Historical Society of Saginaw County

The headquarters of the Historical Society of Saginaw County, preserving the history of the Saginaw Valley region. The building houses archives, exhibits, and collections spanning centuries of local history.

The Historical Society of Saginaw County operates out of the Castle Museum, a striking Romanesque Revival building constructed in 1898 as the Saginaw Post Office. With its turrets, arched windows, and heavy stone construction, the building resembles a medieval fortress more than a mail sorting facility, and it has served as a museum since the Historical Society acquired it in 1979. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places during the 1970s renovation, and its conversion from post office to museum appears to have awakened something that had been resting quietly within its walls.

The ghost of the Castle Museum is known as the Lady in Gray, a foggy apparition of a woman who manifests primarily in the basement and the archives room. Employees at the museum have reported encountering her apparition while working in these below-ground areas, describing a translucent female figure surrounded by a gray mist who appears briefly before fading from view. The Lady in Gray's identity is unknown. She may be connected to the building's years as a post office, or she may be tied to the land itself or to the collections housed within the museum.

Beyond the Lady in Gray, staff have documented other persistent phenomena. Lights throughout the building turn on and off by themselves, sometimes in patterns that seem almost purposeful, as though someone is moving through the building and illuminating rooms as they go. The disembodied sound of a woman's voice has been heard by employees working alone in the building after hours, soft and indistinct, as though speaking from another room.

Haunted Saginaw, a local paranormal documentation project, has featured the Castle Museum and investigated the building's paranormal claims. The museum's combination of its castle-like architecture, its basement archives filled with historical artifacts and documents, and its resident ghost has made it a focal point for paranormal interest in the Saginaw Valley. The Castle Museum does not actively promote itself as a haunted location, but the staff who work in the archives and basement spaces have learned to share their workspace with the Lady in Gray, who seems to be as dedicated to the building's contents as the archivists themselves.