Overview
As Halloween approaches, historic sites associated with illness, death and mourning are drawing visitors interested in paranormal investigation rather than traditional haunted-house attractions. A recent report by ParaHouse Magazine highlights overnight events at Eloise Asylum in Westland, Michigan, and Mortuary Manor in Toledo, Ohio, where organizers invite the public to explore preserved buildings after dark and assess reported activity for themselves.
The locations are not abandoned sets built for seasonal entertainment. Both have been adapted for public access while retaining significant elements of their original identities. Organizers present the experiences as a combination of historical exploration, structured ghost hunting and overnight tourism—an approach that reflects the growing popularity of paranormal events at former hospitals, prisons, hotels and funeral facilities.
Activity Reported at Eloise Asylum
Eloise Asylum occupies the remaining Kay Beard Building of the former Eloise psychiatric hospital complex. After nightfall, Michighost Paranormal leads visitors through the upper floors, including rooms once used for hydrotherapy. According to the ParaHouse report, investigators and guests have described sensations of being touched or grabbed, as well as hearing whistles in the building.
Participants also report unusual readings from electromagnetic field, or EMF, meters. These devices are commonly used by paranormal investigators to detect changes in electromagnetic fields, although fluctuations can have ordinary environmental or electrical causes and are not, by themselves, proof of supernatural activity.
Lexi Carter, a lead makeup artist and scare actor who attended an investigation, described watching the meters register activity as “wild… This is real. This is so cool.” Her comments reflect the excitement of participants, but the reported experiences remain anecdotal. No independent scientific evidence confirming a haunting at the site is presented in the source material.
Mortuary Manor Opens a Former Funeral Home
Approximately 50 miles south of Eloise, the former Urbanski Funeral Home in Toledo has been reopened as Mortuary Manor, a 60,000-square-foot museum and event venue. The facility preserves its embalming rooms, autopsy areas and a basement morgue slab, features that have become focal points for visitors and paranormal groups.
Operations manager Cory Leibenguth told ParaHouse that the site combines modern amenities—including heat, Wi-Fi and indoor plumbing—with the atmosphere and layout of the original funeral home. Investigators have reportedly documented a casket elevator moving without an apparent operator, equipment switching on by itself and voices that witnesses describe as disembodied. As with the reports from Eloise, these accounts are presented as experiences and claims rather than verified evidence of paranormal causes.
Mortuary Manor is also expanding beyond investigations. The venue plans to host its first wedding in November, scheduled for Friday the 13th, and offers overnight accommodation in a five-room suite. The arrangement gives guests an opportunity to spend extended periods inside the building while maintaining access to basic comforts.
History, Tourism and Responsible Investigation
The appeal of these sites lies partly in their preserved histories. Former hospitals and funeral homes evoke powerful questions about care, death and the people who passed through them—subjects that can be treated either as entertainment or with a greater measure of respect. Public investigations allow visitors to engage with those environments, but responsible operators and guests must also consider building safety, privacy, historical accuracy and the dignity of former patients and families.
For believers, unusual sounds, sensations and instrument readings may suggest that something remains in these spaces. Skeptics may attribute the same experiences to architecture, aging electrical systems, expectation, suggestion or the effects of darkness and fatigue. Neither location’s reported activity constitutes established proof of ghosts, but the events offer participants a structured way to explore the claims and form their own conclusions. As Halloween-season programming continues, Eloise Asylum and Mortuary Manor demonstrate how historic preservation and paranormal tourism increasingly intersect.
