Every time you step on board an aircraft, you are putting your life into someone else's hands and trusting that Mother Nature won't strike you down. You take your seat, buckle up, and hope that the ride is smooth and as short as possible. You hope this flight won't be your last, and you think yourself a bit silly for wondering if it could be. But, you see, accidents happen; the passengers of Northwest Flight 2501 had no way of knowing that this flight would be their last. On June 23, 1950, 55 passengers and three crew members boarded Northwest Flight 2501, a DC-4 propliner that made daily treks between New York City and Seattle, Washington. 35-year-old Captain Robert C. Lind was at the helm, aided by his co-pilot Verne Wolfe. 25-year-old stewardess Bonnie Ann Feldman made sure passengers were comfortable and secure. Take-off from LaGuardia Airport at 9:49 PM was unremarkable, and the flight was fine until the plane reached the Midwest, where a serious storm was brewing. Captain Lind requested to drop from 6,000 to 4,000 feet but had the request declined by traffic control. An hour into the flight, 2501 passed over Cleveland, Ohio and finally had the request to drop to 4,000 feet accepted. 40 minutes afterward, 2501 was instructed to drop another 500 feet in order to avoid an eastbound flight in its path. That flight had experienced a good amount of turbulence over Lake Michigan due to the storm. By the time 11:50 PM rolled around, 2501 was caught in the middle of the same storm that had rattled that eastbound flight. Captain Lind informed traffic control that the plane was over Battle Creek, Michigan, and requested to drop even lower to avoid the storm. Again, traffic control denied this request for descent. 2501 should have made it to Milwaukee, Wisconsin by midnight Central Time. However, the plane never showed up and was marked as overdue. No radio response was received by anyone who tried to contact the missing flight. It was as though 2501 had simply vanished into thin air. By 5:30 the following morning, Northwest Flight 2501 was labeled as lost. The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy launched a massive search, during which an oil slick, airplane log book, and scattered debris were located a significant distance from shore. Sadly, there were also some human body parts found among the luggage and seat cushions. They were presumed to belong to those on board 2501. Ever since its disappearance, searchers have continuously gone out in search of the missing plane. In fact, each year, author and maritime enthusiast Clive Cussler has funded search efforts by the Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates. There were witnesses who claimed to see 2501 shortly before its demise. In Glenn, Michigan, William Bowie - a restaurant and gas station owner - was sitting with a handful of others (including his son) when they saw a plane flying overhead. Bowie heard the motors make a loud "plunk" two times and saw a "queer flash of light", as he later testified in the Chicago inquiry. Earlier that evening, due to the storm, the power had gone out in the gas station Bowie owned and throughout the town, so he and others decided to sit out in their cars. They witnessed the plane coming at them from the northeast, following along the highway toward Glenn, then turn westward over Lake Michigan. The yellow light witnesses saw trailing behind the wind of the plane lasted for a few seconds before vanishing from sight. This would be the last anyone saw of the doomed airliner. Valaire Van Heest hit a goldmine when, in 2008, she discovered an unmarked mass grave in a St. Joseph Cemetery. It appears that, if these are the bodies of some of the passengers and crew, they would have washed ashore and been secretly buried in that grave. The grave site now houses massive black granite marker honoring 2501's deceased. Again, in 2015, a massive grave site was discovered in South Haven's Lakeview Cemetery by two women doing genealogical research. Another marker was placed at that site, as it was theorized that those bodies could have also belonged to some of 2501's passengers. Without the actual wreckage, we will never know for certain what happened to Northwest Flight 2501. Of course, there are wild theories circulating that we have to address. The most glaring is the idea that 2501 was lost in what is known as the Lake Michigan Triangle. The Lake Michigan Triangle stems from Benton Harbor northward to Ludington, over the lake to Manitowoc, and back down again. Ever since the 1890's (when shipping was in its heyday on the lake), numerous reports of mysterious sinkings and vanishings have occurred here. In 1921, all aboard the Rosa Belle vanished without a trace after a collision with an unknown vessel caused the ship to overturn. In 2007, a circle of rocks - which has been dubbed the Stonehenge of the Great Lakes - was found in the lake, spanning about 40 feet of lake floor. A stone on the outer circle depicts what appears to be a mastodon, a creature that went extinct sometime around 10,000 B.P.
The night 2501 vanished, there were reports of an odd, blinking red light hovering in the sky over Lake Michigan close to where the plane went missing. Some speculate that this was a UFO while others attribute it to typical forms of aircraft or natural phenomena. Of course, bad weather is the usual suspect when it comes to wrecks and disappearances on the Great Lakes. Having lived in West Michigan all of my life, one of the running jokes here is that the weather can change in a matter of minutes. This is especially true when you're out on the lake. These waters can be beautiful when serene and unforgiving and deadly when turned by a tempest. Unfortunately, 2501 seems to have been another victim of horrendous weather conditions that develop over Lake Michigan. The pilot was forced to fly his craft into a sketchy storm without clearance to descend low enough to avoid a potential lightning strike, causing the loss of 58 lives in all. But, with all the weird, unexplained events that have occurred before and since on Lake Michigan, maybe - just maybe - there is something even more sinister and baffling at work here. At least, it makes for a cool idea for a novel, right?
1 Comment
PAULA FAIRCHILD
4/10/2018 06:23:46 am
very interesting post! my curiosity is piqued and I'll be following for more great reads!
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