The Dark Legend of 'Devil's Hole' in Devil's Lake: Lenawee County

A local legend that permeates the area of Devil’s Lake, is the mystery of a deep hole near the center of the lake, aptly called “Devil’s Hole”. It’s never referred to as a sinkhole, but a deep, cold-water spring.

There have been a handful of divers who braved the cold spring water and entered the depths of the dark hole. They describe the hole as bowl-shaped, with lots of roiling cold water coming up from the bottom. The official depth has been recorded as 73 feet, with the upper ‘lip’ 45 feet from the surface, and 150 feet across. The main bowl is 63 feet deep, with the other ten feet going deeper into the spring column. The water is black and murky, with plenty of bottom silt. Divers said it was so dark, they had difficulty seeing and had to keep feeling for each other.

THE LEGENDS AND RUMORS

One tale says that over 200 years ago, the daughter of a Native American chief and her lover were crossing the lake in the vicinity of the hole. That’s where they were last seen alive. They were found drowned under strange circumstances. Because of this incident, the lake was given the name ‘Michemanetue’, or ‘Lake of the Evil Spirit’.

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Another centuries-old tale says the hole caused a whirlpool, which sucked down and swallowed a tribe member, and “spit him out” in Round Lake.

The first official dive was made on July 14, 1959, when Mel Solderholm and Doug Brackman dove into Devil’s Hole. They discovered it was not bottomless, no hidden tunnels, but zero visibility and close-to-freezing water. They saw no form of life, no fish, and no vegetation. Now if someone could go down into Devil’s Hole and take some video, that would be cool.