Paranormal Michigan

A Guide To The Dark & Mysterious

PARANORMAL

To Haunts & Thrills

Michigan’s Guide

INTRODUCTION

The history of human activity in Michigan, a U.S. state in the Great Lakes, began with settlement of the western Great Lakes region by Paleo-Indians perhaps as early as 11,000 B.C.E. The first Europeans to arrive in Michigan were the French. Explorer Étienne Brûlé traveled through Michigan in 1618 searching for a route to China. Soon the French laid claim to the land and began to trade with the local natives for furs. The Great Lakes State residents have been sharing haunting tales for centuries. The Native Americans who lived in the state prior to the Europeans called the land “Haunted & Evil” believing it was cursed and harbored evil spirits.

Table of Contents

Locations

Michigan’s 1st State Prison

The Whitney

Michigan Bell Building

Doherty Hotel

Seul Choix Lighthouse

Shipwrecks

Cornelia B. Windiate

W.H. Glicher

Western Reserve

S.S. Bannockburn

Erie Board of Trade

Cryptids

Nain Rouge

Pressie

Michigan Dog Man

Melon Heads

Michigan Merman

LOCATIONS

MICHIGAN STATE PRISON

Michigan State Prison or Jackson State Prison, which opened in 1839, was the first prison in Michigan. After 150 years, the prison was divided, star ting in 1988, into four distinct prisons, still in Jackson: the Parnall Correctional Facility which is a minimum-security prison; The G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility where prisoners can finish their general education; The Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center which is the common point of processing for all male state prisoners sentenced to any Michigan prison, and the Cooper Street Correctional Facility which is the common point for processing of all male state prisoners about to discharge, parole, or enter a community center or the camp program

In 1926, the prison was relocated to a new building, and soon became the largest walled prison in the world with nearly 6,000 inmates. The prison was renamed the State Prison of Southern Michigan in 1935. There are plenty of stories about inmates, guards, escapes, and punishments within these walls. Residents of the property have reported numerous paranormal experiences in the old prison.

People who have visited the old prison have seen apparitions, heard unearthly moans, phantom screams, doors slamming, banging on pipes and are certain they had been touched by some unseen presence. Paranormal investigators have recorded voices pleading for help, as well as screams and moans.

Residual sounds of riots are also frequently reported due to the prison’s history of such occurrences. In 1912, the most severe riot took place, spanning about two weeks and resulting in the deaths of several inmates and guards before it was extinguished by the National Guard. Sounds have also been reported in the mess hall where a smaller riot occurred and a couple men were injured and killed.

The old prison was constructed in 1838 but was closed in 1934 due to overcrowding. You can still visit the old prison and experience more tales about colorful characters, crimes, and corruption, while walking through halls echoing with the sound of thousands of inmates past, perhaps you will have an experience of your own.

THE WHITNEY

Originally the home of David C. Whitney JR and Sara Whitney, The Whitney mansion is now world famous for upscale dining in Detroit. Completed in 1894, this Motor City landmark retains the exquisite charm of Detroit’s early upper echelon as a venue for all to enjoy. Each has it’s own unique appeal that guests come specifically to enjoy and sometimes find themselves wandering, spending hours frolicking in the enchantments of the estate.

Dating back to the renovations in the mid-1980s, there have been rumored occurrences of supernatural activities on all three floors of the Whitney house.

The staff has reported hearing children playing on the 2nd floor and in the 2nd floor bathroom at night after the doors have been locked. During an investigation a child’s voice was caught on an EVP and video mimicking “Quiet on the set!”.

One of the most frequently told stories is about a female patron having a drink at the Ghost Bar. She encountered a woman in the 3rd floor bathroom whom she had a very lengthy conversation with, assuming she was the attendant. When she returned to the bar and relayed this experience to the bartender he promptly informed her that there are no bathroom attendants employed at the Whitney. The woman was so upset that she demanded validation from a manager, an inspection and review of the camera footage outside of the ladies room. There was no evidence of the woman as described by the patron to ever enter or leave the bathroom. The female patron immediately left visibly shaken and angry that the restaurant was playing a hoax on her.

Grace Whitney still resides and sits at her table by the window in the carriage house. This building is behind the Whitney and has been unoccupied for some time and is part of the Paranormal Dinner Tour. The carriage house is next be renovated and put back to its former glory. The concern is whether Grace will allow it, the table and chairs are left in position of where she sat and part of the paranormal dinner tour. Stories of children singing is also a part of the carriage house, all near Grace’s table.

Despite the building’s many updates and changes, the ghosts seem to remain. So join us for fine dining, atmosphere, and an unforgettably haunting experience.

MICHIGAN BELL BUILDING

Built in 1930, the history of this haunting stems back farther than the building currently standing today. In the early 1900’s the Judd-White House stood in the Bell Buildings place as a boarding home. However, tragedy soon rocked the Judd White House into despair. In the early 1900’s Grand Rapids was booming railroad town. With the railroad running lumber, gypsum, and furniture this brought work and a demand for workers.

Enter Warren & Virginia Randall, our tortured spirits.

When the Randall’s moved from Detroit to Grand Rapids, their new lives began beautifully. Warren worked at the railyard as a brakeman, Virginia stayed home keeping their homestead. Unfortunately, good things never last. In 1908, on a sweltering day, Warren suffered an accident at the railyard, which resulted in him losing his leg. While he was fitted with a wooden prosthetic, he was unable to return to work. This caused him to spiral into a depression, leading to paranoia and hallucinations. Warren began accusing Virginia of having an affair, thought they were together all day, every day.

Warren was often seen chasing his loving wife, Virginia. up and down the streets weilding a straight razor and threatening her life. The couples fighting rang through the walls of the Judd White House, yet people truly became concerned when their room went silent for several days. Then came the foul stench of decay, hanging in the hot summer air.

When the police arrived, they broke in the door and found a haunting scene. Virginia was deceased on the floor, showing signs of blunt force trauma, Warren’s wooden leg near her body. Warren was also deceased, with a blood-crusted straight razor in his hand. Warren had murdered his wife, then taken his own life. It is said their spirits still linger, even though the Judd White House has long since been torn down. Orbs, flashing lights, screams, and the sound of a wooden rod begin dropped onto the floor are often heard and seen.

In recent years, people in the local Grand Rapids area reported phone calls in the early morning hours. It became such an issue police got involved. They traced the calls and found they were all coming from the Bell Building, which is now not in operation due to Covid-19. Perhaps Warren & Virginia are still calling for help in the afterlife.

DOHERTY HOTEL

At the crossroads of US-10 and US-127, the late Senator Alfred James Doherty I, friend of Henry Ford, was convinced that the automobile would eventually become the transportation of choice, and therefore, he decided to build in the center of Clare instead of near the railroads, which was very insightful for that era, and, eventually, proved to be very profitable. Soon thereafter, Clare became known as “The Crossroads of Michigan” as the Pere Marquette Railroad and the Ann Arbor Railroad intercepted in this small town. Thanks to these two railroads, Clare became a popular stopping place for tourists and commercial travelers, and the new Hotel Doherty was there to accommodate.

Senator Doherty made a point to please each guest with clean rooms, great food, and pleasantness. His perfectionist nature, popularity, and sincere hospitality helped to ensure the hotel’s great, & early success. The original hotel contained sixty rooms, each having hot and cold running water. Thirty-six of those rooms contained either a tub or a shower bath. The ground floor housed the Clare Public Library, a coffee shop, the lobby, a large dining room called the Wedgewood Room, a soda fountain shop, a barbershop, the kitchen, pantry, refrigerator room, and Senator Doherty’s office. There were also two sample rooms east of Doherty’s office with a separate entrance to Fifth Street, which provided commercial travelers an opportunity to display their wares.

When The Doherty Hotel opened in the 1920s, it became a hotbed of activity as a speakeasy, underground gambling parlor, and gangster hangout. It’s partly due to that kind of gangster activity that the hotel is believed to be haunted. The hotel is also the site of one of Michigan’s most notorious murders in 1938 where Isaiah Leebove, the former Purple Gang attorney turned Purple Gang businessman, was murdered at the bar. Numerous accounts of hauntings have been reported over the years claiming it to be haunted by Leebove and others. Apparitions are said to lock and unlock doors. People have also reported sounds of knocking that go unexplained. Helen Doherty, the matriarch of the hotel, is also said to haunt the hotel. Helen’s perfume scent wafts thru occasionally, loud knocking, bedroom doors open and close by themselves, and dark apparitions & shadowy figures have been spotted anywhere from the lobby to the top floor.

SEUL CHOIX POINT LIGHTHOUSE

Seul Choix Point is a narrow, rocky stretch of land that juts out from Lake Michigan’s northern shore into Seul Choix Bay, about a two-hour drive east of St. Ignace. The bay received its name, which means “only choice,” in the 1800s when a group of French fur traders took shelter there during a violent storm that threatened to capsize their small vessel. The bay was their “only choice” for safe refuge along the dangerous stretch of coast, which is known for its rocky shoreline and high waves. The entire complex, which consists of the 79-foot light tower, family quarters, a steam fog signal and boiler house, stable, and a number of other buildings, wasn’t completed until 1895. Additional living quarters were added in 1925. Back then, the Seul Choix Lighthouse was the only guiding light for ships along a 100-mile stretch of treacherous coastline.

Several guests and other staff members told stories that they’d heard music, “like an old phonograph recording,” playing in the lighthouse. Some people also report that electronic devices, like a digital camera, stop working.

Captain Joseph Willie Townsend, is the lighthouse’s primary ghostly resident. Captain Townsend lived here from 1901 until he died of consumption in one of the upstairs bedrooms in 1910, because he died in winter when the ground was too frozen to dig a grave, the Captain couldn’t be buried straightaway, and his body had to be stored in the basement for several months. However, the hauntings didn’t really start until a couple of original pieces of furniture were brought up from storage, according to staff, when the lighthouse was last restored in the 1990s. One of the pieces in question is the kitchen table. The Captain (originally from Britain) doesn’t seem to like it when staff set the table American style. They always find the silverware reversed, even though no one’s been in the kitchen. Numerous guests and most of the staff have smelled cigar smoke throughout the living quarters, even though no smoking is allowed in the building, and often there isn’t anyone else around. In addition to Captain Townsend roaming the grounds, rearranging silverware, and ignoring nosmoking signs, volunteers have also found toys strewn all over the floor of the “children’s bedroom” upstairs. Nothing had been out of place the night before, and the lightkeeper’s quarters had been locked up.

Paranormal Michigan | Page 15.

SHIPWRECKS

CORNELIA B. WINDIATE

In 1875, the Cornelia B. Windiate, a three-masted grain schooner, sank with all hands during a late-season storm on Lake Huron. Today, the schooner rests 180 feet below the surface, remarkably preserved. Her masts are still standing and her cargo of grain remains stowed in the hold, making her a time capsule from over 130 years ago.

Even though none of her crew survived to tell us what happened that day, the Windiate’s story can be uncovered through archaeology. Maritime archaeologists from the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary have documented the Windiate with drawings, measurements, photographs, and video. Back on shore, they studied the clues gathered from the wreck site along with documents from the sanctuary’s research collection to hypothesize why the ship sank.

Port records claimed the ship was overloaded with grain. Diving on the wreck, the archaeologists can see her cargo of grain packed in the hold up all the way up to the deck beams. The hull shows no damage and the hatches are still in place, which indicates the ship did not hit anything or get crushed by lake ice. Weather records from that day reported snow, high winds, and waves on Lake Huron during the hours the Windiate was lost. This information, combined with what they could see on the actual ship underwater, led archaeologists to hypothesize that ice formed on the deck and rigging of the already overloaded schooner. The ice would have made the ship even heavier and unstable, causing it to slowly sink below the waves. The ship and its crew would perish as a result of the added weight.

Many who still sail the Great Lakes today, claim that they have seen the schooner, still sailing the rough, frigid waters of Lake Huron. Especially durning the Novemeber month. Still trying to make their final delivery.

W.H. GLICHER

The W.H. Glicher was built in 1891 as a coal steamer with an experimental steel hull. The Cleveland-built steamer transported bushels of wheat and coal across the Great Lakes. On October 28th, 1892, the ship was en route from Buffalo, New York to Milwaukee, Wisconsin carrying a load of coal. Captain Lloyd H. Weeks steered the Glicher through the Straits of Mackinac and into a cloud of fog.

That was the last time the ship was seen, allegedly. Days later, the bodies of two crewmen in life preservers were found on South Fox Island. The ship itself has never been found, and the cause of its sinking remains unclear. A few ships around the islands claimed they had seen it, but no one could say for sure in the poor weather and darkness of the night.

According to some reports, the Glicher has been seen since its physical disappearance. The steamer has apparently been seen sailing through fog near Mackinac Island, just as it did on its fateful voyage in 1892. Those same reports suggest that when the sunlight shines through the fog, the ship’s fog whistle sounds.

Visit Mackinac Island for yourself, perhaps on a cool, foggy day you too could see the ghostly ship of The W.H Glicher.

WESTERN RESERVE

The Western Reserve was a 301 ft. steel freight steamer launched in 1890 at Cleveland, OH by Globe Shipbuilding. She was the first major steel freighter built for use on the Lakes. When she came out, her builders thought that her construction would put an end to disasters caused by hull failure.

However, only two year later, on August 30, 1892, the Reserve was in ballast riding out a summer gale en route to Two Harbors, MN, when she simply broke in two and sank off Deer Park, MI in Lake Superior. There was little evidence to indicate what had happened to the ship as there was only one survivor out of the 27 crew. When her sister ship, the W.H. Gilcher foundered under similar circumstances, it was learned that that construction techniques needed to be drastically changed.

According to reports of the lone survivor, 24 year old Harry W. Stewart of Algonac, MI, a wheelsman, a gale had been building and became quite severe, but nothing the vessel shouldn’t have been able to handle, when a crack appeared on her deck, forward of the boiler house. The crack quickly widened, and the passengers and crew took to the yawl boats. In ten minutes, the Western Reserve had gone beneath the rolling waves to the bottom of Lake Superior in six hundred feet of water. Despite occasional searches, the remains of the Reserve have never been located. They are believed to lie in 400 to 600 feet of water around 30 miles due north of Au Sable Point.

Those who claim they saw this ghost ship said they heard the sounds of the perished crew talking and laughing. Perhaps you can go to Au Sable Point & listen for the ghostly voices of those who passed in the sinking of the Western Reserve.

S.S BANNOCKBURN

The SS Bannockburn was a Canadian registered steel-hulled freighter which disappeared on Lake Superior in snowy weather on November 21, 1902. She was sighted by the captain of a passing vessel, the SS Algonquin, around noon of that day but minutes later disappeared. The wreck of the ship has never been found, with the exception of an oar and a life preserver, and no bodies were ever recovered. Within a year of her disappearance she acquired a reputation as a ghost ship and became known as “The Flying Dutchman of the Great Lakes”

The final voyage of the Bannockburn began at the Canadian lakehead near what is now known as Thunder Bay, under Captain George R. Wood. She was downbound carrying 85,000 bushels of wheat, leaving the city of Fort William on November 20 and headed for Georgian Bay. She suffered a slight grounding but no apparent damage on her way out to the open lake, and her departure was delayed one day. She recommenced her journey on the 21st.

A powerful winter storm raked Lake Superior that night. At 11:00 pm the nightwatch pilothouse crew of the passenger steamer Huronic, also upbound on the lake, reported seeing lights on a ship they passed in the storm which they believed were in the pattern of those of the Bannockburn. However, no signals of distress were observed, and the two ships passed each other without incident. The Bannockburn was reported overdue the following morning at the Soo Locks, but given the weather the previous night, this was not considered unusual. When she still did not report several days later, however, the fear that she had been lost began to grow.

There are many theories as to what went wrong. Captain McMaugh proposed that the ship might have experienced a boiler explosion though he did not hear one and no charred wreckage typical of such an explosion was later found anywhere along the route that the Bannockburn was known to have taken. Alternatively, the at-that-time uncharted danger of the Superior Shoal might also have been the cause. When the Soo locks were drained at the end of that season, a hull plate from a ship was found in the lock. It was supposed to have belonged to the Bannockburn, and without it her hull would have had an unknown weak point. Still, she remains lost, ghostly, haunting the lakes.

Erie Board of Trade

This story takes us back to 1883 when the three masted schooner, the Erie Board of Trade made it’s way to Cleveland to pick up a load of coal. It would be it’s last voyage, at least of this world.

Afew days out from Cleveland, in Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron, the Erie Board of Trade had to anchor because the winds had died out. The Captain set the crew busy cleaning and making repairs to the ship. He ordered a fairly new young crewman to scrape the topmasts. All of the crew had known that the rope to the boatswain’s chair was rather ragged and was dangerous to use. However, the Captain sent the crewman up the mast in the chair anyway. Not long after he reached the top, the rope broke and the crewman came crashing down to the deck along with the chair and rigging. He remained alive long enough only to curse the captain of the Erie Board of Trade.

On the remaining three days of the voyage, the crew claimed to have been haunted by the ghost of the dead crewman who tumbled to his death. Uttering his curse over and over. Appearing as a white form, materializing on deck and then settling on the spot where the unfortunate crewman had died.

The ship made port, many crew had enough of the hauntings and left the ship. However, the captain remained and The Erie Board of Trade took on it’s load of coal and headed back out into Lake Huron. \ The ship was never seen again.

Over the years, there have many reports of a dark ominous looking three masted schooner out on Saginaw Bay. Just as quickly as the ship appears, it disappears. It is believed that this is the ghost ship Erie Board of Trade.

CRYPTIDS

THE NAIN ROUGE

The legend of the Nain Rouge is said to go back to 1701, when Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Detroit. The shortened — and oft-repeated — version of the tale states that Cadillac was attacked by the feared “Red Dwarf,” who then cursed Cadillac and the city.

The folk tale has persisted on the periphery of Detroit culture, with the Nain said to appear before disaster strikes. According to legend, the Nain appeared right before 1763’s Battle of Bloody Run, where around 60 British soldiers were killed in a thwarted attack against Chief Pontiac. The Nain was also said to have appeared before the infamous 1805 fire, which nearly destroyed the entire city.

Some say the dwarf could be seen before the 12th Street Riot in 1967. And as recently as 1976, it was reported that two DTE workers spotted what they thought was a child climbing a utility pole before a particularly brutal snowstorm crippled the city — possibly the most recent Nain sighting.

Detroit has been an American city that has seen more downs than ups during its long and storied history. However, much of this is blamed on the Nain Rouge. So much so that for over a decade the city holds a parade to banish the Nain Rouge for another year. “He’s a necessary villain,” said Shane Stroud, one of the marchers from Dearborn, MI. She continues, “He takes the blame for us.”

Interestingly enough, the Wall Street Journal notes in a 2016 article, “The Nain-bashing has coincided with the city’s recovery. While much of Detroit is still troubled, pockets of the city are starting to see new life. Detroit’s downtown, where visitors could once see trees growing on the rooftops of abandoned office towers, has begun to flourish with restaurants and businesses locating there. Investment is pouring in, and in some neighborhoods, rents and home prices are rising.” What do you think? Is the Nain Rouge gone? Or waiting for tradgedy to strike The Motor City once more?

PRESSIE

Lake Superior’s current monster resident has been named “Pressie” and is believed to be a monster serpent. Pressie got her name from sightings that occurred near the Presque Isle River. These sightings aren’t all current: evidently, some centuries ago, early residents claimed to have witnessed this serpent-creature and dubbed it Mishipishu.

The creature is said to have a serpent’s body, a horse-type head, the tail of a whale, long neck, blackish-green and 75 feet long. Sightings of the monster date back to the 1800s. One possible Pressie sighting notes that the creature swam in a snake-like motion.

In September 1894, about halfway between Whitefish Point and Copper Harbor, Michigan, the crews of two steamers observed a strange creature undulating along in the twilight, its back protruding 6 to 8 feet out of the water.

In July 1895, three members of a steamer crew observed a “hideous creature” off Whitefish Point which seemed at times to be deliberately pacing their ship. They claimed it had a 15 foot neck and a jaw a foot wide.

In 1897 near Duluth (MN), a Detroit man fell overboard when his yacht struck a rock. He was then attacked by a huge serpent which he said tried to constrict him in the manner of a large snake. His three shipmates also saw the beast.

In the 1930’s, a serpent, swimming along at about 9 miles per hour, was observed by two fisherman at Pictured Rocks, Munising, Michigan. The animal created a strong wake as it passed the shore.

In the 1960’s, a family watched a huge animal, alternately showing humps and stretching out straight, swim upriver past the North coast of Sugar Island Neither head nor tail was visible and they said it resembled a log when stretched out straight.

Memorial Day weekend in 1977, North of Ironwood , hiker Randy Braun snapped a photo of something which he suspects was a giant serpent swimming in the waters of the lake near the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Braun said it undulated in the water like a serpent. The snapshot he took of the beast shows a blurry object in the water.

THE MICHIGAN DOGMAN

The Michigan Dogman is a werewolf or werewolf type creature first repor ted in 1887 in Wexford County, Michigan. Sightings have been reported in several locations throughout Michigan, primarily in the northwestern quadrant of the Lower Peninsula. In 1987, the legend of the Michigan Dogman gained popularity when a disc jockey at WTCM-FM recorded a song about the creature and its reported sightings.

The first known sighting of the Michigan Dogman occurred in 1887 in Wexford County, when two lumberjacks saw a creature whom they described as having a man’s body and a dog’s head.

In 1938 in Paris, Michigan, Robert Fortney was attacked by five wild dogs and said that one of the five walked on two legs. Reports of similar creatures also came from Allegan County in the 1950s, and in Manistee and Cross Village in 1967.

Described as a seven-foot-tall monster with a dog’s head and the torso of a man. It is also described to have blue or amber eyes with a howl that is said to sound like a human scream.

Some say the existence of Dogman was proven in what’s known as The Gable Film. Mike Agrusa was a young boy in the 1970s when he supposedly captured a video depicting what appears to be Dogman during a northern Michigan vacation. Since the viral video was released, Agrusa has admitted it was a hoax. That hasn’t convinced dedicated Dogman believers, though. Many theorize that the Michigan Dogman has relation to Wisconsins, Beast of Bray Road. Another dog-like humanoid known for stalking Bray Road and terrifying motorists.

The legend has also been used as a reference in pop culture. In 1987, a Traverse City radio station recorded a song titled “The Legend,” recounting the Dogman’s historical whereabouts. Clark, Michigan Historian, says that she will not confirm or deny reports of Dogman, especially since Michigan forests have diverse wildlife which can house surprising creatures.

“For a long time, there were stories of large cats in Michigan that were sort of dismissed,” Clark said. “And now we have cougar sightings. There’s been quite a few in the last few months. So I’m not saying there’s a Dogman that’s going to show up. However, who knows what’s living in the forests of Michigan.” Is it possible that the Midwest is overun with Dogmen? Come see for yourself, if you dare. Paranormal Michigan |

THE MELON HEADS

Melon Heads is the name given to the legendary beings that live in the forests of Michigan, Connecticut, and Ohio. Different variations of the legend attribute different origins. The creatures are said to appear remotely human with bulbous, melon-like heads.

The melon heads of Michigan are said to reside around Felt Mansion, although they have also been reportedly seen in southern forested areas of Ottawa County. According to one story, they were originally children with hydrocephalus, water in the brain, who lived at the Junction Insane Asylum near Felt Mansion. The story explains that, after enduring physical and emotional abuse, they became feral mutants and were released into the forests surrounding the asylum. The Allegan County Historical Society asserts that the asylum never existed, although it was at one point a prison. The legend says that the children devised a plan to escape and kill the doctor that abused them. It is said that the children had no place to hide the body, so they cut it up in small pieces which they hid around the Mansion. Rumors exist that teenagers who had broken into the mansion saw ghosts of the children and claimed to see shadows of the killing of the doctor through the light coming from an open door. The legend has spread throughout the region, even becoming the subject of a 2011 film simply titled The Melonheads, which is based around the West Michigan legend. Local teenagers still claim to encounter the Melon Heads near the Felt Mansion. Laketown Township Manager Al Meshkin told the Holland Sentinel that he had heard the tales as a teenager, calling them “wobbleheads”. Visitors and late-night explorers have reported seeing curtains moving in the windows of the vacant old building with strange noises, such as heavy breathing, footsteps, and shadows darting through the darkness.The Felt Mansion became the St. Augustine Seminary for boys in the year 1949.

MICHIGAN MERMEN

A half-man, half-fish can safely be referred to as a ‘merman’ & there was a witness to one that appeared to him in Lake Superior. The Ojibwe had a name for these creatures of the lakes: ‘Maymaygwashi’ and sometimes ‘Nebaunaubaewuk’. These beings are also said to be child-like in appearance and sometimes hairy.

It was on May 3, 1782 that traveler Venant St. Germain had set up camp on Pie Island, which is right between Canada and Isle Royale. As he and his three fellow travelers sat on the beach around dusk, a strange creature appeared above the water, 75 yards offshore. He later described this thing as having “the upper part of its body formed exactly like that of a human being about the size of a child seven or eight years old it bore an exact resemblance to those of the human face, had brilliant eyes, a raised hand of fully formed fingers, and a dark complexion”.

Startled, St. Germain grabbed his gun and was about to shoot it when an old Ojibwe woman tackled him, wrestling him to the ground in an attempt to stop him from firing. As they struggled, the beast ducked under water out of sight. The woman then explained that to kill a merman meant bad luck. Mermen and mermaids are gods & goddesses of the lakes and just an attempt to kill one would bring devastating storms. Sure enough, for the next three days, storms with very strong, gale-force winds caused huge, damaging waves and ended up stranding every one on the island. Sometime later, in relating his tale, St. Germain came across another traveler who claimed to have seen the same creature. This further re-inforced his belief and his re-re-tellings of the sighting. St. Germain’s story became so widespread and well-known, that in 1812 he was practically forced to provide sworn testimony of his experience in a Canadian court.

Ever since the encounter between St. Germain and the merman took place over 238 years ago, there has been a steady stream of strange sightings filtering out from not only Lake Superior, but all five of North America’s Great Lakes. Chilling reports of unexplained creatures, strange weather patterns, haunting phantoms, and odd lights and sounds have long been recorded by experienced sailors while out in the open of the vast inland seas.

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