Seul Choix Point Lighthouse

A lighthouse built in 1895 on the northern shore of Lake Michigan, whose French name means "only choice." The light has guided ships through the treacherous waters of northern Lake Michigan for over 125 years.

Seul Choix Point Lighthouse stands on Michigan's Upper Peninsula near Gulliver, guarding the treacherous waters of northern Lake Michigan where the French sailors who named it found it their "only choice" for refuge from storms. The lighthouse was constructed between 1886 and 1895 and has served as a navigational aid, a family home, and, on at least two occasions, a makeshift morgue.

The primary spirit associated with the lighthouse is Captain Joseph Willie Townshend, who served as the station's keeper from 1902 until his death in 1910. Townshend was known as a heavy cigar smoker, and researchers believe his death was caused by lung disease related to his habit. The timing of his death proved problematic: Upper Peninsula winters freeze the ground so thoroughly that burial is impossible for months. Townshend's body was embalmed and stored in the lighthouse cellar for approximately three weeks until the ground thawed enough for interment. The indignity of this extended stay between death and burial may have something to do with why Townshend seems unable or unwilling to leave.

Visitors and staff at the lighthouse report the pungent smell of cigar smoke drifting through the dark living quarters when no one is present and no source can be found. Dishes in the kitchen move on their own, rearranging themselves between staff visits. A mirror on the second floor has been described by paranormal investigators as "a portal to the other side," producing hazy faces that appear in the glass and then dissolve. Furniture throughout the keeper's quarters shifts position, and footsteps are heard on the stairs and in the hallways.

But Townshend may not be alone. Paranormal researcher Kat Tedsen, who has conducted over 350 investigations across Michigan, named Seul Choix Point Lighthouse as one of the top five sites in the state with the most compelling paranormal evidence, and the only lighthouse where she found evidence that could not be explained. Surprisingly, the entity Tedsen encountered was not Townshend but appeared to be connected to Mary Pemble, the mother-in-law of a later keeper named William Blanchard. During a severe Lake Michigan storm in February 1919, Mary Pemble died of cancer at the lighthouse. Her body was placed in the first-floor bathroom to freeze, as the ground outside was impenetrable. Using an audio recorder, Tedsen captured what she believed was a voice responding "Mary" when asked its name, and "died in snow" to a follow-up question.

The Seul Choix Point Lighthouse is now a museum and tourist attraction open during summer months, and the dual presence of Townshend and Pemble, both of whom died in the lighthouse and had their bodies stored within its walls during frozen winters, gives the station a paranormal intensity that few Michigan lighthouses can match.