Ghostly Lighthouse Keepers

Battery Point Lighthouse and its museum are located in Crescent City, California at the foot of Lighthouse Way. It is an active lighthouse which was first lit in 1856. It is accessible on foot only during low tide and by boat during high tide. The lighthouse has a reputation for being a very haunted location and was named Coastal Living’s 7th most haunted lighthouse in the country. Here you’ll find three ghostly spirits – two adults and a child. Visitors feel a touch on their shoulders, old sea boots can be heard stomping up and down the stairs, and a rocking chair rocks by itself.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse in St Augustine, Florida is the first lighthouse in this state. It has become famous as a destination for ghost hunters.

In December 1859, while a keeper was whitewashing the exterior of the original lighthouse, working over 60 feet up, the scaffolding failed and collapsed beneath his feet. Years later, a tragedy occurred to the superintendent in charge of construction, Hezekiah H. Pittee. In the summer of 1873, his four children and a 10-year-old African American girl were enjoying themselves playing on a rail cart. Suddenly the cart rolled into the ocean. The workers couldn’t get the children out and out of the five children who were playing on the cart only two survived.

Now the keeper and the three children that died have returned to haunt the lighthouse. The children can be seen near and around the playground area. Visitors have seen shadowy figures, a hand reaches through the tower door, and furniture moves about.

St. Simons Island Light is a lighthouse located on the southern tip of St. Simons Island in Georgia. It stands guiding ships into St. Simons Sound. Back in 1880, light keeper Frederick Osborne was murdered by his assistant, John Stephens. Many decades later, the wife of the present keeper was trying to get the machinery working while her husband was away. She called upon the ghostly spirit of Osborne to help her. He appeared and the machinery started working. Seeing this apparition the wife fainted but when she came to the light was once again functioning. Visitors have seen his ghostly form and heard his footsteps.

Seguin Island Lighthouse is located on Seguin Island, in the Gulf of Maine. It is the second-oldest of the coastal lighthouses in Maine. In 1795, the original wooden tower of the Sequin Island Lighthouse was built. It was replaced by a stone structure in 1819 and is what can be seen today. The spooky tale of this lighthouse dates back to the mid-19th century when the lightkeeper had a piano delivered so that he and his wife would not feel so lonely and isolated. Unfortunately, his wife knew only one song and after the keeper had had his fill of this song he lost his mind. He took an ax and chopped up the piano, then his wife, and finally himself.

Other spirits found here are a young girl running around, laughing, and waving at the visitors. US Coast Guard members have heard ghostly sounds, seen furniture moved about, and seen items gone missing.

Now on quiet nights, the sounds of piano playing can be heard across the water. The lighthouse keeper is still there keeping a vigil, climbing to the tower to check on the light. When the US Coast Guard was to dismantle the light in 1985, a warrant officer was awoken one night by a ghostly apparition dressed in oilskins telling him to leave the furniture in the lighthouse alone. When this request was not granted, after the furniture was loaded into a boat to be lowered into the water the cable snapped and the boat and furniture fell and smashed onto the rocks below.

Point Lookout Lighthouse is located at the mouth of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is reputed to be the “most haunted lighthouse” in the US. During the Civil War, a Union prison camp was established just north of the lighthouse after the Battle of Gettysburg. Camp Hoffman became the largest prison camp for Confederate soldiers. Up to 4,000 prisoners died here and were buried at the site. Their graves were later removed but visitors to this area began seeing the ghostly apparitions of Confederate soldiers.

The ghostly apparition of a man in Civil War-era clothing has been seen moving across the road, reeking of mildew and gunpowder. He doesn’t notice the living but keeps straight on his chosen path. Other sightings include the apparition of a woman, thought to be a keeper at one time, standing at the top of the stairway wearing a white blouse and a long blue skirt. Doors open and close by themselves, footsteps, and strange noises are heard.

The lighthouse is known for unpleasant odors coming from various areas of the house and for cold spots. People have heard the sounds of moaning and also snoring. This lighthouse has been featured in TV shows like “Weird Travels and Mystery Hunter” and highlighted on TLC’s series “Haunted Lighthouses”.

The Plymouth Bay Lighthouse is also known as Gurnet Light. It is a historic lighthouse located on Gurnet Point at the entrance to Plymouth Bay in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The original structure had two towers that were fueled by lamps. After her husband was slain during the American Revolution, Hannah Thomas, became the first lighthouse keeper in the country. Even though, the original structure no longer stands, it is thought that Hannah still haunts the lighthouse. After a fire destroyed the two towers, in 1803 they were rebuilt as a single, taller tower. Hannah can be seen by the new structure. A couple who stayed overnight in a house adjacent to the tower awoke to see the upper half of a ghostly woman floating over the bed and looking at them. The apparition was wearing 18th-century clothing and had long dark hair.

The Big Bay Point Lighthouse is located near the town of Big Bay, Michigan. Back in 1897, the first keeper was William Prior. He was not satisfied with his assistants so after firing them he took his son as assistant keeper. Unfortunately, after an accident, the son died. The keeper was so distraught he walked into the woods with a pistol and some strychnine. It took 17 months to find the keeper. A hunter saw a skeleton hanging from a tree which was proved to be Prior. After the lighthouse was decommissioned it became the only operational lighthouse with a bed and breakfast and the ghostly spirit of Prior haunts the guests.

The Block Island Southeast Light is located 12 miles off the Rhode Island coast. In 1997 it was designated as a historic landmark. This lighthouse is known for being “one of the finest lighthouses constructed by the US Light House Board in the 19th century”. After the wreck of the ship Palatine or Princess Augusta off the island’s northernmost point, it became a phantom ship and along with the ghostly crew it sails around the coast.

The other ghostly apparition here is that of a woman. Apparently, sometime in the 1800s a keeper brutally murdered his wife and she still haunts the lighthouse. Her apparition is very hostile to male visitors and likes to harass them. Men staying there have had their beds lifted, been shaken, and even locked out of their rooms.