In the woods around the old Traverse City State Hospital (a massive Victorian asylum complex that closed in 1989), there’s a fallen tree known to hikers as the “Hippie Tree.” Over the years it’s been covered with colorful, psychedelic paintings and graffiti.
But the local legend isn’t about the art — it’s about what’s inside.
Some people claim that if you enter the hollow trunk in a certain way, you’ll find a portal to Hell — or at least, that’s what the stories say. Hikers report a weird chill or a sense of dread near the tree, and some swear that strange sounds or sensations have come from inside the hollow trunk.
