Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes

ERIE BOARD OF TRADE
The captain of this ship sent one of his crewmen up to the lookout chair, knowing it was unsafe. Of course the man fell to his death, but his image was spotted many times in different areas of the ship. As they crew docked in port, they told their ghostly tales, then set out on their next voyage. It was then the ship went down in 1883 in Lake Huron, supposedly at the hands of the ghost of the crewman. This ship is still spotted in Saginaw Bay.

GRIFFON
The Griffon set sail from Green Bay into Lake Michigan in September 1678 and was never seen again. It was one of the earliest recorded disappearances of the Great Lakes and bears the distinction of being the first sighted ghost ship of the Great Lakes. Many sailors claim to have seen her still afloat over the years.

SEBASTIAN’S SHIP
This ship tale is very old but has been spotted many times off the shores of Mackinac Island. It is said to be the ship of explorer Sebastian whose ship went down in the Straits of Mackinac as he tried to return to his home in France. This ship is said to appear every seven years in the fog near the island.

WESTERN RESERVE
Before this ship went down in 1892, Captain Truedell from the Great Lakes Life-Saving Service had a very real dream that the Reserve was going to sink along with its owner, Peter Minch, on board. This dream was so vivid that, after the Reserve went down with its crew and the entire Minch family on board, Capt Truedell actually recognized Peter Minch’s body when it was discovered washed ashore. This ship is still spotted sailing in the foggy waters off Deer Park, MI.

WH GILCHER
In a bizarre twist of fate, two months after the Wester Reserve went down, its sister ship, the Gilcher left Buffalo on October 28, 1892 on its way to Milwaukee when it, too, was lost. It was last seen mid-afternoon of that day off the Straits of Mackinac. It is thought possible that the Gilcher collided in the fog with the schooner Ostrick based on the wreckage that washed ashore in Charlevoix on November 2, but it will never be known exactly what happened. The coal steamer can still be seen mysteriously appearing through the fog off Mackinaw Island exactly as it appeared when it was last seen on that fateful day in 1892.

MARQUETTE & BESSEMER #2
This 334 foot railroad car ferry, carrying 32 hopper cars full of coal, sank on December 8, 1909 along with all 36 men on board, leaving no trace of wreckage. Because of the build of the ship and the open ended design of ferry cars of the day, it is thought to have taken on too much water that was then unable to be pumped fast enough. Sadly, three days after the Bessemer went missing, one of its lifeboats was found 15 miles from Erie…with 9 frozen bodies. Sailors for years swear they can still hear the ship’s whistle on stormy nights. Mysteriously, the sunken ship has been spotted by air, yet cannot be found by divers.

EDMUND FITZGERALD Arguably the most famous ghost ship of the Great Lakes, this ore freighter sank in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 and all 26 crewman were lost. It is not known fully what happened that fateful night in 1975, but it must have happened very fast because the captain of another freighter, Capt. Jesse Cooper, had been talking to the Fitzgerald’s captain just moments before it disappeared. Cooper stated the Fitz was in the midst of a heavy snow squall and could barely be seen, then suddenly the snow ended but the Fitzgerald had disappeared, not only from sight but from the Cooper’s radar as well. It is thought that the ship had bottomed out on a very dangerous and then-unknown rock formation, called Caribou Shoal, and began filling with water and sinking before the crew even knew they were in trouble. The legend of the Fitzgerald has lived on in song as well as many sightings of the ship still sailing the Great Lakes to this day. Recently, in 1985, a commercial vessel is recorded to have seen the Fitzgerald.

EMPEROR STEAMER
A diver exploring the ship’s wreckage in 1988 saw the ghost of a crewman laying on his bunk, who then rolled over and looked at him, appearing as he would have before the ship sank…then just vanished!

BANNOCKBURN (aka, “THE FLYING DUTCHMAN OF THE GREAT LAKES”)
This famous steamer set sail on November 21, 1902…and simply disappeared into Lake Superior with its crew of 20 men. Like so many shipwrecks, no wreckage was ever found, the entire ship seemingly just disappeared into thin air. What makes the legend of this ship so different is the sheer mass number of sightings over the years that continues to this day. Most of these sightings occur in the month of November, when winter gale winds are blowing and visibility is low, the ghostly image of an ancient steamer is seen battling its way through the storm, trying to find a safe harbor.

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