No Safe Travels on the Most Haunted Road in Michigan

It's the time of year when everyone is ready for a ghost story — something to conjure goosebumps and inspire a macabre memento mori mentality.

The state of Michigan is home to many of its own ghost stories of hauntings and legends. But while some haunting cling to homes and cemeteries, this one may be too easy to stumble upon for the unaware traveler.

Of course, one wrong turn in the rural spaces of Michigan can see you head down a truly dark path, rife with a thrill and a hint of danger.

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It's only natural that Michigan would be home to a terrifyingly haunted road, being the birthplace of so much automotive innovation. A dead-end road southeast of Lansing in Ingham County holds a bizarre story of curses, death, fire and a disgruntled witch.

Seven Gables Road is a cast-off road from E. Dexter trail in Dansville, Michigan. There would be no reason to investigate the road beyond living on one of the few properties on its roughly 1,000-ft stretch.

Legend tells of a witch living in an old home on Seven Gables Road cursed the old, rusted gate at the end of the dead-end road. The incantation would see anyone foolish enough to jump the fence to meet a grizzly end, as the curse is sealed by a scream heard in the distance after crossing the threshold.

The witch herself fell victim to her own curse, jumping the fence in a rush to save a crying baby, and dying two months later.

A quarter-century later, a family moved into the witch's home. The father eventually went insane as he murdered his family, burned down the house, and killed himself.

There are many variations of the story, some pointing to the witch cursing the land rather than the gate, others with much more disturbing details of the murdered family.

Most of the legends stand to be nothing more than ghost stories, though the rusty old gate is there. But legends or not, those who visit as thrill-seekers often leave with unexplainable stories.

Unfortunately, Seven Gables Road is home to several true tales of murder and sadness, though unrelated to the stories and legends of hauntings. Nonetheless, it adds to the disturbing nature of the location.