'DIANA OF THE DUNES' DIES ON SHORE OF LAKE MICHIGAN
Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) On February 9, 1925, Associated Press reports the death yesterday of 'Diana of the Dunes,' an honor graduate of the University of Chicago who lived a life of "privation" the past nine years.
Alice Mabel Gray* was a "stellar mathematician" who went to live "amid the sandy wastes along Lake Michigan." She reportedly was once seen by Deputy Sheriffs "disporting in nature's garb along the lake shore."
She ultimately found a dunes partner, a fisherman and carpenter named Paul Wilson, and the two lived together in a lakeside shack. The couple may or may not have been married at the time of her death.
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According to legend, Diana's ghost haunts the Indiana Dunes National Park** which offers the "Diana of the Dunes Dare" annually encouraging visitors to walk along 3 dunes Alice may have walked.
*Alice Mabel Gray (1881-1925) was born in Chicago & earned a B.S. at the University of Chicago, 1903. AMG was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She became an intellectual & counter-culture figure. In her last days she fell ill from kidney failure but refused to be treated in a hospital.
**Indiana Dunes National Park, located in NW Indiana, was authorized by Congress in 1966 & designated a national park in Feb 2019. It contains 15,000 acres, 15 miles of Indiana coastline.
SOURCES
"'Diana of the Dunes,' Pretty Graduate, Dies After 9 Years of 'Back to Nature'," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., February 9, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"Visiting Dunes on a Dare: a Ghost Story of Nature-Loving Recluse Inspires a Challenge in National Park," by Liz Carey, October 1, 2021, The Daily Yonder, www.dailyyonder.com/
