The Detroit History Podcast - Season 4, Episode 3- The Haunting of The Whitney

Season 4, Episode 3- The Haunting of The Whitney

10/18/21 • 25 min

1 Listener

Waiter, is there a ghost in my soup? The Whitney, one of Detroit's great restaurants, began life as a grand 19th Century mansion. David Whitney, one of Michigan's richest lumber barons, would be startled to learn not only that the public is dining on Faroe Island salmon and shrimp and scallop sauté in his Woodward Avenue manor, but tales of paranormal activity have long been a popular menu item. We explore the subtext of "spirits" served at the Whitney.

Previous Episode

Season 4, Episode 2- The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, The Sub-Aquatic Ambassador

An underwater tale of two cities

With the auto industry booming and with Detroit’s population surging in the 1920s, we needed a way to get people and car parts back and forth between Detroit and Windsor. The solution: dig a massive trench beneath the Detroit River current, drop massive concrete tubes into the trench, and drain 'them. What could possibly go wrong? The Detroit History Podcast story of that civil engineering achievement includes an audio bonus: on a quiet night, you can hear freighters passing overhead.

Next Episode

Season 4, Episode 4- Black Bottom: The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise of a Detroit Neighborhood

For decades, segregation forced African-Americans migrating from the South to Detroit into one neighborhood: "Black "Bottom," an area just east of downtown, which is now Lafayette Park. Urban renewal plowed the neighborhood under in the 1950s, destroying what had been a thriving place that gave the world Joe Louis and Coleman Young. But the memory of the place never died. A historical marker marking the location, dedicated late this summer, now stands in one of the small parks. The Detroit History Podcast crew attended both dedication ceremonies. And we hear from people who lived there, with audio from a short documentary by filmmaker J. Michael Collins.