The Black Dog of Lake Erie

A week from tomorrow will be 119 years since the sinking of the Thomas Hume. The schooner was returning to its home port in Muskegon, Michigan when it vanished on May 21, 1891. Many rumors were caused by the ship's disappearance and the lack of any witnessed wreckage washing ashore following its disappearance. Some even theorized that the schooner's captain had stolen the vessel for himself, disguising it with a new paint job. However, the wreck of the Thomas Hume was discovered at the Southern end of Lake Michigan in 2005.

The Thomas Hume is one of a number of vessels at the bottom of the Great Lakes that are said to have fallen victim to the supernatural beast known as the Black Dog of Lake Erie. Legend has it that the Black Dog was the result of an incident that occurred in the Welland Canal. The story goes that a Newfoundland dog that served as a ship's mascot fell overboard while travelling through the canal. In some versions of the tale the sailors mocked the dog as it swam, desperately trying to catch up with its ship. The poor animal was crushed to death when one of the canal lock gates came down. It had the effect of trapping the ship inside the lock as the gate could not completely close. Once the sailors were able to free the large furry corpse from the gate mechanism, they were able to continue on their way. However, the story goes, they found themselves haunted by the vengeful spirit of the dead Newfie. They had begun a curse that would result in the sinking of many ships in the Great Lakes. It is said that on occasion a large black dog will appear on one side of a ship, run across the deck and leap from the other side. Soon after, the ship will run into trouble. When the Issac G. Jenkins sank in Lake Ontario on November of 1875, a farmer claimed to have witnessed a large black dog swim to shore and drag itself onto land, vanishing into the darkness.

Click here to learn more about the Black Dog, the legend of Jenny Greenteeth and the monster of Lake Erie.


-Tom G

Rediscovery of a Legend

24 years ago on this day, a joint American-French expedition located the wreckage of the famed-ship, the R.M.S. Titanic. The expedition was led by Dr. Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel and was funded by the United State Navy with the understanding that Ballard would first lead secret missions to survey the wreckage of the naval nuclear submarines, Thresher and Scorpion. The knowledge and experience he learned from the two missions aided him greatly in his search for the famous Titanic. In fact, it was his new understanding of underwater debris field which led him directly to the famous wreckage. On September 1, 1985, the team's lifelong dreams were fulfilled and the Titanic was found. The ship had sunk during its maiden voyage on April 14, 1912 and took an estimated 1,520 lives with it - a tragedy that left the world shaken and installed the name "Titanic" forever in popular culture.

Read more about the famed ship at Dark Destinations.

-Casey H.

Tragedy on the S.S. Governor

The Admiralty Inlet near Puget Sound, Washington was the site of a tragic shipwreck on April 1, 1921. Despite clear weather, the pilot of the S.S. Governor confused the running lights of the S.S. West Hartland as the fixed lights of nearby Marrowstone Point and preceded forward. It turned out to be a fatal mistake as the West Hartland rammed the Governor at the center of its onboard side, ripping a 10-foot gash into its side that immediately began to take on water.

Onboard the Governor was the Washbourne family who were asleep in their room with the father and mother (Harry and Lucy) on one-side of the cabin and their two daughters on the other. Their cabin was located at the site of impact and the bow of the S.S. Hartland sliced through the walls and divided the room, separating the family. Harry was severely injured, but Lucy was able to seek aid. Rescuers quickly descended and freed Harry from the wreckage, but the two young girls were completely trapped and there was no way to free them. The crew had little choice but to leave them and forcefully removed their now-hysterical mother. Once the crew had the injured husband and grieving mother topside, they moved immediately to transfer Harry over to the West Hartland with the rest of the passengers fleeing the sinking ship. As they were distracted, Lucy broke free from her rescuers and ran back into the ship to be with her children. She was never seen again.

The S.S. Governor sunk within 20 minutes of impact, taking only eight lives with it - including Lucy Washbourne and her two children. In close proximity to the wreckage is the Point Wilson Lighthouse, whose keeper that night witnessed the tragic accident. Today, members of the United States Coast Guard have reported seeing the apparition of a woman wearing a nightgown wandering the property as if searching for something before entering the lighthouse itself and completely disappearing. It is presumed the alleged spirit is that of Lucy Washbourne, still seeking her children all these years later. It is also only one of the many stories of paranormal encounters at the Point Wilson Lighthouse.

Read more on the history and encounters of the Point Wilson Lighthouse.

-Casey H.

The Haunted Tales of the S.S. Yongala

In 1923, two men were out fishing near Holbourne Island in Queensland, Australia. To their surprise, a ship emerged from a distance that was on course to pass the island. They described it as a passenger steamship that was covered in barnacles and rust. When it passed the island, the men waited for the steamship to emerge from the other side, but it never did. They immediately went looking for it, but found that it had completely vanished. Unnerved, they returned to dock and told others of what they had seen. They apparently had little doubt that the ship they had seen was the S.S. Yongala. The problem was that the S.S. Yongala had disappeared without a trace 12 years earlier.

The S.S. Yongala would eventually be discovered to the north of Holbourne Island in 1958. The general consensus is that the ship encountered a cyclone on or close to March 23, 1911 while carrying over 120 people. All of the passengers and crew are believed to have gone down with the ship. Today, the wreck of the S.S. Yongala is a popular scuba diving and is protected as a recognized artificial reef. As it turned out, the 1923 encounter is not the only reported supernatural claim associated with the ship (see the link below). Nor was it the last time the ship would be in the news.

Most recently, the shipwreck has been in the news after the scuba diving death of American Tina Watson at the site on her honeymoon in October 2003. Just last year, Australian officials issued an arrest warrant and request to extradite her husband, Gabe Watson, who they believe played a role in her drowning. To date, Watson and his attorney have fought the extradition and Watson failed to show at the start of the trial in February of this year. Australian authorities are now planning their next move.

Read the stories of the Wreck of the S.S. Yongala.

-Casey H.

The Stories of the Point Wilson Lighthouse

On December 15, 1879, the Point Wilson Lighthouse first lit up to help ships navigate the waters between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Admiralty Inlet of Puget Sound at Port Townsend, Washington. The light tower was first constructed as an extension to the still-existing keeper's quarters, but was later given its own structure after Mother Nature took its toll on the surrounding beach. The area around it would serve as a U.S. Army base, which today stands as Fort Worden State Park. Though automated, the lighthouse is still in use to this day.

In its first 129 years of service, the Point Wilson Lighthouse has seen a few tragedies. However, none may have left a mark on the property quite like the sinking of the S.S. Governor. In 1921, the ship was carrying 240 passengers when it collided with another ship just off Point Wilson and began to take on water. Through heroic rescue efforts, most of the passengers were saved. However, eight people perished in the crash, including two young girls and the mother who refused to leave them behind. Most tie this disaster to at least some of the current reports of paranormal activity reported at the keeper's quarters and the lighthouse itself.

Visit the link below to read the stories of the shipwreck and various accounts of ghosts and other supernatural activity reported on the grounds to this day. Also read the current plans of the property's transfer of ownership and suggested relocation that will save this historical property for the generations to come.

Pay a visit to the Point Wilson Lighthouse on Dark Destinations.

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-Casey H.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

By mariner's terms, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald had an inauspicious start. During its launch, it took three swings of the champagne bottle to finally break over the bow to christen the ship. After 36-minutes of trying to free the ship from its keel blocks, it was launched sideways and suddenly crashed back into the docks violently and a spectator suffered a heart attack. In the next seventeen years, it would lose its original anchor, run aground, collide with another ship, and crash into the wall of a lock three times. Though it hardly was a charmed life, the worst was yet to come.

On November 9, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald departed port at Superior, Wisconsin and into the waters of Lake Superior with a full-load of ore meant for nearby Zug Island. In Great Lakes yore, the weather conditions on the five main lakes can be unpredictable and very deadly - specifically in the month of November. It is so bad that the local sailors have dubbed the winds that pummel the ships the cryptic name of the Witch of November. The weather conditions were hardly favorable the first day of the Fitzgerald's voyage, but took a bad turn the next day.

At 3:30 P.M. on November 10, Fitzgerald Captain Ernest M. McSorley reported that the ship had lost its radar and had a minor list developing. The snow falling was causing whiteout conditions and the Coast Guard issued a warning for all ships to find safe harbor. The freighter, Arthur M. Anderson, was not far behind and issued a warning to the Fitzgerald at 7:10 P.M. that they had been struck by rogue waves big enough to be detected by radar that were heading the Fitzgerald's way. Asked how they were doing, McSorley responded, "We are holding our own." That was the last the ship and the 29 lives onboard were ever heard from again.

The Great Lakes lie in what has been dubbed "The Great Lakes Triangle," for the amount of ships and planes that have vanished in its waters. Surprisingly there are more disappearances per unit area than the infamous Bermuda Triangle, despite the fact that the area is 16 times smaller. The SS Edmund Fitzgerald is perhaps the best-known shipwreck on the Great Lakes. The wreck was located fairly quickly unlike some of the others, but theories still abound as to what caused its sinking (some even including UFOs). In addition, the Fitzgerald has been immortalized in popular culture over the years - most notably in Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Visit the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Dark Destinations.

-Casey H.