#AnatomyofaMurder

[husheduphistory]

Light and Dark: The Tragic Times of the Big Bay Point Lighthouse

The waters of Lake Superior have a notorious history with those who have tried to interact with it. Responsible for over 500 shipwrecks and allegedly taking the lives of nearly 10,000 people, it has earned the nickname “Graveyard of the Great Lakes” through the most accurate and unfortunate means. Rising up over these infamous waters on the edge of a rocky cliff is the sixty-four foot tall Big Bay Point Lighthouse, a structure that seems cheery despite the unfortunate tales churning under the surface of the lake below it. This lighthouse has seen many things during its 127-year history but the water is not the only place that has seen its share of tragedy.

Map showing the number of shipwrecks in Lake Superior and calling it the Graveyard of the Great Lakes. Image via https://lakesuperiorstore.com/ShipwreckMaps

The lighthouse at Big Bay Point opened on October 20th 1896 with its white light blazing 150 feet above the water every twenty seconds to warn ships traveling nearby. The lighthouse keeper was provided with a two-story brick structure on site that could house him and his family on one side of the building and his assistant and his family on the other side. On the thirty-three acres of land there was also two cisterns, an oil house, a garage, two brick outhouses, a dock, a well house, and a brick fog signal building all situated outside a forest. It takes a certain kind of person to live the life of a lighthouse keeper, and they sometimes have very strict requirements for their crew.

The first lighthouse keeper of Big Bay Point was H. (Harry) William Prior (sometimes written as Pryor). William was the eldest of three brothers who all had experience tending to lighthouses, but it was William who became notorious for his impossibly high standards and a temper that matched his gruff red hair. William was the ruler of his domain and his extremely detailed logbooks paint the picture of a belligerent man who felt his crew was lazy and untrustworthy no matter what they did. On November 11th 1897 William left the lighthouse in order to attend the funeral of his only sister, a six-mile journey that he did on foot. When he arrived back on November 18th 1897 and saw how his assistant Ralph Heater ran the lighthouse in his absence he made his extreme disappointment known. In his logbook he wrote:

“I can not [sic] see that the assistant has done any work around the station since I left. He has not the energy to carry him down the hill and if I speak to him about it he makes no answer but goes on just as if he did not hear me; he is so much under the control of his wife he has not the hart [sic] to do anything. She has annoyed me during the season by hanging around him and hindering him from working, and she is altogether a person totally unfit to be in a place like this as she is discontented and jealous and has succeeded in making life miserable for everyone at this station.”

The sheer disdain for Heater and his wife became a theme in the logbooks. On January 1st 1898 Prior wrote about how Heater “claimed” he hurt his back, but any thought that Prior might be concerned for his coworker is quickly dispelled by the entries in February where he writes: “Mr. Heater arrived from Marquette at 6 p.m. and walked the entire distance of 33 miles in 12 hours, including two rest stops over an hour each … pretty good gait for a lame man.” This was followed by an entry on February 27th reading “Mr. Heater came across the ice to the other side of Big Bay with his wife. It is Sunday and his back is not lame today.”

Perhaps it was best for both men that Heater ended up leaving the lighthouse and his role was taken on by George Beamer, but soon after his new post began he left to serve in the Spanish American War. Upon his departure he left his wife Jennie to take his place at the lighthouse making her the only woman to ever serve at the Big Bay Point Lighthouse. Once returned though, Prior and Beamer were constantly fighting, Beamer kept insisting he could not work because he hurt his back, and by October Prior was writing:

“Asst. Beamer complains of being sick and talks of leaving the station to go home to Detroit. He is too high strung for a light keeper’s asst, between himself and his wife this season I imagine that I am keeping a Home for the Helpless Poor instead of a U.S. Lighthouse. I and my family having to do the greater part of the work while they receive the pay.”

Michigan Lighthouse Keeper crew and families. Image via mynorth.com.

On November 1st 1898 Prior dismissed Beamer, his last written thoughts on him being “this Beamer…is without exception the most ungrateful and the meanest man I have ever met.” The two problematic assistants were gone, but this meant Prior needed a new assistant and his reputation was making it difficult to find a suitable replacement. Since no outsider seemed to meet his high standards, he decided to look within the lighthouse grounds and he soon made his nineteen-year-old son George his new assistant.

Perhaps the two had an understanding or they simply knew each other well enough to work together, but for over a year George and William tended to the lighthouse side by side. Then, in April of 1901 tragedy struck the Prior family. While working one day George slipped and sliced his leg down to the bone. There are differing accounts if William was there and they sought immediate treatment or if George, fearing his father’s temper, waited until he simply could not wait anymore. The nearest hospital was located in Marquette, Michigan and the thirty-mile journey by boat and then on foot had to be nothing short of agony. Young George was checked into the fifty-bed facility on April 18th and that night William, the ever-meticulous record keeper, noted in his logbook “he will have to remain in hospital for treatment.”

The injury and any delay in treatment would prove to be catastrophic to the young assistant. The wound was too severe to simply stitch up and it became infected. Eventually gangrene set in and quickly took over the tissue in his leg. Treatment and medication stopped working and almost two months later on June 13th George Prior died in the hospital. On that day his father wrote in his logbook, “1:30 p.m. Keeper summoned to Marquette to bury his son who died this morning.”

William Prior had a reputation for being the most difficult, the most demanding, and the hardest of iron fists but everything fell apart on that June morning. The death of his son completely shattered him and he spiraled into a deep state of depression. The work fell to the side and the entries in the logbook became less frequent and shorter until June 27th when the entry simply reads “General work.” That was the last entry written by the lighthouse keeper. On June 28th 1901William Prior disappeared. He was last seen walking into the woods on the grounds of the lighthouse and despite an extensive search he simply could not be found. The following fall his widow and four children piled onto a boat and headed for Marquette never to return to the lighthouse.

The following November 1902 a man named Fred Babcock was walking through the woods around the Big Bay Point Lighthouse when he made the horrible discovery. Hanging from a tree approximately half a mile from the lighthouse was a skeleton with some tufts of red hair still visible. An entry was made into the logbook that day and it read:

 “Mr. Fred Babcock came to the station 12:30 pm. While hunting in the woods one and a half mile south of the station this noon he found a skeleton of a man hanging to a tree. We went to the place with him and found that the clothing and everything tally with the former keeper of this station who has been missing for seventeen months.”

Newspapers reported the finding in cold detail, writing about how the rope was tied “around the fleshless neck” and without mentioning the death of George, only reported that “…a few months over a year ago, Mr. Pryor wandered off in a fit of temporary insanity, and was never seen again…”

Unfortunately, another tragedy would be tied to the Big Bay Point Lighthouse almost fifty years after the body of William Prior was found in the woods. In 1941 the lighthouse was automated and like many other lighthouses it became a training location for the United States Army and the National Guard. In the 1950s large guns were installed on the cliff to use during practice shooting over Lake Superior and the soldiers camped out in the surrounding fields and woods. One of the men stationed at Big Bay Point was Korean War veteran and member of the 768th anti-aircraft battalion at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin, 38-year-old Lieutenant Coleman Peterson who was there with his wife Charlotte. Lt. Peterson was known to be a very jealous man and on at least one occasion he and Charlotte had gotten into a fight outside the nearby Lumberjack Tavern because he accused her of flirting with another soldier stationed near the Big Bay Lighthouse.

Aerial photo of the Big Bay Point Lighthouse circa 1947. Image via https://www.lighthousefriends.com.

The Lumberjack Tavern was less than five miles from the lighthouse and it was frequented by those stationed there. On the night of July 31st 1952 Charlotte was out drinking at the tavern and she returned back home with a black eye. When her husband confronted her about it, she told him that the owner of the tavern raped her. Peterson left for the tavern and when he arrived just before 12:30 a.m. he walked through the screen door, went straight up to the bar where owner Maurice (Mike) Chenoweth was standing, and shot him six times at point blank range with a 9 mm German Luger automatic pistol. With Chenoweth dead behind the bar he calmly turned around and walked back out into the night as if the entire scene never happened.

Peterson was arrested and when he was brought into court on September 15th 1952 he was represented by John D. Voelker. Voelker used a defense called “irresistible impulse”, stating that Peterson killed Chenoweth due to a bout of temporary insanity. It was a defense that had not been used since 1886 but after only a few hours Peterson was found not guilty by reason of insanity on September 23, 1952. But, as stated in the court, this insanity was only temporary. He was examined days later, declared sane, and released to resume a normal life. Some accounts state that he fled the region, never paying Voelker and soon divorcing Charlotte. No evidence was ever found pointing to Chenoweth being guilty of the crime.

Peterson was free but John D. Voelker was not done with this case. Under the pen name Robert Traver he wrote the book Anatomy of a Murder based on the Peterson murder case. The book was on the bestseller list for sixty-five consecutive weeks and has sold more than four million copies in twenty languages. In 1959 the book was adapted into a film starring Jimmy Stewart. A rare occurrence at the time, parts of the film were shot on location at the Lumberjack Tavern where the original murder took place and in 2012 the film was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The Lumerjack Tavern with sign advertising Anatomy of a Murder outside. Image via remax.com.

Today, the Lumberjack Tavern is still standing, its walls filled with newspaper clippings and with signs out front proclaiming it as the actual place where the crimes of Anatomy of a Murder unfolded. The Big Bay Point Lighthouse also still stands in the same place where tragedy unfolded in 1901. Today, it operates as a bed and breakfast and its current owners are well aware of its history, partially because there are reports that its past is still very much present at the lighthouse. As told by the current owner to NorthernExpress.com in 2021, “It was haunted when I acquired it…” and there have been reports of footsteps, things moving in other rooms, faucets turning on, lights turning on and off, and some report seeing split-second glimpses of the red-haired William Prior in mirrors, still watching over the lighthouse he lived for and that eventually took the lives of both him and his son.

When the Big Bay Point Lighthouse was officially opened it was meant to be a literal beacon, guiding those away from danger. Its light could not save everyone though, and within its first fifty-two years both William Prior and Lieutenant Coleman Peterson succumbed to “temporary insanity” and became tied to some of the darkest chapters of the lighthouse’s history.

Big Bay Point Lighthouse circa 2019. Image via Rossograph on Wikipedia.com

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Sources:

The Tragedy and Haunting at The Big Bay Lighthouse by Mike Sonnenburg. June 6th 2016. lostinmichigan.net/tragedy-haunting-big-bay-lighthouse/.

Do You Dare Stay the Night at Michigan’s Most Haunted Lighthouse? by Dianna Stampfler. October 16th 2019. https://mynorth.com/2019/10/michigans-most-haunted-lighthouse-big-bay-point-lighthouse/

The Haunting of Big Bay Point Light of the Souls by Brighid Driscoll. Northern Express October 23rd 2021. https://www.northernexpress.com/news/feature/the-haunting-of-big-bay-point/

Big Bay Point Lighthouse https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=574

Memories of a Murder by Lisa Didier. The Chicago Tribune August 20th 1989.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-08-20-8901060128-story.html

Seen on Screen: Anatomy of a Murder in Big Bay by Talia Salem. June 30th 2014.

[highonfilms]

5 Must See Movies of Otto Preminger

[josedejimenez]

En una semana verdaderamente extraña para la política española, no podría estar más contento de presentar la banda sonora que he compuesto para el documental del director cordobés #manuellamarca "Guerra, Alfonso. El hombre detrás del político". Un encargo compositivo que fue toda una sorpresa para alguien como yo que siempre se ha considerado #apolítico. Un reto musical en donde se me pedía escribir en un estilo Ellington como en el mítico film #anatomyofamurder del director #ottopreminger La policía no es fútbol, aunque nos juguemos mucho... no se trata ni de derechas ni de izquierdas https://www.instagram.com/p/Cma8q0ioIk7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[brennerrama]

MOVIE QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Now, Mr. Dancer, get off the panties. You've done enough damage.”

Joseph N. Welch in Anatomy of a Murder

#AnatomyOfAMurder #Preminger #OttoPreminger #JosephNWelch #WendellMayes #Moviequotes #MovieQuoteOfTheDay

[tcm]

Remembering Lee Remick on her birthday, here with Jimmy Stewart in ANATOMY OF A MURDER ('59)

[justaslightlycrazedadult]

"Anatomy of a Murder" by Robert Traver, copyright 1958. This is also is a movie starring James Stewart. All of this takes place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It has been such an interesting read! Reading this book has helped me realize that my Criminal Justice hasn't gone to waste. 😛 Notice how in the corner it says it was 50 cents. "That night when I returned to my law office above Woolworth's, and heard the insistent ring of the phone, I knew instinctively that it was Laura Manion. I knew that she would plead with me to defend get husband for the murder of Barney Quill. Laura had claimed that this big-shot local sportsman had criminal attacked her. But was she telling the truth? I didn't like her husband - war hero or not. Why should I defend Lieut. Frederic Manion?" #spoiler - he does defend him, but what a fascinating ride this book has been so far!!

[changoblanco]

Saul Bass would have been 100 yrs today. Here is a tiny fraction of his work. #saulbass #graphicdesign #logos #logodesign #movieposters #titledesign #titlesequence #openingcredits #filmhistory #hitchcock #ottopreminger #billywilder #stanleykubrick #psycho #anatomyofamurder #theshining #thesevenyearitch #northbynorthwest #belltelephone #quakeroats #girlscouts #saulbass #iconic https://www.instagram.com/p/B_8LEalpkJr/?igshid=iurtz5ulz1gk

[drcisko]

Otto Preminger - Anatomy of a Murder (1959) A long, exhaustive legal drama, this feels like the template to so many other legal films and TV series, kind of like the grandfather of the second half of every Law & Order episode. Still, even with its wide-ranging influence it doesn't feel trite or played out because it's smart enough to keep you guessing and is populated by great characters played by great actors. You can tell from the beginning that not all is right with the client that Jimmy Stewart has to defend here, and you can tell that Jimmy also is aware of that but is too excited by the case to really care that much. The film keeps you guessing, but it also keeps you guessing after the credits roll, it's realistic enough not to give you all the answers or to tie the plot with a little bow at the end. Most legal dramas focus on prosecution lawyers, here Jimmy plays a defense lawyer for a client that is of dubious moral fiber and he isn't always the most ethical lawyer, but still your sympathies are with him, not only because Stewart is a likeable character but because the prosecution (with George C. Scott in an early role) is also underhanded and vicious. The way the prosecution imply that a rape victim was asking to be raped because of her clothing or inebriation, for example, is sadly resonant today. In the end this is a film which kind of gives the middle-finger to the production code, not only due to its frank discussion of sex but also how it ends up not punishing what you are pretty sure is a criminal. Add to this the stupendous Duke Ellington score and this is definitely essential viewing. (4.5/5) #anatomyofamurder #ottopreminger #movie #cinema #cinephile #film #jimmystewart #legaldrama #murder #movieposter #poster #jamesstewart #1950s #review #moviereview #classic #classiccinema #georgecscott (at Lisbon, Portugal) https://www.instagram.com/p/B747HUOldkZ/?igshid=181hfsox7j0hr

[rand10dck]

#criterioncollection today from #barnesandnoble 1- #3:10toYuma 2- #anatomyofamurder 3- #diamondsofthenight 4- #thekid 5- #fellinisatyricon 6- #goodmorning 7- #thekidwithabike 8- #mywinnipeg 9- #paristexas 10- #shallowgrave 11- #sullivanstravels 12- #thingstocome 13- #tootsie 14- #worldonawire #bluray #movies https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzg5dMwl_1sdErT4NLOtFlXWbWJoGJaj9Be1wI0/?igshid=153r3xa7nnsd2

[filmartgallery]

#Repost @saulbassarchive with @get_repost ・・・ Otto Preminger's ANATOMY OF A MURDER was released on this day in 1959. Here's Saul's personally commissioned silkscreen poster, featuring one of the most iconic film poster images of all time, rendered in an ultra-vivid red that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. Now available at the #SaulBassArchive @filmartgallery #AnatomyOfAMurder #SaulBass #SaulBassSilkscreen #OttoPreminger #OttoAndSaul https://filmartgallery.com/products/sba-anatomy-of-a-murder https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzb6ZpyFDcS/?igshid=1ek124hm1zefr

[saulbassarchive]

Otto Preminger's ANATOMY OF A MURDER was released on this day in 1959. Here's Saul's personally commissioned silkscreen poster, featuring one of the most iconic film poster images of all time, rendered in an ultra-vivid red that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. Now available at the #SaulBassArchive @filmartgallery #AnatomyOfAMurder #SaulBass #SaulBassSilkscreen #OttoPreminger #OttoAndSaul https://filmartgallery.com/products/sba-anatomy-of-a-murder https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzb45EzBmBf/?igshid=7phpisi426n9

[eurozoom]

#anatomyofamurder #movie #newspaper #ad #designed by #saulbass #graphic #design #graphicart #designer #artist #advertising #1958 #50s #cinema #film #ottopreminger

[johndibiase]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by John DiBiase (@johndibiase)

Happy Tuesday! Here's a peek at how my freehand graphite Jimmy Stewart drawing came together. (Prints are up for sale in my art shop) #jimmystewart #jamesstewart #thephiladelphiastory #itsawonderfullife #vintage #rearwindow #vertigo #arts_help #artfido #anatomyofamurder #hollywood #inspiration #art #artist #artwork #art_motive #graphite #draw #drawing #freehand #artoftheday #instaart #pencil #portrait #pencildrawing #gallery #creative #etsy #artistic #jjdart

[faithfamilyfilms]

I was 60 yesterday. 1959 was a good year for films (and not a bad year to be born in). . . . . . #birthday #1959 #filmfan #cinephilecommunity #cinephile #cineaste #cinéaste #somelikeithot #northbynorthwest #anatomyofamurder #benhur #benhurmovie #riobravo #the400blows #pickpocketfilm #theworldofapu #apursansar #hiroshimamonamour https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv-UCv3FDRs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=f0go0xdxaz84

[brennerrama]

MOVIE QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“I’m just a humble country lawyer trying to do the best I can against this brilliant prosecutor from the big city of Lansing.”

James Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder

#AnatomyOfAMurder #Preminger #OttoPreminger #JamesStewart #WendellMayes #Moviequotes #MovieQuoteOfTheDay

[tcm]

Remembering Director Otto Preminger on his birthday, here with Jimmy Stewart and Ben Gazzara on the set of ANATOMY OF A MURDER ('59)