A Lighthouse Ghost? October 8, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
The Hospice of Michigan at Tawas held a breakfast reception for me at 9 am on the Thursday morning. A local reporter was there and asked questions and watched my presentation to the hospice staff.
My old 1988 pals, Deb and Tom Gerger, whom I had reconnected with yesterday, were there, too. . By 10.30 am the reception was over and Tom and Deb whisked me away to the Tawas Point Lighthouse. Tom and Deb helped maintain the lighthouse as volunteers and Tom also gave guided tours.
A Beautiful Trip to a Lighhouse with Tom and Deb
With Tom I climbed up the old iron spiral stair case to reach the lamp room. A heavy iron flap sat over a hatch into the lamp room; Tom explained that when they used to use oil lamps if there was a fire on the stairs the iron flap could be dropped to protect anyone in the lamp room until the oil burned out. At one point a clockwork mechanism had raised and lowered a can over the light to make the light flash; in the iron staircase there was a grove where cables from the clockwork mechanism had run up into the lamp room.
When we got to the top Tom showed me the 2 foot high 4th order Fresnel glass lens that focused the light from one of 4 electric lights. The lens had been made in 1880 in France by a company called Barbier and Fenestre. I took photos of the lamp and Tom as he explained details of the light house. If one of the 4 electric bulbs blew a mechanism rotated the next bulb into place. The whole lamp apparatus looked beautiful and like something from an old science fiction movie.
From the top of the light house I had views of Tawas Bay and Lake Huron: blue in the sun, with Huron stretching away to the Eastern horizon. In the distance I could see the dark green hill in the water that was Charity Island. Tom explained that he had been working in the lighthouse when the lamp had been on and had got 'sunburn' from the concentrated light from the lamp. As we stood there an elderly couple came up to the lamp room and Tom told them about the light house. After ten minutes or so the elderly couple backed their way carefully down the spiral stair case and we followed suit. After a few turns we could turn round and go down face first, holding on to the wall.
On the second floor of the light house Deb and Tom showed me a flat that had been refurbished so that people could stay in the light house.
A Ghost?
They told me, too, that there was supposed to be a ghost of a small girl who haunted the light house. It was probably just psychological, but as they said this it did feel cold in the room they showed me.
It was good to spend time with Tom and Deb after meeting them 21 years earlier and again now. There was a strange connection between the three of us that spanned all that time. Sadly, though, for me it was time to hit the road.
Tom and Deb dropped me back on Route 13 just north of Linwood. At just after 1 pm I said goodbye to Tom and Deb and headed down the road.
From a store I got orange juice, chocolate milk and peanut M&Ms.
Catherine had given me the number for a hospice volunteer called Richard Phelps. The plan was I would call him at around 4 pm to let him know where I was.
By 4 pm I reached Pinconning and a Subway. I ordered a turkey and ham 6 inch sub and coke and phoned Richard. He said it would take him about an hour to reach me from East Tawas. I thanked him and sat down to eat my sub. As I ate my food the women in the Subway chatted to me about the walk and I posed with them for some photos. Their names were Ellene, Linda, and Jennifer Pritchard.
An Urban Myth is Squelched!
As I sat there several high school students came and went. The boys had football jerseys on and the girls cheer leading outfits, so it looked like they had been having football practice. There were also several girls who were out running in Pinconning. It was a pretty cold day by 4 pm, but the kids seemed oblivious to the cold. One of the high school girls came over to ask about my walk. She had heard someone say I was walking and thought they had said I was “wanted”, as in an escaped murderer. That made me smile. I explained about the walk and hospices.
Richard Drives Me to His Home
After about an hour a car pulled up outside and I guessed it was Richard. I waved and he waved back.
With introductions made I stowed my pack on the back seat of Richard's beige sedan car, and we headed off to East Tawas. The plan was that I would come back to Pinconning and walk further the next day.
As we drove Richard told me about his life. He had worked as a purser on cruise ships on the Great Lakes, when he was young in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He had then become a school teacher and a school counselor, working in schools around the Tawas area. Now in his 80's he volunteered for the Hospice of Michigan and often drove people to different destinations. Richard also drove Amish people from Michigan all the way to Maine and to closer destinations, as the Amish people were not allowed to drive, but often needed to travel long distances for family reasons.
Worry: A Long Distance to Make Up – and is Richard Well Enough to Drive?
We chatted away and the 45 miles to East Tawas flew by. In the back of my mind I was thinking that I would have a lot of walking to do to keep on schedule.
At Richard's house we ate baked potato, squash and green beans. It was great to eat fresh vegetables for a change.
Unfortunately Richard had a cold and was not feeling too good. He went to bed early. I washed up the dishes. It felt good to do something more routine for a change.
At about 11 pm I went to bed. The plan was that I would walk from Pinconning, but I wondered if Richard would be well enough to get me back to Pinconning. I was due to stay with a volunteer from Alpena called Toni Wright and the idea was that I would have Richard drive me up from wherever I'd walked to by about 3 pm. I could see that would mean a lot of driving for Richard, which wasn't too good if he was feeling ill. Concerned about Richard and also concerned about how I would reach Alpena, I finally got to sleep at about midnight.
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