Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainRural Kent County Cemetery and the Ada Witch Legend
Honey Creek Avenue NE, Ada, MI 49301
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public access during daylight hours. After-dark visits constitute trespassing.
Access
Limited Access
Grass and gravel rural cemetery; uneven ground
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1840 · Kent County Pioneer Cemetery · Michigan Folklore
Findlay Cemetery is a small rural burial ground in Ada Township, Kent County, established in the mid-nineteenth century to serve farming families along the Grand and Thornapple River corridors east of Grand Rapids. The cemetery's marked stones include nineteenth-century settler families and members of Kent County's pioneer farming community.
The most-cited grave at Findlay belongs to Sarah McMillan, who died of typhoid fever in 1870 at age 29. Documentary records confirm her death and burial; later generations attached the regional Ada Witch folklore to her stone. The original headstone was reportedly damaged in the late twentieth century, an event repeatedly cited in regional press coverage of the legend.
The cemetery remains active in the loose sense of preservation but receives few new burials. Nearby Seidman Park, a Kent County Parks property, provides legal outdoor access to the woodland and creek terrain that figures in many of the regional folklore accounts.
Sources
The Ada Witch legend is one of the better-known pieces of folklore in West Michigan, repeated in regional newspapers, radio features, and the Mysterious Michigan archive. Multiple versions of the story share a common shape: a young woman killed by a jealous husband after he discovered her in an affair, with her restless presence reportedly tied to the burial ground where she rests.
Independent research has linked the legend to the grave of Sarah McMillan, who died of typhoid fever in 1870 at age 29. The folkloric account of murder does not align with her documented cause of death; the legend appears to have grown around her grave over the twentieth century rather than from her actual life.
Reports gathered by regional paranormal groups describe bluish-green mists and orbs, phantom footsteps, sounds of weeping and arguing, and the sensation of being touched by an unseen hand. Witnesses most often place these experiences along Honey Creek Avenue, within the cemetery itself, and in the woodland of Seidman Park. The cemetery should be visited during daylight only; after-dark visits constitute trespass and have prompted ongoing concerns from township police and local property owners.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A small rural cemetery in Ada Township dating to the mid-1800s, including the marked grave of Sarah McMillan, the 29-year-old woman often associated with the regional Ada Witch legend. Visit during daylight hours only.
View the cemetery from Honey Creek Avenue, the road most often cited in Ada Witch sightings. Adjacent Seidman Park provides legal daytime exploration of the surrounding woodland.
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