Welcome to the Waadizi Archives

Every town has its stories.

Some are told openly across diner counters and church suppers. Others are passed along in lowered voices after the sun goes down. A few are forgotten entirely, tucked away in old newspapers, fading photographs, and dusty boxes stored in attics and basements. And sometimes, things are discovered quite by accident—secrets hidden away from the rest of the world.

The stories that fascinate me are usually those last ones.

While researching The Waadizi Cycle, I spent countless hours digging through Michigan newspaper archives, county records, historical photographs, and local folklore. Time and again, I would come across something so strange, so poignant, or so unsettling that it felt less like research and more like stumbling upon a secret that had been waiting patiently to be rediscovered.

What surprised me most was how often those discoveries hit close to home. My mother's family is part of the Kent line from Northern Michigan, and more than once I found myself following a trail through old records only to discover a familiar name waiting at the end of it. Moments like that remind me that history isn't something distant and disconnected. It's personal. Sometimes, it's sitting quietly in a dusty archive, waiting for a descendant to come looking.

Not everything I found found its way into the novels (yet). Some stories raised more questions than they answered. Some led nowhere at all. Others lingered in the back of my mind, waiting for the right moment to reveal their influence.

The Waadizi Archives is a home for those discoveries.

Here you'll find forgotten newspaper clippings, local legends, historical curiosities, photographs, research notes, and occasional glimpses behind the curtain at the real-world inspirations that helped shape the fictional town of Waadizi.

Some of what you'll find here is fact. Some is fiction. And, as is often the case, the most interesting things tend to live somewhere in between.

Years ago, while paging through a century-old newspaper, I realized something. The people who lived before us were no less strange, no less fascinating, and no less mysterious than we are. Their fears, triumphs, tragedies, and odd little moments have simply been buried beneath the passing years. Every now and then, however, something resurfaces.

Sometimes all that's left is a photograph, a headline, a name, or a story.

Yet even the smallest fragment can remind us that the past is never quite as far away as we'd like to believe.

So consider this your invitation. Step inside. Take your time. Open a few drawers and leaf through the files. You never know what you might find waiting there.

After all, every archive is a collection of ghosts. Some are just easier to see than others.

— Dwight L. MacPherson

Waadizi Archives #001: The Harrington House
One photograph. One house. Generations of stories. The Harrington House became one of the central locations in The Waadizi Cycle, serving as both a family home and a silent witness to the mysteries surrounding Clam Lake.