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R E A L K I D S • R E A L P L A C E SAMERICA’S NATIONAL MYSTERY BOOK SERIES

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C A R O L E M A R S H

An Elusive LakeMonster!

TwelveCaptivating

Caves!

Six SunkenShipwrecks!

One CreepyLighthouse!

Five AlluringLakes!R

The Mystery

on the

GreatLakes

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Copyright ©2009 Carole Marsh/Gallopade International/Peachtree City, GAAll rights reserved.First EditionEbook edition Copyright ©2011

Carole Marsh Mysteries™ and its skull colophon are the property of Carole Marsh andGallopade International.

Published by Gallopade International/Carole Marsh Books. Printed in the United Statesof America.

Managing Editor: Sherry MossAssistant Editor: Christina BarberCover Design: Vicki DeJoyContent Design: Randolyn Friedlander

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What I Did on My Vacationby Grant

We went to the Great Lakes. It wasgreat! If you don’t know where they are,well, they are across the top of the UnitedStates, on the border between us andCanada. If you don’t know how toremember the Great Lakes, just think:HOMES—Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie,and Superior. The Great Lakes are sogreat that you really can’t see from oneside to another. They really seem morelike oceans, especially on stormy days.

We went from one lake to the otheron a big adventure with my sister,Christina, and my grandparents, Mimi andPapa. I learned a lot about shipwrecks,sand dunes, and scary stuff like hauntedlighthouses. The Great Lakes have a LOTof lighthouses. I’m not sure how muchgood they do, because the Great Lakesalso have a lot of shipwrecks. A LOT ofshipwrecks!

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Christina wiped her mouth with a brightyellow napkin. The spicy hot sauce from theBuffalo wings stung her lips and tickled hertongue. Her blue eyes watered until tearsstreaked her cheeks.

Grant grinned, his mouth coated withgreasy orange sauce. “These are great! But Ididn’t know buffaloes had wings.” Buffalosauce covered his hands and trickled down hisarms to his elbows.

“Eww, Grant,” Christina said. Shehanded him a napkin.

Mimi laughed. “Glad you like them,”she said, “but buffaloes don’t have wings.Buffalo wings are chicken. They’re named

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when buffaloes

fly

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Buffalo wings because they were created righthere, in Buffalo, New York!”

Even eating the messy Buffalo wings,Mimi kept her white ruffled blouse and redsuit jacket spotless. She somehow didn’t seembothered by the super-spicy hot sauce either.

Papa took several long gulps oflemonade. He’d ordered the hottest hotwings, and from the look on his face, they werefiery hot! Of course, Mimi always said he hada mouth made of stainless steel. He couldeat—and enjoy—even hot jalapeño peppers.

“Papa, when are we going to see theRock and Roll Hall of Fame?” Christina asked.

“We’ll be there in no time,” Papareplied, his voice hoarse from the hot sauce.“We’re just about ready to kick off our tour ofthe Great Lakes!”

Grant and Christina often traveled withtheir mystery-writing grandmother, Mimi, asshe did research for her books. Her latestbook was to be set on the Great Lakes. Theirgrandfather, Papa, flew the family whereverthey needed to go in his red-and-white

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airplane, the Mystery Girl. Mimi affectionatelyreferred to him as the “cowboy pilot” in hisStetson hat, jeans, and leather boots.

Papa took one last gulp from his talldrink. “Once we finish lunch,” he explained,“we’re off to board the Mystery Girl. She’lltake us over to Cleveland and Lake Erie.”

“Eeeeerie?? That’s a creepy name for a lake. Where were we earlier today?” Grant asked.

“Lake Ontario,” Christina said. Don’tyou remember, Papa said our route would beLake Ontario, then southwest to Lake Erie,then north to Lake Huron, then more north toLake Superior, then south to Lake Michigan,or vice versa, I forget.”

Grant groaned. “Well, I’m lost already.I can see I won’t be able to write my ‘What IDid on My Vacation’ report next year in schoolwithout a big, giant map!”

“Niagara Falls sure was pretty thismorning,” Papa said. He wiped a bead ofsweat from his brow, still feeling the effects ofthe hot sauce. He grabbed his cowboy hat andfanned his face.

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Mimi nodded, a tiny smear of sauce onher chin.

“I liked seeing the rainbow over thefalls and getting wet from the mist. That wasawesome!” Grant said.

“So, Mimi,” Grant continued, “whatmakes the Great Lakes so great?”

“Well, where do I start?” Mimi said.“One of the main things you should know isthat the Great Lakes hold about 20 percent ofthe fresh surface water in the world!”

“What’s fresh water?” Grant asked. “Itmust not be the water at my school’s waterfountain, because it tastes old!”

Mimi laughed. “No, Grant,” she said.“Fresh water is water on the earth that is notsea water from the ocean. It’s found in lakes,rivers, streams...places like that. It’s veryimportant for the survival of people andanimals on the earth.”

DING! A text message arrived onMimi’s cell phone. “I wonder who that could be?” she said, and peered at her brightred phone.

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“Oh, it’s Ichabod, the lighthousekeeper!” Mimi read the message. Shefrowned. “Hmm, he seems a bit worried aboutthe lighthouse. Something about odd noisesin the night. Not like him. I hope he’s okay.He’s getting older. I’m not sure how muchlonger he can traipse up and down thoselighthouse steps.”

Christina and Grant stopped eating.They focused on Mimi.

Mimi snapped her phone shut. “Well,we’re set to go see him. He can’t wait!” shesaid with a smile.

Grant elbowed Christina. She leaned inand he whispered, “Ichabod. That’s a creepyname. Sort of like that Headless Horsemandude?”

“Sure is creepy,” Christina agreed.Grant shook his head bouncing his

blonde curls all around. “Sounds almost...icky,” he said, scrunching his face.

Christina nodded. “And what about himhearing odd noises? I’m not sure I want tomeet Mr. Ichabod after all. Or visit hishaunted lighthouse.”

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Christina hadn’t really wanted to go onthis trip to the Great Lakes with Mimi andPapa. Even though the fall leaves werespectacular hues of red, yellow, and orange,Christina wished they’d come in the summerso she could swim. Not in the fall, when it wastoo cold to go in the water, at least not onpurpose! Now with the idea of spending timewith a creepy lighthouse keeper, Christinawanted nothing more to do with the GreatLakes, and they’d hardly begun their journey.

Papa paid the bill and they left therestaurant. Soon, they were aboard theMystery Girl.

“Where are we going now?” Grant asked.

“To Cleveland, Ohio, and Lake Erie,”Papa replied.

“And the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!”Christina added. She was a true rock and rollmusic lover. She couldn’t wait to see all theguitars on display.

“So, we’re not going to see Mr. Icky?”Grant asked.

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Papa laughed. “Do you mean Mr. Ichabod?”

“Oops, yeah, Mr. Ichabod. Sorry,Papa,” Grant said.

“We’ll see him later in the trip, Grant,”Mimi said.

“Let’s get this plane up in the air! Let’s rock and roll!” Papa cried, and theMystery Girl launched into the crisp, brightblue autumn sky.

Grant played air guitar in his seat,bounding from side to side. At the end of hisanimated guitar solo, Grant shouted in his bestElvis Presley impersonation, “Thank you!Thank you very much!”

He bowed to the pretend crowd that hadcome to hear him play, flinging his arms to theside. WHACK! He accidentally hit Christina’sshoulder.

“Ouch! Quit it, Grant!” Christina cried. DING! DING! A text message

suddenly appeared on Christina’s cell phone.Who could that be from, she thought. Her eyesgrew wide when she opened her phone to read it.

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The text message said,

Christina immediately nudged Grant.“Look at this!” she whispered.

“Who is that from?” Grant asked.Christina looked a second time at the

message. There was no signature. “I don’t know,” she replied and

shrugged. “It doesn’t say. Let me see whatphone number sent it.” Christina checked thenumber. Her mouth dropped open. “Thereisn’t one!”

Goose bumps rose on Grant’s arm. Hisbig blue eyes grew wide with concern. “Maybeit’s the Erie monster?”

Christina felt a chill, and pulled hersweater around her. “I sure hope not, becausethat’s exactly where we’re headed!”

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Beware of Bessie, theeerie monster!

Papa landed the Mystery Girl justoutside Cleveland, Ohio, on a small airstrip.

As Papa taxied the plane to the redbrick terminal building, Grant peered outside.“Hey, there’s Papa’s SUV,” he remarked.

“And she’s got the Mystery Girl boatMimi hooked up behind her and ready to gowith us,” Papa said.

“Are we actually going to go boating onthe lakes?” Christina asked. “I thought theywere big and rough, even dangerous, this timeof year.”

“Of course, we are!” Mimi said.“There’s a lot to see on the waters of theGreat Lakes, like lighthouses, sunken ships,

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too eerie

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and islands,” Mimi said. “The weather issupposed to be nice and the seas calm.”

“Okay, everyone into the SUV and we’reoff to the hotel,” Papa said.

“But I thought we were going to the see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!” Christina moaned.

“We are, but in the morning,” Mimireplied, rummaging around in her floppy pursefor some red lipstick.

Papa looked at his watch. “And judgingfrom the time, we’d better get a move on if wewant to get to our hotel before dark.”

Grant and Christina piled into the backof Papa’s big grey SUV. Mimi stepped up ontothe sideboard of the truck in her spiky redheels and joined Papa in the front seat.

Christina didn’t want to spend the nightin a hotel. She wanted to go see all theinteresting things in the Rock and Roll Hall ofFame. She knew there would be guitars andwild and crazy clothes that the stars had worn.But most of all, Christina wanted to hear somemusic, specifically from her favorite bands,which were, well, ALL OF THEM!

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Grant started air drumming. He wavedhis hands wildly in the air. “Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,ka-ching!” he exclaimed, as he smashed thepretend cymbal.

Mimi was already busy at work, makingnotes, and cooking up her next mystifying plot.She pushed her gem-studded reading glassesup into her blonde hair.

Christina kept trying to picture anisland on a lake, but all she kept seeing in hermind were tiny patches of land that one personcould barely stand on. It didn’t seem quiteright that there could be islands on a lake.Christina had visited many different islandswith Mimi and Papa on their other trips, butthose islands were in the ocean, not a lake!

Grant kept thinking about themysterious text message on Christina’s phone.He started worrying that some monster in thelake would eat them—and the boat!

As Papa drove around a bend in theroad, they all caught their first glimpse of LakeErie. The enormous expanse of watershimmered in the late afternoon sunlight.

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Christina gasped. The lake was huge,and definitely not what she had pictured.“Papa, I thought you said this was a lake!” she exclaimed.

“It IS a lake, Christina,” Papa said.“But it looks like an OCEAN!”

Christina cried.“It sure is big,” agreed Grant.“Lake Erie is one of the smaller of the

Great Lakes,” Mimi said. “Lake Ontario,where we just came from, is the smallest. So, Erie is the second smallest of the Great Lakes.”

“How many lakes ARE there?” Grant asked.

“There are five Great Lakes: Ontario,Erie, Michigan, Huron, and Superior,” Papastated. “Just think HOMES and you’ll alwaysbe able to remember them!”

“If this is small, I can’t wait to see thebigger ones!” Grant shouted.

Christina stared out at the vast watersof Lake Erie. She started to worry aboutbeing in the little Mimi boat out on that hugelake. Upon closer inspection, Christina

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noticed that the lake actually had waves andwhitecaps spitting spindrift. Now I’m reallyworried, she thought.

“Looks like we got here just in time,”Papa said, his voice stern. “There’s a stormcoming in.”

Christina and Grant looked at the skythrough the car’s tinted windows. Dark cloudsbillowed high into the air. A flash of lightninglit up the bottom of one of the clouds, and thesmell of rain filled the air.

Christina said, “With that storm headedour way, I’d say it looks more like LakeEeeeerie!”

“But it is Lake Erie, so how can it lookany more like itself?” Grant asked, confusedby Christina’s statement.

Christina looked over at Grant. “Twodifferent eeries, silly,” she said. “One isspelled, e-e-r-i-e, and that means something is spooky.”

“The Lake,” Mimi added, “is spelleddifferently. It’s spelled capital E-r-i-e. But itsounds the same.”

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Grant shook his head and shrugged. Hetugged on his ear. “It’s all ear-ee to me.” Hegiggled at his own joke.

As soon as Papa parked the SUV at thehotel, Christina and Grant slid out of thebackseat onto the pavement. THUMP!

“Everyone, grab a bag!” Papa yelled.He had a twinkle in his eyes. “Let’s see if wecan beat the storm.”

“HA!” Grant yelled. “That storm’s gotnothing on me. I’m the fastest bag carrieraround.” He grabbed one suitcase and Mimi’sred checkerboard overnight bag.

“Are not!” Christina said, and added, “Iam.” She grabbed two suitcases.

“We’ll see who the ultimate bag-carrierand storm-beater around here is!” Grantyelled. He slung Mimi’s overnight bag aroundhis neck and pulled up the suitcase handle toroll it behind him. He bolted off toward theentrance to the hotel, calling out, “Look who’swinning, Christina!”

Christina gritted her teeth and chasedafter her brother. “No fair!” she shouted.

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Mimi and Papa followed close behind.CLICK! CLACK! Mimi’s red heels announcedher entrance to the cobblestone-floored hotel lobby.

CRACK! Just as they made it to thesafety of the hotel awning, a lightning boltstruck the lake, causing a tremendous flash.

“Whoa!” Grant said.“Just in time,” Mimi added.“A little rain won’t spoil the trip,” Papa

said. He opened the door for Mimi. “We’ll beout on that lake in the Mimi in no time flat.We’ll ride those waves like a bucking bronco!”he shouted.

“Yee-haw!” Grant yelled, and startedgalloping like a horse. Mimi’s overnight bagswung to and fro around his neck.

The thought of being in a small boat,riding the waves like a bucking bronco, madeChristina’s stomach churn. Up and down, upand down. Just the thought of it made her feelseasick. The “V” word came to mind. “Uh,oh!” whispered Christina.

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To squash the sick feeling in herstomach, Christina turned her focus to thelake outside. Mimi and Papa chatted with thedesk clerk as he checked them into the hotel.

Grant suddenly appeared next toChristina. He whacked her in the leg withMimi’s still-swinging overnight bag. “What’sTHAT?” Grant shouted.

Grant’s voice startled Christina, andshe jumped. “What?” she cried.

“THAT!” Grant pointed, his fingertrembling. His face was white.

In the middle of the lake, somethingbobbed up and down. Christina squinted toget a better look.

Grant shouted, “It’s the lakeMONSTER!”

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Grant stood, frozen with fear, his fingerstill pointing out at the bobbing thing in the lake.

Papa sidled up next to Grant andChristina. “Well, now if that don’t beat all,” he said.

Christina looked over at Papa. “What isit, Papa?”

“I believe that’s a shipwreck,” he replied.

“A shipwreck?” Christina and Grantshouted simultaneously.

“Sure is,” Papa said. “There are lots ofshipwrecks here in the lakes. These waterscan be very dangerous, especially in the

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truth or monster?

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winter. Storms have been known to come upout of nowhere, swallow ships right up, andtake them to their watery grave.”

Christina shivered. After hearingPapa’s story about the shipwrecks, she was even more frightened to go boating in the Mimi.

“Cool!” Grant said. “I’m sure glad it’snot a lake monster.”

Papa laughed and tousled Grant’salready messy blond hair. “There’s no suchthing as a lake monster.”

“Oh, there just might be,” a voice said.It was the hotel desk clerk. “Sorry for buttingin,” he continued, “but there’s a local legendabout a monster named Bessie. She’s sort oflike Nessie, the monster in Loch Ness inScotland. Well, mariners have been seeing ourBessie for centuries, up and down Lake Erie.”

Christina felt goose bumps rise on herarms and legs. She leaned over and whisperedto Grant, “The text message!”

Grant shivered, and slipped his handinto Christina’s. Her fingernails dug into his palm.

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Christina’s mind raced with questions.Is there really a lake monster? And who sent themessage? How did they know we’d go to LakeErie? Things were getting scarier by theminute, and they had barely gotten started ontheir trip.

CRACK! Another bolt of lightning litthe sky, this one much closer than the last.Christina and Grant jumped.

BOOM! The roar of thunder shook thebuilding. Christina and Grant raced over toPapa. He pulled them in close. For now, atleast, they were safe in Papa’s strong arms!

“After a good night’s sleep, you’ll feelmuch better,” Mimi said. She waved the roomkey at Christina and Grant. “Let’s go!”

“And by then the storm will havepassed,” Papa added. “Let’s hope it will be abright and sunny day tomorrow, kids.”

Christina sure hoped Mimi and Papawere right, because right now she feltdownright scared. Storms didn’t usually scareher, but way too many spooky things werehappening all at once!

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WORDS TO KNOW

Read ‘em all!

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Christina, Grant, Mimi andPapa �y the Mystery Girl,and take the mystery boat,Mimi, to all the Great Lakeson a wild and watery,adventurous mystery ofshipwrecks, hauntedlighthouses, and islandintrigue!

www.carolemarshmysteries.comwww.gallopade.com

$7.99 USRL 3-5 007-014

ISBN: 978-0-635-07448-5

The Mystery of...Alamo Ghost

Biltmore HouseBlackbeard the Pirate

California Mission TrailCape Cod

Chocolate TownCounterfeit Constitution

Death ValleyDevils Tower

Disney WorldFort Sumter

Freedom TrailGold Rush

Golden Gate BridgeGrand Canyon

Graveyard of the AtlanticGreat Lakes

Haunted Ghost TownHawaii

Hoover DamIditarod Trail

JamestownKentucky Derby

Kill Devil HillsLiberty BellLost Colony

Missing DinosaurMount Rushmore

Mount VernonNew York City

Niagara FallsOregon Trail

Rocky MountainsSmoky Mountains

Space Center HoustonSt. Louis Arch

Underground RailroadWhite House Christmas

WilliamsburgYellowstone National Park

and more!