Henderson Castle

A Queen Anne-style castle built in 1895 by Frank Henderson, president of the Henderson-Ames Company which supplied military uniforms. The castle sits on a hill directly across from Kalamazoo's largest cemetery. Now a bed and breakfast.

Henderson Castle was built in 1895 after seven years of construction at a cost of $72,000 by Frank Henderson, one of the wealthiest men in Michigan. Henderson was the owner and president of the Henderson-Ames Company, which specialized in supplying uniforms to the United States Army and producing regalia for various secret societies and fraternal organizations. The Queen Anne-style castle overlooking the Kalamazoo River was a testament to Henderson's fortune, but he would enjoy it for only four years. Frank Henderson died in 1899, and his wife Mary remained at the castle until her own death in 1907.

According to the Castle Guardian and numerous visitors over the decades, Frank Henderson never truly left the property he spent seven years building. His spirit is believed to remain in the castle, along with the ghost of Mary Henderson, the spirit of Clare Burleigh, a Spanish-American War veteran who served with the Henderson family's son, the apparition of a little girl, and even a phantom dog. The castle appears to host a small community of the dead.

Many who have frequented the property have reported being tapped on the shoulder by invisible hands and seeing apparitions dressed in clothing from another era moving through the rooms. Mary Henderson is the most frequently sighted ghost, with her figure spotted floating through the Victorian Room, passing through the home's many corridors, and lingering on the main staircase. Reports of a misty, woman-like apparition on the stairs and strange breezes sweeping through when no windows are open are among the most common Mary sightings. Doors and cabinets throughout the castle open by themselves, and strange markings appear along a crossbeam in the building, reappearing persistently even after multiple renovations to remove them.

Whispers are heard in empty rooms, and guests at the bed and breakfast have reported being touched by an unseen figure while sleeping. The current owner, Master French Chef Francois Moyet, who purchased the castle in 2011, has continued its operation as a bed and breakfast and has embraced its haunted reputation. Henderson Castle offers Haunted History Dinners and paranormal events, and Fox17 West Michigan has featured the castle as one of Michigan's most haunted sites. Ghost Poppy, a paranormal documentation project, listed Henderson Castle as their 100th investigated location. For visitors who spend the night, the question is not whether they will share the castle with its ghosts, but which of the Henderson household will make themselves known.