If you visit Dunn’s Tomb in Lakeville Cemetery, will you see a pair of ghosts? Will handprints appear on your car?
Is the ghost of a Civil War soldier haunting Rob’s Place in downtown Oxford?
If you stop on Cry Baby Bridge in Metamora at night and shut off your car’s engine, can you hear the faint cries of an infant or a little girl’s pleas for help?
Filmmaker Jeff Jones is on a quest to learn more about the urban legends and haunted places of the Oxford area and record them all as part of a documentary his company, Midget Pickle Productions, will be making between January and April.
‘It’s good for the community to know that these stories do exist,? said the 1997 Oxford High School graduate. ‘Whether you’re eight or 80, there’s a good chance you’ve heard some of them.?
An urban legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories believed to be factual by those telling them. Like most folklore, urban legends are not necessarily false, but they’ve often been distorted, sensationalized or exaggerated over time.
‘Growing up and going to school here, you’d always hear urban legends about Blood Road, Cry Baby Bridge and Dunn’s Tomb,? said Jones, whose family moved here in 1982. ‘There’s a number of weird haunted areas around these parts.?
So far, Jones has collected various local urban legends from about 8-10 people ranging in age from 19 to close 70 years old.
He’s hoping to talk to many more people in order to get a good cross-section and see how the stories have changed from generation to generation. ‘I want to get every age group covered and get everyone’s accounts of what they think has happened,? Jones said.
It’s interesting to note the stories told by older folks are much gorier, in Jones? opinion, then those recounted by younger people, which tended to be ‘more creepy or eerie.?
Jones is also planning to read old newspapers and look through old police reports to see if there’s any truth to some of the tales and where they originated.
Some urban legends, like the one about Dunn’s Tomb, have a variety of versions.
Dunn’s Tomb, a mausoleum in Lakeville Cemetery, holds the remains of James and Elizabeth Dunn, who owned the sawmill in Lakeville for many years. They died in 1930 and 1952, respectively.
According to Jones, in one version, a boy and a girl were dared to spend the night there. When the black car that dropped them off returned the next day, it was the discovered the pair had mysteriously died.
‘Nobody knows how or what happened,? he said.
Now it’s said that if you go there in a black car and touch the tomb, ‘you’ll see two apparitions or white smoke-like figures come to the fence like they’re trying to come to the car,? according to Jones.
In another account, it’s said that a man got locked in Dunn’s Tomb and overnight he went crazy and killed himself. Those who touch the tomb now are said to find handprints on their car afterwards.
A friend’s elderly dad told Jones he’d heard that someone who was slaughtering people with an ax used to keep the victims? bodies in Dunn’s Tomb.
Located in Metamora Township on Wilder Road, south of Sutton Rd. and north of Dryden Rd., the urban legend surrounding Cry Baby Bridge also has varying accounts.
In one story, a mother and her baby were driving along when their car stalled. The woman got out to check under the hood and when she returned the baby was gone. The infant was found drowned under the bridge.
Now, it’s said if you go there at night and shut off your car’s engine, the faint cries of a baby can be heard.
In another version, a little girl waiting for the school bus was found under the bridge after she’d been strangled and raped. Some say it’s her cries for help that can be heard to this day.
‘Those are just the ones I heard,? Jones said. ‘I’m sure other people have other accounts.?
Jones is also hoping to learn more about these stories and others like the one he found about Rob’s Place (13 S. Washington St.) at www.highlandghosthunters.net.
According to the website, there’s an old tunnel for runaway slaves in the bar’s Michigan basement and ‘a ghostly figure of a man with white hair in a northern Civil War uniform sometimes appears on (the) steps that go down to the basement.?
A variety of paranormal activity has been reported at the bar, according to this website ? ‘Glasses fall off shelving, juke box volume goes loud and quiet at random. Bathroom stall doors bang open and shut after hours as barmaids clean up.?
‘I’m definitely intrigued with it all,? Jones said. ‘I am one to buy into ghosts and spirits. Fortunately, a lot of the people I work with don’t believe any of that exists, so they provide the counterbalance. I do want to get both sides of it.?
Vernita ‘Red? Voikos, who’s owned Rob’s Place since 1978, has seen the information posted on the website, but neither she nor any of her staff have experienced anything.
‘I don’t know who started that,? she said. ‘Nobody’s ever seen anything.?
Voikos isn’t aware of any tunnel in the bar’s basement.
‘I’ve had some old-timers tell me that there used to be tunnels around (Washington St.),? she said. ‘They didn’t say my place.?
Jones would also like to find out if it’s true about what they say happened on Blood Road in Metamora Twp.
According to urban legend, a couple was driving down the road when their car broke down. The man went for help while his girlfriend waited.
A while later she started hearing tapping on the hood and when she got out of the car, she found her boyfriend’s dead body strung up in a tree, hanging over the vehicle.
His dripping blood was the tapping sound she kept hearing.
Closer to home, Jones is looking into stories about the infamous Purple Gang’s activities in Oxford during 1920s.
He’s also curious about an urban legend that says a bunch of people trapped inside the 81-year-old Oxford Opera House (later converted into a movie theater) died when it burned down on Feb. 9, 1972?
‘Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know,? Jones said.
According to newspaper accounts from back then, no one killed in the fire.
In the end, Jones is mainly hoping to preserve these urban legends for posterity.
‘With all the new subs going up and new people moving in, I just don’t want them to be forgotten,? he said.
When it’s complete, Jones plans to show his documentary at the Oxford 7 Theater and sell DVD copies at local businesses.
‘I’m not really into this to make money at all,? he said. ‘Anything I do comes out of my pocket.?
Jones is hoping this article will prompt people to contact him and share the local urban legends they’ve heard over the years.
He’s also hoping local merchants will help him by either agreeing to sell his DVD in their stores or contributing some cash to offset the Oxford 7’s fee to show the documentary.
He can be reached by calling his company at (248) 431-1874 or e-mailing either midgetpickle79@yahoo.com or legendsofoxford@yahoo.com.
Jones said it’s possible even he could become part of an urban legend.
‘Perhaps while making the documentary a sound guy gets lost under Cry Baby Bridge. You never know.?