The History Behind “The House On Church Street”

Many years ago, my dad purchased an old house that was estimated to be about 100 years old. While digging underneath the house in preparation to level it with jacks, he stumbled upon some bones. After a little thought and some dismay, he determined that the bones appeared to be in human form. He was very upset and dumbfounded by this discovery. Still in shock and disbelief, he turned the bones over to an unknown official to be tested. Later, he was told that the bones had been from the body of a Native American and that there could be more bones under the house. They believed that my dad may have discovered a Native American burial ground. At that time no one seemed concerned, as Michigan was known to have Native American burial sites state-wide. My dad did not wish to disturb the burial ground any more than he already had. He placed the bones back under the house and buried them in the same spot he had found them. He did not continue to investigate, hoping he had not disturbed any Spirits that were at rest or protecting the burial ground. It was a well known fact that many burial grounds in the state of Michigan were thought to have had curses placed on them by the Native Americans years ago for protection against intruders. While researching for my book years later, I searched for a reason for the horrifying intensity of my encounter with the supernatural. I began to collect as much data as I could find. At the local area Pinconning Library, I discovered an interesting book about the area’s Native American villages. The Arenac County historian at the time was Calvin Ennes, the author of the document titled History of Arenac County, Michigan. The document is a 200-year genealogy of the Arenac County glossary of several Native Americans. This placed several tribes somewhere within the towns of Sterling and Augres andthe city of Standish over many hundred years, although their exact location was unknown. The water shoreline at that time would have brought some of their villages into the city of Standish today.

In my research I found in a nearby library the findings of a Native American Indian camp that was located in the City Of Standish then. Had an unknown tribe Shaman among them, this is a term for an American Indian holy man, basically a spiritualist (medium), who would communicate with the spirit world for guidance. They believed that there were good and evil spirits dwelling in the spiritual realm.This shaman was known to intercede with the spirits called “The False Faces” (they would carve an image of a distorted face from a living tree, cut a long strand of hair from the tail of a horse, and attach It to the back of the faces). They would dance around the sacred fire while wearing these wooden faces as masks to summon these spirits to come forth. When these distorted bodiless beings appeared, they would be sent to haunt and terrorize the enemy villages throughout the surrounding areas of Arenac County if they or their family members felt threatened and of course anyone else who would get in their way. Something was un-earthed on the property of, ” The House On Church Street “