The local High School paper had an article in it this week about Hillcrest Sanitorium, in Howell Michigan. This sanitorium previously housed patients with TB in the early 1900s and later was turned into an insane asylum in the 1970s. It has since been torn down leaving just the remains of the building. Intact are a few run down buildings, tunnels, and the basement of the sanitorium. It is rummored to be haunted by the ghosts of many children-People see lights, apparations of children, and hear screaming at night. Recently it has became a hang out for a lot of local kids who have spray painted graffiti along the walls. The attached article contains two student's accounts of visiting the old sanitorium. Though the article doesn't really prove much about it being haunted, it gives a lot of history regarding the sanitorium and photographs of the grounds. I also heard they are planning to build houses on top of this area, so it may not be around much longer.

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If you want an enlarged view of the article (since I had to resize it to upload and it's harder to read) feel free to PM me

Hi Stephanie

Think I've heard about this one before?
Isnt this the place they featured on that (dire) Scariest Places On Earth?

Do you think it's the idea that the place should be haunted cos it looks like the archetypal 'Haunted House' - or do you think that the surroundings have absorbed the misery of the people who were sent there?

Hammy x x x

Personally I'm not sure if it's haunted or not, but I do think it's entirely possible. Howell has a ton of places that are known to be haunted and out of all them, Hillcrest has the eeriest history.

[FONT=Arial][quote=Stephanie,May 28 2005, 02:24 PM]
Hi Stephanie,
Well lets just say at first sight the sanitarium is kinda scary but it really isnt bad. I havent seen anything strange there before and I have been there a lot! My brothers and i enjoy looking around the basement and once we even got some watre proof pants (like the ones you use for fly fishing) to go look in the tunel full of water. People have destroyed the place which is sad because it kind of takes away from it. Lets just say it smeels bad in there like well.... someone died. However i do not kno much abotu it just what it is and what it was used for but I was wondering if you knew how to find stories about it. I have become obessed with it now that my brother;s dragged me there and that my grandma had a cousin that actually lived there for a while then got over tb. But anyways if you get a chance it would be nice if you could email back to me. Yeah from time to time you think sometjing passed behind you but you cant really tell if it was something alive or just you.

Geez, remind me not to move there!

It’s quite a creepy scene…I mean I wouldn’t want to be inside of the place, cool find!

For shizzle.

It's pretty amazing what people used to do with the mentally infirm.
Yet another reason I'm glad I'm not crazy

There is nothing wrong with being Crazy!


The DRUGS they give us are GREAT!

Look at you bragging, Roger! If the drugs are so great, why don't you SHARE!?

*turns to the others* Roger's bogarting the drugs! GET HIM! *riot ensues*

man, i bet many people who move into the houses that are supposed to be built there won't even have a clue that it's supposedly hounted. i somehow feel sorry for them.

So yeah.... I first started going up to the old sanitorium like 10 years ago I think. The major buildings had been torn down years prior to that but as someone else stated, there are a couple small out-buildings left. A sub-division called something like Georgetown estates (not exactly sure of the name) was started sometime around 1999 or 2000 and I did hear that the first couple houses that were built there were vandalized by frequent Hillcrest visitors.

I can only think of a couple significant events that happened up there and they would not really be classified as a "haunting". When you enter on the paved road that is now the entrance to the sub-division, you will see a spot to pull off about a quarter mile up the road on the left. There used to be a paved road there that lead up to a parking lot on the top of a hill. My friends and I would always park up there on nights that we would go exploring but it was a rule that if you were out there and you saw any other cars drive up there we would go back to the lot and leave because of rumors about KKK gatherings up there. Well one night my friend and I went up there with our girlfriends at the time and parked in the usual parking lot. We then walked back down main road to the little building with the steps that go underground and were hanging out there. Shortly after we got there a smaller car with what sounded like a rusted out muffler drove down the main road in the direction of where we were parked. I then said okay it's time to get out of here. We all started walking back up the main road and when we got to the road that lead to the parking lot we heard REALLY LOUD gun shots. The girls really started freaking out and my friend and I were a little scared ourselves because this person(s) were like right next to our cars by the sounds of it. We started trying to make loud noises and shining our flashlights up the road to let whoever was up there know that we were there. All was quiet for a second and then you could clearly hear a gun being reloaded (I think it was a shotgun) and then more shots were fired off. This happened one more time and then you heard the car start up and door(s) shut and the car drove down the hill right past us and left. Obviously we were then quick to get to our cars and leave as well. The other occurance I was not a part of but I did read the article in the local Livingston newspaper sometime in 1999 I think. The State Police were dispatched up to the old Hillcrest sight due to a call on a suspicious vehicle. Upon arrival the police officer approached a truck that contained a male in the driver seat and a female in the passenger seat. The male pulled a gun from under his seat and fired 2 shots I think. Both bullets did not actually hit the officer but were so close that they burned him. The truck then sped off and I don't remember if they were apprehended (sp). I have posted a link to a site that has pictures of the really large Hillcrest buildings. The rest of the site has some really extensive information on the Northvillle tunnels with maps, pics and videos.....very cool stuff indeed so check it out.

http://www.northville-tunnels.com/other/howell/index.htm

http://northville-tunnels.com/

It is very creepy, but at the same time, a place being creepy sure can make the mind play some strange tricks. If it were me, and it if is not private property, and it is safe, I would get some friends together and go try to snap some shots, set up a tape recorder, etc. But please, if the place is unsafe or illegal, dont let me give you any ideas!

Well I don't think they should build there........There is a good chance 'freaky' things might happen. Though just because it is a certain type of building doesn't mean it will be haunted.

yeah it looks pretty scary I wouldn't go there alone?

Nice article!!
thanks for posting it!!!

Yeah, even though a sub-division has been started up there I would still never go there alone. The last time I went up there was about 7 months ago. I was at a friend's apartment that is off Sanitorium rd. which is the road before the entrance to the sub. We were all drunk and I started telling the stories of what went on in the past up there and we decided to walk to the little building with the stairs. Being full of liquid courage we wondered around without any care in the world and did not experience any thing out of the ordinary if I remember correctly

i went here last night it was pretty cool and pretty scary, i am a christian so i wasn't to worried about dying, but what is their is a building with a incinerator which is probebly the scaryiest part you can go down to where the incinerator actuley is. it is like 30 feet down this ladder it is so dark and scary the worst part is our flsahlight stoped working while we were down there so that was pretty scary but we evently got it to work again. there is lots of grafetti, some of which looked like from old patiants, i took some pictures but i took them with my phone so they didn't turn out very well, i would not recomend going there though lots of kids do drugs their i saw alot of needles, we went with two girls who said they heard screams coming from the woods by their at first they thouht it was a dog then as they got closer they realised it was screaming so they ran and thats all that happened, there is also some stairs you can go down to get to a basment next to the incinerator but it is filled with water and garbage and stuff.

If you see alot of needles then the ghost is probably someone who OD'd.. BTW, if you get stuck with one of those needles you'll be a ghost as well!.........B

... well that's good to hear

All I can say is...wow. What an excellent documentation of these historic buildings. The Georgian architecture of the first link is superb. It was criminal to tear these buildings down. We have the same thing here in Kansas. The government doesn't like to leave these artifacts standing. They look on monuments to the past as "evidence". lol

Don't knock it 'til you've tried it .

A shame some professional investigations can't take place before the whole area is taken over by houses.

i just recently visited hillcrest during the day and didnt really find anything that interested me. I was somewhat dispointed, hopeing to find something frightning. im not giving up yet, and im still trying to find more info about the place, i just wish there was more picutres or information describing what happend. If anyone can help me with where the actual locations are in hillcrest i would be very pleased....THANKS! linedriv16@yahoo.com

I saw an episode of Celebrity Paranormal Project on Vh1, (I know, it's all set up but it's still creepy!) They went to another Sanitorium - Waverly Hills in Kentucky. It was an old tuburculosis hospital. It was pretty scary.

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/celebrity_par...9/episode.jhtml

I know this is a realy old posting and you may never read this, but I feel I had to post this. I know Hilcrest intimatly. I have walked every inch of it since the ave been torn down and have found never found the legendary tunnels. I have seen signs of occultic ativity and of course the kids tagging things, but no haunting stuff. There is a strange aura about the place, even after having been there at night, I have not seen ghostly activity.
I also did reasearch into the place through the newspaper archives at the Brighton library. It was a TB sanitorium from about 1905 - 1962. It served some time as a school, but I never found anything that said that it housed the mentaly ill.
I look into many such places like this and explore them. I try not to listen to many of the rumors that abound about such places, but do historical research in addition to exploring them. Often I find that many of the legands are just simply stories.
The place is spooky though and I certainly would not want one of the houses that has been being built there for the last 10 years. Does leave one to wonder though why construction has been going on so long, and so few houses exist. Hope I didn't ruin your day too much.

Hello, I know it's been a while since anyone has replied on the Hillcrest Sanitorium but I know quite a lot about it. My mother lived there for several years growing up. My grandmother and grandfather worked there in the 60's. It did used to be a TB hospital in the early 1900's, but when they worked there it was a mental hospital. My grandpa worked in the laundry area, and then in maintence for quite a while. He actually knew (before he passed away) the tunnels like the back of his hand. He told me where the main entrance was, it sounds like what some have already described. I read somewhere they have been filled in, and he didn't think they are completely filled in, maybe just the entrances. I have heard several scarey stories about there, from the 1960's when it was a mental hospital (as well as the haunting stories now). My mother used to hear the children and other patients screaming at night. She lived in the big white house by the big tree on the left as you are coming up the hill. There are still remains of her sidewalk there. It has been over a year since I've been up there but the last I knew the houses weren't built on the left of the road (driving up) because that is where the hospital was. If you've ever seen old pictures of the grounds, you probably know which house I'm speaking of...it was right off the road and all you could see in the background was a huge monumental brick hospital. It is amazing to go up there after seeing those pictures! It's gone, like it never existed! She once told me of a time that the children from the hospital got out of their rooms (and the fence somehow) and they were in their house walking around. She was young and scared since she was just home w/her brother & sister...their parents were working. Well about 5 years ago my mom and i were in the area, it was about midnight, foggy, a full moon, you know the full effect. We decided to go up there and test the theory of the cell phone ringing. If you haven't heard that story a large group of guys (6 or more) went there one night to check it out, they claimed to have seen a young girl in a windowsill looking down at them, except there was no house there anymore. That part creeps me out because they described it as a house right by that large tree...that was my mom's house! Scarey! Their 2nd claim was that coming back out of there going down the hill by the pull off by the entrance to the tunnels all of their cell phones rang and when they answered nobody was there. We tested the theory. Of course we only had 1 cell phone and it didn't ring until we were pulling out of there, still scared us to death though. Then it was my sister who was home alone and freaked out. She didn't know we were going up there but about 2 minutes before she called she thought she heard us pull up and come up to the door to come in, but when she looked nobody was there. She said she tried to call us but we must not have had service a couple minutes ago. I find it amazing that something happened to her over 40 miles away that creeped her out to call us at that exact moment...if only verizon had better service in haunted areas! I've got several old newspaper articals from up there that my grandparents kept. It was like a little community up there! The pictures are amazing so I'll try to get them scanned on soon!

Wow Kimbo! First welcome to UM. That was really interesting reading all that information and to know it came from people who worked there. It was great that your mom went with you. She could point out so many different things that I bet very few people know. I think that is so strange that your sister had something happen and yet couldn't get in touch with you. Can only imagine you and your mom jumping out of your seats when the phone rang though! Thank you so much for sharing this. I really enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it too!!! I think it's great that you know all of this inside information. I would love to hear more of what you know and see whatever photo's you feel like posting. I've never heard of this place before now, but it sounds very intriguing.
I wish I were closer so I could visit it myself.

Hello, I'm glad I could share with you guys! I actually have been talking to my mom about this and she's going to get on here and read some of the stories too. She's contacting local papers and historians because she got back into it as much as I did once we started talking! Stay tuned, I'll see what she can add about Hillcrest!

Oh yeah, and to any of you who go up there...once your up on the hill down to your right there is a very large group of pine trees...planted by my great grandpa! Just a little interesting tid-bit.

Thanks for the welcome! I'm glad to share anything I know or have heard...I mentioned in another post my mom will be getting on here this afternoon so check it out, she might have some more interesting pieces of info!

Not sure how far away you live but it's definitely an interesting place. It's way cooler once you've seen pictures and can visualize what it was like, I'll do my best w/getting the pictures on here asap. Or you may be able to find some, somewhere online (if you do let me know cuz I haven't had any luck yet)

One more update...here is a great website I found with lots of pictures of the hospital, grounds, doctors, and patients from the 1930's. My mom's house wasn't built yet so there isn't a picture of that. Enjoy!

http://www.memoriallibrary.com/MI/Livingston/Sanatorium/

once there click on the first link after you read the article and you'll see all kinds of pictures!

Oh, it's only about 800 miles from me. LOL! But I would so love to visit. Thanks so much for the link!!!
This album from the site, was really interesting.
link for album
I can't wait to see what your mom has to say about it.
Thanks again!

Hello again, I just visited Hillcrest Sanitorium...and took a little walk with a couple friends. First of all we didn't have much time (lunch breaks) so we drove through and then on the way back down the hill before you reach the pond there is a building that remains. There is an OPEN stairway to go down there and there is a lot of graffitti. There is also an OPEN manhole (I put emphasis on that incase you might be brave enough to go in the dark. BE CAREFUL and a flash light is a MUST! Anyway, there isn't much besides junk in the actual building...but it's still creepy. We didn't go down the stairs but one of my friends went down the first couple steps and seen a door to the right that was open. Well we had to get going so we get back into the car and she notices these red welts on her arm. It looks as though somebody grabbed her, not kidding...I was amazed. We took a couple pictures with a camera phone but of course they aren't really clear. Probably nobody aside from us three will ever believe that but it happened. Other than that nothing out of the ordinary while we were there. The only other strange thing is that when I got back and looked up a satellite map...all three of us cannot find the building, stairwell, manhole or anything from where we JUST were. We can see where we parked, walked up there, and then it's just trees. We were in somewhat of a clearing and you'd think you could see it from above. We've yet to figure that out!

Update from my grandma (who worked at Hillcrest for over 20 years):
This is an FYI for those of you who have gone down the stairway into ground near the entrance of what used to be the sanatorium...some people have indicated they knew what the old building was used for...nobody had it right...that was not an incinerator, nor was it an electrical house, or a watch-tower. It was the waste station...yes, that meaning human feces and urine. I wouldn't go down there again if I were you...gross!

I am also from Michigan and have been on the grounds of Hillcrest. If you are from the area, you can find out more info at the Howell Library in the Bicentennial Book. There is history written on the Sanitorium and also pictures, one being of Nellie Lansing that worked in the main administration, if I remember correctly. Also, you can check out this link that has a couple pics. http://www.livgenmi.com/sanatorium.htm

hi there i live in howell and me and my brother have an obsession with all things paranormal. we actually visited hillcrest yesterday and i must say it was a very interesting place only about 15 minutes from where i live. i was taking pictures and i thought at first i didnt have anything but in the background of one of my pictures is a min in armor very intesresting.