A small riverside cemetery in Monroe County's South Rockwood, long associated with local ghost folklore and documented by Michigan paranormal investigators, with reports centered on its older section.
5892 S Huron River Drive, South Rockwood, MI 48179
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public cemetery operated by the Village of South Rockwood.
Access
Limited Access
Grassy cemetery ground along the Huron River; uneven in the older section
Equipment
Photos OK
Riverside Cemetery lies along S Huron River Drive in South Rockwood, a small village in Berlin Township at the northern edge of Monroe County, between Interstate 75 and Telegraph Road. The cemetery is operated by the Village of South Rockwood and, as the name suggests, sits near the Huron River as it makes its way toward Lake Erie.
As an ordinary community cemetery, its documented history is largely genealogical — generations of South Rockwood and Berlin Township families recorded in burial registers and indexed by organizations such as Find a Grave and the USGW Archives. It includes an older section, distinguished from the newer plots, that has become the focus of the site's folklore.
The cemetery's haunted reputation has reached beyond purely anecdotal circles: Detroit television station WXYZ (7 Action News) accompanied a group, Spirit World Paranormal Investigations, to the cemetery for an on-site report, noting that investigators had documented activity there in the past and describing the location as the subject of considerable local folklore. That coverage establishes the cemetery's ghostly reputation as a recognized local tradition rather than a one-off rumor.
No specific historical tragedy, named victim, or documented incident underlies the lore; the reputation rests on the experiences visitors describe within the cemetery, particularly in its older section.
Sources
Riverside Cemetery's reputation as a haunted site is recognized in Monroe County folklore and was documented when Detroit's WXYZ (7 Action News) joined Spirit World Paranormal Investigations for an on-site report, describing the cemetery as the subject of 'plenty of folklore' and noting prior reported activity.
The most specific narrative attached to the cemetery comes from a witness account, originally recorded in the Shadowlands Haunted Places Index, describing a late-night walk through the older section — on the right side as you enter. The witness reported the distinct sensation of being chased by something unseen, hearing fast footsteps close behind, to the point that her dog and husband fled with her. The account adds reports of orbs and of faces appearing in the ground.
Because that detailed narrative traces to a single submission, it is presented here as one visitor's reported experience rather than corroborated fact; the broader haunted reputation, however, is established by independent regional media coverage. As with any active cemetery, the phenomena are framed as local ghost tradition and personal accounts, not as established supernatural fact.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Walk Riverside Cemetery along the Huron River in South Rockwood, Monroe County. The older section, on the right side as you enter, is the focus of local ghost folklore and has drawn Michigan paranormal investigators.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Freeland, MI
The cemetery on Dice Road in Richfield Township, Saginaw County occupies a rural stretch of mid-Michigan between Saginaw and Midland. Anna Rhodes Millerton, whose story is tied to the site, came to America from Italy after surviving an arson attack that killed her family when she was five years old. She settled in Saginaw with her aunt and later married Jonathan Millerton, a lumber worker who sailed the Great Lakes.
Los Angeles, CA
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a 62-acre cemetery at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, California, founded in 1899 as Hollywood Cemetery on a 100-acre tract of former farmland. Paramount Pictures' studios occupy 40 acres of the original cemetery property. The cemetery was renamed Hollywood Memorial Park in 1939 and Hollywood Forever in 1998 after a 1990s bankruptcy and revival. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
New Lothrop, MI
Cummin Cemetery is a small rural burial ground on N. New Lothrop Road in Hazelton Township, Shiawassee County, set in wooded farmland near Misteguay and Rush creeks. It is known locally by several names — Cummin (or Cummings), Juddville, New Lothrop, and Lennon Cemetery — reflecting the small communities it has served. It carries little notable recorded history beyond its function as a township cemetery, and its reputation today is almost entirely folkloric.