Big Bay Point Lighthouse

Michigan's only operating lighthouse bed-and-breakfast, built in 1896 northwest of Marquette. The first keeper, H. William Prior, served from 1896 until his tragic death in 1901.

Big Bay Point Lighthouse was authorized by Congress on February 15, 1893, to address a dangerous gap in Lake Superior's shipping channels between Granite Island and the Huron Islands, a treacherous stretch where numerous vessels had wrecked. With $25,000 appropriated in 1894 and five acres acquired in 1895, construction began in May 1896 and was completed that October. The station featured a two-story, eighteen-room brick duplex with a centered tower reaching nearly sixty-four feet tall, housing a third-order Fresnel lens manufactured by Henry-Lepaute of France that produced brilliant flashes every twenty seconds visible across the dark waters of Superior.

The first head keeper assigned to Big Bay Point was Harry William Prior, who transferred from the isolated Stannard Rock Lighthouse twenty-five miles out in the lake. Prior struggled from the start, documenting constant frustrations with his assistant keepers in official reports. But nothing in his professional difficulties could have prepared him for what happened in the spring of 1901. Prior's son George Edward, who had been serving as an assistant keeper since 1900, fell on the steps of the landing crib in April 1901 and suffered a severe leg injury. Keeper Prior took his nineteen-year-old son to the hospital in Marquette, where the wound developed gangrene. George died on June 13, 1901.

The loss destroyed Harry Prior. His final logbook entry, dated June 27, 1901, read simply: "General work." The next day, June 28, Prior walked into the dense forest surrounding the lighthouse carrying his gun and a vial of strychnine. A search was launched immediately, but the Upper Peninsula wilderness yielded nothing. Over a year later, on November 15, 1902, a hunter named Fred Babcock came to the station at 12:30 in the afternoon. The log entry recorded what Babcock had found: "While hunting in the woods one and a half mile south of the station this noon he found a skeleton of a man hanging to a tree. We went to the place with him and found that the clothing and everything tally with the former keeper of this station who has been missing for seventeen months."

Since the lighthouse was converted into a bed and breakfast in the 1980s, guests and owners have reported persistent paranormal activity. People describe someone or something banging on the water pipes, faucets being left running in empty rooms, and doors slamming on their own. Multiple witnesses have described the apparition of a figure wearing a U.S. Life Saving Service uniform who walks through rooms and exits through the front door. Current owner Nick Korstad, who purchased the property in 2018, has recounted hearing footsteps ascending the basement stairs and sensing an unseen presence pass directly behind him in the dining room. The dates of the Prior family tragedies hold special significance: June 13 and June 28 are reported as the most active nights of the year, and Halloween bookings sell out well in advance. The lighthouse offers five rooms with Lake Superior views starting at $239 per night, and guests are welcome to bring their own paranormal investigation equipment.