In July, 1940, a woman boarded a Lake Erie cruise ship headed from Cleveland to Buffalo, but she never arrived at her destination.
Two days later, the woman’s body washed up on the shore of Geneva-On-The-Lake with two black eyes and without her diamond rings.
That story is one of five that author Wendy Koile will tell at an upcoming lecture at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo. The lecture, titled “Lake Erie Murder and Mayhem,” takes its name from Ms. Koile’s most recent book, and is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Ms. Koile, 45, of Port Washington, Ohio, has been an avid Lake Erie lover her entire life, beginning as a child when her family began taking annual weeklong trips to Geneva-On-The-Lake each summer. Lake Erie Murder and Mayhem is Ms. Koile’s fourth book. All have been about the lake.
“It has my best childhood memories, and I just love being on the lake,” Ms. Koile said. “So then when I decided I wanted to write, it just made sense for me to go ahead and find something to write about in connection to the lake.”
An instructional designer at Central Ohio Technical College, Ms. Koile is all but unfamiliar with lecturing. She’s given talks on all four of her books, as well as led writer’s workshops at libraries and conferences. For the local Lake Erie lecture, she plans to speak about several of the stories in the book, but also the process of writing and researching for it.
“There are about 12 stories that all center around crimes that occurred on or near the lake, and they are all true stories,” she said. “I talk about five stories that are in the book, and they’re a good variety. I know one is on a murder that happened that was never solved. It happened out on a cruise ship on the lake.”
The cruise ship murder, Ms. Koile said, was her favorite story to tell.
“A woman had been traveling alone in the 1940s, and she hopped on a cruise ship from Cleveland to Buffalo and washed up on shore a few days after she was supposed to be off the cruise,” Ms. Koile said. “They never could figure out what happened.”
The rest of the stories span from the 1850s to the 1970s, and include tales of a bank robbery, an elaborate hoax, the Lake Erie pirate, and more.
“I think she’s got some fantastic stories in here to tell, things that even I didn’t really know about,” said Carrie Sowden, the museum’s archaeological and research director. “It’s gonna be five days before Halloween. I think it’s sort of that perfect timing of possibly spooky, possibly intriguing stories as to what may or may not have happened on our Great Lakes.”
The museum typically holds six lectures per year, Ms. Sowden said. It’s a tradition that’s been upheld for nearly two decades. She tries to coordinate at least one presentation tied to a book each year to allow visitors to take something home to learn more if they feel inclined.
During the pandemic, the lecture series moved online, providing the opportunity to attend to all the museum’s members across 46 states.
“When we came out of COVID protocols, we decided we definitely wanted to leave that online piece,” Ms. Sowden said.
Now, guests can participate at the museum at 1710 Front St, or attend online via Zoom. The lecture is free, but registration is required at nmgl.org/event.
First Published October 21, 2022, 12:37 p.m.
