The apparition of La Salle’s Griffon is said to be sighted occasionally passing through the foggy waters of the Straits of Mackinac.
Built in 1679 by the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, Le Griffon was a 45-ton, five-cannon barque that held the distinction of being the first full-sized European sailing ship to navigate the upper Great Lakes. Laden with 12,000 pounds of valuable beaver pelts intended to appease La Salle’s creditors, the vessel vanished without a trace on September 18, 1679, after departing an island shelter at the mouth of Green Bay. While historical evidence strongly suggests the ship was overtaken by a sudden, violent autumn storm or scuttled by a mutinous crew, it has earned a mythic status as the “Holy Grail of Great Lakes shipwrecks.” Over the centuries, sailors and locals alike have reported seeing the phantom vessel gliding silently across the straits, a spectral reminder of the region’s earliest commercial maritime tragedy.