Sideview by Ari Napolitano |
The hospital portion is less ornate and much more
utilitarian but it has its own charm.
I’ve never really been spooked by the place. Cautious
but not spooked. Whatever spirits reside within Stockton Center don’t emit any
negative energy that I can feel. One person I spoke with about Stockton doesn’t
like going into the hospital portion of the building. She’s a medium and says
the spirit energy there is too chaotic. They love to swarm around her, yell at
her, and just cause chaos.
Another loves the energy. She feels that there are
nurses that came back to Stockton to continue serving. Even in death they want
to be helpful. I wasn’t sure I believed that until one night during a Reiki
session.
On Friday May 31, the Reiki Master laid her hands
upon my legs…and suddenly there was a third hand touching me. No one else was
up and moving around the room. We were all laying down meditating on yoga mats
while the master moved around the room doing Reiki on each of us. After she
completed Reiki on me and moved on to the next person I could still feel a hand
upon me for several minutes afterward.
Later that same evening during meditation the
instructor did mini Reiki sessions on us while we meditated. When she laid
hands upon me I suddenly felt multiple hands on my arms and legs and one on my
chest. They remained on me for several minutes after she walked away.
This was the first time I “felt” anything out of the
ordinary at Stockton. I had been attending Holistic Healing Hour for months. I
told my best friend, who attends the healing hour with me, about the hands
during Reiki. She replied that she had felt hands remain on her during several
sessions even though the Reiki Master had walked away. Once she even felt the
Reiki Master still standing over her even though she knew she was on the other
side of the room.
It has made me wonder if the nurses attend the
Holistic Healing Hour and have decided to join in the healing. After all, Reiki
classes have been taught at Stockton Center, perhaps the nurses have picked up
new skills in their afterlife.
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| formal dining room and parlor |
Occasionally I hear noises in the building when I
know everyone alive is in the same room with me. One night during meditation I
heard heavy footsteps come down the stairs. I just ignored it and continued
meditating. Other nights I heard doors open and shut in the hospital wing.
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| formal dining room |
Sometimes when the events are over for the night we’ll
chat in the parking lot. Occasionally I’ll catch a glimpse of movement in an
upstairs window though I know the building is empty and the alarm was set when
we walked out. A friend said she always sees an old woman watching us from the
third floor window, perhaps one of the nuns. The woman doesn’t seem to approve
of us. Maybe she just wants us to leave because she has work to do, patients to
take care of.
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| parlor |
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| front parlor |
All of the people I spoke to who have worked in the building
have experienced something weird. From doors opening and shutting on their own,
to pressure on their body like someone is pushing them out of the way. One
often sees an elegant woman standing at the top of the staircase, very “lady of
the house” who watches over everything. She isn’t menacing, just watchful.
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| old medical table |
My Haunted Flint co-author, Joe, used to have an
office in the building. He’d be in there all alone at night and hear heavy
footsteps upstairs or boots stomping down the staircase. Sometimes he could
hear someone whistling.
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| museum area display |
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| old wheelchair for museum area |
A woman who has worked in the building, and who is
gifted, is often approached by the spirits of those who used to be patients in
the hospital and/or nursing home, spirits that are confused, childlike, and
sometimes chaotic. They like to swarm her, ask her questions and follow her
around. It is very overwhelming. After getting a haircut one spirit told her, “I
liked your hair better long.”
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| hospital hallway |
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| hospital hallway |
A female spirit wanders around the hospital area quietly
asking, “Do you know where the nurse is?”
Sometimes the vision of a man falling from the
balcony will play on a loop.
And a creepy male spirit can be glimpsed in the
hallway, just staring.
One person who has an office in the building said
she and her husband have occasionally felt like the spirits of Maria and Thomas
Stockton are within them. Perhaps they are the reincarnated souls of the Stockton’s
or maybe their spirits occasionally take them over so they can enjoy their home
in corporeal form once again.
The spookiness doesn’t scare me away, though. I
return every Friday.
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| front entrance hallway |
Learn more about Stockton House, the Stockton family, and their history in Haunted Flint.
The
award-winning movie, Alleged, was filmed at Stockton House and in several other
locations around Flint including Crossroads Village. The movie is centered on
the Scopes Monkey Trial that took place in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925.
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| This is in the basement at Stockton and was used in the movie |
Haunted Flint
Haunted America Series
Roxanne Rhoads and Joe Schipani
Publisher: The History Press
Release Date: September 2, 2019
ISBN-10: 1467143049
ISBN-13: 978-1467143042
Book Description:
Sinister Secrets in Flint’s History
Home to ancient burial grounds, unsolved murders, economic depression, and a water crisis, Flint emits an unholy energy rife with ghostly encounters.
Colonel Thomas Stockton’s ever vigilant ghost keeps a watchful eye over his family home at Spring Grove, where guests occasionally hear the thump of his heavy boots.
Restless spirits long separated from their graves lurk among the ancient stones in Avondale Cemetery.
Carriage maker W.A. Paterson’s spirit continuously wanders the halls of the Dryden Building, and something sinister and unnamed resides in a Knob Hill mansion waiting to prey on impressionable young men.
Join authors Roxanne Rhoads and Joe Schipani on a chilling tour of Flint’s most haunted locations.
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