The only keeper ever to drown at the light was Thomas Marshall on May 28, 1886. There doesn’t seem to be any historical evidence of John’s death at the light either. Oleszewski points out that the turnaround for offshore lights, especially remote ones like Waugoshance, was always high.Īs for them building another lighthouse to avoid the ghosts? The lighthouse was in fact, outdated and a new one was badly needed. Based on his research, after John’s long tenure as a lightkeeper, the turnaround rate of employees and keepers was about the same before John. Waugoshance is one of the oldest lights on the lakes and not many historical records exist for it. “Considering that so much of lighthouse history has been lost, sometimes all that we have is legend,” writes Wes Oleszewski in his book, Lighthouse Adventures.

EXPOSING THE FACTS: IS THE HAUNTING REAL? Because the haunted happenings were so frequent, they eventually had a hard time staffing the light, so they built a lighthouse at White Shoals and left Waugoshance to the ghost who haunted it, or so that’s what the ghost story says. Everyday chores, such as coal buckets being filled, would also mysteriously happen on its own. If any of the lightkeepers fell asleep on the job, their chair was kicked out from beneath them. Once the assistant managed to get out, he looked everywhere but never found John.Īfter his disappearance, strange things started to happen around the lighthouse. Happy with his prank, he wandered away from the lighthouse and in his drunken stupor, vanished into the night, never to be seen again. He began his career as an assistant lightkeeper in 1887 and in 1892 became the man in charge.ĭrunk one night and looking to play a practical joke on a co-worker, John locked one of his assistants in the lamp room. John Herman, a drinker and a “funny man” was a lightkeeper at Waugashance. It became an actual lighthouse nineteen years later in 1851. Waugashance is located on the northeast end of Lake Michigan and was built in 1832 as a lightship.

WAUGOSHANCE – ONE OF THE OLDEST LIGHTS ON THE GREAT LAKESĪccording to maritime historian Wes Oleszewski, the Waugoshance ghost story is always the first told by lighthouse enthusiasts and historians.

John herman lighthouse keeper