‘Unsolved Mysteries’: Lake Michigan UFO Is Just One of Many Strange Events in the ‘Lake Michigan Triangle’

Did a UFO really make an appearance above Lake Michigan one night in 1994? According to many people who witnessed the strange event, the answer is yes. They’ve shared their stories in a new episode of the Netflix series Unsolved Mysteries titled “Something in the Sky.” And it turns out that the strange phenomenon that appeared in the sky nearly 30 years ago is not the only unexplained event in a region some have dubbed the “Lake Michigan Triangle.”

‘Unsolved Mysteries’ spotlights the 1994 Lake Michigan UFO incident 

Episode 2 of Unsolved Mysteries Volume 3 focuses on the 1994 Lake Michigan UFO incident. On the night of March 8, dozens of people in western Michigan reported seeing strange lights over Lake Michigan. 

“We were just wondering, have you heard anything about these lights that are flickering up here? … It looks like a string of Christmas lights that’s way up in the sky,” one person who called 911 asked the dispatcher. She was just one of many people who reached out to the police to ask about the lights. 

Jack Bushong, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service who was on duty that night, also knew he’d seen something impossible to explain. But for years, he hesitated to speak out about the incident for fear of professional retribution. Multiple commercial pilots are also said to have reported seeing the lights, though they do not share their stories in the Unsolved Mysteries episode. 

The UFOs were sighted in an area some call the “Lake Michigan Triangle”

For now, the 1994 Lake Michigan UFO event remains unexplained. But it’s hardly the only unusual incident in the area. In fact, the area of Lake Michigan bounded by Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Ludington, Michigan, and Benton Harbor, Michigan, has been dubbed by some the “Lake Michigan Triangle” due to the high number of unexplained disappearances and other strange events occurring there. 

According to Atlas Obscura, numerous ships have been completely lost in that part of the lake. They include schooner Thomas Hume, which vanished without a trace in 1891. There was also the Rosa Belle, which was discovered overturned in 1921, with all 11 of its passengers and crew missing. 

Shipwrecks aren’t unusual in the Great Lakes, but missing boats weren’t the only strange things happening in the Lake Michigan Triangle. In 1950, a Northwest Orient flight carrying 58 people disappeared just north of Benton Harbor. However, there was a storm over Lake Michigan that night. Soon after, some debris from the plane was found, as well as body parts. Experts eventually concluded the plane crashed due to bad weather, WZZM reported. 

Harder to explain is the case of Captain George R. Donner. He and his crew were sailing through the Lake Michigan Triangle in 1937 when he retreated to his cabin to rest, according to Milwaukee Magazine. Hours later, the captain had yet to reappear. Unable to wake him, the crew broke down the door, which was locked from the inside. But to their surprise, Donner had vanished. There have also been reports of a strange rock formation under the water, which researchers have described as similar to Stonehenge. 

‘Unsolved Mysteries’ director has a theory about the 1994 event 

Could the 1994 UFO sightings be connected to the other strange events in the Lake Michigan Triangle? Some people believe there is definitely something odd about the region. That includes Gabe Torres, who directed “Something in the Sky.”

“That’s a hotspot, what’s called a UFO hotspot, that area around Lake Michigan,” Torres told MovieMaker. He went on to speculate that UFOs were drawn to the area because they needed water from the Great Lakes for their aircraft. 

“The Great Lakes are the largest sources of freshwater in North America,” he added. “So if you’re seeing a lot of UFOs and these people report this sort of waterspout going up into it not coming down — do these things use water in their travels?”

Unsolved Mysteries Volume 3 Episodes 1-3 are currently streaming on Netflix. Additional episodes premiere on Oct. 25 and Nov. 1. 

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