For as long as people have lived on the mysterious and mystical shores of Lake Superior, they have told stories of supernatural beings and events that have grown into a rich trove of regional lore. Those encounters are not simply the tall tales of the past. Examples of ghostly and other unnatural forces continue to come to light to the present.

A newly published book, Haunted Lake Superior, examines the stories retold and recorded since the early inhabitants of the Lake Superior region and uncovers new hauntings that continue to today. There are stories like the one related by a Minnesota north shore resident whose workplace apparently harbors a disgruntled long-departed spirit who has made itself known to her several times.

Or the story of the Air National Guard plane that mysteriously disappeared over eastern Lake Superior after it gave chase to a UFO spotted on radar over Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Or the extraordinary dream of psychic Julian Cross that led to his discovery of the Steep Rock iron mine near Atikokan, Ontario.

Now for the first time, Lake Superior’s other-worldly lore is gathered into a full-length book that reveals a wide variety of supernatural events and spiritual encounters. From Native American stories passed on since early times to contemporary hauntings printed for the first time in these pages, Haunted Lake Superior ranges widely around the expanse of Kitchi Gami to uncover the interesting, sensational and, often, secret stories of people who have encountered “something” they could not explain.

Author Hugh Bishop has reviewed published accounts of lake-region hauntings and interviewed local residents to collect these short stories into a 192-page volume. The original illustrations created for the book by artist Joy Morgan Dey add to its appeal. Bishop, a resident of Two Harbors, Minnesota, has also penned The Night the Fitz Went Down and By Water & Rail: A History of Lake County, Minnesota. He frequently writes for Lake Superior Magazine.

Haunted Lake Superior is fresh off the press and now available for $14.95 at book and gift outlets or from the publisher's office at 325 Lake Avenue South, Suite 600, Duluth, Minnesota 55802 (mail order, add $5.95 shipping and handling). For more information, call 888-BIG LAKE (244-5253) or logon to www.lakesuperior.com. Lake Superior Port Cities Inc. has published 18 books on regional history and lore. It also publishes Lake Superior Magazine, a full-color consumer publication printed six times a year in Duluth, and Lake Superior Travel Guide, updated annually.