"…Calling for the Captain once again, the Second Mate began to knock on the door just as he had done just moments ago, but still, there was no answer. Concerned that the Captain could not hear him for some reason, the Second Mate made the decision to enter the room, but when he attempted to turn the handle, it would not move. The door it appeared, was locked from the inside…”

“…You first must soak three wrought iron nails in the same water in which the nymph dwells. These nails must remain submerged the entire duration of one new moon to the next. After the specific length of time has passed, you remove the nails and drive them into a piece of driftwood removed from the same body of water. You place the newly nailed piece of wood on the shore at night and place some sort of shiny object on top of it…”

Not long after the Mary Jane went missing, talk started to filter out around the area speculating what could have happened. Lakemen from all over gave their two cents and provided insight into what the ship could have encountered or dealt with while out in the water. The lake was a dangerous place, and the men who worked it had first-hand experience on just what those dangers were. So when the well-weathered dock workers who saw the strange black dog started talking, people listened. And as with most bizarre occurrences, once the door was opened for stories of the Great Lakes Black Dog to be told, others came forward to tell their stories involving the paranormal pooch as well.

It is believed that there are upwards of 6,000+ shipwrecks within the five lakes known as Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario. Their beds have become the final resting place for an estimated 30,000+ mariners, many of which have never been recovered. The sheer number of souls that have been lost within these waters can easily get one thinking of the possibility that there may be something more going on within these lakes than originally thought. That there may be a force at work under the water that decides the fate of those who dare to interact with it. Something magical, something supernatural, something Godlike. Something, as crazy as it is to believe, like a Merman.

Way back in the 1800s and well into the early 1900s, Wisconsin offered some of the nations best lakeside resorts outside of those on the coasts. Many historically recognized families of wealth and power, as well as many infamous mobsters and crime bosses, flocked to Wisconsin in order to relax, fish, swim, camp, hunt, and of course, spot a lake monster or two. You know, the typical stuff one does while on a vacation.

“…that famous “sea serpent” has bobbed up in Lake Michigan. ‘We were about four miles off shore,’ said Capt. G.E. Stufflebeam of the S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, Friday night, ‘when Donald Steele, the lookout saw it.’ ‘I ordered two floodlights thrown on the creature, and there he was wriggling and twisting around and going faster than the ship. We kept it in sight for five minutes. The passengers on deck cried out, ‘what is it,’ but I didn’t know nor did H.J. Cook, former steamship line official who was with me. ‘It flipped its tail and the creature - about 60 feet long - started toward Benton Harbor, Mich.’ That’s Captain Stufflebeam’s story and he said he’ll stick to it…”

Spotted roughly a mile away from the farm, one of the men spotted what appeared to be the back of a large creature slowly moving through the water. Immediately recognizing that what he was witnessing was not a normal animal, the lone gunman shouted for every available man to hurry towards his location. With rifles loaded and aim taken, several men fired multiple shots at the creatures back as it moved slowly through the water. Yet after the smoke had cleared, it was apparent that none of the shots had managed to pierce the thick skin of the creature. What it did do though, was cause the large creature to change direction and move slowly towards the bank of the river. The same bank in which they were all standing.

“…There within the darkness of the lake was a bright green light, moving slowly and spreading out nearly thirty feet in diameter. While the sight was both beautiful and mesmerizing to most of the men, causing them to rise and move as close to the water as possible, one of the members in the group remembered stories he had heard told by the tribes living around the lake. The ones about a powerful creature living within the water, a creature that could easily snatch unsuspecting men right from the shore and drag them down to the bottom in order to consume them…”

“Now the Water Man is not a devil, but he will try also to get your soul. He is not a ghost, for there are villagers who have actually seen him. My grandfather, who transported timber on the river, talked and walked with him. He told me that the Water Man looks like any other man. He dresses in a long cloak, slit into tails. You may recognize him by the water dripping from his handkerchief thrust into the slit tails.”