Eric Seals

Visual Journeys of Eric Seals

Some of the favorite video stories that I shot and edited

INFO



For the past 7 years two “Secret Santas” have given away $14,000 in $100 bills during Christmas time in Metro Detroit.

From bus stops and thrift stores, to restaurants and people walking on the sidewalk, the two, who prefer to remain anonymous, wanted to spread some Christmas cheer.

The one condition for everyone who received $100?

They had to remember to pay it forward by helping out others in the future.

From hockey glory to becoming homeless and sleeping under a gas station sign in Canada. The change in Joe Murphy, from a Michigan State hockey star to a Detroit Red Wings number one pick in 1986 was a shock to those when they found out this news.

How did he end up from a 15-year NHL career making millions to becoming homeless??

Winner of the 2016 national Edward R. Murrow award for "Best Feature Reporting (Video)

"For over 30 years the Hydrus was the one ship on the bottom of Lake Huron that 75-year-old shipwreck hunter David Trotter wanted to find.

He finally found it in July of 2015.

The Hydrus sank in Lake Huron during the Great Storm of 1913. A fierce storm with 80 mph winds, waves at 35 feet, sinking 12 freighters which killed 250 people,

At first glance, she thought it was a Halloween prank.

The puffy corpse slumped over the chair had no eyes, nose or mouth just hair on a skull, and bones sticking out from under a red sweater.

"How sick," Linda Kajma said to herself, before venturing through the rest of the house in search of her missing cousin.”

Sally Honeycheck lived in a house of filth and squalor.



Morgan Ford, 92, with his 134-year-old fruitcake. It has been past down through 4 generations since the day his great-grandma Fidelia Ford baked it in 1878. The fruitcake received some Hollywood attention back in 2003 when they were on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

A 2014 Michigan Emmy winning documentary.

After seeing his father murdered when he was 9, his mother in & out of jail, Teenager Marcus Buggs left to raise his siblings could have been a statistic. Instead he chose to break the mold becoming somebody.

But along the way & to this day the road throws obstacles in front of him.

A 2013 Michigan Emmy winning documentary.

History remembers the Buffalo Soldiers & the Tuskegee Airmen but many books forgot the honor & sacrifice the Montford Point Marines gave to this country. Now in their early 90's these Marines were the first Black Marines to fight in WWII while still dealing with racism back in America.

Metro Detroiters have to always deal with potholes.

In 2014 after a long & harsh winter, the potholes were some of the worst ever. Many tires & wheels rims were destroyed or damaged from running into them all over the place. As one driver put it, “this feels like driving on the moon with craters all over the damn place!”

A 2015 documentary I spent a year shooting, scripting and editing while still doing daily photojournalism for the Detroit Free Press.

Between late 2015 to early 2017 it was selected to screen at 18 film festivals around the US that I attended and it appeared on PBS in various markets.

It was the winner of 5 film festival awards from “Best Documentary” to “Best Cinematography.”

Great Lakes historians say that up to 10,000 shipwrecks rest at the bottom of the Great Lakes. Each of those wrecks have stories of their own, stories of survival, death, heroism and sacrifice.

Only 1% of marriages in the US make it to the platinum anniversary.

The George’s are part of that exclusive club.

In April of 2017, Tony, 93 and Sophia George, 88 renewed their wedding vows after celebrating 70 years of marriage in front of friends and family in Metro Detroit.

As time goes by it is more unlikely for these type of anniversaries to happen as more people are now getting married at an older age.

The Paul R. Tregurtha at 1,013 feet long is the largest freighter that sails on the Great Lakes.

She travels 1,580 miles between Metro Detroit and Superior, Wisconsin on Lake Huron and Lake Superior delivering 68,000 tons of coal to two power plants. The crew of 23 makes this trip 40 times a year.

Along the way they encounter all kinds of weather but they also get to take in the beauty of our Great Lakes.