Mystery Light at Watersmeet, Michigan
Known as the Paulding Mystery Light, this ghostly phenomenon has mystified tourists in the Vilas County and Upper Michigan areas for years. The light appears to be a reddish glow in the woods from the viewing point off US route 45, north of Watersmeet. The light appears in numerous tourist publications; a typical one is the 2007 Adventure Guide of the Ironwood Area Chamber of Commerce, which can be read as a Document from the tab above. That same document also provides directions to the viewing point for the light.
One evening, in the early years of the 21st century, my family and I visited the viewing point. There was the usual crowd of persons, and the light was easily visible by one an all. It came and went in its typical pattern. However, one of the visitors had a small, powerful telescope that he had focused on the light. The view through the telescope told the tale very clearly: The red lights were in pairs, and were clearly the taillights of cars proceeding up a road!
It is interesting to note an entry in "Backward Glances" in the Vilas County News Review of September 17, 2008, which contained the following, "30 Years Ago [1978]....Two Eagle River summer residents studied the mystery light in Paulding, Mich., offering their opinion that the light was the result of distant vehicle lights...."
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