Terrace Inn

A charming hotel that opened in 1911 in the Bay View community of Petoskey, a Chautauqua-style resort community. The inn embraces its haunted reputation and has hosted paranormal conferences.

The Terrace Inn was built between 1910 and 1911 in the heart of Bay View, the Victorian-era Chautauqua community on the shores of Little Traverse Bay in Petoskey. Owners William J. and Josephine B. DeVol built the inn as a place for Josephine to manage, since women at the time could not own property outright. The inn has operated continuously for over a century, and it maintains one of the most detailed collections of paranormal documentation of any haunted location in Michigan: a thick folder known as the "Ghost Files," kept at the front desk, containing written reports of paranormal experiences witnessed by guests and employees over the years. Visitors can ask to read the folder upon check-in.

According to a persistent account, the inn is haunted by the spirits of two workers who died when a beam fell on them during the original construction. Their deaths during the building's creation may explain why the paranormal activity seems embedded in the very structure of the inn rather than associated with any particular room or event.

Three named ghosts are most frequently reported at the Terrace Inn. The Lady in White, called Elizabeth, is seen wandering the hallways and has been spotted standing in guest rooms, sometimes at the foot of the bed. The Man in Tweed, called Edward, has been seen on a balcony and has been observed peering into bedroom windows from outside. Some staff believe Elizabeth and Edward are searching for each other, a spectral couple separated by death who continue to move through the same building without finding one another. The third ghost is the Boy in the Basement, a child's spirit whose identity and origin are unknown but whose presence has been felt by staff working in the lower level of the inn.

The Terrace Inn and 1911 Restaurant hosts a Ghost Hunting Weekend each October, inviting guests and paranormal investigators to spend the night and conduct their own investigations. 9&10 News covered the haunting in 2018, interviewing staff about their experiences, and Northern Express, Ghostly Podcast, and GHOSTLANDIA have all documented the inn's paranormal activity. The Terrace Inn welcomes paranormal investigations year-round, and the Ghost Files at the front desk continue to grow with each passing season.