[Josh] On this episode of Expedition X.
- [man] Ready? - My team dives into Lake Superior's deadly
Shipwreck Coast.
Where treacherous waters have claimed hundreds of ships
and countless lives.
I wonder why in this area, particularly?
I guess there's just something in the water here.
[Josh] There are those who believe this tragic history
has led to haunting sights and sounds.
Not just at the shore,
but now, over the lake.
[Eric] That is the craziest thing ever.
[Josh] To find out what's hovering above.
I saw something that I cannot explain.
Phil and Jess will have to search what lies beneath.
And what their investigation uncovers...
- You had a ghost ship. - is downright terrifying.
- Is there anyone here? [gasps] - [device beeps]
- [Phil] What the [bleep]. - Oh, my God.
Graveyard of the Great Lakes.
My name is Josh Gates.
In my travels, I've experienced strange things that defy logic
and made me question everything.
Oh, my God.
Now, I've put together a team to investigate
the stranger side of the unknown.
Let's go.
Phil Torres is a scientist who hunts for rational explanations.
Jessica Chobot's paranormal research
has made her a true believer.
Let's go.
Together, we're searching for answers
- What is that? - To the world's most extraordinary mysteries.
This is Expedition X.
All right, Jess and Phil, you are in luck.
I am so excited about this.
I am sending you to a place that I have always wanted to go.
- Lake Superior. - How would you know that?
She's looking at the notes on your desk.
- Chobot. - Sorry.
- Don't go through my stuff. - Well, clean your desk.
- Look, she's got a point. - All right,
not just Lake Superior, technically below the surface of Lake Superior.
And the reason it's on my bucket list is that
of all the great lakes, it is the largest,
it is the deepest, it is the coldest and the bottom
is littered with shipwrecks.
But the shipwrecks here are just the beginning.
Majestic Lake Superior is one of the largest freshwater lakes on Earth.
It covers nearly 32,000 square miles
and plunges 1300 feet at its deepest point.
Storms on Lake Superior can be even more dangerous
than on the open ocean.
Freshwater is less dense than salt water
with heavy winds, waves can build up faster.
Waves nearly 30 feet high.
On the ocean, captains can navigate around storms,
but even on a lake this big.
Sometimes the only option is to sail through them,
often with deadly results.
1816,
the first commercial trade vessel goes down in Lake Superior.
A wooden ship with the ironic name Invincible
sinks just two miles off Michigan's Whitefish Point.
Over the next century and a half,
Lake Superior swallows an estimated 550 vessels
and takes the lives of thousands of sailors and passengers.
Most of the bodies are never recovered.
The lake's rough waters hiding a literal ship graveyard.
Perhaps, the lakes most storied victim
is the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.
In 1975, the mighty freighter carrying 26,000 tons
of iron ore leaves Superior, Wisconsin,
heading toward Detroit, Michigan.
A fierce storm batters the ship
and the Fitzgerald tragically sinks.
All 29 crew members are lost and to this day,
the wreckage lies just north of Whitefish Point.
Unpredictable winds, navigation hazards,
and no safe harbors make the area around
Whitefish Point particularly treacherous.
It has claimed at least 240 ships,
more than any other part of the lake.
Earning it the nickname the Shipwreck Coast.
And the tragedy along this rocky stretch
has led some to believe the coastline is haunted.
Over the years, stories have swirled about
strange apparitions, unexplained sounds and voices,
and not just on shore,
divers have even reported such things under the water.
But now, there's something new.
Claims of mysterious lights hovering over
the churning waters off Whitefish Point.
And they've been caught on camera.
[man] Now, there's two, that is the craziest thing ever.
[Josh] So, what's causing the lights?
Could they somehow be connected to
the shipwrecks below?
And the biggest question of all.
What on earth is going on at Lake Superior's deadly Shipwreck Coast?
So, intrigued?
- Absolutely intrigued. - Yeah.
Natural phenomenon can occur over big bodies of water
that may seem mysterious at first,
but ultimately have a natural explanation,
like, sailors would claim to see lights
and buzzing over the top of the ship's mast
- during thunderstorms. - St. Elmo's fire.
- Exactly. - I love that movie.
- It's some of Demi Moore's best work. - Mm-hmm.
- Haven't seen the movie. - Oh, my...
- how is it possible? - But...
- You've got to get out more. - But, regardless,
this shows that a lot of these things
can start mysterious, but we can figure out what it actually is.
- Jess? - I mean with that much pain, tragedy, and death.
Yeah, I think that part of the lake is haunted.
No surprise here the two of you disagree.
Your mission is to get to Whitefish Point.
Investigate what's going on around and above the lake.
Can you prove it's paranormal activity, Jess, or Phil,
what is the real world rational explanation?
- You ready for this? - Ready.
Aye aye, Captain.
Phil and Jess leave New York and fly 780 miles
to Marquette on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
From there, it's a two and a half hour drive to Whitefish Point.
[Phil] it is so beautiful, you used to live here, right?
I kinda, I lived in the Lower Peninsula.
This is the Upper Peninsula, so this is considered the "UP"
so everybody that lives up here,
- they call themselves Yoopers. - I love that.
Yeah.
[Phil] Such a beautiful place. So many shipwrecks.
[Jessica] I wonder why in this area, particularly.
The fact that they just had to rely on single lighthouses
on shore and not GPS
and all the mapping data that we have today.
- I don't know. - I guess there's just something in the water here.
- [Jessica] Oh, wow. - [Phil] Ooh. Look at that.
- Yeah, you can see why they call them Great Lakes. - [Phil] Oh, yeah.
I mean, with this lake you might even say
- Don't do it, dude. - It's superior.
- Oh, my God. - I did it.
[Phil] The shipwreck coast runs along Lake Superior's southern shore.
The 80 mile strip of land that ends at Whitefish Point
extends nearly 10 miles into the water.
Creating a treacherous bottleneck that ships
entering or leaving the lake have to pass through.
Check out the Whitefish lighthouse.
[Jessica] Wow, that's cool.
- I think it's still in use, right? - Yeah.
We arrive at Whitefish Point to meet Erik Rintamaki.
- He's right down there. - [Jessica] Yeah, I see him.
[Phil] As a lifelong local and gem and mineral expert.
- Hey, how's it going? - Hello.
Eric leads groups to this beach at night
to search for the region's signature Yooperlite rock.
An unusual stone rich in fluorescent sodalite
that he actually discovered
right here on the shore of Lake Superior.
And it was on one of those Yooperlite hunts
that Eric witnessed something astonishing.
- You can see how the sandbar goes way out here. - Mm-hmm.
So right at the tip of that sandbar,
that's where the light hovered.
All I can tell you is I saw something
absolutely incredible that I cannot explain.
We seen the video, what are we missing from that
- that you experienced? - Well,
I happen to be doing a tour out here one night.
Just about to get off the beach,
we were trying to find our last stone of the evening.
And one of the participants in the tour
tugged on my shoulder and said, "Eric,
what are those lights back there behind us?"
I turned around, lights hovering in the sky.
So I took my cell phone out and started recording a video.
[Erik] Look, now there's two, now there's two again.
This is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life
and I watched them till 2:50, 2:55 in the morning.
So almost two hours.
And a ship happened to be coming through the shipping channel
and the ship slowly went right underneath.
It's got to be right above the ship.
That is the craziest thing ever.
On the Internet, I get thousands of comments
of what it was.
The most popular ones were Chinese lanterns,
something from the government and St. Elmo's fire.
Could they have been flares?
- No, a flare, a flare wouldn't last for two hours. - Uh-huh. Oh.
A Chinese lantern wouldn't stay in position for two hours.
I'm wondering, could it have been Coast Guard?
Could it be someone's drone flying around?
I have no clue.
Did anybody else report seeing those lights that night?
Afterward, I've had a lot of people tell me,
"Oh, I saw the same thing, I saw the same thing."
- But... - That same night or other nights?
- Uh, same night and other nights. - Okay.
Cause look, it's almost touching the... oh, jeez.
I'm a little intrigued by the idea
that they're ghost lights, especially since
there are so many shipwrecks.
And shipwrecks where there weren't necessarily any survivors, too.
I don't know, I can't tell you what it is.
[Jessica] For centuries, there have been legends of ghost lights
the world over.
From the Will-o'-the-wisps of English folklore
and the Luz Mala or bad light in South America
to reports across the US of lights hovering in the sky.
Phil thinks the lights people are seeing here
might be some sort of optical illusion.
But given the long, tragic history of Whitefish Point,
I think it's possible the lights could be a manifestation
from the other side.
From those who lost their lives in one of the many shipwrecks here.
But which shipwreck?
And why are these lost souls making themselves visible now?
Ready, boys?
If the lights reappear tonight,
I want to capture our own high definition video
for analysis.
Already nervous.
So I'm setting up a surveillance camera
at the top of the lighthouse.
Spiral staircase hell.
[pants]
Where we'll have an unobstructed view of the lake.
I'm thinking we should point the camera out
- right up over here. - Okay.
All right, looks like we're good.
Is there a vessel?
[Josh] I've arranged for Phil and Jess to meet with Captain Darryl Ertel.
- Hi. - Hello.
A seasoned shipwreck researcher who's been navigating these waters
for more than 25 years.
Let's go.
Recently while positioned over the wreck of a ship
called the Myron.
Darryl experienced something he can't explain.
- We were out searching the other day. - Uh-huh.
We were coming home.
And we went over the Myron and as we went over the Myron,
the radar was showing a reflection off our port bow
and, but there was nothing there.
What do you mean, so you saw something
that looked like a ship on your radar?
Yeah, like this is a ship right there.
- [Jessica] Yeah. - But it showed one off to our port bow,
but there's just nothing out there.
The screens all started flashing and fading in and out.
You had a ghost ship.
[Phil] And that was right over the Myron.
[Josh] November, 1919.
The wooden steamship SS Myron
leaves Munising, Michigan, bound for Buffalo, New York
with 18 aboard.
Two hours after leaving port, they get caught in a heavy storm.
60 mile an hour gale winds, accumulating snow
and pounding waves rip open the ship at the seams
and take her to the bottom of Lake Superior
in just four minutes.
Rescue workers from the nearby lifesaving station
attempt to save the crew,
but the sailors freezing hands can't grip the line.
17 bodies are eventually recovered, frozen to death.
Could the tragedy of the Myron somehow be related
to the strange phenomenon reported here?
To try to answer that, my team has their work cut out for them.
- Oh, we can see it. - [Jessica] Yeah.
- [Phil] That's it, right? - [Josh] I've arranged for Darryl
and some cutting edge equipment to support
their investigation above and below the surface.
Well, it's part of it, that's just the part
we were over the top of, that's the engine and boiler there.
Crazy.
[Phil] As the sonar gives us a digital view of the Myron,
we prepare to make a dangerous dive
to see her up close and personal.
Drop it.
The water here is below 40 degrees, meaning,
I'll need this specialty dry suit,
so I don't freeze to death.
All right, straps look good. You good.
If the Myron is somehow to blame for the strange lights and sounds
people have encountered here,
then I believe there must be an environmental
or biological explanation.
I'm hoping to find some answers in the depths below.
- Is everybody good? - Yeah.
[all] Good.
Copy.
[diver speaking]
Copy.
[Josh] As Phil begins his investigation of the Myron.
[Darryl] Drop it.
[Josh] Darryl and the team launch a remote operated vehicle
or ROV.
This $250,000 robot is state of the art technology.
Okay, going down.
That's good. Stop.
[Josh] More maneuverable than any human diver,
It also has the ability to send a video signal to the surface.
It'll be an extra set of eyes on Phil,
in case he runs into any trouble.
Describe what you're seeing. How's it down there?
[Phil speaking]
Wow, look at that. That is so cool.
There they are.
That's like, look how small they are compared to just
a section of what's left of the ship.
[Phil speaking]
[Jessica] That's kind of crazy because it's been down there
for over 100 years.
It's legitimately frozen in time.
How cold is it?
He said most of the damage that he's coming across
is all damage from the original shipwreck.
[Phil] Some divers have claimed to see strange shadows
and hear unexplained noises while diving around
the Myron.
Sights and sounds that have been attributed to the paranormal.
The more logical culprit, fish.
Lake Superior is home to about 80 species of fish
including trout, salmon, walleye, sturgeon, and pike.
But strangely, I don't see any down here.
Another possible explanation for the reports of strange sounds
is the deterioration and the slow collapse
of the wreck itself.
Even though I'm freezing my butt off right now,
Lake Superior is actually getting warmer every year.
And warmer waters create more hospitable conditions
for invasive organisms like zebra mussels
that are known to wreak havoc on shipwrecks,
but I'm not seeing any evidence of that on the Myron.
As for the lights, people have reported above the surface here.
The only thing that could even possibly glow down here
are mineral rich rocks like Eric's Yooperlites,
but I have a hard time believing that has anything
to do with the lights he recorded on camera.
Got hypothermia yet?
Oh, my God, it was incredible.
Well, why don't we get you guys warm?
[Jessica] With Phil unable to come up with any biological
or environmental reasons for the strange activity reported here.
It's time to put my theory to the test.
I believe it's possible that the tragic deaths
of the Myron sailors could be causing
both the lights in the sky and the strange sights
and sounds reported below the surface.
I'm not letting you get out of this,
you're gonna contribute.
Without any scientific explanations to offer,
Phil's getting drafted into the ghost hunt.
So I'm going to drop the hydrophone down,
I'll ask the questions for the EVP.
I want you to listen in on the headphones and let me know
if you hear anything weird.
- Okay. - So these are for you, sir.
I'm conducting an underwater call and response session
using a highly sensitive recording device called
a hydrophone.
I'm gonna start recording, so we get everything right away.
The hydrophone can record audio underwater,
that we can't hear from the surface.
- Can you hear anything? - Nothing.
- Yeah. - Yeah? Okay.
My hope is that my questions will get the attention
of any spirits remain here and will pick up
their responses.
To avoid any noise pollution, we kill the engine.
- Good? All right, here we go. Ready? - [Phil] Engine off.
Are there any sailors with us right now?
[water splashing]
Did you freeze to death when the Myron went down?
[water splashing]
What's your name?
Are you causing the lights to appear over Lake Superior?
Did you hear something?
I thought I just heard some low humming.
Engine's still off here, right?
Yeah, engine's off. You heard humming?
Are you causing the lights to appear over Lake Superior?
Did you hear something?
I thought I just heard some low humming.
Engine's still off here, right?
Yeah, engine's off. You heard humming?
It almost sounds mechanical. It's weird.
When did your ship go down?
[Jessica] Phil continues to listen to the headphones
for several more minutes,
but that strange mechanical hum he heard has gone quiet.
It's super hard to tell because I still hear...
- all the splashing around us, but... - The boat. Okay.
- It's really hard to tell. - Yeah.
Sound travels way further underwater.
Maybe it was another boat that we can't see out here.
- All right, should we bring it up? - Yeah, let's bring it up.
I just wanna make sure it saves.
[Phil] After several hours on the open water,
we head back to the Whitefish Point dock.
[Jessica] So far, we've investigated under the water.
I continue to monitor for activity above the water
with our surveillance camera.
And now, Josh is calling with some news.
- Hi. - Hey, Josh.
How's it going in the Upper Peninsula?
Oh, we're just yooping it up up here.
That means you cracked the mystery lights then?
- No, I wouldn't say that yet. - It more so means that Jessica's Michigan accent
- is coming out more and more every day. - Whatever, eh?
So the reason I'm calling is I actually have good news.
I did some digging and I came up with
another recent report of mysterious lights
in the area.
Only this time it is not over the water,
it's being reported on shore.
It's coming from a former lifesaving station
that is literally just a few miles from where you are.
That's where they would have launched the boats
- to try to rescue the shipwrecks? - Yeah.
When they tried to save sailors from sinking ships
like the Myron.
That's right, this station is where sailors would be brought.
It is also where they would keep the recovered bodies
of sailors who didn't make it.
Now, the place is nearly abandoned.
Access to it is really restricted,
but there is a scientist who's living there
and I have arranged for the two of you to meet him.
- Really? - Yeah, maybe you can find
a possible link between whatever's happening there
and the lights above the water.
- Okay, that's cool. - All right, well,
go talk to this guy and figure out what's going on out there.
Phil and Jess trade in their boats
for all terrain vehicles and set out towards
the former Vermillion lifesaving station.
It's seven miles down an old logging road
flanked by thick pine forest,
that's home to all manner of Michigan wildlife.
Things like wolves and bears that you probably
don't want to slow down for.
- Whoa, Jess. - Unless you're Phil.
Jess, check this out.
Look at the size of that track.
Oh, there's its toes.
That's not a small bear, look at the size of that footpad.
- That is huge. - [Jessica] Yeah, that's big.
Got toes up here, got a heel.
- Another one right there. - Yeah.
So, it looks like he crossed over the road.
- Check out these deer tracks. - Oh, nice.
See how much spray's behind 'em that means they were running through here.
- Running? - Oh, yeah.
And this is bigger, this can be a moose.
[Jessica] No way, really?
[Phil] Tracks like these come from animals
that can sometimes make eerily human sounds.
Like a fawn crying out for help.
We got running deer, we got running moose.
[Jessica] It's friggin' wild kingdom up in here.
[Josh] The Vermillion lifesaving station
was built in 1876.
Back when ships had no radios and the Upper Peninsula
was sparsely populated.
Sailors were pretty much on their own
in the treacherous waters of southern Lake Superior.
The station's purpose was to help rescue those in distress
close to shore.
But often, those rescue efforts only recovered bodies
like those from the ill fated SS Myron.
With the advance of maritime technology,
the Coast Guard closed the station in 1944.
The site that once saw so much death
now operates as a nature preserve
and its current inhabitant is Isaac Loutzenhiser.
- You must be Isaac. - Yes, I'm Isaac.
[Josh] A conservation scientist who monitors the populations
of federally endangered birds in the area.
We're here trying to research the ghost lights
on Lake Superior.
[Josh] But he knows all about Vermillion's reportedly haunted history.
I've definitely heard some pretty creepy stories.
A group of gals going here on a college retreat.
There were some weird lights spotted at the top
of the lighthouse.
[Phil] These lights were green?
Does it work?
Yeah, the lighthouse produces a very dim light that flashes
- through the night. - Okay, but not like a green color,
anything to, like, explain why those girls saw that?
- Exactly. - Or...
And there was one gal who woke up in the middle
of the night...
with a ghostly apparition of a man standing at the foot of her bed.
How do you feel being alone here?
I will admit it's kind of eerie.
I have a key to get inside the lighthouse,
so I've explored a little bit.
You definitely have this overwhelming feeling
that you're not alone.
What about sounds?
Do people claim they hear things or just see apparitions?
There was one group of gals up on this and doing up here
and they reported hearing someone talking
out the middle of nowhere.
- That's weird. - And for you as a biologist
who works with birds.
Do you think that they may have just heard wildlife?
It's quite possible, I mean I'm always up for debate
on what might have actually been experienced.
[Phil] Isaac is stationed here to monitor the local population
of endangered piping plover birds.
- The sounds they make are quite high pitched. - [bird chirping]
And maybe from a distance in the right atmosphere conditions,
they could be mistaken for human voices.
Well, do you mind if we kind of camp out here tonight
and investigate the space?
Yeah, I won't be here,
so you guys are more than welcome to have access
- to the lighthouse. - Thank you.
Yeah, of course, good luck, guys.
[Jessica] Since the reports of paranormal activity here
all happened at night.
We make plans to begin our sweep as soon as the sun sets.
We start with an external temperature reading of the house
using the thermal camera.
All right... let's see what we can find on this.
[Phil] I'm thinking we might detect something warm blooded
living in or just outside of the building.
A nocturnal animal like a fox or wolf
that could be responsible for the sounds people report.
I just saw somebody walking in there.
And there's no one here, but us.
- [Phil] You see light? - [Jessica] Yeah, what the [bleep]?
[Phil speaking]
- You see light? - [man] Yeah.
[Phil] Oh, right there, right there.
Okay.
So...
None of us are in there.
There should be no electricity in the house
except for up at the light.
- Wanna go inside? - Yeah.
Hello?
Is there anyone here?
[Jessica] Injured and deceased sailors were brought here for decades,
so I wouldn't be surprised if restless souls remain.
Jess, this door's locked.
So, no one could've come in or out of that.
Jess, we absolutely saw a light on inside here.
[Jessica] Yeah, let's go upstairs.
[exhales]
- All right, let's put the REM pod out. - Okay.
[Jessica] The REM pod emits an electromagnetic field
- around an antenna. - [REM pod beeping]
If anything enters this energy bubble
which has a radius of about three feet.
The device makes an alert.
Walk pass down and see, like, if you connect. Yeah.
[Phil] It's working. Gonna take off my jacket.
[Jessica] Why's it so hot?
I thought ghosts were supposed to make things cold, not hotter.
This is insane.
Are you the person that people say
they see when they stay here?
Let's go downstairs.
As we continue looking for whatever
that mysterious light was,
I break out the structured light sensor or SLS camera.
It's a unique piece of tech that has an infrared light projector
and software that supposedly detects paranormal entities
by recognizing unique movements of the human body.
If a person or spirit appears in front of the SLS,
it shows up as a stick figure outline.
Can we test it? I'm gonna jump in front of you.
- Yeah. - Just wanna see,
make sure it's working as it's supposed to.
[Jessica] Yeah, it's working.
- That's wild. - That's you.
Is there anyone in the room with us?
Do you live here at the lifesaving station?
Were you brought here after your ship went down in a storm?
- [exhales] - [whispers] Shh!
[high-pitched ringing]
That's the REM pod.
[Phil speaking]
[Jessica] Hello. Is there anyone up here?
- [REM pod beeping] - [Phil speaking]
[REM pod beeping]
It just went off, we were all downstairs.
[beeping]
- [gasps] - [beeping]
Jess, that's proximity and EM going off.
- That's saying it's... - [Jessica gasps]
[Phil] What the [bleep]?
Oh, my God.
- [gasps] - [REM pod beeps]
Oh, my God.
[Phil gasps]
I'll call it a ghost, you can call it whatever you're comfortable with, Phil.
I guess one thing I'm concerned about
is there's so many of us up here.
Okay, I'm down for splitting up.
If you want, you and half the crew head outside?
Yeah.
[Phil] While Jess stays in the lighthouse to try
and track whatever caused those hits on her devices.
I head out to investigate the reports of disembodied voices.
There's no shortage of wildlife out here.
It's possible certain animal vocalizations
could be mistaken for human voices.
This is the coastline.
But I also know that this very stretch of sand
between Vermillion and Whitefish Point...
- Oh, God, that's cold. - is a designated high erosion area.
That means that the habitat and, in turn,
the wildlife populations are under constant threat.
See these little footprints?
These are the good ones you want to see,
these are probably footprints of the piping plover,
which is the endangered bird that Isaac is here studying
and monitoring.
Have to look around the old lifesaving station.
See what we can find.
Look at this.
[animal sounds]
I don't like this.
This lakeside marsh is an ideal habitat,
not just for bull frogs and birds,
but also for small mammals like beavers, muskrats, and raccoons.
All of which makes sounds that could be misidentified
as human voices.
Big, big forest edge with some kind of marsh.
So this is a really good location to bust out the FLIR camera
and we're gonna basically look for a thermal hit
on any wildlife around here.
Let's see what we can find on this.
The forest seems so thick when you look at it through our eyes
and looking at the thermal, it just sees through everything.
[device beeps]
Hello?
Is there anyone there?
[REM pod beeping]
It's the REM pod.
That thing is going off.
[beeping continues]
Oh, my God, is that Morse code?
[beeping continues]
With over 3000 miles of shoreline,
Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state
in the country.
124 of them and it's believed that many of these lighthouses
are haunted.
Take the curious case of the South Haven lighthouse
where Captain James S. Donahue is appointed keeper in 1874.
Despite having lost a leg in the Civil War,
he maintains the light by climbing steep stairs every day
and navigating icy walkways in winter.
He reportedly never misses a day or should I say
a night of work in 35 years.
Today, visitors claimed that around the lighthouse,
they hear disembodied voices and footsteps
with a slightly odd rhythm like the sound of a one legged man
getting around on crutches.
Some say that Captain Donahue is still there, keeping watch.
But then again, they might just be pulling your leg.
[REM pod beeping]
Oh, my God, is that Morse code?
[beeping continues]
[Jessica] Well, holy...
That was a lot.
A REM pod potentially sounding off in Morse code
would be a first for me, but given that we're inside
a former lifesaving station, I'm not ready to rule it out just yet.
We'll have to further analyze the audio recordings
to see if this might have been a message from the other side.
Jess, how you doing in there?
I don't know, we think we might have gotten
some Morse code across the REM pod.
Uh, that's crazy.
Yeah, I actually think whatever was in here with us
has tapped out.
Oh, yeah, well, I think I should head back and meet up with you.
Yeah, um, meet me back up at the house, yeah.
Copy. Be there soon.
- [Phil] Tell me. - [Jessica] I mean,
I know I should be more excited right now
and I'm super stoked, but I'm so emotionally drained
because so much happened tonight,
like, I don't even know how to wrap my head around it, honestly.
So am I and, I heard frog or an owl or something that sounded
a little talky.
I could see how people can maybe think
they're hearing some voices out there, deep in the woods,
when, really, it's wildlife.
Yeah.
There's so much tragic history here.
It's the perfect place for a ghost story.
[Jessica] It's a perfect place for ghosts.
[Josh] The waters off Lake Superior's
deadly shipwreck coast hide a literal graveyard
that serves as a stark reminder
of the area's tragic past.
It's legitimately frozen in time.
[Josh] The question is, could the echoes
of all that tragedy somehow make their way above
the surface in the form of strange sounds and lights?
[Erik] That is the craziest thing ever.
[Josh] Jess' surveillance camera atop the Whitefish Point Lighthouse.
[Jessica] I'm thinking we should point the camera out,
right up over here.
yielded no new sightings of the mysterious lights reported here.
But Phil might have found natural explanations
for, at least, some of the reported sounds.
[Phil] These are probably footprints of the piping plover.
[Josh] My team also captured a mechanical hum
under the waves on the hydrophone.
- I just heard some low humming. - Engine's off.
You heard humming?
It almost sounds mechanical.
Yet there were no other vessels visibly around them.
And then, there's the flurry of activity Jess' devices
detected at the lifesaving station.
- Is that Morse code? - [REM pod beeping]
We ran the REM pod audio through a digital Morse code translator
and the results are in.
Some of the sounds did in fact register as letters
in Morse code,
but the team struggled to identify any words.
Until they isolated this.
It translates to N-E-E, A-I-R
which some could speculate means "Need air."
Wireless telegraph technology came into use on Lake Superior
in the early 20th century.
While I'd call the evidence inconclusive.
Believers would suggest the sounds recorded by my team
could be a reverberation from a tragic moment in time.
Perhaps a lost soul attempting to make contact
from the other side.
Oh, right there, right there.
But one thing is certain.
The wrecks on the floor of this frigid lake
and the ghost stories of Michigan shipwreck coast
aren't going away anytime soon.
For more information on Expedition X.
Head to discovery.com/expeditionx.