Jackson Street Pier: After Dark

Jackson Street Pier, as described by shoresandislands.com, is located on West Shoreline Drive at Jackson Street in downtown Sandusky on the shore of Sandusky Bay. The four acre site has been transformed into the city's premier public space, attracting thousands of residents and visitors to programs, festivals, and events year-round. Jackson Street Pier was initially developed as a parking lot and waiting area to serve ferry boats coming in and out of the bay. It is Ohio’s only non-airport international port and remains an active ferry terminal today. Let me explain to you, dear reader, why you don’t ever want to visit this place after dark.

Let me be clear, the pier is a perfectly safe place to visit during the day, or evening festivities and events held there. However, it becomes a fun place to have things happen that will leave you confused or slightly frightened. Again, I thoroughly enjoy visiting the pier on my walks after work, especially during the warm summer sunsets.

My first encounter with Jackson St Pier: After Dark was on the evening of September 30th, 2025. It was 10:40 at night, and I was walking with my two friends and their dog. We were walking past it and we saw a decent group of people hosting a car meet on the pier. Now I didn’t think too much of it, as I was a good distance away and the 3 of us were walking the dog. Cut to about 5 minutes later when we heard a deep boom. I figured it was a firework, which while naive, checked out as it was only one deep boom. Now we were walking down Shoreline Dr, and after that boom, within 30 seconds we saw 8-10 cop cars come from all directions and cars driving rather fast away from the pier. We decided to avoid that area of town the rest of the night and went home.

The second time was the evening of October 6th, and it was the same group of people plus one additional person. We had just left dinner, and decided to take a walk because it was a nice evening (it really was!) We were talking about courts, government land rights, and we turned onto Jackson St Pier, when a man approached us and began to go on a rant about the government, accountability, and god. I am pretty sure he had a gripe against the government. Luckily, I got a call from someone which allowed me, and the rest of my group, to duck out and take the long, confusing, way home.

So lets recap, one week we witnessed a police chase, the other we had a man go on a rant about the government. Both after dark. Now I am not too worried about it, I just think I should make it clear that people should avoid Jackson St Pier after dark, after summer’s end.