Diana of the Dunes & Her Grave

Residents , beachgoers & visits beach in and around Ogden Dunes and Gary, Indiana, believe the ghost is that of Diana of the Dunes, a 1920s-era woman who lived in the park. And while accounts of spectral beings skinny dipping in the lake are fascinating tales to tell around campfires, the real story of Diana of the Dunes is far more interesting than any ghost story.
Diana of the Dunes was the name given by the press to a mysterious young woman whom fishermen said bathed in the lake and ran through the sand to dry off. Once stories of a girl living alone and skinny dipping in Lake Michigan reached the press, reporters flooded the beaches looking for her.
It didn’t take long for the myth to form – reporters claimed she was the daughter of a doctor who fled society. They dubbed her “Diana of the Dunes” after the mythological Roman goddess. They described her as a hermit, foraging for food. They hounded her for interviews. They made her a local celebrity.
Diana’s real name was Alice Mabel Gray. At the age of 16, she entered the University of Chicago where she became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and graduated six years later with “honorable mentions” in astronomy, mathematics, Greek and Latin. In 1915 she left Chicago and headed for the Indiana Dunes, taking up residence in an abandoned fishing shack she called “Driftwood.” There she lived peacefully, living off fish and berries in the park. After fishermen reported seeing her in the waters of Lake Michigan, the story eventually got to the Chicago Tribune. Within weeks, dozens of news articles told the world about “Diana of the Dunes.” The stories turned her into a celebrity. Gray tried to avoid them as best as she could. Her celebrity, though, did more than create an interest in her lifestyle, it created an interest in the dunes. Diana began to publicly speak out about the need to preserve the dunes and the natural landscape she so loved.
Alice took up with a man named Paul Wilson. A local fisherman and carpenter with a dark history of run-ins with the police. Alice referred to Wilson as her husband. But no record of their marriage has been found. Gray's notoriety and the "Diana" legend brought media attention to the Dunes at an important time when the local community's support was critical in helping to establish the area as a nature preserve that became the Indiana Dunes State Park and later Indiana Dunes National Park.
In 1925, Alice was diagnosed with kidney disease, but opted not to receive treatment. She died on February 8 of uremia poisoning. Her tombstone in the Oak Lawn Cemetery at Gary, Indiana read “Alice Gray Wilson.” Alice’s legacy, however, lived on. In 1966, Indiana Dunes became a unit of the National Park Service. She just wanted to be left alone in life & death but sadly didn't get either one. Rest in Peace Alice Gray "Diana of the Dunes" #abandonedexplores #urbanexploration #midwestflesh #dianaofthedunes
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