Our haunted tale begins in the town of Paradise, quietly going through the Graveyard of Souls. You've heard that Lake Superior never gives up its dead and so in this graveyard, there are no bodies, only markers of those LOST AT SEA. When mother nature Kicks up those gales, many poor souls have lost their lives. But when the winds calm down & the waves disappear, Lake Superior is a beautiful body of water. So, welcome to Lake Superior and our own little piece of Paradise. You know what they say. . . . . no stress, no salt, & no SHARKS??
Not far north of Paradise is a small village that was once a logging town back in the 1800's and Shelldrake is recognized as a true Michigan Ghost Town This town is famous for its share of ghost stories including the one about the Schoolmarm of Shelldrake. Legend is, every day at 4:00 there is a strange knock on the door of the house where she once lived not far from the schoolhouse, right about the time the teacher would be returning from school for the day. But there was never anyone outside the door!
There are also stories of the area being haunted by an old sea captain who stands on the dock near Shelldrake. He has a pipe and a cape, and he is usually seen from the lake. As boats approach the shore, he fades away and disappears. The tugboat Grace, which was towing a barge in October of 1879 through Whitefish Bay was headed for Goulais Bay in Canada. During a storm in the early morning, the tugboat broke down and drifted onto a sand bar about 200 feet offshore from Shelldrake. The tug filled with water and broke to pieces. The crew made it to shore, and after climbing the bank to safety the captain proclaimed, "Thank God, we are all safe." and then suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack. Legend is this may be the captain's ghost that has been seen on the docks.
TAnother ghost story takes us back to 1919 when a 281-foot, 2,127-ton steamer ship named the John Owen was downbound from Duluth with wheat when she sank in a terrific gale, taking her entire crew of 21 men and one woman down with her. The location of the sinking was never determined, but was thought to have been somewhere northwest of Whitefish Point. That winter, a Coast Guardsman running the mail with a dog sled team discovered a body frozen in the shore ice to the west of Crisp's Point. After great effort, the remains of the man, later identified as the Owen's assistant engineer William J. Reilly, was chopped out of the ice. Loaded on a sled, the body was returned to the station and stored frozen until instructions regarding its disposition came from the Lake Carriers' Association. The body was in excellent condition, except for two missing fingers supposedly accidentally chopped off when the body was being freed from the ice. Hoary old surfmen always warned new men about the ghost of "Three-Fingered Reilly." His restless soul is said to wander the lonely shore still searching for his missing fingers. More than one beach patrolman is said to have come back to the station white and shaking from either hearing Reilly's footsteps just behind him or seeing his ghostly form outlined against the surf. His body may be forever buried in a long forgotten grave, but his ghost marches on. Some believe Reilly's restless spirit has company. Several dozen vessels wrecked along this dangerous section of coast, many with terrible loss of life. The lost souls of their passengers and crews have been claimed to still wander the shores of Lake Superior.
Lake Superior has had its share of pirates as well.
Pirate Dan Seavey was a smuggler, a poacher, and even ran a floating brothel and casino during Prohibition. He was known as a fierce fighter and drinker, contributing to his larger-than-life legend. He would sail into ports at night and steal anything valuable that was not nailed down from docks and other vessels which he then sold as his own cargo. He was notorious for "moon cussing," where he would extinguish or place false lights to lure ships onto rocks, allowing him and his crew to steal the cargo.
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