Since we have been having so much fun with "Lighthouses in Movies", let's do "Haunted Lighthouses" and the story behind the haunting.
I'll go first with Sequin Island in Maine. The story is that a newly wed lighthouse keeper took his new wife out to the isolated lighthouse to live. She was boored and very unhappy, so he got her a piano to make her happy. She only learned one song and she kept playing it over and over and over.
It drove him crazy and he took an axe and killed her, chopped the piano into bits and threw it into the ocean and thenhe killed himself. The
locals say that if you go by the island on a stormy night you can hear the same music coming
from the island.

Oh, Kay, you have picked one of my favorite subjects. I'll go next with Point Lookout, MD (see my avatar). Some people consider it the most haunted lighthouse in America. There are many stories surrounding the light. The place served as a hospital during the Civil War. Loud footsteps are heard and shadows of men passing by are seen. A woman dressed in a long dress has been seen on the grounds. She appears upset that she can't find graves for which she is looking. Apparently, there were several gravesites there at one time but they were moved to a nearby place long ago. It is a spooky place to visit. The basement is one of the areas of most "ghostly" activity. I am very excited that the property has passed from military hands to the National Park System. Hopefully, it will become accessible for us to go exploring in it!

Kay, I guess it's your turn! We need to keep this thread going. It has the potential to be a hair-raising topic!

Florida of course has 2 well known "Haunted" lighthouses, Pensacola and St. Augustine. Both have lots of stories. Now Carysfort was suppose to be haunted but a gentlemen many years ago got permission to stay at the lighthouse while it was still manned and figure the noise at night was only the metal contracting after the sun went down. Cape St. George Lighthouse had a keeper who fell to his death while painting the lighthouse but have not heard any stories about him haunting the place, but I will ask one the locals.

Seul Choix Lighthouse in Gulliver, Mi. is haunted by Captain Townsend. He is a former keeper that had taken ill and died at the light. They prepared his body for viewing in the basement and had to wait for all relatives to arrive because of distance and remoteness. When the Gulliver Historical Society restored the the Keeper"s house-they found a round kitchen table in the basement. It was broken and scattered in the four corners down there. They had it repaired and placed in the Keeper's quarters. That is when the "fun" began. Captain Townsend loved cigars and is somewhat of a prankster! I visited this light knowing that it was haunted, but not believing. He loves people like that!! My daughter and I both smelled cigar smoke and we were in different parts of the house at the time this occured. I felt cold air on the back of my neck(it was in the 80's-no breeze) and felt something or someone brush past me on the stairs immmediately after. I have visited this light 4 times and each time have encountered the Captain. The last time I visited I took pictures of the mirror in his bedroom-he likes to appear there. I checked my pictures for moved objects in the dining room and kitchen-another of his favorite things to do. There were several things that had been moved from one picture to the next. I remembered that when I had been waiting to take pictures of the mirror,that the chair in his room had an afghan on the seat. Upon further inspection of the afghan('cause it was pretty) I noticed it was indented as if someone was sitting there. I took a picture of that. I then moved to the other bedroom and was going to take a picture of that while I was waiting. My camera wouldn't work, so I checked the battery indicator even though I had just installed new ones. It showed they were dead(another of his tricks) so to myself I told him to cut it out. Immediately the indicator moved to full charge. I then took the pictures of the mirror and moved on. Any way...while checking my pictures of the mirror I noticed something in the mirror in one of the pictures. Upon closer inspection-it is the face of Captain Townsend! I became a believer after my first visit to Seul Choix and have had quite a few interesting experiences. Not only there, but at other lights. My husband thought that I was nuts, crazy, totally insane...UNTIL we visited Whitefish Point. But that's another post! Have any of you ever had an encounter?

There is a story about the Lighthouse at Dyrhólaey, Iceland.
The Lighthouse at Dyrhólaey

I guess that counts for a haunted lighthouse

I haven't encountered ghosts in lighthouses yet, but I would like to. When we were in St Augustine there were several ghost tours. We had planned to take one but just didn't have the time. It would be cool if we could get together and go on a tour to haunted ones and hang out at night to see if anything would happen.
St Augustine is supposed to have two little girl ghosts, Does anyone know the story on that?

Kay-I think it would be cool to give it a try! I hope to some day make it down there to St. Augistine...I've been told by my husband's aunt, that it's a beautiful light to visit. I've read that the two little girl ghosts are the daughters of one of the keepers that drowned.

Can't spell-St. Augustine...sorry about that!

I found a book last night that I got a forgot about. It is "Lighthouse Legends & Hauntings" by
William O. Thomson".
It has a lot of interesting stories about Connie Small's life living in lighthouses.
It also has a list of some of New Englans's haunted lighthouses.
Sequin (Me), Ram Island Light (Me), Isle of Shoals (NH), Minot's Ledge Light (Ma), Owl's Head Light (Me), Block Island SE (RI), Wood Island Light (Me), Hendrick's Head (Me), New London Ledge (Ct), and Boon Island Light (Me)
The people who are taking Dae's trip to Maine in
the Fall may visit some of these. You may want to investigate a little bit! Who knows what you will find!

There are tons of haunted lighthouses. Recently, we talked about TAPS in another thread. The group had very good results at St. Augustine and showed them in the "Reveal" segment, but Ernie did not make an appearance at New London. You can see TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) on the Sci-Fi Channel on Wednesdays (at least in my area); they are based in Rhode Island. They are very good at debunking stories, so when they pick up on activity, I feel it's pretty legitimate.

LHD sold a video called "New England's Haunted Lighthouses" some years ago; it was produced by William O. Thomson. The narration is not particularly good, but it's a pretty interesting tape anyway. It includes Ram Island, Seguin, Hendrick's Head, Owl's Head, Wood Island, Cape Neddick, Boon Island, Isles of Shoals, Minot's Ledge, Southeast Block, and New London Ledge. I just realized those are the ones in his book, too.

You are right, Kay, those of us making the Maine Regional trip in October will see many haunted lights up there.

That's a very intriguing story, Margret. I'm glad there were pictures, too. Iceland is one of those places which I wish I could visit. Obviously, settling there is not very enticing!

Debbie, unfortunately, I have never had a ghostly encounter; I would like to - I think!!

Not sure I would like a "ghostly encounter". But I also would LOVE to go to Iceland - not just for the lighthouses!

Lighthouse Ghost by Norma Elizabeth & Bruce Roberts is an interesting read-it covers ghosts at 13 different lights. The video True Lighthouse Hauntings from Frederick Stonehouse is also excellent. It covers hauntings on the Great Lakes. Of all my encounters...the only one that "freaked" me out was the one at Whitefish Point! My husband who is afraid of nothing-was as white as a ghost, couldn't wait to get back to the truck and in fact left me behind in his hurry to get there! This took place at night with a storm brewing. He has only told me part of what he experienced. But he has told my children when they were picking on me about my encounters-not to laugh they do exist!

Debbie,
Tell us what you saw at Whitefish Point.

O.K.-Here goes...We went to Whitefish Point just before dusk. I had never seen or photographed a light at night. We went down on the beach to take pictures and look for agates while we waited for the light to come on. It kept growing darker and a storm was moving in from the west. I kept waiting and searching until I was at water's edge. Soon it was so dark that I could barely see the rocks. The light still was not on, the wind had picked up and we were the only 2 there. My husband was down the beach aways from me also looking for rocks. All of a sudden I got this eerie feeling-I don't know how else to describe it. Then I felt this heavy burden of sadness and felt something pulling me towards the water. I looked out towards the lake and my eyes were drawn to the North west, but all I could see was waves and clouds. The water started to come up to the tips of my shoes and I felt drawn closer and closer to the water. I stepped back and looked toward my husband...he was also staring in the same direction that I had been. It scared the heck out of me this pull toward the lake-so I ran down by him. He didn't even know I was there until I touched him. I asked him what he was looking at and he replied that he didn't know. When he looked at me-he was a white as a sheet! Iasked him what was wrong-he replied that he felt eerie and something was calling him to come out into the lake. He then turned and said "Let's get out of here". Instead of taking the path that was closest to us-he started down to the next one. As we were walking up that one...I heard someone walking behind me in the sand. I turned around and looked-there was no one there! I tried to hurry after him, but my pockets were so loaded down with rocks that I wasn't making much headway. When I looked up-he was gone! He left me behind!! I started out again and shortly I heard someone behind me again...footsteps and breathing! Well-I went as fast as I could and shortly I was near the edge of the parking lot,I could see my husband kneeling down next to the truck..so I turned around to look and again-NO ONE!!! We got into the truck and sat there for what seemed an eternity. The light in the tower still wasn't on and it was 10:00p.m. Finally he asked if I was ready to go...his voice was shaking. I couldn't get much out of him. It did storm that evening and the next morning, when we returned to the light it was pea soup fog. We went through the museum and the keeper's house and then out onto the beach for more pictures. As we got ready to leave the sun was peeking out, but still a heavy layer of fog. When I got to the top of the stairs on the boardwalk, I turned around to see what was keeping him. He was video taping the lake and beach. I happened to look straight out and there came a freighter out of the fog straight at the beach. I yelled to him to look-he said what freighter? Then he saw it. It came straight towards shore and the finally slowly turned to the west,ran parallel with the shore and disappeared back into the for. He videoed from the beach and I took pictured from the boardwalk. No one else even noticed this ship...even though another woman was standing right next to me taking pictures in the same direction as me. All she said was"it sure is foggy!" People at the edge of the water-looking out never said a word! We joked and wondered if we had seen a ghost ship. I had been corresponding with Jan Langley(author of The Captain and Harry) so I emailed her when we got home and told her what had happpend. She in turn contacted someone with access to the Soo logs of ships that were up or down bound that day. He said the only ship that had passed through the locks in that 24 hr period was the AlgoLake. He emailed pictures. It was NOT that ship that we saw. To this day we have not been able to identify her... and he had no valid explaination as to why a ship would even be there with today's technology! My husband just told me recently-that he did NOT leave me to fend for myself. I heard you walking right behind me! I have just recently read that there supposedly is a sailor that perished off WhitefishPoint. He froze to death on the ship and they had to chop his body out with an axe. When they did they chopped off a finger and now he roams the beach looking for it. I don't know who or what, but it was definitely terrifying!

Didn't mean to freak anyone out...Big Bay Lighthouse is also haunted. There are reportedly like 5 different ghosts. The main one is the keeper. His son was chopping wood and cut his leg doing so. The keeper waited to take him for medical attention and it was too late. His son died from infection. It was more than the keeper could bare so he went out into the woods and committed suicide. I guess there is debate as to exactly how, but the eventually did find his remains. I am not real sure about the others that haunt the light.

Very spooky stories, Debbie. There are so many haunted lighthouses that it would be impossible to recount all the stories we have heard. By the way, one of the stories at Saint Augustine is about the man who hanged himself; workers have seen the apparition of the hanging body - can't recall if it was the keeper. (Those senior moments are coming too frequently these days! )

There are many stories about St. Simon's; one is that footsteps are heard going up and down the spiral staircase. Supposedly, an early keeper was murdered by his assistant. They think the keeper returns to ensure that the light is being properly kept. In the days of keepers, he was heard particularly during storms and hurricanes. The dog of one keeper would press close to his owners whenever he heard the steps and would not look in the direction of the door which led to the lighthouse tower. (In those days the keeper and family lived in the little house connected to the foot of the tower.)

I am glad that some of you are listing books about this topic - good to add to the collection for reading on dark and stormy nights!

Here is a website which Ladybug (Darlene) sent me last year. I previewed it and it worked, so, hopefully, you won't have a problem accessing it. If not, maybe you can cut and paste.

http://www.angelfire.com/va3/keepthelightsshining/Personal/HauntedLighthouses2.html

That was a cool site, Grace. Maybe we'll see or hear some ghosts on our Tidewater trip!

Kay, I am going to send you an email so I hope your service is working again; I am really glad that you have decided to go on the Tidewater trip!

Grace-thanks for the link to that website. Just checked some of it out-very interesting. Have bookmarked it for future reference. Also appreciated the information on the other ghosts. I remember reading somewhere about the hanging now that you mention it. Another book that I have read is Lighthouse Ghosts and Legends by Nina Costopoulos. They do make more interesting reading on dark stormy nights don't they?

Did anybody see the "Haunted Lighthouses" on the Travel Channel last Night? (7/7/06)
The first part was narrated by Eleanor DeWire.
The lighthouses featured were:
Sequin (Maine)
New London (Ct)
Old Presque Isle (Mi)
Point Lookout (NC)and
St Augustine (Fl)

Very interesting.

Will have to look for it when it repeats. Thanks, Kay!

Just discovered that "Haunted Lighthouses" is on the Travel Channel again tonight. (Fri, July 14
at 7PM. It was worth watching.

Had forgotten about this. Thanks, Kay, I've set my DVR for 1:00 a.m.