The lighthouse on Stannard Rock has often been dubbed the Loneliest Place in North America. Doing a quick Google Maps search, you can see why:

Via/ Google Maps
Via/ Google Maps
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There it sits all alone in Lake Superior just above Michigan's UP. It's about 24 miles from land, to be exact, making it the most distant from-shore lighthouse in the United States. Read more below:

With all of that being said, who the heck would want to spend a night in this, I'm assuming, chilly and very secluded lighthouse? As it turns out, it's all about the Benjamins, baby. Or at least raising them for a good cause.


Did Someone Actually Spend the Night in this Lighthouse?

That's the claim. Two men by the names of Justin Stuart and Andrew Scites collaborate for a Youtube channel called JStu.

Looking through their videos, their schtick is "overnight in the..." and fill in the blank. For example, Overnight Challenge in the Mega Trampoline Park, Overnight in the World's Most Expensive Treehouse, Overnight in the World's Most Dangerous Hotel, and so on, all of which you can see here.

The Stannard Lighthouse, however, is quite a challenge to tackle.

There is no electricity at the lighthouse. There's no cell reception, either. And, thanks to its position, the lighthouse is usually covered in ice:

Via/ Youtube
Via/ Youtube
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The solitude is so overwhelming that when the U.S. Coastguard took over the lighthouse in 1939, they regularly had service members that would refuse to return after their initial stint. Legend says that a man was even carried out of the lighthouse in a straightjacket once, although, it cannot be verified.

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In 1961, tragically, an explosion of unknown origins rocked the lighthouse killing one and leaving three to huddle on a deck in the blistering winds for three days while they awaited rescue. That was the last year the lighthouse was manned. Read more here.

That fire caused massive damage to the lighthouse which brings us back to why a few men (and a cameraman) decided to brave the conditions and sleep at the lighthouse for a night.

The $2,000,000 Restoration Project

Currently, there's a GoFundMe set up to hopefully, someday, restore this historic (and very lonely) lighthouse to its former glory. For that, the goal is set at a whopping two million dollars.

The fundraiser is being organized by the Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Conservancy, a 501(c)(3) that took over the Stannard Rock Lighthouse in 2015.

Now, let's take a quick look to see how these guys did with surviving their night in the Stannard Rock Lighthouse:

A Night in the Stannard Rock Lighthouse

Two men, a part of the Youtube Channel JStu, decided to spend the night in the loneliest lighthouse in the world, Stannard Rock Lighthouse, in order to raise awareness about funds needed for a restoration project.

According to the description of their video, which you can see below, the channel, JStu, donated a total of $5,000 to the restoration project and encourage others to check it out. However, when checking the provided link to the GoFundMe, only $2,441 had been raised. Perhaps they donated outside of the GoFundMe.

Read more about the restoration project of the Stannard Rock Lighthouse here and see the full video from JStu below:

If you love touring historic sites but don't want to land in the middle of Lake Superior to do so, this is for you:

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