Grab a shroud; join the fun & The Lady in the Church Yard

from the Farmington Observer October 30, 1978

Luckily I have the attention span of a gnat and skim through articles faster than the guy who used to demonstrate speed-reading on TV by brushing his "reading finger" against the middle of the page three or four times and then moving to the next in a ridiculous display of salesman technique. It was with that same determined display that made my eye catch the part about the husband picking his wife up from the church in Farmington which was built on a ledge over a ravine. Seeing the word ravine instantly made me think of the story posted below and to make sure that my brain wasn't addled I checked the book, Michigan Haunts and Hauntings, and confirmed it. Yes, I'm quite proud of myself! Enjoy.


THE LADY IN THE CHURCH YARD

The night was dark and foggy. Norman was on his way to pick up his wife who had been attending a baby shower in the basement of the new church in Farmington. He drove into the parking lot and decided not to stop there, but to circle behind the church and bring the car up to the doors at the front of the building where his wife would see him.

As he neared the back of the lot and began to turn toward the rear of the building, he saw standing directly in front of him the figure of a woman who looked exactly like his mother. He slammed on his brakes and brought the car to a screeching halt. He knew it could not be his mother for she had been dead nearly two years. The woman remained standing in front of the car, gazing directly at him. And now he felt he was losing his senses, for indeed it could have been no one but his beloved mother.

Norman opened the car door and stepped out into the mist. He approached the front of the car where he had seen his mother standing. No one was there. But what he saw made him gasp in horror. What he had thought were bushes in the fog were really treetops. The church had been built on a ledge overlooking a ravine. There was no driveway behind the building. Had he driven just a few feet further, his car would have plunged over the ledge and into the ravine below.