Lake Superior is known for its relentless storms in the fall, known as the “Gales of November” that infamously send vessels of all sizes to a watery grave. This fate also happens to be true for lighthouses. Canada’s first lighthouse on Lake Superior was the St. Ignace Lighthouse on Talbot Island near Nipigon Bay. Built in 1867, the lighthouse was a square wooden tower that was equipped with three kerosene lamps to provide fishermen in the area with safe passage. Like most lighthouses, it was planned for the keepers to leave after the close of the shipping season for winter. This rarely went as planned, which is how the St. Ignace Lighthouse earned the title of the Lighthouse of Doom.
William Perry was the lighthouse keeper during the close of the navigation season for the St. Ignace Lighthouse’s first year of operation in November of 1867. Perry took an open boat to the Hudson’s Bay Company Post in Nipigion to wait out the winter somewhere that had more provisions than the rocky Talbot Island. This trip ended with the rough waters of the lake taking his life. Perry’s body and boat weren’t found the next spring, roughly 14 miles from Nipigon.
Hoping to outwit the violent end of season storms, the Department of Marine and Fisheries for the Government of Canada built a residence on the Island in 1868 for the lighthouse keeper to stay on the island year round. The second lighthouse keeper was Thomas Lampier, a former sailor with the Hudson's Bay Company who had many years of experience on Lake Superior. Thomas brought his wife Jane (née Saunders) who was an Indigenous woman often described as having black hair. Based on their ages in the 1861 Canadian Census, Thomas would have been 73 years of age and Jane would have been 62 in 1868. The couple would have needed to bring everything they required with them before the shipping season closed in November. There would be no mail, no deliveries, and no visitors to Talbot Island once November arrived.
As winter brought her chill, Thomas fell ill and despite Jane’s tireless efforts to nurse him back to health, he ended up succumbing to his illness. Jane then wrapped her husband’s body in a canvas and placed him in the crevice of a rock formation behind the light house as the frozen ground and rocky terrain made it impossible to bury Thomas.
Jane was then left the rest of the winter isolated on Talbot Island by herself watching over her husband’s makeshift grave and focusing on surviving. When spring came in 1869, a party of Indigenous travelers passing the island in their canoe were flagged down by Jane. They were acquainted with Jane and noticed her hair had gone from jet black to stark white and according to one source (Ghosts of the Great Lakes by Megan Long), when asked what happened to her hair, Jane replied “the winter took it.” The group brought Thomas’ body to Bowman Island, 1.6KM north to give him a proper burial, as Talbot Island was too rocky to bury him. Jane lived to be 104 years old and passed away in 1887, according to the Ontario Death Registry for the year. She died of old age and was buried in Sault Ste. Marie.
The following years of 1870 and 1871 were uneventful for the Lighthouse of Doom. It wasn’t until its final year of operation that it would claim another life. In 1872, Andrew Hynes was the lighthouse keeper. Like William Perry before him, Hynes left Talbot Island in November to winter elsewhere. He set out for Silver Islet and spent 18 days traveling 50 miles. When he reached Silver Islet, he was found unconscious by fishermen in his boat. Hynes ended up passing away due to exposure to the harsh elements. His death led the Department of Marine and Fisheries to decommission the lighthouse, due to the harsh and deadly conditions the lightkeepers were constantly exposed to during the end of season.
The St. Ignace Lighthouse was left abandoned on Talbot island. In the 1880s, fishermen from the Nipigon area would set up camp on the site and in foggy weather, would bang on the sides to the lighthouse so the noise would echo out to those on the lake so they could make safe passage through Lake Superior's rough water. In these days, the fisherman would report seeing an apparition of a woman with white hair wandering Talbot island that they believed to be Jane Lampier; however we know from historical records that she didn’t pass until December 1887. Who or what the specter the fisherman would encounter, is now forever lost to the secrets of the depths of Lake Superior.
The Lighthouse itself has been claimed by the same gales of November, which had claimed the lives of Perry and Hynes".
If you find yourself wanting to know more about the Lighthouse of Doom, or any other chilling tales from Lake Superior's North shore, email research@tbpl.ca.
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