As the chilly winds of Halloween stir, tales of the paranormal come to life. In the darkest corners of Michigan’s history, a ghost story has lingered since the 17th century. It weaves a chilling tale around the 17th century French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. La Salle was, a man obsessed with discovering the mythical Northwest passage to China and Japan through the treacherous Great Lakes.
First full-sized sailing ship
La Salle commissioned the first full-sized sailing ship on the Great Lake, the Le Griffon. The Le Griffon was built at Fort Conti near Cayuga Island on the Niagara River in 1679. Le Griffon had a crew of 32, was armed with seven cannons and had a capacity of 45 tons. It was about 30 to 40 feet long and 10 to 15 feet wide.
The Le Griffon embarked from Ft. Conti on August 7, 1679. The explorers passed the Straits of Detroit on August 11, 1679 and arrived at Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron 25 August 1679. They then sailed north to Mishi-Mikinaak (Ojibwe) at East Moran Bay off the settlement of Mission St. Ignace. On Sept. 2, 1679, the Le Griffon left St. Ignace and arrived a few days later at Detroit Harbor on Washington Island, near Green Bay.
La Salle traded with the local Pottawatomie tribe for furs and other goods. On September 18, 1679, La Salle dispatched the Le Griffon back to Niagara with six crew members and a cargo of furs. La Salle and the rest of his men continued their expedition by canoe.
Mysteriously disappeared
But the Le Griffon never made it back. It mysteriously disappeared somewhere in Lake Michigan. Leaving no trace of its fate. Some say it was sunk by a storm, and others claim the Jesuits sunk it, other say it was cursed by a witch or a griffin, a mythical creature that was half eagle and half lion.
The mystery of the Le Griffon has haunted generations of explorers, historians and treasure hunters. Some believe that the ship still sails the Great Lakes as a ghost ship, appearing and disappearing at will. Others think that it lies at the bottom of the lake, guarding its secrets and its treasure.
Final resting place
Numerous wrecks have been touted as the Le Griffon. However, none has been conclusively proven. Some of the most notable claims include:
- Poverty Island, Michigan, a wreck discovered by Steve and Kathie Libert in 2001.
- Fairport, Michigan, a wreck discovered by Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe in 2011.
- A wreck near Manitoulin Island, Ontario, discovered by Steve Harrington in 2004.
It is said that the Le Griffon is a ghost ship. The is crew apparently heard chanting as she sails among the clouds on moonlit evenings. It has since been seen tracking a collision course with other vessels in Michigan Harbor, only to vanish before contact. Its wreck has never been definitively located.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
The seven-digit local call is doomed. Soon it will no longer be possible to call the next-door neighbor or corner store without an area code. U.S. voice providers – wireline – wireless and cable — have started notifying their customers of the change. Phone users need to start dialing 10-digits whenever they make a call – local or long distance. The FCC is forcing the 10 digit – 3 digit area code plus the 7 digit local number.
Fax machines,
It’s Halloween – the time for ghosts, goblins, werewolves, zombies, and haunted houses. 
