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Paulding Mystery Light
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"While in Watersmeet, you should see 'The Mystery Light,'" advises a chamber of commerce brochure. "The mysterious light can be observed almost every night once darkness has descended on the northern wilderness. It appears to rise slowly out of the forest and then hovers low in the sky for varying intervals. . . . Some say it's the spirit of a long-dead mail carrier ambushed on the way to Green Bay over a century ago. . . . One woman thinks it's a mystical sign of religious significance." Another ghostly explanation is that an early railroad worker died on the tracks and returns to warn others with his lantern.
Fans of paranormal experiences and ghost stories make frequent trips up here to check out the Mystery Light. It's definitely a favorite teen party spot. One of the jokers who spread the buzz early in the 1970s has a simpler explanation. When US. 45 was rerouted, distant car headlights which used to be seen ahead on the road across the valley at Paulding are now viewed from this woods. The disorientation in getting off the road into this remote-seeming setting creates the stage for the mystery of an everyday phenomenon, he says. Nonetheless, older people in the area say the mystery light phenomenon occurred before cars were so prevalent and lights so bright.
Keep in mind that Paulding is a place where telling tall tales is a favorite pastime. One source of folklore, especially "lost cannon" stories, is the old Military Road. Now it is basically the same route as U.S. 45. The original road was built as an early federal project connecting Fort Wilkins and Copper Harbor, the early copper-mining port near the Keweenaw Peninsula's tip, to Green Bay. In winter, mail and supplies for Copper Country had to come from Green Bay.
A web search for "Paulding Mystery Light" will lead you to much miscellaneous information.
Here are directions to the Paulding Light, if you want to investigate for yourself.
From Watersmeet, go just over 4 miles north on U.S. 45 and take the first left after the Eastern Time sign. That puts you on Old 45. Within half a mile, go left again onto Robbins Pond Road. Stop at pullover at the top of the second hill. Coming from the north on U.S. 45, about 5 miles south of Paulding, look for the sharp turn to your right onto Old 45. Follow directions above. If you pass the Central Time sign, you've gone too far.
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