LUNA PIER, Mich (WTVG) – A seiche that hit Lake Erie this week revealed all kinds of buried treasures in Luna Pier.
A seiche occurs when strong winds push the water away from the shore, dropping water levels significantly, exposing the lakebed.
Neil Wakeman, a Luna Pier city councilman, said it’s a tradition for him and his friends to explore when a seiche occurs.
“We went to the waters edge and we looked back and we were like, ‘Man, this is like three football fields,’” Wakeman said.
The group walked over two miles along the shore, unearthing items buried decades ago. Among their discoveries was a Volkswagen Beetle that residents verified has been there since 1969.
“And sure enough, there was a car, a Volkswagen Beetle that’s apparently been there since 1969. That was verified from some residents here,” Wakeman said.
The car had no body or engine remaining, just remnants that made for some cool pictures.
“We were not expecting it, not at all,” Wakeman said.
The group also found a 2023 model snowmobile covered in zebra mussels. A different group of residents dug it out of the frozen sand and towed it to shore.
“The same day, somebody said, ‘Hey, I’m going to resurrect that thing and I’m going to see if we can bring that back to life,’” Wakeman said.
Wakeman and his friends even found a high school ring. Wakeman said, based on some research one of them did, it looks to be about 50 to 70 years old.
Wakeman said the ‘hidden gem’ was in plain sight.
“We just decided to take a break and stop, I look down and there’s this little circular thing, I said ‘That looks like a ring,’ ‘Nah, it’s a pipe or something,’ I started digging and sure enough,” Wakeman said.
Wakeman hopes to reunite the ring with its rightful owner.
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