Visitors Attractions Tours Shows Museums Hotels Events Transportation Airport/Airlines Taxi Bus Limo Train Sports Detroit Red Wings Detroit Lions Detroit Tigers Detroit Pistons College Sports Media Television Radio Newspaper Sponsors Your Link Here! Home | Advertise | Contact Detroit Area Attraction Guide Legend and a Ghost The Legend and ghost of belle isle located in Detroit Michigan The Legend Ottawa Indian lore tells of the beautiful daughter of chief Sleeping Bear. Her beauty was so stunning that the Chief kept her hidden from the eyes of young suitors by hiding her in a covered boat on the Detroit River. One day when bringing her some food, the winds, awed by her beauty, blew the covers off of the boat and it floated down the river. as it floated past the lodge of the keeper of the water gates, he also was stunned by her beauty and retrieved to boat and brought the young beauty into his tent, this enraged the winds who fell upon him, and buffeted him wildly about until he finally died from the beating. The winds, sorry for uncovering her beauty, returned her back to her father, Chief Sleeping Bear and begged the chief not to hide her from them again, but to let them enjoy her beauty. To protect her the chief, fearful that other men would follow, placed the princess on an island in the Detroit River and sought the aid of the Great Spirits to protect his beloved daughter by surrounding the island with snakes to protect her from intruders. There she could run free with the winds around her, The spirits immortalized her by transforming her into a white doe and letting her live out eternity on the island. When the first white men appeared in the area they originally named the island Isle Ste. Clair. but once they became familiar with the island, they renamed it Rattlesnake Island. It was not much later that it became known as Belle Isle. To this day, the maiden's spirit can be seen from time to time dancing in the wind on the island and most unsuspecting picnickers don't realize that the lovely girl in Native costume is not a modern miss dressed for a pageant, but is in reality the Goddess of Belle Isle. also know as the Snake Goddess of Belle Isle. There she runs free through the woods with the gentle winds and wildlife as her companions. Legend has it that the beautiful Indian maiden still roams the woods often mistaken by picnickers as a deer. The water-gate keeper, who was killed by the angry winds was buried on Isle au Peche (Peach Island), where his spirit remained for many generations. Native American braves often sought out this spirit for counsel before going to war. His voice was heard through the wind in the trees and could be understood only by those who had prepared themselves through fasting and meditation. Even Chief Pontiac, before planning his war against the English, spent a week on Isle au Peche, fasting in order to clear his mind, and to seek the wisdom of the water gate keepers spirit. The Ghost of Belle Isle The ghost of Belle Isle has a couple different versions to the story, basically put the rumor is that either there is a certain bridge or any bridge on the island will call this spirit, it is said that if you drive onto a bridge on Belle Isle and shut off your engine and wait a few minutes, the spirit of a woman will come out of the woods dressed in white and motion for you to follow her in, one version even mentioned she was an elderly woman. It is also rumored that she has waved to some people just prior to motioning them in., it is also noted that no one has ever actually followed her. Heres my take on all this, first lets assume it is real, No-one has any pictures or video of this happening, and lets just say it does happen and you do follow her in, it could be one of two things, first maybe it's the spirit of a murder victim whose body was dumped in the woods or buried or say an explorer who had a heart attack while in the woods and the ghost is trying to get someone to "discover" the body or site so she could recieve a proper burial and her family knows what happened to her, or worse, it cound be the ghost of a murder victim whose killer had also stopped on the bridge and killed her in those woods, she may be looking for revenge trying to lure you in. (Stephen King - eat your heart out hehe) either way can be the best possible explanation if it is indeed happening. However if it was happening - I'm sure it would be caught on video or camera (of course providing spirits can be photographed) - all in all it is a very interesting rumor. If you have seen this ghost and would like to tell your story, send us an email at Detroitpages@comcast.net Sources used to write these articles are ghostzoo.com, ghostwatchers.org, theshadowlands.net, The Detroit News Archives / by Pat Zacharias and Psychic Vivian Baulch Click here to return to previous page Enter your search terms Submit search form   Web www.detroitpages.com Many more to follow - stay tuned Note: If there is a attraction we missed or you feel should be listed here, contact us here with the information.

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