The investigation is set to start August 16th to the 17th. However, a quick visit to the Doherty sparked some stories from not only guest of the hotel but also some of the staff as well.
The History of The Doherty Hotel:
Location of The Doherty Hotel: 604 North McEwan Clare, Michigan 48617
The Doherty Hotel opened its doors in 1924. Owner Alfred James Doherty I, went against the grain when he decided to put his hotel in the center of Clare, rather than next to the railroad. The reason for doing so, James Doherty believed the automobile would be the transportation of the future, being good friend's with a man named Henry Ford, that observation would lead to a great business decision. Soon after the Doherty Hotel was built Clare became known as “The Crossroads of Michigan”. The Pere Marquette Railroad and the Ann Arbor Railroad intercepted in Clare. Due to this, Clare became a popular stopping place for tourists and commercial travelers and the Doherty Hotel had plenty of room to accommodate them.
The Doherty of this time contained around 60 rooms, each room contained both hot and cold running water. A commodity of the time. Thirty of the Doherty's rooms contained a tub or shower bath. On the ground floor of the Doherty, there was the Clare Public Library, a coffee shop, a soda fountain shop, a barbershop, the lobby, a large dining room called the Wedgewood Room, the kitchen, pantry, refrigerator room, and Senator Alfred James Doherty’s office.
Due to his perfectionist nature, Senator Alfred James Doherty strived to make sure each guest had clean, quiet rooms with access to great food and many pleasantries. The Senator was a innovator of his time.
A continued history:
Soon after The Doherty opened its doors it became home to alcohol, loose women and gambling during the rise of the prohibition era. During this time, two gangs competed for the profit that the want for alcohol offered. The notorious Purple Gang ran booze across the Canadian border, the Purple Gang were not only regulars at the Doherty, but the Doherty Hotel acted somewhat as their base of operations.
The most notorious action that happened at the Doherty Hotel during this time was the murder of Isaiah Leebove. Isaiah Leebove was the acting attorney for the Detroit based Purple Gang and he was also the partial owner of the Mammoth Oil Company. (Biggest oil company east of the Mississippi during the 30's). Enter 'business' associate of the Purple Gang, Carl Jack Livingston. Livingston lived in the Doherty Hotel during the time of Leebove's murder. Isaiah Leebove was a cousin to Carl Jack Livingston. Together (Livingston and Leebove) they owned and operated the Mammoth Oil Company. Leebove and Livingston, used the Mammoth Oil Company as a front, to launder their profits from their illegal actions for the Purple Gang.
May 16, 1938 :
The day of the murder of Isaiah Leebove.
The dispute between Livingston and Leebove began about land that Leebove owned. Leebove owned around 45-acres and Livingston fought him to drill for oil on this property. Leebove disagreed with Livingston, given it was land that Leebove privately owned away from the Mammoth Oil Company, Leebove wanted this land for himself. After feuding with Leebove for some time, Carl Jack Livingston became paranoid that Leebove had aligned himself with a competing crime family out of New York, lead by Meyer Lansky known as the "Mob's accountant" and a close associate of Charles 'Lucky' Luciano. Livingston believed his cousin Leebove, was working with Lansky to put out a contract to kill him. This fear Livingston had was a making of his own.
On May 16, 1938, Leebove was enjoying dinner with his girlfriend in the Doherty Hotel’s Tap Room. While there, Livingston came down from his room and seen his cousin who had his back turned towards the lobby. Livingston then ran up to his room and grabbed his .38 revolver and ran back down stairs into the Tap Room, where he sat a few more minutes, while sitting there his paranoia grew more and he then saw Leebove look at him, afraid Leebove would beat him to it, Livingston approached his cousins table and shot Leebove, killing him in cold blood. Livingston plead temporary insanity due to the paranoia he was having. Livingston was acquitted of all charges of the shooting that took his cousins life. However, Livingston did eventually land in a Michigan institution where he died of a drug overdose in 1948. Ten years after taking his cousins life in cold blood at the Doherty Hotel.
The Known Ghosts of The Doherty:
It is speculated that Leebove now haunts The Doherty Hotel. This dark entity is seen everywhere from the lobby to the upper floors. However, he is mostly seen in the Tap Room, where he was murdered in 1938. Reports of sightings have come from guests, visitors, and hotel employees. Guests have heard knocking on their doors only to see no one when they look to see who it is, and there have been a multitude of reports of hearing unexplained noises and voices in the hallways.
It also seems to be the home to many of the speakeasy employees along with most of the men who sought the affections of these women.
*The Spooked Chicken will be doing more articles on the ghosts of the Doherty, along with evidence from their finds.* Stay tuned*
Stories from the Doherty:
Between the murder of Leebove and the countless amount of people who have stepped through the doors of The Doherty Hotel, there have been many stories from guest and employees alike who have seen and heard something they can't explain.
Our first story of the Doherty hotel starts with when we set up the reservation for our rooms and when we asked for permission to investigate the famously haunted hotel. It was met with little resistance.
"We usually have around 3-4 investigations a year" Said the gentlemen who was taking our information. From shadows to voices to being being touched, the Doherty has been a hot bed of activity since the renovations started. After we got our information in the system and reserved our spot as one of those three investigation teams we headed into the famous Tap Room that saw the life of Leebove taken.
While there we talked to one of the waitresses who was not shy to share some of her experiences with us.
"He followed me home" Nicole said. (Out of respect for her and we have changed her name to Nicole.) As to referencing who 'he' is, Nicole believed it to be the man that a lot of the staff see in the downstairs area of the Hotel. Shaken up she continued her story.
"As I was driving my car after closing up in the tap room, I got into my car and was driving down the road just heading home. I made a turn and as the oncoming car went past me I seen his reflection in the rear view mirror of my car." Nicole continued "I pulled over opened the door and told it to get out that it is not allowed to follow me home like this" So interested in this testimonial we asked, did it. Nicole replied "Yes it did."
As she was sharing this story, a gentlemen decided to share his story. This man did not wish to give his name, so we will call this man by the name of Dwight.
Dwight was just passing through with a business colleague when they decided to stop at the Doherty Hotel. His business demands that he travels the state. So never stopping here before Dwight wanted to stop and check out the hotel.
"Why don't we stop here Matthew and get a drink before we head home?" Dwight said to his business colleague. So after little resistance they pulled over and walked into 604 North McEwan, The Doherty Hotel. Neither of the men knew the history behind the hotel.
"As we where enjoying our drinks I had to go use the bathroom" Dwight said. The hotel is laid out such that the men's bathroom is actually downstairs and the women's bathroom is up stairs "So I was a little lost" Dwight said. As Dwight was heading down the stairs he said "you could just feel as if the room was colder, but that was expected heading down the stairs into the basement" he smiled then continued "the part that freaked me out was and you could feel eyes, it was like someone stood up as you passed the stairs and just walked inches behind you. I could even hear the footsteps behind me" Then I asked then what happened, he took a drink and said "As I walked into the stall and turned and locked the door, I did my business and right behind me against my neck I heard and could feel someone with bad cigar breath say "Hey." Almost a whisper. Let's just say I took the elevator back up." Dwight then went back to his dinner party and the waitress Nicole told us that these things happen all the time.
Here at The Spooked Chicken these stories made us even more eager to start our investigation. Which we did. We headed back out of the Tap Room and conducted a 20 minute EVP.
*next article will share those findings*
The Future of the Doherty Hotel
At the time that the Doherty Hotel was built, the hotel consisted of 60 guest rooms and very limited banquet facilities (for modern day standards). Alfred James Doherty III, who took over the reign's of the Doherty in 1969, he saw an opportunity to utilize the hotel’s location to further its success.
Beginning in the early years of the 1990's, Alfred James Doherty III and his two sons, (Dean and Jim) added to the hotel a new back lobby (pictured above) also they added to the amount of rooms the hotel had. They added an additional 33 rooms and two small conference rooms. Also, the pool the hotel housed was enclosed and the surrounding area was then remodeled.
Alfred James Doherty III, stepped out of the hotel’s management after sometime and allowed his sons (Dean and Jim) to take over the management fully. They together, in the later half of the 1990's, started adding fireplaces to several of the 'original' rooms and began upgrading their interior decor.
The brothers attribute the hotel’s century-spanning success in part to its location. Something that can be attributed to the foresight of the innovator Senator James Doherty in 1924. The city that is Clare, still offers an abundance of downtown charm. The Doherty Hotel recently underwent an expansion adding three new meeting rooms and 60+ new guest rooms.
Future plans for the Doherty Hotel include a 10,000 square foot conference center. Dean and Jim hope to make The Doherty Hotel a stopping place for travelers for many more generations to come.
The Doherty Hotel’s Location and Near by Attractions
The Doherty Hotel Sits at the intersection of three major roadways including: US-10, M-115, and US-127.
There are three different parks surrounding the Hotel perfect for an evening walk with no charge!
Clare, MI is halfway to everywhere in the Lower Peninsula.
Clare also has the perfect location for its’ nickname “Gateway to the North”.
The Hotel is located across the street from the nationally known Cops & Doughnuts.
The Doherty is conveniently located near the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail Pathway.
Clare is also known for its huge population of the Amish and is filled with tons of Amish stores, markets, and services.
To get your room at The Doherty Hotel click here!
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