Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses: No One Knows How Many Ghosts Haunt the Traverse City Tower
Can a ghost haunt a ghost? Do apparitions see each other? Stories of many spirits prompt questions about Traverse City's Grand Traverse Lighthouse.
Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state. With a history dating back to 1825, some of the past lingers with the stories and legends of hauntings numbering almost as many as ships that have sailed the Great Lakes. The Grand Traverse Lighthouse may have more ghosts than any other.
At the tip of Michigan's pinkie finger in the Leelanau State Park stands Grand Traverse Lighthouse. Captain Peter Nelson lived in Northport and was the keeper for sixteen years from 1874-1890; some say he never left. Like many of Michigan's other lighthouse hauntings, footsteps are often heard here but some heave heard voices too. The smell of bacon has been detected also, leading some to conclude that there are spirits of more than one former keeper still on the job at Grand Traverse Lighthouse.