HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Built in 1924 on the site of a murder-suicide, this telecom tower carries two restless presences from the Judd-White House era
227 S. Division Avenue, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
No public admission; building is a private commercial structure. Ghost tours of Grand Rapids that include this stop charge separately.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Sidewalk exterior viewable from street; building interior not publicly accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1924 · Site of the 1910 Judd-White House Incident · Warren Randall Murder-Suicide · Former Michigan Bell / AT&T Regional Telecommunications Building
Before the Michigan Bell Building rose at the corner of Fountain Street and Division Avenue in 1924, the site held the Judd-White House, a prominent Grand Rapids mansion. In 1910, the mansion became the scene of a violent domestic incident: Warren Randall allegedly attacked his wife Virginia before killing himself. The case received substantial press coverage and contributed to the address's dark reputation within the city.
When Michigan Bell demolished the mansion and erected its Art Deco telecommunications building on the site, the institutional history of the location was effectively buried under reinforced concrete — but local memory of the 1910 incident persisted. The building served for decades as part of Michigan Bell's (later AT&T's) regional infrastructure, with its main commercial presence on Division Avenue.
By the time ghost tour operators began systematically documenting Grand Rapids' paranormal geography in the 2000s and 2010s, the Michigan Bell Building had accumulated enough consistent reports to earn a regular spot on downtown ghost tour circuits. The building remains a private commercial structure with no public interior access, making it primarily an exterior landmark stop.
Sources
The Michigan Bell Building's paranormal reputation stems directly from the 1910 incident at the Judd-White House that previously occupied the site. Two distinct presences are reported. The first is associated with a female figure — connected in local lore to Virginia Judd-Randall, the alleged victim of the 1910 attack — seen near the building's street-level entrance. The second is a male figure in period dress reported primarily in accounts from the building's lower floors.
Both the Association of Paranormal Study and US Ghost Adventures have documented the location as part of Grand Rapids' broader paranormal map, noting cold spots at the building's facade and occasional reports of a sensation of observation from within the structure's lower floors despite the private, occupied commercial nature of the building.
The Michigan Bell Building is unusual among Grand Rapids dark-history sites in that its haunting tradition predates the contemporary ghost tour industry; longtime Grand Rapids residents recall the address's reputation from before organized paranormal tourism developed in the city.
Notable Entities
The Michigan Bell Building's street-level exterior marks the footprint of the 1910 Judd-White House murder-suicide. The building is a featured stop on Grand Rapids ghost tour circuits operating in the downtown area.
US Ghost Adventures and other operators include the Michigan Bell Building in their downtown Grand Rapids ghost tour routes, providing the documented history of the 1910 incident and subsequent reports.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Grand Rapids, MI
In 1916, Arthur Warren Waite — a New York dentist who had married into the wealthy Peck family of Grand Rapids — poisoned his father-in-law John E. Peck and mother-in-law Hannah Peck with arsenic at their Grand Rapids home. Waite's subsequent arrest and trial became one of the most covered murder cases of the 1910s, and he was executed in 1917.
Macon, GA
Anjette Donovan Lyles operated Anjette's Restaurant at 524 Mulberry Street in Macon, serving the city's business community throughout the 1950s. Between 1952 and 1958 she poisoned four family members with arsenic — two husbands, a mother-in-law, and her daughter Marcia, age nine. Her 1958 trial was called the most publicized criminal case in 20th-century Macon.
Chicago, IL
Couch Place is the Chicago Loop alley that runs immediately behind the James M. Nederlander Theatre at 24 W. Randolph. On December 30, 1903, it became the primary egress point for audience members fleeing the Iroquois Theatre fire, in which 602 people died. Many victims died in the alley itself — crushed at exits whose doors opened inward, or after falling from the upper fire escapes. Newspapers of the time called it Death Alley, a name that has persisted.