The undertaking establishment of Valentine Geist was on Monroe Avenue--one of Detroit’s main business streets back in February 1887. It was located about six blocks from the old City Hall. Mr. Geist ran the best funeral home in the area—most of the calls were exclusively from the upper class citizens.
His offices and store rooms were in a two story brick building. Caskets and rough boxes were stored in the rear of the office and in the rooms above it. There was a spare room made up as a sleeping apartment. The hearses and four horses were kept under the same roof in the rear.
There were ghostly manifestations reported by several employees who had been frightened out of their minds. Several people heard the ghost stories at a funeral Geist directed, and the news spread until Geist’s had become sort of a Mecca during the daylight hours for those who believed in spirits. Few dared to brave the terror of the office after dark. A couple of prominent spiritualists decided to stay at the funeral home and study the matter.
Two of Geist’s sons and two employees slept in a room over the office. Three of them went out for the evening. When they returned later that night, they found the fourth young man hugging the stove in the office. He swore he had been unable to sleep upstairs and was frightened by strange noises. The other men laughed at his fears and retired. They had only been in bed for a few minutes when there was a terrible racket in an adjoining room which was stored with coffins. The men quickly ran to investigate, but found nothing. As soon as they returned to their room, the gas suddenly went out.
The young men were not seriously alarmed—nor were they the next night when the same scene was repeated. The noise sounded as if a score of ghosts were pounding away for dear life with drum sticks on the empty coffins. The search party found nothing upon entering the room, but as soon as they left the tumult began. When they returned to their room, the gas again went out before their eyes. The next day the gas company was notified, and a man was sent out to investigate. He found the pipes and meter in perfect order.
A few nights later the noises were first heard in one room, then in another, in the ceiling and under the floor. One of the Geist boys had to leave in the middle of the night and took up lodging in the Brunswick Hotel. Since that night neither he nor most of the employees would sleep in the haunted rooms. Only the two young ghost hunters stayed to ‘hold the fort’. The manifestation continued for several days, and then grew worse. The rapping seemed to be regular; and then doors started to open and close by unseen hands. The sound of bodies falling heavily upon the floor was often heard.
There was a watchman on the block where the undertaking house was located. About 1am in the morning his attention was attracted by a commotion in the stables. The men upstairs in the sleeping room were awakened. The horses were plunging, neighing, and raising such uproar that it could be heard blocks away. The watchmen and the young men ran to the stables. The four horses stood trembling and sweat poured from their bodies. As they searched the stable, the thunderous rapping was heard from the sleeping room.
The three hurried upstairs. As they entered the room, the phenomenon of the gas going out was again seen. When they turned on the lights, they found all the doors of the room wide open. A heavy piece of wood, apparently thrown by an unseen source, struck the watchman on the head. The three searched the entire building once more. Although they could hear the rapping here and there, the sound could never be caught, nor could the cause for it be discovered.
Weeks later, one of the men affirmed that shapes, not human, but of a character he could not describe, was often seen passing through the sleeping apartment. They began to believe the ghost haunting the building was Louis Dohmstreich—a wealthy brewer who was killed when thrown from his sleigh about the time the weird rapping and racket began. His body was taken to Buffalo and cremated there. Geist had charge of the funeral, and accompanied the body to the crematory, returning with the ashes. The folks in the area believed that the spirit of the dead man had come back to protest against his cremation and to make it exceedingly uncomfortable for the undertaker and his workers.
For several weeks the rapping sounds could be plainly heard from the street and large crowds came to gather in hopes of catching a glance of the noisy ghost!
The old Geist Brothers Funeral Home was located at 421 Monroe Street in Detroit. The Second Baptist Church and Shed Amin are near the haunted location.
For more information: Debe Branning nazanaza@aol.com
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