[fusion_builder_container backgroundcolor=”” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”0px” bordercolor=”” borderstyle=”” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”0px” paddingright=”0px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]I am fascinated by odd trivia and unusual places, so when I came across the book Weird Michigan by Linda S. Godfrey I knew I had to read it. The sub-title on it reads: Your travel guide to Michigan’s local legends and best kept secrets. This book is full of the creepy, the weird, all sorts of neat things and “I didn’t know that” stuff, about this great state we live in. How perfect!

The chapters cover things from local legends, bizarre beasts, haunting, oddities, the unexplained and local notables, amongst others. I poured through the chapter on roadside oddities after seeing a place that sold cement garden statues up near Kalkaska. They have a large pink elephant and a giraffe, along with a multi colored horse and a red bull right by the road. Sadly, I didn’t find the place in the book.

There’s a section on the Paulding lights that I hope to experience one day when I travel to the Upper Peninsula. The Psychiatric Hospital in Kalamazoo is in two sections of the book – Haunted Michigan and Abandoned in Michigan. The old water tower on the grounds of the hospital has been a visible landmark since before my parents’ time at WMU back in the 1940’s.

The best thing about this book is it’s part of a series of “Weird” books about other states in the U.S., some of which we have in the VBDL library system.

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