Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes: A History of Murder and Misfortune

Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes: A History of Murder and Misfortune
Author: Dianna Higgs Stampfler
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2022-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1467149950

The author of Michigan's Haunted Lighthouses shares tales of disaster and misfortune on the Great Lakes. Losing one's life while tending to a Great Lakes lighthouse sadly wasn't such an unusual occurrence. Death by murder, suicide or other tragic causes--while rare--were not unheard of. Two keepers on Lake Superior's Grand Island disappeared one early summer day in 1908, their decomposed remains found weeks later. A newly hired and some say depressed keeper on Pilot Island in Wisconsin's Door County slit his own throat after a consultation with a local butcher about the location of the jugular vein. A smallpox outbreak in the late 1890s led to the tragic death of a lighthouse hired hand on South Bass Island in Lake Erie. Join author Dianna Stampfler as she uncovers the facts (and debunks some fiction) behind some of the Great Lakes' darkest lighthouse tales.

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
Author: Dan Egan
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2017-03-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0393246442

New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Award "Nimbly splices together history, science, reporting and personal experiences into a taut and cautiously hopeful narrative.… Egan’s book is bursting with life (and yes, death)." —Robert Moor, New York Times Book Review The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.

Great Lakes Serial Killers

Great Lakes Serial Killers
Author: Wayne Louis Kadar
Publisher:
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2010
Genre: Criminals
ISBN: 9781892384560

"This book is a collection of true stories of some of the most horrific crimes to occur in the Great Lakes Region. The text includes graphic descriptions of murder, rape, mutiliation and sexual depravity"--P. [4] of cover.

Luke Karamazov

Luke Karamazov
Author: Conrad Hilberry
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 204
Release: 1987
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780814318560

A vivd and detailed portrait of serial murder brothers Luke Karamazov and Tommy Searl.

Women and the Lakes

Women and the Lakes
Author: Frederick Stonehouse
Publisher: Gwinn, Mich. : Avery Color Studios
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

"From deep sea diver to ship's captain, lighthouse keeper and rescuer, women fill virtually every job of the Great Lakes maritime trade--both past and present. This book relates many untold stories of these remarkable women and their impact on the Great Lakes and sailors lives" -- back cover.

Danger on the Great Lakes

Danger on the Great Lakes
Author: Carolyn Keene
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2011-09-27
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1439113351

THERE'S MORE EXCITEMENT ON THIS CRUISE SHIP THAN NANCY BARGAINED FOR! Nancy, Bess, and George are going on a cruise around the Great Lakes for a fantastic end-of-summer vacation! As soon as the girls set foot on the ship, though, they smell something fishy. Their new friend Amber is upset because her boyfriend, Craig, is neglecting her. After a little investigating on her friend's behalf, Nancy learns that Craig is really a detective. He's been busy hunting for a mastermind diamond thief who may well be on the ship. And it turns out Craig can use some help. Soon Nancy's hunting for clues on land and offshore. Where there's stolen diamonds, though, there's danger -- and Nancy and her friends are soon caught in the thick of it. Will Nancy be able to crack this case before her ship is sunk?

Great Lakes Crime

Great Lakes Crime
Author: Frederick Stonehouse
Publisher:
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN:

From Books Back Cover: Great Lakes Crime: murder, mayhem, booze & broads. -- It may not have been the "Spanish Main" but pirates did sail the Great Lakes as did all manner of thieves and murderers. The great Sweetwater Seas had their fair share of criminal activity. Captains sunk their ships to collect the insurance and honest light keepers were "done in" for their meager savings! Throughout prohibition the great Lakes were the back door into America's heartland. Hundreds of boats hauled millions of gallons of illegal booze over the Lakes to wet the dry throats of honest citizens. Although bribes were often paid to assure a safe passage, sometimes bullets flew wild as bootleggers and government agents fought it out on the Inland Seas. On shore, a different kind of vice was practiced where the old saying the "a sailor has a girl in every port" often meant the "girl" insisted on a cash payment. Relive stories of murder, rum running, prostitution and more in this latest book from respected Great Lakes historian Frederick Stonehouse.

A Hanging in Detroit

A Hanging in Detroit
Author: David Gardner Chardavoyne
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2003-07-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814337392

The first historical study—and a riveting account—of the last execution in Michigan. On September 24, 1830, Stephen G. Simmons, a fifty-year-old tavern keeper and farmer, was hanged in Detroit for murdering his wife, Levana Simmons, in a drunken, jealous rage. Michigan executed only two people during the fifty-year period, from 1796 to 1846, when the death penalty was legal within its boundaries. Simmons was the second and last person to be executed under Michigan law. In A Hanging in DetroitDavid G. Chardavoyne vividly evokes not only the crime, trial, and execution of Simmons, but also the setting and players of the drama, social and legal customs of the times, and the controversy that arose because of the affair. Chardavoyne illuminates his account of this important moment in Michigan's history with many little-known facts, creating a study that is at once an engrossing story and the first historical examination of the event that helped bring about the abolition of the death penalty in Michigan. Simmons execution came at a time when Michigan had begun to change from a sparsely populated wilderness to a thriving agricultural center, and Detroit from a small military outpost to a metropolis founded on trade, manufacturing, and an influx of immigrants and other settlers. The hanging was a defining moment during this period of dramatic social change. Thousands of spectators crowded into Detroit expecting to see a thrilling public execution. Many of those spectators, however, left deeply disturbed by the spectacle they had witnessed. Chardavoyne, a lawyer, probes the unsettling incident which sparked a profound shift in attitudes toward capital punishment in Michigan, examining along the way such mysteries as why Simmons was hanged for his crime when other contemporary killers were hardly punished at all. A Hanging in Detroit will fascinate legal historians and lay readers alike with its incisive look into Great Lakes regional history and crime and punishment in Michigan.