You Can Spend the Night in a Lake Michigan Lighthouse…If You Find a Message in a Bottle!

“Message in a Bottle” is a classic song by The Police. It’s also a sappy Kevin Costner movie from the ’90s, and now it’s YOUR TICKET to spending the night in a lighthouse.

There’s a historic lighthouse in Michigan called the White Shoal Light, which sits WITHIN Lake Michigan, about 20 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge.

The caretakers have announced a contest where they’re offering FREE stays inside the lighthouse to celebrate its 113th anniversary.  But to get one, you have to find one of FOUR messages in a bottle.

They were dropped into the Mackinac Straits back on Labor Day weekend, and none of them have been found yet.

The messages feature various offers for a free stay for one, two, or up to five people.  There aren’t many specifics on the accommodations, but this isn’t Hotel Baker, OK.  You’re roughing it to some degree for an incredible experience.

By the way, there’s a reason for the messages in the bottles.

They’re paying tribute to the Armistice Day Blizzard of November 1940, where longtime lightkeeper George Keller threw a message in a bottle into the water in case he did not survive the storm.

He did.  And the bottle was found a few weeks later by a fisherman.

Each of the bottles for the contest has a different message from one of four descendants of George Keller.

You can follow the contest at White Shoal Light’s Facebook page.  They have posted photos of the bottles, which look cool.

They do sell overnight packages to raise money to restore the landmark.  They say there are guest rooms with “modern bathrooms” but “modern” relative to a 113-year old lighthouse isn’t “HGTV modern.”

MLive has more if you want to check it out!