Pere Cheney, Michigan

Pere Cheney, also called Cheney and Center Plains,[2] was a village located in Crawford County, Michigan in the late 19th century. It is located in Beaver Creek Township and was once a small lumbering town.[3] Pere Cheney was the first community in Crawford County, Michigan and was established by lumberjacks who trailed the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad north headed for Mackinaw City.[4] Established in 1874 around the sawmill of George M. Cheney,[5] it served as the temporary county seat when Crawford County was officially organized in 1879,[2][6] though it soon lost this distinction to the more heavily populated town of Grayling.[4] It had a station on the Michigan Central Railroad called the Cheney depot, and a post office.[5] The post office closed in 1912,[5] and the village was abandoned in the early Twentieth century. It has since taken on the reputation of a ghost town.[4][5]

Pere Cheney, Michigan
Ghost town and former village
Pere Cheney Location in the state of Michigan
Coordinates: 44°34′39″N 84°38′16″W
Country	United States
State	Michigan
County	Crawford
Township	Beaver Creek
Elevation	1,201 ft (366 m)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code(s)	48653 (Roscommon)
Area code(s)	989
GNIS feature ID	1617781[1]

Pere Cheney was established in 1873, as founder George Cheney received a land grant from the Michigan Central Railroad company to establish a stop along the railroad. A general store was established along with sawmills, carpenters, a doctor, hotel with a telegraph service and a post office. In the mid-1870s, the population was approximately 1,500 people. In 1893, diphtheria spread through the town, wiping out a great deal of the town's population. Diphtheria recurred in 1897, by 1901 the town's population fell to only 25 people and in 1917 there were only 18 people left in this once booming town. At that time, the land was sold off in a public auction and the town was declared a ghost town.

There are many stories surrounding the ghost town of Pere Cheney as well as the cemetery itself. Ghosts, witches, strange figures, glowing orbs, lights in the trees, and more. People have said to have heard children laughing while there and returning to their cars having handprints on them.[7] Some say that Pere Cheney was a cursed town from the start, as it was built on Native American land.[8] The cemetery is down a two track road and runs along some railroad tracks, hidden in the woods. There is no sign at the cemetery, and no signs indicating that it exists. A little farther north is the town of Pere Cheney, which is to be considered a Ghost Town. At least 90 people were buried in the Pere Cheney Cemetery, but, due to vandalism, very few headstones remain.[9] Some sort of disease; cholera, or diphtheria was said to have wiped out the entire town in the early 20th century. According to local legends, a witch cursed the village of Pere Cheney after being banished to the woods, hence the reasoning behind the mass outbreaks of disease in the area.[10] The only thing that grows in the town is a green mossy grass. And according to some accounts, the entire town is haunted. Most of the information about Pere Cheney states that people from nearby towns had tried to burn the town down to stop the disease from reaching them, but there is no information to support it.[8] The disease came twice two years apart. The remaining people dragged their belongings to what we know now as Grayling. The cemetery has been vandalized and the town is covered with a strange mossy grass and no other vegetation grows.

The cemetery is owned by Beaver Creek Township, Michigan and is maintained by the township.[11]

In more recent news about Pere Cheney, on Friday, October 16, 2009 a group of teens who had gathered at the Pere Cheney Cemetery were confronted by a white male in his 50s. The man brandished and fired a shotgun at the teens. "We have had a ton of complaints over the years," said Crawford County Sheriff Kirk Wakefield, who encouraged people to stay out of the cemetery. "There's always something going in the Pere Cheney Cemetery." [12]

If you were to visit Pere Cheney now it is quite difficult to find the cemetery. It is in the middle of the woods on a two track road, so unless you have a truck or bigger car it is difficult to reach without getting stuck. In March 2015, it was announced that there is plans to restore the cemetery to its former glory.[13] To this day, Pere Cheney remains Number 2 on the Top 10 Witch Graves in the Midwest, topped only by Bloody Mary of Indiana.[14]