The Haunting of Seul Choix Point Lighthouse
October 23, 2007
Seul Choix Point Lighthouse; Schoolcraft County, photo courtesy Archives of Michigan
Dave Wobster has an excellent article on Seul Choix at boatnerd.com that begins:
Hundreds of years ago, moving the across this region was a different story. Native Americans and French explorers were traveling in canoes and later small ‘Mackinac’ boats. It was readily apparent that along the 75 mile stretch, from the Straits of Mackinac to today’s Manistique, there was only one place to seek refuge from the storms that often sweep up Lake Michigan. Realizing that the bay near the present day Port Inland was their only choice, the French named the place Seul Choix, the French name for ‘Only Choice’. The French pronunciation is “Sel-Shwa”, while locally the name is spoken as “Sis-Shwa”.
He goes on to document the history, touching upon a ghost story that is fleshed out in The Keeper of Seul Choix Point by Ken Rudine:
Joseph Willie Townsend was the keeper there from 1902 to 1910 when he died in that upstairs bedroom. His body was drained and prepared for his wake which was held in the basement. He lay in state in the parlor until his relatives could assemble from other locations. He was buried nearby in a cedar coffin. Joseph was a cigar smoker in life, but his wife refused to let him smoke in the house. Now cigar smoke is often smelled in the house, as if Townsend now enjoys what his wife forbade.
The article tells other tales about the haunting, and you can get more information about this lighthouse (including an aerial view that shows the setting) at the Seul Choix Point Light web site. Beware! The site is “haunted” as well – by a song you cannot shut off … mu-hu-hahaha! There are a couple of children’s books based on these stories (well, probably minus the embalming part) called The Captain & Harry by Jan Langley.
You can also see more historical photos of Seul Choix Point Lighthouse at the Archives of Michigan and view modern-day photos of Seul Choix Light on Flickr (slideshow). Since I’m not sure that anything I linked to has good directions to the lighthouse (which is located near the ghost town of Fayette about 10 miles east of Manistique), here’s the Seul Choix page from Exploring the North.
February 23, 2008 at 1:42 pm
thats creepy know i want a tour of the house
September 3, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Just for the record, his name was Joseph Willey Townshend.
July 16, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Thank you for that…He is m great, great, great, great gand father :)
October 7, 2008 at 12:49 pm
it’s in gulliver, right off m2 theres a large sign… left to the haunted lighthouse… then another left when you’re really close. there’s signs everywhere. the road out is pretty eerie at night. it’s all true.
November 7, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I live 10 miles from it. I’m trying to find out more about the joseph guy. All the times i have been there i have never had a scary expirence
March 17, 2009 at 2:16 pm
watsup everyone i was there and it is definetly haunted and i have seen things happen you so if you don’t believe you should see it for yourself
September 3, 2009 at 1:45 am
like what kind of stuff have u seen?
March 17, 2009 at 2:22 pm
hey, me again, if youd like to see more pics on the lighouse or other haunted places around the upper peninsula of michigan go to http://www.myspace.com and search for the UPST
August 28, 2009 at 11:09 am
Hello
My relatives lived there, I was there as a small child with my Grandmother. We have a cabin near there and it is a magical place!
October 27, 2009 at 10:48 am
hey i’m doing an english paper on the light house ghost story. is there any good cites that i could find more info on all of this???
May 6, 2010 at 12:08 pm
i have been there and it was really scary and i know it was haunted when i got there!!
June 23, 2010 at 12:30 pm
we are planning to visit the area in a couple of weeks- how scary is it?
July 14, 2010 at 5:22 pm
yo peeps mai famly livs in MI and i think day shud hav told mii bout da hanted litehous…
October 23, 2010 at 1:26 am
We have a cabin in Gulliver and have been to the Lighthouse numerous times. Most recently, we went after midnight and got some funny looking pictures. Which we later took a look at and found some strange things. Streams of smoke that looked like it was coming out of my sisters mouth! She wasn’t smoking!!! More than a few pictures were freaky. I’m not a ghost hunter but I was nervous after that!!!!
December 2, 2010 at 10:00 am
I’m with a paranormal team, UPPRS, who have done several investigations of the property. We’ve been in the business for 11 years and this is one of the most active locations we’ve done. Always come away with something unexplainable!
December 16, 2010 at 10:09 pm
its not that scary, my great grandpa was the light house keeper, i have never seen anything but my aunt and uncle has, things like
a bible slamming shut
smelling smoke
silverware moving
April 2, 2011 at 10:43 pm
I’m related to Joseph Townshend. He would be my great, great, great, (maybe another great) grandpa. I’ve been wanting to go up to his lighthouse but it’s so far away from where I live. It’s very interesting tho, knowing I’m realted to a ghostie. lol
October 18, 2011 at 5:32 am
[...] of lighthouses. The light is also reputed to be haunted, and you can read a lot more about that in The Haunting of Seul Choix Point Lighthouse on Michigan in [...]
February 22, 2013 at 9:03 pm
I was there a few years ago and was taking pics of outside windows and caught an image of an older man looking out the window