Ghosts watching the lakes: Tales of haunted lighthouses

Still standing watch on the shores of the Great Lakes, Michigan's lighthouses don't have live-in keepers anymore, but stories say they don't watch alone.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the public can hear those tales of lighthouse keepers who supposedly won't let even death keep them from their duties.

Dianna Stampfler, president of the tourism consulting business Promote Michigan, will give a presentation at Willard Library, 7 W. Van Buren St. She'll tell the tales of allegedly ghostly encounters along Michigan's lakeshores.

In Michigan, Stampfler said, where the coastline is plentiful and there are more lighthouses than any other state, it's easy to see why the stories are fascinating to people.

"We have probably two dozen or more lighthouses in Michigan that are rumored to be haunted," Stampfler said. "This time of year, of course, everybody's looking for the ghost stories that are out there. This program will share some of those stories."

Stampfler said all the stories she's collected about the spectral keepers are ones with happy endings, or at least ones without sinister endings.

"It's not like 'The Exorcist' or 'The Amityville Horror,' or any of those weird things," Stampfler said. "People that go visit, I've never heard anybody say that they were frightened in any of these lights. It's always kind of a watchful presence that was there."

For those looking for a ghost sighting, Stampfler recommended three lighthouses.

• White River Station Light, 6199 Murray Road, Whitehall: Stampfler said this light is rumored to be haunted by the keeper and his wife.

"Their keeper, Bill Robinson, he was there for 44 years," Stampfler said. "Toward his latter part of his service, the lighthouse service told him he had to leave and the night before he was to vacate, he passed away at the lighthouse."

This light now features a museum about life along the Great Lakes. Stampfler said the museum staff has reported run-ins with the ghosts.

• Seul Choix Point Lighthouse, 3181 County Road 431, Gulliver: Here, according to Stampfler, is one of the most-haunted lighthouses in the state — at least, for those who believe in the ghost of keeper Willy Townsend.

"If you're there and you have an experience of any kind, they ask you to write it in this binder," Stampfler said.

The lighthouse is only open during the summer and early fall.

"Visitors and workers at the lighthouse complex have reported strange happenings, including moved silverware and other items, footsteps, the strong smell of cigars and the sound of someone climbing the lighthouse steps," the lighthouse site, exploringthenorth.com/seulchoix/seul.html, claims. "Many believe that a lighthouse keeper is still at work."

• Saginaw River Lighthouse, Bay City: Stampfler said the alleged ghosts of two lighthouse keepers are still here, and were both married to the same woman. That led to rumors of her killing the men.

"There's a lot of speculation, and these things happen," Stampfler said. "These deaths were back in 1800s, early 1900s, before CSI and DNA testing, all of those kinds of things."

As for Stampfler herself, she's never had a ghost encounter despite spending six hours atop the South Manitou Island Light on a full-moon night.

"If there was ever going to be a ghost encounter, it would've been there, I think," Stampfler said. "I waited and waited and waited, and nothing ever happened."

Call Andy Fitzpatrick at 966-0697. Follow him on Twitter; @am_fitzpatrick.

If you go

• WHAT: "Michigan's Ghostly Beacons" presentation on lighthouses.

• WHERE: Willard Library, 7 W. Van Buren St.

• WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Thursday; doors open at 6 p.m.

• COST: Free.

• INFO: Call Willard Library at 968-8166 or go to www.willard.lib.mi.us. Promote Michigan can be found at www.promotemichigan.com.