Lost cemetery discovered on grounds of abandoned Westland hospital complex

Between 1839 and 1984, a complex in Westland known as Eloise was the site of both a mental asylum and a hospital. According to WDIV Local 4, as many as 10,000 patients lived at Eloise and 2,000 employees worked there at the complex’s peak in the 1920s.

And over its nearly century-and-a-half existence, thousands died and were buried there, too. But their final resting place in a field adjacent to the complex had been forgotten, swallowed up by tall grasses — that is until John Byrnes, a Westland resident, began poking around the grounds and made a shocking discovery.

“I grew up around Eloise,” Byrne told WDIV Local 4’s Jason Colthorp. “I knew there was a cemetery with markers because you hear the stories, you know, when you’re growing up. So I decided one day to come out here and look, and here it is.”

Now he’s working with a group of volunteers to identify those buried there, which so far number over 3,000.

Learn more about the cemetery discovery: WDIV Local 4