The Sheldrake Sea Captain

The village of Sheldrake is a ghost town today and can no longer be found on the map. The French were the first settlers to this area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which had been previously inhabited by the Chippewa Indians, and they gave the town its name of Sheldrake after the diving duck which frequents the region. The first settlement was established in the 1800’s as a lumbering community and existed for about forty years until the lumber gave out. Several disastrous fires wiped out the town, the last one in 1926. Sheldrake once numbered over fifteen hundred people and had over 150 buildings. There are about a dozen left today and all are owned by a local company that manufactures wood products. The scenic area attracts many tourists in the summer, but there are only a handful of year-round residents and they are the ones most likely to see the ghosts.

One of the spirits is that of an old sea captain who has been reported standing on a nearby dock. He has a pipe and a cape and he is often seen from the lake. As the boats approach the shore, he fades away and disappears. One house in the town, the Palmer House, is said to have lights that appear in the windows when no one is present and the window shades often go up and down on their own. The Hopkins House is another place where ghosts have been reported. In this house, a glowing phantom has been seen walking the place at night. The Smith House is reported to be haunted by the ghost of a former logger with a heavy beard and overalls who is sometimes seen sitting on the furniture or standing in doorways. At the Biehl house, a number of people have reported seeing a woman in a blue veil walking past or standing near them. Voices are also heard here, pictures fall off the walls and faucets turn on by themselves.

If anything, the ghosts of Sheldrake seem to be a benevolent sort and are perhaps just residual images of the past or at the worst, lingering spirits of a few residents from the town that existed many years ago.

Clues…

A few miles north of where the town of Sheldrake was once located, the spirit of the old Sea Captain haunts the harbor. You will find him hiding under concrete pieces, 310 degrees from the outbuilding.

Anatomy of a Murder

In March of 1959 Hollywood came to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to film the 1956 best seller, Anatomy of a Murder. The story tells of a bartender murdered by an Army Lieutenant (Ben Gazzara) who claims the victim had beaten and raped his wife (Lee Remick). She supports her husband’s version but no physical evidence supports the rape incident. The wife was a well known tramp about camp and was accused of lying to protect her husband. The defense (Jimmy Stewart) claimed that both were telling the truth and the husband became temporarily insane and killed during his rage over what happened to his wife. Due to use of explicit language, the movie marked the biggest challenge to the movie morals code since Clark Gable said “damn” in “Gone With the Wind.”

Director Otto Preminger led his group of 150 movie makers to the Upper Peninsula, much to the delight of local residents. He used about 300 extras who were paid $10 a day; those with speaking roles $90 a day. More than 1,500 people applied for the jobs. The movie company spent six weeks in the area and left behind over $300,000, as well as giving local residents their first up-close view of the movie industry and its stars.

Clues…

Begin your quest for clues to the body box in the town where the majority of filming was done, at the hotel, originally named for a prominent Michigan businessman, which was later renamed to be the fictional name used for both the town and the hotel in the movie.

Follow Deutsch as it curves around onto KK. Pass the cemetery, which would have been a logical place to dispose of the body box or any other crime-related evidence had it been more remotely located. A short quarter mile down the road from the cemetery, as the main road curves to the left, a seasonal dirt road lies straight ahead (if the road is closed for the season when you come, you can park here and walk in).

Follow the dirt road, which is not much more than a logging trail, as it immediately winds to the left into the woods. After approximately 1/2 mile, you will come to a small clearing with a wire-gated drive. From the north end of the clearing, 50 paces reveals a blue-blazed tree on your right. 100 degrees from this tree, the body box has been disposed of in a dead stump hiding behind a clump of trees.

Gunfire Ghost

The legend of the Gunfire Ghost started back in the mid 60’s when three boys were going to stay overnight at a lighthouse along Lake Superior. They decided to sleep in the attic of the keeper’s home near the tower. They went out for a couple of hours, and when they came back, laid out their sleeping bags. While the boys were getting ready for bed, they heard creaky footsteps coming up the stairs down below them. One of the boys went to check if someone was there. He went down the attic stairs, then he walked down the hallway. The creaky footsteps stopped.

He walked down to the living room and saw a shadow that looked like a man. Hesitantly, he walked toward it — nope, just a statue that looked like a man. Then he thought of something else! He had forgotten to look in the closet, but upon checking, nothing was there. He checked everywhere, and found nothing. So he went back up to the attic.

They had brought their .22 rifles to do some target practice. They had also brought a lantern for the dark so they wouldn’t get lost in the lighthouse. Cautiously the boys laid these items within reach, turned on the radio and went to sleep. During the night they were awakened by a noise, “Creak! Creak!” The footsteps were back! The boys got up and carefully exited out of the attic. “We’re up and armed!” said one of the boys. They looked everywhere. “BANG!!!” Thunder came as it began to storm. So they got out of the attic and went to the basement to sleep, and be safe in case a tornado came. They didn’t hear any more noises that night and the next day it was bright and sunny.

Clues…

When the boys had been out exploring the shoreline the previous afternoon, they had found a box of treasure. Upon hearing the creaking stairs, they were convinced whomever was in the lighthouse with them was after their treasure. One of the boys bravely slipped out the back entrance and ran out into the storm to hide the treasure.

From the lighthouse he headed westward down the beach, away from the lighthouse. As he approached the last row of old pilings standing in the stormy water, a sudden crack of lightning revealed a sandy pathway heading up from the beach just past a big-headed pine that looked like a low, angry cloud. Walking up this path, just ahead of him, the many trunks of a sprawling birch tree caught the light of the moon and looked like a glowing monster, whose many arms were waiting to grab him and his treasure. Carefully, he skirted around the right side of the tree and walked due south to a pine stump standing at the edge of a sandy bowl-shaped area. Ahhh! This would make a good hiding spot for the treasure, he thought! He took a quick look around to make sure he wasn’t being watched and then crouched down into the middle of the sandy basin and hid his treasure under a pile of rocks.