Published by Haunted America
A Division of The History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.com
Copyright 2018 by Jennifer Billock
All rights reserved
First published 2018
e-book edition 2018
ISBN 978.1.43966.511.4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018943599
print edition ISBN 978.1.46714.013.3
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
For my dearly departed friends and family,
who I hope are relentlessly haunting me.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, a big thanks to anyone whos ever had to sit through a conversation with me thats been punctuated with pauses for me to say, Thats a great story/book idea and then pull out my phone to write it down in my notes. And yes, thats pretty much every single person I know. Your patience and support of my creative impulses are so appreciated.
This book came to life with a lot of help. In no particular order, Id like to thank Frederick Stonehouse, Anthony Douglas, Calvin Staricha, Jesse Land, Coriane Penegor and the Ontonagon County Historical Society, the ever-fabulous team at Michigan Techs archives, Hilary Billman and the Marquette Maritime Museum, Rick from the Crisp Point Light Historical Society, Chris Szabo, Derek Hall at Northern Michigan University, Todd Clements from the Haunts of Mackinac Tour Company, Craig Nuottila, Heather Tamlyn, Wayne Peacock, Brad Blair, Paul Sabourin, Lynn at the Calumet Theatre, the amazing Patty Pattison, Jeremiah Mason, a whole slew of folks on Facebook (Kathleen Fairbanks, Thomas Read, Katie Hatcher, Linda St. Germain, John David Arnold, Susan Wickstrom, Betsie Reed, Pam Gramling, Judy OBetts, Darla Manninen, Holly Stromer, Tasha Paavola, Cheryl Rotole, Mary Beyers, Danielle Adams, Brenda Niemela, Makayala Isaacson, Priscilla Ross-Fox, Joe Gervais, Mary Ciurro, Jean Butler, Joan Fischer, Tony Roseman, Lynn Lanyon, Edwin Wakeham, Amy Jeffery, Ellen Vangemert, Robert Grizz and more) and, as always, my constantly supportive family and friends.
INTRODUCTION
THE ETHEREAL UPPER PENINSULA
Ask someone who frequents Michigans Upper Peninsula, and youll hear it called a multitude of things: the Northwoods, Gods Country, the Yoop, Up North and more. Its a favorite place for people looking for a bit of solitude, a break from the everyday. If you want to get away into nature, just head north.
The travelers heading up are rightyoull be hard-pressed to find anybody who interrupts your time at the lake or your camp. And thats because the small UP, which holds one-third of the land in Michigan, also only holds 3 percent of the population. Census numbers have been on a steady decline since the mining boom, when Calumet, now a town of only 706 people, almost became the state capital.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants flocked to the Upper Peninsula in its heyday. They took up jobs in the copper or iron mines, in the fishing outfits or at the lumberyards and sawmills. Summer cottages sprang up for the workers to vacation at, and a rich history of lake life began. But then the industries started to fade, and the people made a mass exodus.
But they left behind a rich heritage. From the abandoned mining towns and the remnants of Finnish culture in the west to the ore pocket docks and lifesaving stations in the east and along the coast, the Upper Peninsula still holds the heart of the people who forged the land before us.
And, some say, the souls as well. During the boom years, the UP saw an enormous amount of death. Mines collapsed, murders shocked the small towns and an entire legion of mariners drowned at sea. All the casualties were reborn in a new form: ghosts, spirits and the occasional monster.
Among these pages, youll find some of the most well-known ghost stories to haunt the Upper Peninsula, as well as some of the more hidden mysteries. Historical research and personal accounts demystify many of these paranormal taleswhether that means we finally learn who the real ghost is at Northern Michigan Universitys fine arts building or we learn that one of the peninsulas most famous hauntings is not so supernatural at all. Here youll read of ghosts and graveyards, shipwrecks and specters, UFOs and undead souls. Youll learn that even though much of the Upper Peninsula appears deserted, the history and haunts of the past will never truly be able to leave.
PART I
WESTERN UPPER PENINSULA HAUNTS
THE ITALIAN HALL AND THE CALUMET THEATRE
The cold winter moon still rises to find
A trace of the old Calumet Copper Mine
And the place where the children were waiting inside
For legend to freeze them in time.
The Keweenaw wind blows lonesome and cold
It cuts to the marrow and chills to the soul
With the memory of children like yours and like mine
Too young to be frozen in time.
Frozen in Time, Larry Penn
Christmas Eve 1913 in Calumet was meant to be a time of laughter, fun and presents for union miners and their families. Thered been a labor strike on for five months at that point, and it was high time for a little holiday cheer. The womens union group knew it, so it organized a massive holiday party for that night, held upstairs at the Italian Hall, a large red brick building at the corner of Elm and Seventh Streets.
More than six hundred people packed into the building for the festivities. The majority were children, either with their parents, their siblings or their friends. At the start, it was a fabulous time. The children sang Christmas carols, dancing and laughing with their friends. Santa had just come in, and kids were pushing to the stage to receive their gifts from under the big Christmas tree. Sadly, those presents would never make their way home.
Shortly after Santa arrived, a large bearded man pushed open the door to the hall and screamed, Fire! The spark of fear moved fast, and suddenly everyone was rushing to the one exit: a narrow staircase heading down to the front door of the building. The fire escape mostly went unnoticed in the mayhem. Terror propelled the revelers forward, shoving and pushing to the door, knocking over and trampling smaller bodies and the adults who stooped to pick them up. Some were crushed to death against the door of a cloakroom next to the staircase.
But those who made it to the stairs first had the worst fate. In the rush to escape, both children and adults were shoved from the steps and thrown down the stairs, landing against closed doors at the bottom. It continued in that fashionwhoever hit the landing was tossed into the stairwayand bodies piled atop one another. Newspapers at the time reported that the stairwell was filled to the ceiling with suffocating and crushed people. The doors at the bottom never opened to let anyone out.
The mayhem only lasted a few moments before those present realized that there was no fire, but it was long enough for massive casualties. All told, seventy-three people lost their lives that night by crushing or suffocationfifty-nine children and fourteen adults. The youngest victim was only two years old.
