Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: "Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends" feature in forthcoming book by Ypsi authors
"Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends" by Crysta K. Coburn and Kay Gray
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You're listening to 89 one WEMU. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. From the unique to the metaphysical to the occult, Ypsi has an abundance of all things strange and unusual. So much so that two local podcasters are stepping away from their microphones and penning a book, "Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends," all about Ypsi's history with ghosts, aliens, and more. Crysta Coburn and Kay Gray have been hosting the "Haunted Mitten" podcast since 2019, covering stories from across the state on a variety of Michigan-centric myths, legends and hauntings. But when they were approached to co-author a book, they both agreed that, over the course of three seasons of the podcast, they had more than enough stories on Ypsi's spookier side to fill the pages. Kay Gray is with me today to tell us a bit more about the book and the spirits who seem to have stuck around Ypsi to this day. Thanks so much for being here, Kay!
Kay Gray: Thank you so much for having me!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, your and Crysta's podcast, "Haunted Mitten," is currently on its sixth season. And I have that right?
Kay Gray: It will be starting its sixth on Halloween.
Rylee Barnsdale: And this podcast covers ghost stories from Ann Arbor to Mackinac Island, even ghosts that just haunt the Great Lakes, kind of in general.
Kay Gray: Yes!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, how did the two of you come together to and decide to kind of host this sort of show?
Kay Gray: Oh my gosh! So, we have been friends for like 20-something years. And, for the longest time, maybe, like, 10 or 15 years of that, we have been thinking about writing a book or starting a blog. Even though I'm not from Michigan, we both absolutely love the state. We're both deeply into the paranormal. We really love history. So, we've always wanted to do something with that. And then, I believe, in the summer of 2018, things have not really gotten off the ground or whatever. So, I just suggested...like, I listen to podcasts religiously. I always have something on. And I just kind of threw it out there. We were at coffee one day, and I was like, "What if we just do a podcast instead?" And so, Crysta had a little bit more experience with that. I listen to podcasts. I had no experience recording or anything, and we just decided, "Yeah, that would probably be the best medium for us." And so, it took off Halloween of 2019. And then, life hit everyone in the face really hard.
Rylee Barnsdale: Yup. Among other things.
Kay Gray: And it took more of a research focus than an active investigation focus. But, yeah, it was just an off-the-cuff "Why don't we just do a podcast instead?"
Rylee Barnsdale: Now, "Haunted Mitten" was in its third season when the two of you were approached by the publishing company History Press, who wanted another installment to their Haunted America series. And aside from already knowing Ypsi is a home for all these things that are weird and spooky, what made you two decide on Ypsi as a topic for this book?
Kay Gray: We live here and we love it! And we don't think that Ypsi gets enough recognition in the world. It is a wonderful town. It is super weird. We are the home of metaphysical shops.
Rylee Barnsdale: Oh yeah.
Kay Gray: There's so many!
Rylee Barnsdale: You can walk down one block and pass at least three, right?
Kay Gray: I know! It's fantastic! So, it just felt really natural to us to focus on Ypsilanti and a little bit outside that. We go a tiny bit outside Ypsi for some really great stories. But we live here and we love it, and we want to represent it in an accurate but loving way.
Rylee Barnsdale: And I'm sure that writing and researching for a podcast is pretty different than writing and researching for a book. Can you tell me about what the writing process was sort of like for you and Crysta?
Kay Gray: So, surprisingly, it's not very different. We do a lot of research on the back end regardless. Just instead of writing a script for us to read out loud, we are writing chapters in a book, so it was a little more formal. We're very casual on the podcast. It's a lot more like having a conversation with each other than it is sitting down to read a book about the history and hauntings of a place. I will say, for the book, we did a lot deeper dives into the places than we would on the podcast just because the podcast doesn't necessarily have the time.
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure.
Kay Gray: To go that deep into the history of the people and a place that we're talking about, and the book really needed to if we were going to accurately portray where we were talking about.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, talking with Ypsi-based podcast host and author Kay Gray. So, Kay, you and Crysta both currently live in Ypsi, but, as you said, you're not originally from here. You are originally from Los Angeles.
Kay Gray: Los Angeles.
Rylee Barnsdale: What brought you here in the first place?
Kay Gray: Los Angeles is really expensive. It was far too expensive to stay. I lived in Ann Arbor and went to EMU from 2011 to 2013, so I already had a support system here. And so, after dragging my husband to California from Ohio, we just decided it was way too expensive. And we couldn't stay. We were just living a terrible--like we weren't living. We were just merely surviving. So, I was like, "Hey, I already know people in Michigan. I know it's Michigan. I know there's no, like, ocean next door. But we we have to go back if we want any chance of not living in a tent."
Rylee Barnsdale: And Ypsi's got such a cool vibe that seems like it really meshes with you and the things that you're interested in, too.
Kay Gray: It translated so well. Like, there was very little culture shock for me from where I came from. It's the same artsinesss. It's the same creativity. It was just...
Rylee Barnsdale: Perfect fit.
Kay Gray: Perfect fit in a much less expensive location.
Rylee Barnsdale: And both you and Crysta also have written short stories that were published as part of anthologies. How does fiction writing kind of compare to the sort of writing and the research kind of side of things of writing "Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends."
Kay Gray: Oh my God! Fiction is so much faster!
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure!
Kay Gray: You can just make it up in your head. It's great! There's no research involved. Well, there's as much research as you want there to be. For me, it's not that much less creative. Fiction--you still have to make it interesting so you're not reading a dry textbook. But, yeah, the research--it takes so much longer to write a nonfiction chapter book than it does to write a fiction chapter book.
Rylee Barnsdale: And without spoiling anything from this upcoming book, have there been any particularly interesting or hair-raising stories that you and Crysta have come across throughout that research?
Kay Gray: Oh gosh! I learned about the murder of Richard Streicher, who was a child that got murdered in Ypsi in the 1930s. One of the major suspects for that is actually last name LeFurge, which you might know from such places as the LeFurge Nature Preserve and LeForge Road--same family. They just changed the name, because LeForge does sound way better than LeFurge. So, Richard Streicher was murdered in not a great fashion. He was found actually at the Tridge.
Rylee Barnsdale: Oh, okay.
Kay Gray: Yeah. And it just led to this giant, many, many trials. The parents were put on trial. The murder is still unsolved. There's plenty of suspects in it, but just nothing could be pinned down, partially due to the policing and the investigation of the day. It was the 1930s. We didn't have DNA. We barely had fingerprinting. I didn't know about it. And now walking those bridges, it feels very different.
Rylee Barnsdale: Right. I'm sure.
Kay Gray: Because this poor boy, like, he was under the age of ten, was murdered in the 1930s, and I had absolutely no idea about it.
Rylee Barnsdale: I'm sure that there are plenty of other stories along those lines, too, that you detail in the book. Those things that were very surprising, I'm sure to you, and maybe surprising to other folks that live in the area.
Kay Gray: Yeah, absolutely! Yes! I think a lot of people from Ypsi, even who are born and raised, are going to find about a lot of things that they just had no idea about, because there was no one to ever tell those stories before.
Rylee Barnsdale: Right. This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with Kay Gray, co-author of the upcoming book "Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends" and co-host of the "Haunted Mitten" podcast. Kay, we are over halfway to Halloween, and over the past few years, the folks at Ypsi Real and Destination Ann Arbor, as well as a number of local businesses, have really been promoting Ypsi as the place to be for Halloween. Do you feel like this book can maybe factor into the festivities, or maybe even help solidify Ypsi as that go-to place for all things spooky?
Kay Gray: I really hope so! I would love to see it used in some way to just promote how spooky Ypsi actually is and Halloween and, I'm gonna say, the joy in it because it is my favorite holiday. I really hope that we can have a place in Ypsi's Halloweenness. That would be amazing!
Rylee Barnsdale: And when is "Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends" slated to come out? Where can folks pick it up who are really intrigued by all of the spooky goings-on that are in our city?
Kay Gray: It comes out September 9th. You can get it anywhere you get books. It is from History Press, which is a major publisher. So, you can order it from your local bookstore. You can go down to Blackstone. Yeah, you can get it from bookshop.org anywhere that you prefer to get books. It will be available.
Rylee Barnsdale: And as far as the podcast goes, where can folks listen to if they want to hear a little bit more of you and Crysta as well?
Kay Gray: We are on every podcast platform. We do have a website at Hauntedmitten.com where you can listen to it as well. You can listen to it on our Patreon if you really want. Yeah, anywhere you love to get podcasts. We are available. I made sure of it.
Rylee Barnsdale: It's definitely accessible in all forms, both the podcast and the book once it comes out in September.
Kay Gray: Yes! Absolutely!
Rylee Barnsdale: Kay, thank you so much for stopping by to give us a peek into Ypsi's darker side. I really hope that folks who love ghost stories and just love Ypsi are able to pick up this copy of this book once it hits the shelves in September.
Kay Gray: Thank you so much for having me! This is fantastic!
Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at wemu.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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