It was a warm Saturday afternoon on April 23rd, 1921, when Detroit Street in Flint bustled with life. Streetcars, the lifeblood of transportation in the early 20th century, carried businessmen and shoppers to and from the city center. But on this particular day, one streetcar’s journey would end in tragedy, leaving a haunting legacy that lingers to this day.

Just north of Fifth Avenue, as the northbound streetcar rattled along Detroit Street, an explosion suddenly rocked the car. The controller had caught fire, and within seconds, sheets of flames engulfed the interior. Panic set in as the passengers, desperate to escape the inferno, rushed toward the back door. The streetcar was still moving, but they had no choice—they had to jump.

Mrs. Caroline Kessler was one of the first to leap from the flaming streetcar. But in her haste, she lost her balance as she hit the ground. She fell hard, and before she could move, the crowd of terrified passengers, blinded by fear, trampled over her in their desperate bid for survival. By the time the last passenger escaped, Mrs. Kessler lay unconscious on the street, her body broken and battered.

A doctor living in a nearby house on Detroit Street saw the commotion and rushed to help. He and a few bystanders carried Mrs. Kessler into his home, where he tried to stabilize her until an ambulance arrived. But the damage was too severe—she had suffered multiple head fractures and internal bleeding. Later that evening, Mrs. Caroline Kessler succumbed to her injuries at Hurley Hospital.

But Mrs. Kessler was not the only victim that day. Another woman, whose name was never known, jumped from the burning streetcar, her body engulfed in flames. She clutched her shopping bag, now also ablaze, as she fell to the ground. The onlookers scrambled to extinguish the fire, but the woman’s body had been sprayed with a flammable lubricant from the exploding controller. Despite their efforts, the flames consumed her, leaving her body so charred that she was unrecognizable. No one came forward to claim her, and without a missing person’s report to match her description, she was buried in an unmarked grave at Flint Memorial Cemetery, her identity forever lost.

The tragedy left its mark not just on the city, but on Detroit Street itself. For years, residents and passersby have reported eerie occurrences along the stretch of road where the accident happened. On quiet nights, some have heard the faint, ghostly echo of a streetcar’s bell, though no streetcars have run on that line for decades. Others have seen shadowy figures at the edge of their vision—a woman stumbling as if in pain, or another figure engulfed in a brief, inexplicable flash of light, only to disappear just as suddenly.

But the most chilling encounters happen on Detroit Street near Fifth Avenue, where Mrs. Kessler fell. Those who walk there after dark sometimes feel a sudden, intense cold, as if they’ve stepped into the past, into the very moment when Caroline Kessler’s life slipped away. Some have even claimed to hear the faint, panicked cries of a woman, followed by the horrific sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

So, if you find yourself on Detroit Street, especially near Fifth Avenue, keep your eyes and ears open. The ghosts of that tragic day in 1921 may still be there, reliving their final moments in an endless loop of sorrow and flame. And if you listen closely, you might hear the distant clang of a haunted trolley, echoing through the streets of Flint, forever haunted by the tragedy that unfolded there.