Halloween Boo! Property: Eloise Mental Asylum and All the Ghosts for $1.5M

WAYNE COUNTY, MI — Attention, ghost hunters: If you’re jonesing to get into the Halloween spirit and star in your own real-life ghost story, then you’re going to need to find a ghost. Pronto. So, where do Detroit ghosts live? For many, home scary home is Eloise Hospital in Wayne County.

It’s a former hospital/mental asylum, and the mostly abandoned 50-acre joint is crawling with ghosts. Notice the absence of the word “allegedly.” The place is a certifiable Michigan ghost hot spot. Scores of paranormal investigators have analyzed the building. Their findings: lots of beeps and blurs, as in beeping electromagnetic field meters and blurry figures in photographs.

Get into the ghostbuster spirit and check out the videos yourself. We’ve posted one at the end of this story.

Visitors of the property have spoken of hearing inexplicable screams, roars and moaning (probably just the ghosts reacting to the latest presidential race updates). Other people have reportedly “seen” and “felt” ghosts. What’s creepier — going eyeball to eyeball with a ghost or feeling one that just gave you a high-five? No, thank you!

Now, Eloise wasn’t always creepy.

It was built in 1839 and originally served as the Wayne County Poorhouse (that’s exactly what it sounds like — a safehouse for way-back-when Detroiters down on their luck) but rapidly grew into a bustling complex with its own police station, fire station, farm, bakery, hospital, asylum and even railroad.

By the 1920s, Eloise housed more than 10,000 tuberculosis patients and mental patients, many of whom frequently underwent electroshock and insulin shock therapy. Ow. This is most likely when Eloise transitioned from mini town to ghost town. It’s all part of the folklore surrounding Eloise.

After the Great Depression, the once thriving compound’s population dropped amid allegations of violence, poor conditions and misconduct (see: electroshock therapy). The asylum began closing down in 1977 and closed permanently in 1984. Today, the property is mostly abandoned — except for the legendary ghosts of course.

If you want to see/feel the ghosts live and in-person, put your money where your mouth is. The property could be yours for $1.5 million. That includes all the ghosts, 150,000 square feet of building space and a parking lot that can fit 100 cars, according to a listing by Mike Deighnan of O’Keefe and Associates.

We’ll see you at the haunted housewarming party. Bring your video camera.

Photo and video via YouTube