Ghost Stories of the Great Lakes
The unknown is alive in the depths of the great lakes. And it calls to us like the relentless waves lapping the shores.
The great lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world by total area and contain roughly 20 percent of the world’s fresh water – but they also hold six thousand lost ships and tens of thousands of drowned and missing souls. From phantom vessels still sailing their final routes to lighthouse keepers who never abandoned their posts to the Marysburgh Vortex where 270 to 500 ships have disappeared, Mark Leslie maps the supernatural history of North America’s inland seas in this fascinating collection. Charting a clockwise journey through all five lakes, as well as their connecting waterways and bodies of water, including Lake St. Clair, Leslie draws on historical records, newspaper archives, Indigenous oral traditions and firsthand witness accounts in this fascinating mix of maritime history, regional folklore and paranormal nonfiction. Whether you live near the lakes or simply love them, Ghost Stories of the Great Lakes will delight you with the hidden histories, Indigenous traditions and unsolved mysteries embedded in every shoreline.
October 13, 2026 | ISBN 978-1-998408-54-2
[COMING SOON: Universal Book Link to print/eBook at numerous retailers]
Here’s a look at the various locations that are covered in the book.
Bibliography and Further Reading
Like the Great Lakes themselves, there’s so much that happens beneath the surface of putting together a book that can’t be seen. Beyond the phenomenal work done by the editorial and creative teams at the publisher (with a huge thank-you to Noelle Allen and Ashley Hisson for their support, guidance, and extreme patience with me during the process of creating this book) are the countless resources, articles, essays, and books consulted to put everything together.
While many of the consulted resources either didn’t make it into the book or weren’t referenced directly, they did play a part in helping me better understand the people, the places, the situations that I wrote about. Other sources listed below might have been used to compile a section of the book that was later cut from the final draft for various editorial and logistical publishing considerations.
I’ve attempted to compile a list of as many of the sources I used when stitching together this collection of “tales told as true” (a phrase that John Robert Colombo taught me). Some of them appear in the book’s official Bibliography, others are referenced in notes scattered throughout. And some others never made the final cut, but still helped me paint the pictures in my mind of the stories I would put together.
Books
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Barr, Elinor. Silver Islet: Striking It Rich in Lake Superior. Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc., 1988.
Beard, Tom, ed. Lighthouses of America. Welcome Books, 2017.
Berger, Todd R., and Daniel E. Dempster. Lighthouses of the Great Lakes: Your Guide to the Region’s Historic Lighthouses. Voyageur Press, 2002.
Berlitz, Charles: The Bermuda Triangle. Doubleday & Company, 1974.
Bishop, Hugh E. Haunted Lake Superior: Ghostly Tales and Legends from the Mystical Inland Sea. Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., 2003.
Boyer, Dwight. Great Stories of the Great Lakes: Thrilling Tales of Tragedy, Humor and Heroism. Freshwater Press, Inc., 1966
Bunch, Adam. The Toronto Book of the Dead. Dundurn Press, 2017.
Cassady, Charles, Jr. Paranormal Great Lakes: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Schiffer Publishing, 2009.
Chisholm, Barbara, and Andrea Gutsche. Superior: Under the Shadow of the Gods. Lynx Images, 1998.
Cochrane, Hugh. Gateway to Oblivion: The Great Lakes’ Bermuda Triangle. Doubleday, 1980.
Connelley, William Elsey. Wyandot Folk-Lore. Crane & Company, 1899.
Conway, Thor. Spirits on Stone: The Agawa Pictographs. Heritage Discoveries, 1990.
Cook, Samuel Fletcher. Drummond Island: The Story of the British Occupration, 1815-1828. 1896.
Crompton, Samuel Willard, and Michael J. Rhein. The Ultimate Book of Lighthouses: History, Legend, Lore, Design, Technology, Romance. Thunder Bay Press, 2003.
Da Silva, Maria, and Andrew Hind. Ghosts of Niagara-on-the-Lake (Second Edition). Dundurn Press, 2009.
Da Silva, Maria, and Andrew Hind. Haunted Ontario Lakes: Ghost Stories. Ghost House Books / Lone Pine, 2015.
Dewdney, Selwyn. Indian Rock Paintings of the Great Lakes. 2nd ed. University of Toronto Press, 1967.
Floren, Russell, and Andrea Gutsche. Ghosts of the Bay: A Guide to the History of Georgian Bay. Edited by Barbara Chisholm. Lynx Images, 1994.
Gateley, Susan Peterson. Mirages Monsters Myths and Mysteries of Lake Ontario. Whiskey Hill Press, 2001.
Gutsche, Andrea, Barbara Chisholm, and Russell Chicken. Alone in the Night: Lighthouses of Georgian Bay, Manitoulin Island and the North Channel. Lynx Images, 1996.
Hale, Dennis. Shipwrecked: Reflections of the Sole Survivor. Xlibris, 2010.
Hale, Dennis. Sole Survivor: The True Story of the SS Daniel J. Morrell. Self-published, 2016.
Harnsberger, Caroline. Winnetka: The Biography of a Village. Winnetka Historical Society, 1977.
Heinsen, Victoria King. Ghosts and Legends of Lake Erie’s North Coast. The History Press, 2012.
Hunter, Douglas. Frightful Disaster!: The Disappearance of the Great Lakes Steamer Waubuno, and the Pursuit of Justice for All Who Were Lost. Gin Rocks Press, 2025.
Hunter, Douglas. God’s Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal, and the Dream of Discovery. Doubleday Canada, 2007.
Jerlecki, Constance M. Sailing into Disaster: Ghost Ships and Other Mysterious Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes. Inland Expressions, 2017.
Johnston, Basil. The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway. Key Porter Books, 1995.
Jones, Ray. The Lighthouse Encyclopedia: The Definitive Reference. Globe Pequot Press, 2004.
Kohl, Johann Georg. Kitchi-Gami: Wanderings Round Lake Superior. 1860. Reprint, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1985.
Lardinois, Anna. Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes: Tragedies and Legacies from the Inland Seas. Globe Pequot, 2021.
Leslie, Mark. Creepy Capital: Ghost Stories of Ottawa and the National Capital Region. Dundurn Press, 2016.
Leslie, Mark. Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers. Dundurn Press, 2012.
Limbrick, Humbert M. Tales of the Tom-Tom from the Land of the Sleeping Giant. c. 1970?. Reprint, 2010. https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/tales-of-the-tom-tom-from-the-land-of-the-sleeping-giant.
Long, Megan. Ghosts of the Great Lakes: More Than Mere Legend. Thunder Bay Press / Lynx Images, 2003.
Mayo, William. Mysterious North Shore: A Guide to Hauntings, Oddities, and Mysteries of Minnesota’s North Shore. Adventure Publications, 2021.
Savoie, John. Shadows of Niagara: Investigating Canada’s Most Haunted Region. Lulu, 2005.
Shackleton, Glen. Ghosts of Kingston: From the Files of the Haunted Walk. Trafford Publishing, 2007.
Shatkins, Candice. Haunted Kenosha: Ghosts, Legends and Bizarre Tales. The History Press, 2009.
Shiel, William. Haunted Copper Country: The History & Ghost Stories of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The History Press, 2023.
Skinner, Charles M. Myths and Legends of Our Own Land. Vol. 2, The Isle of Manhattoes and Nearby. J. B. Lippincott, 1896.
Stampfler, Dianna. Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes: A History of Misfortune & Murder. The History Press, 2022.
Stampfler, Dianna. Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses. The History Press, 2019.
Smith, Barbara. Canadian Ghost Stories: Volume I. Illustrated by Arlana Anderson-Hale. Edited by Shelagh Kubish. Lone Pine Publishing, 2001.
Smith, Barbara. Great Canadian Ghost Stories: Legendary Tales of Haunting from Coast to Coast. TouchWood Editions, 2018.
Smith, Barbara. Ontario Ghost Stories. Lone Pine Publishing, 1998.
Stonehouse, Frederick. Great Lakes Lighthouse Tales. Avery Color Studios, 1998.
Stonehouse, Frederick. Haunted Lakes: Great Lakes Ghost Stories, Superstitions and Sea Serpents. Lake Superior Port Cities, 1997.
Stonehouse, Frederick. Haunted Lakes II: More Great Lakes Ghost Stories, Superstitions, and Sea Serpents. Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., 2000.
Stonehouse, Frederick. Haunted Lake Huron. Illustrated by Joy Morgan Dey. Lake Superior Port Cities, 2007.
Stonehouse, Frederick. Haunted Lake Michigan. Lake Superior Port Cities, Inc., 2006.
Van Heest, Valerie. Fatal Crossing: The Mysterious Disappearance of NWA Flight 2501 and the Quest for Answers. In-Depth Editions, 2013.
Winfield, Mason. Shadows of the Western Door: Haunted Sites and Ancient Mysteries of Upstate New York. Western New York Wares Inc., 1997.
Wright, Larry, and Patricia Wright. Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia. Boston Mills Press, 2006.
Newspaper, Magazine, News, and Online Articles
“203 Years Ago, a Toronto Lighthouse-Keeper Disappeared. Today, the Mystery Endures.” CBC News, January 2, 2018. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/203-years-ago-a-toronto-lighthouse-keeper-disappeared-today-the-mystery-endures-1.4470748.
Armour, J. K., D. R. Zilkey, and J. I. Boyce. “3-D Subsurface Geophysical Modeling of the Charity Shoal Structure.” Earth and Space Science 11, no. 11 (November 2024). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2024EA003605.
Ast, William F., III. “Plane Crash Victims Memorialized.” Herald-Palladium (St. Joseph, MI), September 10, 2008.
Baker, Jean. “Sinking of the Foam – Part 1 – Seven Died in Tragic Lake Ontario Maritime Mishap 147 Years Ago.” Niagara Now (The Lake Report). 2021. https://niagaranow.com/news.phtml/6615-sinking-of-the-foam-part-1-seven-diedin-tragic-lake-ontario-maritime-mishap-147-years-ago/.
Baker, Jean. “Part 2: The Sinking of the Foam: NOTL Author Recounts the Haunting Story of the Loss of All Aboard.” Niagara Now (The Lake Report), November 30, 2021. https://niagaranow.com/news.phtml/6677-part-2-the-sinking-of-the-foam-notl-author-recounts-the-haunting-story-of-the-loss-of-all-aboard/.
Baker, Jean. “Part 3: The Sinking of the Foam: Maritime Tragedy Still Captures Local Imagination.” Niagara Now (The Lake Report). 2021. https://niagaranow.com/news.phtml/6722-part-3-the-sinking-of-the-foam-maritime-tragedy-still-captureslocal-imagination/.
Baker, Jean.
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Champney, Stella M. “Strange Tales of the Great Lakes.” Detroit News, c. 1930s.
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