The Native and Métis Children Haunting the Mission House at Mackinac Island

Sent away from their parents and culture, native american and métis children were taught how to be a christian american at the Mission House on Mackinac Island. What happened there? And where do the ghost stories come from?

In the glistening waters of Lake Huron between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, Mackinac Island is a serene retreat known for its picturesque beauty, historic charm, and an eerie reputation for the supernatural. In fact, Mackinac Island was called the most haunted town in America in 2021, with many stories having been covered over the years. And with only a full time population of around 583 people, the ghosts perhaps even outnumber the living.

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With no cars allowed and transportation limited to bicycles and horse-drawn carriages, the island offers a unique step back in time. Some come to enjoy the quiet seaside and enjoy the famous fudge. The island has become a perfect summer destination for Americans, but after the tourists leave in the fall, the fog from the Straits comes rolling in, and the leaves turn color, the ghost of the island remains to haunt it.

Sent away from their parents and culture, native american and métis children were taught how to be a christian american at the Mission House on Mackinac Island. What happened there? And where do the ghost stories come from? — **Mission House:** In 1825, this mission house was built at the site by a building crew led by Martin Heydenburk, a fellow missionary who was a teacher and carpenter. Today the Mission House is believed to be haunted by the indigenous children who were sent to school here. //Source: Wikimedia

A Brief History of Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island’s history stretches back thousands of years, with indigenous peoples such as the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Huron considering it a sacred place long before European settlers arrived. The island’s name itself, derived from the Ojibwe word “Michilimackinac,” means “big turtle,” referring to the island’s shape when viewed from above.

Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Mackinac Island

The French established a fur trading post here in the 17th century, and the island later became a strategic military outpost during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. In the late 19th century, it became more of a summer colony and a tourist destination that it still is.

The Haunting of the Mission House

Today the Mission House is housing the Mackinac Island State Park employees. It was also used as a hotel from 1847 until the great depression. Then, it used to belong to The Moral Re-Alignment movement, a religious group in the early 1940s up until the 1950s. Some would perhaps call it a cult even, as they were trying to mold the morality of the world to their own liking.

They built several buildings around Mission Point, a theater, library and even a private liberal arts college had a short lived stint. The college building, now where the Mission Point Resort is, with one of the island’s most famous ghost stories. So is the theater which is the building right next to the Mission House as well.

But the Mission House has a much longer story than that. Before any European set foot on the island, Mackinac Island was considered a holy place for the local natives where the Great Spirit resided. Ever since the French Jesuit missionaries came here in the 1600s, it was much used by missionaries.

The Mission House was built in 1825 by the Christian missionaries William and Amanda Ferry. William and Amanda Ferry and their associates came to Mackinac Island to transform the spiritual and temporal lives of people and especially the “heathen”. They believed that the Holy Spirit had called them to God’s service, and that God had directed them to Mackinac.

The Mission House was originally a boarding school for over 150 native American and Metis children per year. Here they were to learn English, crafts, liberal arts, about Christianity and other standards and ways of life based on New England and the American east coast way of life. The European one that is.

The background for these types of boarding schools was to assimilate the children into European society and culture, stripping them for their Indigenous identity and making them “good little christians.” A popular motto for these types of schools was “Kill the Indian, save the man.”

How was this type of school? Many of these types of schools for native children were awful, was this any different? According to some historians, it was an early version of this and the parents of the native children sent them there willingly and that they all lived together peacefully and in a friendly companionship. These type of schools often prohibited speaking their native tongue, but according to records Mission House translated the material into their language and trained them to be interpreters for

At least 16 deaths were counted of the children according to a guide who used to live in the Mission House. They were said to die mostly due to illnesses like tuberculosis and typhoid. Although reports done on these types of schools claim there were no deceased students at Mackinac Mission School. The school operated after their own accounts, successfully for a decade. But the deportation of the tribes west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s, made it difficult for them to recruit more students.

The official reason for William Ferry’s resignation in 1834 and them moving away was a nervous breakdown. But was this true? A reverend called Peter Doughtery investigated and spoke to a woman called Jane Schoolcraft about his treatment of the students. He had this to say about school:

“If Jane Schoolcraft’s account is correct, Ferry’s abuse of young girls and his rigid disciplinary code for boys undoubtedly united the entire native community, regardless of gender, against the mission.”
– From Countering Colonization, Native American Women and Great Lakes Missions, 1630-1900, by Carol Devens.

These schools have never really had a formal investigation by the federal government until 2022. It concluded that they didn’t know much about what went on in the school. Most schools they did investigate though, had burial sites next to them where thousands of indigenous children were buried.

The Children Haunting the Mission House

What is the truth is difficult to say. Keeping records was more difficult back then, and especially the case of these types of Mission Schools have been shrouded in secrecy, even to this day. According to legend, it is said that the ghosts of these children sent to these schools only to die of some type of illness, are still haunting to this day.

They were said to have sent the infected children to be quarantined in the cellar under the Mission House and few made it out.

They are mostly said to roam on the first and second floor as the third one wasn’t built until 1845 when they turned the Mission House into a hotel. During the night they are said to play, child voices laughing and their steps hurrying over the floor. The sound of a ball being tossed as well as knocking over stuff in the hallway makes their presence known.