As I noted in my missing post about Tanja Stuermer, being from Michigan entices me to want to focus a lot of my posts on my home state. When I went searching for a spooky subject to research this week, I chose to do just that, and was surprised to come across one I had actually never heard before. It mentioned "The Belle Isle Witch". I was immediately intrigued. I had a hard time finding much information searching with that phrase in mind, but did eventually come to the conclusion that this witch is more often referred to as "The Snake Goddess of Belle Isle", or one of the elusive "White Lady" stories we've all heard. This search brought me much more information.
Sitting in The Detroit River, between Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, lies Belle Isle. It also has several surrounding islets. It was developed in the nineteenth century and has been an ongoing source of beauty and entertainment, full of nature in the midst of a large, sprawling, urban area. Over the years, it has been, or is still home to: a now-abandoned zoo, an aquarium, nature center, a golf area, baseball fields, The Detroit Grand Prix, and many areas to walk or bike. If you wish to do the latter, or are even driving around the island, there are a number of bridges over which you can do so. These bridges, however, are where we start our tale, and where the mystery lies.
I feel as if every town, county, or state has at least one area that is said to be haunted, in the way that if you stop your car, honk three times, and wait... you will have some sort of ghostly, haunting experience. The bridges of Belle Isle, and especially the Tanglewood Bridge, are no different. There are many legends and stories about what will happen on Belle Isle if you do just that. One tale never even mentions honking your horn, so maybe the spirits, or the main one, especially, is just drawn to certain souls. Whatever the case, it is said that if you stop on a bridge, especially Tanglewood, or those back near the swampy areas, she will appear, lift her arm, and beckon you to follow her into the woods. To this day, we have no tales of anyone who chose to do so, as everyone who claims to have seen her said they were too scared. She is not known to be aggressive or "mean", but who knows what will happen if you choose to follow her?? Definitely something to think about.
Her "origin" story is an intriguing one. There are quite a few that I've read about who she could possibly be, but there is an old Native American tale about this "white lady". Being that the Native Americans were here way before the French, and before Detroit became the city's name, I tend to lean towards this tale.
It's said that Chief Sleeping Bear of the Ottawa Tribe had a daughter so beautiful, her suitors were a never-ending bother. In an attempt to keep them away, he put her in a canoe, covered her with a white blanket, and sent her up the Detroit River. The wind, or the God who controlled the wind in some tales, was envious of her beauty (or wanted to see her), so whipped off her blanket, and changed the canoe's direction so she went back down the river. She was then captured and kidnapped. The wind, having felt bad, beat the captor, won her back, and sent her back home. The Chief, still wanting to protect his beautiful daughter, took her to Belle Isle, and asked the Great Spirits to protect her. To keep her safe, the Great Spirits surrounded the island with snakes, thus how she got her name. Some tales also say that they gave her immortality as well as the power to change into a white doe of her own free will, in order to escape those that come near her.
Those that have seen the white doe say that she stands and stares back, and that if you try to get close to her, she disappears into the woods. One source even noted the Fallow deer that used to inhabit the island and the Belle Isle Nature Center. Some of them were indeed white. However, the last of these were said to have been removed from the island, and placed into The Detroit Zoo during the 2020 pandemic, as the Nature Center was temporarily closed. There are no plans to move them back to Belle Isle.
Whether this tale is true or not, it is intriguing that multiple people have claimed to see the white lady, and many have also claimed to have seen the white doe. The most surprising thing would be for anyone to see the white doe now that there should not be any on the island.
If you are from the area, and have ever been to Belle Isle, have you seen the elusive Snake Goddess or White Doe?? Let us know in the comments!
Sources:
*Bragg, Amy Elliott. “Belle Isle Fallow Deer Permanently Moved to Detroit Zoo.” Crain’s Detroit, 3 Mar. 2022, www.crainsdetroit.com/voices-amy-elliott-bragg/belle-isle-fallow-deer-permanently-moved-detroit-zoo. Accessed 13 Jan. 2024.
*“Ghost Stories of Detroit’s Belle Isle.” Mysterious Michigan, 24 June 2022, mysteriousmichigan.com/ghosts-of-detroits-belle-isle. Accessed 10 Jan. 2024.
*Kazimierska, Marika. “This Urban Legend about Detroit’s Belle Isle Will Send Chills Down Your Spine.” OnlyInYourState®, 15 Dec. 2022, www.onlyinyourstate.com/michigan/detroit/urban-legend-detroit-dt. Accessed 10 Jan. 2024.
*Robinson, John. “The Old Woman Who Haunts Belle Isle: Detroit, Michigan.” 99.1 WFMK, 31 Dec. 2018, 99wfmk.com/old-woman-belle-isle. Accessed 10 Jan. 2024.
Photos:
Belle Isle - Library of Congress
Spirit Woman - AI generated using Canva
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