Michigan's Most Haunted Bridges- Old Stronach Bridge in Manistee #hauntedbridges



The name "Manistee" is thought to be an Ottawa word. It could be a derivation of ministigweyaa which means "river with islands at its mouth." Or it could be a version of an Ojibwa term that meant "spirit of the woods."

In 1830 the village of Manistee was one of about 15 Ottawa (Odawa) villages along the shore of Lake Michigan. Much of Manistee was designated as an Odawa Reservation from 1836-1848.

Stronach is a small town in Manistee County. It was originally settled as Paggeotville then renamed in 1841 when John & Adam Stronach built a sawmill on Manistee Lake and another on the Manistee River.

In 1849 the Native reservation on the land was dismantled and the land was given to white settlers.

On October 8, 1871, a fire swept through the town, decimating over half of the city.

Legend says that an entire family burned to death in a house near the Old Stronach Bridge: mom, dad, and two children.

People often see apparitions of people on the bridge including two children. They also hear splashes in the water and children laughing. The bridge and the water are thought to have been a happy playground of the children who were killed in the fire.



The Old Stronach Cemetery is small but scary cemetery right down the road from the bridge. 



Nearby on Maple Street in Manistee is the Ramsdell Theatre that is plagued with electrical disturbances that many attributes to ghosts, possibly to the ghost of Mr. Ramsdell himself who has been spotted roaming about the old theatre with an unknown ghostly gal.  The ghost of a little girl has been spotted in the basement.

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