Celebrity Ghosts and Notorious Hauntings

SHIPS AND LIGHTHOUSES

Some of the most notorious and famous hauntings have occurred not on land but at sea. From ghost ships appearing out of nowhere to boats and luxurious liners that are home to spirits, even to the lighthouses onshore that help guide them back to safety, the dead seem as drawn to water as they are to the landbound places they once called home. Because so much tragedy has occurred at sea, it’s only natural the ghosts of the dead continue to haunt the treacherous waters eternally seeking the comfort of the safety of shore.

Before today’s massive and modern cruise ships and speedboats, traveling by water was a long, arduous, dangerous journey often made more so by the unpredictable weather. There were no luxury liners to take people from one country to another, and even as ships and boats became more modernized and functional, they still suffered accidents, crashes, sinking, and the whims of Mother Nature. The bodies lost at sea were rarely recovered, doomed to roam the ocean depths, although some managed to make it back to land and haunt the places that meant something to them in life.

GHOSTS OF THE TITANIC

The most famous haunted ship is no doubt the Titanic, yet the ghosts associated with this legendary liner don’t haunt the underwater home of the wrecked ship. Instead, they appear to visitors of exhibits of artifacts from the RMS Titanic that tour the world. Divers recovered these numerous artifacts long after the 1,496 passengers perished on April 14, 1912, and since 1994, the artifacts have been exhibited in museums and halls in many major cities. Volunteers, staff members, and visitors have all reported strange phenomena while viewing the artifacts, including the voices of an elderly woman and man captured on digital recorders and the presence of a young crewmember.

While working at the display in Atlanta, a volunteer felt a hand move through her hair, and a small boy kept asking about a lady he was seeing that the adults around him failed to see. In an Iowa museum, volunteers and staff members often smelled cigar smoke near a cigar holder artifact from the ship. An actor portraying a ship’s officer at an exhibit in Orlando, Florida, also reported the smell of cigars nearby and even stated he saw the face of a real-life Titanic crewmember when he looked into a display mirror. He asked, “Who’s that?”, and the mysterious officer smiled and walked away.

Much of the activity associated with the Titanic occurs at the massive Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri, where over four hundred artifacts are on permanent display. The display includes an exact replica of the ship’s exterior in half size and even a basin filled with water the same temperature as the water was on the fateful night when the ship sank, giving visitors an idea of the conditions the passengers were exposed to as they struggled to survive before dying of hypothermia.

The Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri, houses a substantial collection of artifacts from the ill-fated ocean liner.

The display of the bunks, where the passengers slept, is home to a ghost who leaves an indentation on one of the pillows, and the handprints of a child are often found on the glass window of the display of the captain’s bridge.

Some witnesses claim the ghosts of those lost in the wreck haunt homes, hotels, and buildings they once lived in, including the Jane Street Hotel in New York and the South Street Seaport Lighthouse, which is home to a Titanic memorial.

But is the place where the Titanic sunk into the water haunted? According to “Ghosts of the Sea” at ghostsofthedead.com, many witnesses say yes, reporting orbs hovering over the waters where the hull rests. There are even reports of strange radio interference and signals experienced by submarines near the site. One report that sounds more like an urban legend occurred in 1977, when Second Officer Leonard Bishop of the SS Winterhaven gave a tour of his ship to a soft-spoken man with a British accent. Bishop thought there was something strange about the man, but he didn’t discover what until many years later, when someone showed him a photograph of a Captain Edward J. Smith. Bishop recognized Smith as the man he gave the tour to. Captain Smith, he learned, was the captain of the Titanic.

Perhaps the watery depths at the site of the Titanic shipwreck are filled with ghostly spirits that never see the light of day. Maybe they have instead chosen to return to land and haunt the places they once lived and loved, such as touring a great ship, like Captain Edward J. Smith does.

THE USS CONSTELLATION

Docked at Baltimore Harbor, the USS Constellation is a favorite tourist spot today, but when operational, she was the U.S. Navy’s first ship. Over the course of the ship’s 175-year history, there has been a lot of bloodshed on her decks during battle. Ghostly apparitions of the ship’s captain have been reported by several people in later years, including Lt. Commander Allen Ross Brougham, who in 1955 took a photograph of an apparition in the forecastle believed to be the captain himself. Ghost hunter Hans Holzer, author of Portals to the Past, claimed when he was on board that three ghosts haunted the ship. He wrote in his book of a Catholic priest who toured the ship alone in 1964 and was approached by an old sailor, who offered information about the ship’s equipment and history.

When the priest went above deck and told others about his encounter, he was told by tour guides that there was no such person belowdecks. They all rushed downstairs to where the priest had talked with the sailor, but there was no one there.

PHANTOM SHIPS

Some ships are haunted by ghosts. Other ships are themselves ghosts. A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a ship with no living crewmembers or passengers on board. The vessels are seen floating on the waters, often looking as though enveloped in a reddish glow or a fog, and may have their origins in folklore and tales of high seas adventure and mystery. Phantom ships are often described as transparent and even shimmering, as if a mirage or projection. They can appear to come close to real ships, and witnesses even say it looks as though they might crash, but upon alleged impact, they vanish into nothingness.

However, there are also real ships such as the Mary Celeste that were found without anyone on board floating at sea or drifting onto shore. These derelict ships spawn their own brand of mystery and lore surrounding the fate of the missing crewmen but usually involve missing lifeboats or other signs of the crews having abandoned ship or dying at sea. Often, dead bodies are found on the derelict ships. But they don’t become apparitions themselves, just physical pieces of history to be debated and mulled over.

GOLDEN GATE PHANTOM SHIP

Long before the Golden Gate Bridge was built in 1937, and long before over a thousand people jumped to their deaths, a steamship named the SS Tennessee got caught in the deadly current near the Golden Gate Strait and smashed into the rocks. The ship was torn apart, but luckily, 550 passengers and fourteen chests of gold got to shore safely before it crumbled into the fog and swirling waters.

The ghost ship has been reported on dark and foggy nights, and once the bridge was completed, dozens of witnesses saw the ship and heard screams coming from on board. Even other ships passing under the bridge have seen the ancient ship on foggy nights, including the USS Kennison, a destroyer that passed the Tennessee close enough that its crewmembers could tell the decks were unmanned. The ship’s name was clearly written on the side and it left a wake as any other ship would, but it never showed up on radar and vanished as quickly as it was seen.

There is now an embankment called the Tennessee Cove in Marin County, part of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, named after the ship.

THE LEGENDARY FLYING DUTCHMAN

The most legendary ghost ship is the Flying Dutchman. A huge body of legend, myth, and lore has been built around this mysterious ship, considered a dark and terrible omen to anyone at sea who witnessed her in passing. The origins of the Dutchman are referenced in a number of writings that date back to the late 1700s of a ship that was in distress off the Cape of Good Hope in 1641, led by Captain Hendrik van der Decken, who tried desperately to get to safe harbor as a terrible tempest arose. The Dutch man-o’-war ship fell to the treacherous weather conditions, and every soul on board perished at sea.

The Dutchman may have been a part of the Dutch East India Company, and sightings of her ghostly, apparition have been reported since, usually in the form of a phantom ship that appears to be about to crash or as a ship surrounded by a ghostly, red light. King George V of England wrote in 1881 of an encounter with the Dutchman early one morning, when the ghost ship crossed the bow of the ship the king was on. The Dutchman was surrounded in a reddish light, and the first sailor who saw her later fell to his death.

The first reference to the Dutchman comes from 1790 in Travels in Various Parts of Europe, Asia and Africa During a Series of Thirty Years by John MacDonald. The common story of the ship falling to the weather trying to make it into safe harbor was later repeated in numerous writings and became a legend built on superstition. In John Leyden’s Scenes of Infamy, written in 1803, the appearance of the ghost ship was said to be punishment for the crew having committed some awful, undisclosed crime, and therefore “ordained to traverse the ocean on which they perished, till the period of their penance expires.”

In 1812, Sir Walter Scott wrote about the Dutchman as a “pirate ship,” adding a new layer to an already burgeoning legend. Other written sources point to a seventeenth-century Dutch captain named Bernard Fokke as the model for the Dutchman’s own captain, although later writings mention Captain Hendrik van der Decken, a staunch seaman, as the captain of the Amsterdam vessel.

Sightings continued into the twentieth century, with numerous ships coming into near contact with a ship they thought was real, until it vanished before their eyes. Could the Flying Dutchman have been nothing more than an optical illusion, such as a mirage? Perhaps those who claim to have seen the ghostly vessel really saw an actual ship sailing below the horizon, reflecting the rays of the sun in a way as to create an image of the ship floating on the water. It might also be a “looming,” an atmospheric event that occurs when light rays bend across different refractive indices to create the image of a ship levitating in the air above the waves.

The Walt Disney Company created its version of the Flying Dutchman for its Pirates of the Caribbean movies as well as being a giant prop at Castaway Cay, an island owned by the company in the Bahamas. Tales of the ghost ship date back to the seventeenth century.

Whether she was a real ship or not, the Flying Dutchman has gone down in history as the most widely known ghost vessel. Renditions of the story, and the ship, have appeared in the form of art, operas, movies, television shows, novels, and cartoons, embedding the legend in pop culture and giving new life to a ghost of the past. There is even a popular tobacco blend called the Flying Dutchman!

HAUNTED MARITIME MYSTERIES

The legend and lore of many seafaring peoples often includes the deaths of passengers on board a ship that ran aground or sunk due to treacherous weather conditions. Though there were scientific explanations proposed, it didn’t stop rumors from spawning embellished and exaggerated legends that continue to this day. Mysterious, ghostly vessels reported around the world include:

The SS Bannockburn—Known as the “Flying Dutchman of Lake Superior,” this cargo ship ran aground at full speed in April 1897 on the rocks near the Snake Island lighthouse. The ship was badly damaged and sank months later in October, carrying grain to be taken to Kingston, Ontario, from Chicago, Illinois. The Bannockburn struck against the wall of the Welland Canal and sprung a leak, sinking to the bottom. Luckily, no lives were lost. The ship was refloated and repaired.

In November 1902, the ship set out from what is now known as Thunder Bay, headed for Georgian Bay. She ran aground and turned around to head back to port, but there was no damage, and she set out again for Georgian Bay. Later that day, the ship was spotted by Captain James McMaugh, who was on the freighter Algonquin. The Bannockburn was seven miles northeast of his ship. Later that night, strong storms hit the area, and at 11:00 P.M., a passenger steamer saw the Bannockburn headed for the Soo Locke.

The Bannockburn was never seen again.

Those who awaited the cargo ship thought she had just been set back from the storm, but the Bannockburn never showed up to dock. Several nights later, a steamship reported a debris field just off the Stannard Rock Lighthouse. On November 30, 1902, the Bannockburn and her crew were officially pronounced lost at sea. A month later, one of the ship’s life jackets showed up onshore.

There were many theories attempting to explain the ship’s disappearance. Sailors later claimed to see the Bannockburn with skeletons on her deck. Other witnesses report seeing the ship just before a storm, fog, or bad weather condition, and the vast majority of ghostly sightings occur in the month of November. Many of these reports made the local newspapers of the times, turning the disappearance of the cargo ship into local legend and lore.

The SS Valencia—A Canadian coastal passenger liner carrying 108 people set sail for San Francisco but sank off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1906, killing all but thirty-seven passengers. The cause of the sinking was a submerged reef off Vancouver Island. The passengers were said to have clung to the ship’s railings for up to a day and a half before a giant wave took the ship down for good. All of the women and children on board died. Rescue attempts were thwarted by storms and deadly rocks. The tragedy resulted in the building of the Pachena Point Lighthouse and a trail for shipwrecked mariners now called the West Coast Trail. For several decades after the sinking, fishermen in the area witnessed a ghost ship with human skeletons on board. Indian fishermen found a lifeboat manned with skeletons. There was a lifeboat found from the ship, Lifeboat No. 5, twenty-seven years after the tragedy occurred, and it is now on display at the Maritime Museum in Victoria, British Columbia. The wreck of the Valencia became known as the worst disaster to strike in the “graveyard of the Pacific,” a stretch of dangerous coastal waters from Vancouver Island down to Oregon in the United States.

The Ourang Medan—This ship sent out a distress call in 1947, which was answered by two American ships that were passing through the Strait of Malacca. The distress call came from a crew member who claimed everyone on board was dead and ended with his final words, “I die.” When the American ships found the Ourang Medan, it was in good condition, but the crew were all dead with terrified facial expressions. Even the one dog on board was dead. Before the cause of death could be determined, the ship exploded, which may have been due to the illegal nitroglycerin the vessel was carrying!

The Carroll A. Deering—In 1921, this ship ran aground near Diamond Shoals off Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. This area was notorious for disabling sea vessels. The Coast Guard investigated after several days had passed and found the ship abandoned of crewmembers as well as equipment, logbook, and two lifeboats, indicating they may have escaped. However, other ships had also vanished in this same area, sparking rumors of pirates or the nearby Bermuda Triangle.

The Lady Lovibond—On board this ill-fated schooner, Captain Simon Peel was to be married the day before Valentine’s Day in 1748 as his ship sailed toward Portugal. But his friend and first mate was in love with the captain’s fiancée, too, and, in a rage, killed the helmsman and steered the ship directly into the Good-wind Sands off southeast England, a sand bar notorious for shipwrecks. The ship sank, and everyone on board drowned. Every fifty years, witnesses living near Kent, England, claimed to see the strangely green, glowing ship, but when rescue craft were sent to investigate, there was no ship to be found. Seafaring legend had it that bringing a woman on board a boat was bad luck. Had the captain listened, his wedding may have been a true celebration and not a tragic disaster.

The Mary Celeste—This famous story involves a merchant ship found derelict and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872 in perfect condition with sails hoisted and the personal belongings of the crew left untouched. There was also a huge cargo of alcohol barrels on board and food in the cargo hold. Missing were one lifeboat, the captain’s log, and, of course, the crew. Rumors rose of poisoned food, mutiny, a terrible storm, or some issue with the ship that may have sent the crew overboard in the lifeboat. They presumably died at sea because their bodies were never found. The ship’s history since is filled with tales of ghostly sightings and apparitions, even sea monsters and alien abductions of the crew!

The Baron Falkenberg—Germany’s North Sea is the setting for a legend surrounding the medieval Baron Falkenberg, who was in love with his own brother’s fiancée. At the wedding, the baron killed the groom, and the fiancée ran screaming, declaring she would rather die than be with him. The baron stabbed her through the heart, then ran to the beach, where a mysterious man with a boat was waiting for him. The boat took the baron to a larger ship, and witnesses later claimed to see the ghost of this ship always heading north without a helmsman. But the baron could be seen on deck playing dice with the Devil for his soul.

The story of the Mary Celeste is truly creepy. Found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, its lifeboat was missing along with the crew, who were never seen again.

THE PALATINE LIGHT

Rhode Island’s Block Island is home to a ghost ship of its own, one that appears during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. The eighteenth-century ship called the Palatine is one of the most famous ghost ship legends in the United States. The ship appears at night, brightly lit against the black sea and sky, but interestingly, there is no record of a shipwreck involving a ship called the Palatine and in fact may be the actual borrowed story of the Princess Augusta, a ship that ran aground on Block Island in 1738 carrying a group of German “Palatines” who were seeking religious freedom in America. In 1925, a deposition taken from crewmembers referred to a terrible fever that killed most of those on board and a captain that refused to let the sick and starving go ashore. Another version, written about in John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “The Palatine,” appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1867, spreading his story of locals luring the ship to shore, then taking the contents and killing the passengers, burning the ship to hide evidence of their pillaging. Whichever story is true, locals still claim to see the ship glowing at night during that one holiday week each year.

The Baychimo—This cargo steamer was abandoned and adrift near Alaska for forty years. Owned by the famous Hudson Bay Company, the Baychimo was launched in the early 1920s to trade furs and pelts with the Inuit of Northern Canada. In 1931, the steamer became strapped in pack ice and could not break free. While the crew were airlifted to safety, the badly damaged ship was left behind. The ship stayed afloat for decades off the coast of Alaska and became a legend to the Eskimos, who would watch it float amid the ice drifts. It continued to be seen up until around 1969, when it vanished. Although it most likely sunk, several search expeditions have failed to locate the wreckage.

SAN DIEGO’S HAUNTED SHIPS

San Diego is a harbor city home to some amazing historical ships. All are out of service but are now popular tourist attractions. The USS Midway is a massive, decommissioned U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that was the largest tonnage ship in the world up until 1955. She served for forty-seven years and saw action in the Vietnam War before becoming the flagship of the 1991 Operation Desert Storm. She was officially decommissioned in 1992 and is now a museum. Though thousands of people tour the ship yearly, the staff is quiet about the ghosts some claim are on board. Paranormal investigators suggest there are over thirty ghosts on the Midway, and it is considered one of the four haunted ships featured in the 2012 Maritime Ghost Conference in San Diego.

Nearby is the famous Star of India, built on the Isle of Man in 1863 out of steel rather than the usual wood. She is the world’s oldest active iron-hull ship and is alleged to be haunted by the many men who died on her decks. One such man was a young stowaway named John Campbell, who died in 1844 when he fell from the high rigging, crushing his legs when he hit the deck. Three days later, he was buried at sea. Visitors report a ghost that touches them with a cold hand when they stand near the mast where he fell.

Other visitors claim they smell the scent of baking bread coming from the galley, even though it has not functioned for decades. Pots and pans are said to move around on their own, and there are a number of cold spots reported throughout the ship. The ship is now a hugely popular museum and tourist spot and has a lot of foot traffic, which helps continue the legend of the Star’s tragic past and haunted present.

THE CALEUCHE

Off the Chiloe Island of Chile, terrible storms lurk along with the ghost of a ship called the Calueche that witnesses say has blood-red sails and glowing, white sides. There are those who even claim the ship is alive and glides over the water, then dives into it like a giant whale. The ship sunk in the deadly waters, and there were no survivors. Locals claim they can sometimes see survivors on the sands, yet when they set out to rescue them, there is no one there. This ghost ship appears almost nightly and is described as beautiful and filled with the spirits of all those who drowned at sea. There are often sounds of music and celebration on board the empty vessel. This story is a part of Chilota legend, which claims the three water spirits, the Sirena chilota, the Pincoya, and the Pincoy, summon the spirits of the dead to the ship. Once they are back on the ship, they are drowned, and this enables them to resume their lives before they initially died.

Northumberland Ghost Ship—A ghostly, three-masted schooner on fire has been witnessed since the late eighteenth century by those living near Canada’s Northumberland Strait, the body of water separating Prince Edward Island from Novia Scotia. Most of the sightings last but a few moments before the ship vanishes, but others have reported sightings over an hour. Rescuers have attempted to sail out to the phantom ship, but the ship vanishes as they close in on it. In 2014, a postage stamp of the ship was launched by Canada Post as part of their “haunted Canada” line.

CHALEUR BAY FIRESHIP

Another Canadian ghost ship, also appearing to witnesses to be on fire, is seen in the Chaleur Bay area of New Brunswick. The ghost ship appears at night and often is stationary for hours, although others report it skimming atop the waters. The ship is associated with a number of shipwrecks that have occurred in the region, but scientists claim the apparition might be the result of an electrical phenomenon known as St. Elmo’s Fire, when inflammable gases are released beneath the sea. Another explanation is the presence of phosphorescent marine life where the ship is often sighted.

GARDINER BAY PHANTOM FIGHTERS

In 1754, a letter in the New York Gazette written by fishermen on Plum Island, which is near Long Island’s far eastern tip, claimed that three ghost ships sailed in Gardiner’s Bay with sailors on deck. The ships were said to engage in gun battle for a few minutes before the ships vanished entirely. The story was repeated in 1882 in the New York Sun newspaper about another fisherman who saw a giant schooner emerge from out of nowhere but heading straight for them. As the schooner was about to hit the fisherman’s boat, it vanished.

SPECTRAL SUBMARINE

The German UB III Class submarine was a powerful weapon during the First World War. One in particular seemed to be cursed. During the building of this sub, three men suffocated on diesel fumes, and two men were crushed by a falling girder. A crewmember drowned during its first testing, and two more men died after the sub sank and filled with toxic gases from a damaged battery.

But the curse continued, and during an early mission, eight crewmen and one officer died from a freak torpedo explosion. The officer’s ghost would later be seen walking the ship in ghostly form. But it doesn’t end there because after that, the sub captain was decapitated by flying shrapnel. The captain’s ghost was reported standing over his headless body that very night.

HAUNTED LIGHTHOUSES

Just as ghost ships haunt the seas, the shorelines have their share of haunted lighthouses rich in history and regional and local legend and lore. Thought to be the beacons of hope and comfort for ships lost at sea, showing them the way back to the safety of solid ground, many lighthouses carry with them tragic tales of their own and reports of paranormal phenomena from ghosts to strange voices to the appearance of beacons when the buildings have long since been abandoned and lamps disabled and shut down.

Because most lighthouses have a long history attached to them, they abound with ghosts and hauntings. Here is a short list from A to Z of some of the more widely known haunted lighthouses and the stories behind them.

Bakers Island—The Bakers Island Light is located in Salem Harbor, Massachusetts. Built in 1907, locals report hearing the fog bell go on and off by itself. Perhaps it’s related to a story of a ferry crash in 1898 that killed one of the keepers during a severe storm during a keepers’ reunion on the island.

Barnegat—The Barnegat, New Jersey, lighthouse was built back in 1856 and sports the ghosts of a couple who had been on a ship off the coast during a storm. The ship was evacuated, but the husband stayed aboard, and his wife chose to stay with him. They sent their infant daughter to shore with a shipmate, but the husband and wife went down with the ship. Their ghosts are said to appear on cold days in the months of January and February and approach parents walking their babies in strollers, only to vanish into thin air when they realize the infant is not their daughter.

Nicknamed “Old Barney,” Barnegat Lighthouse on the northern tip of Long Beach Island in New Jersey is the site of a sad tale of parents forever separated from their daughter.

Battery Point—This Crescent City, California, lighthouse sits on a little peninsula on a tiny island of its own. The lighthouse survived a major tsunami in 1964 that destroyed much of the town of Crescent City on the mainland. The lighthouse ghost is a playful one who likes to rock a rocking chair, move the keeper’s bedroom slippers around, and annoy the cat. Perhaps it is a ghost of a dog that once lived there!

Big Bay Light—The Big Bay Point Lighthouse is located in Big Bay, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula. It was opened in 1896, and William Prior became the first keeper. Now a bed-and-breakfast, the innkeeper and guests report the ghost of a man who may be William who slams kitchen cabinet doors … until the innkeeper yelled at him to stop. Since then, William is silent as well as five other ghosts said to haunt the lighthouse.

Bird Island—This Sippican Harbor, Massachusetts, lighthouse, built in 1890, is the home of a ghost named William Moore, the first keeper who may have been a convicted pirate doing time at the lighthouse. He had a terrible temper and took it out on his wife, Sarah, a small woman who may have been beaten by her husband. In 1832, William raised a distress flag. Mainlanders went to the lighthouse and found the dead body of his wife, Sarah. William claimed she succumbed to tuberculosis, but others suspected William murdered her. After he left the island, the new keeper reported the ghost of a small, frail woman who would come to the door, then fade away when the door was open. Fishermen in the area in 1982 reported seeing a weeping ghost that may have been Sarah.

Block Island—Block Island Southeast Lighthouse in Rhode Island was built in 1874. The ornate, Victorian-style lighthouse is said to be haunted as well as the entire seven-thousand-acre island it sits on. In the 1900s, one keeper killed his wife, pushing her down the tower stairs. Her spirit continues to haunt the entire island. Phantom pirate ships are seen off the island as well as the ghosts of those who may have died in shipwrecks along the perilous shoals and ledges off the coastline. The island is open to the public by ferry.

Boston—Built in 1783, the official Boston, Massachusetts, lighthouse sports the ghost of an elderly sailor. Footsteps and cold spots accompany the sightings, and a rocking chair moved on its own. The ghost hates rock music, as discovered by Coast Guard officers who would play a rock station on the radio when nearby, only to have it suddenly jump to a classical music station.

Bug Light—The Long Beach Bar Lighthouse is located in Orient, New York, but got the name “Bug Light” because the rocks where it was located made it look like a bug at high tide. Built in 1870, the original lighthouse helped mariners navigate the dangerous sandbar between Orient Harbor and Gardiner’s Bay. Sadly, in 1963, arson destroyed the lighthouse, and a foundation was established to rebuild it. The whole restoration project took only sixty days, thanks to the input of locals who loved their lighthouse and innovative planning and construction designs. The ten-inch, solar-powered light was relit on September 5, 1990, to great fanfare and is a popular tourist spot as part of the East End Seaport Museum. Although there are many haunted locations around Long Island, the Bug Light may or may not have its ghosts, depending on which locals you ask, mainly due to the fact that the new location is not where the original was built.

Gibraltar Point—Built in 1808 on Toronto Island in Canada, this lighthouse was named by the then governor who wanted the lighthouse fortified as strong as the Rock of Gibraltar. The first keeper, who was also a bootlegger, was a man named J. P. Radan Muller and may be the ghost that haunts the lighthouse. It is assumed Muller was murdered when soldiers from Fort York came to him for whiskey, and he refused to give them what they wanted. Remains of a body were discovered in 1904 and since then, workers and visitors have witnessed unexplained lights, shadowy figures, bloodstains on the staircase, and eerie wailing and moaning. The lighthouse is now a historical landmark and no longer in use.

Heceta Head—A ghost named Rue haunts this Yachats, Oregon, lighthouse built in 1894 and overlooking the Pacific Ocean, setting off fire alarms and moving objects around during work hours. The keeper’s house is now a bed-and-breakfast and appears to patrons now and then, although in a benign manner.

New London Ledge—Connecticut’s New London Ledge Lighthouse sits in the New London Harbor and is home to a ghost named Ernie. Ernie was the keeper, and in 1936, he discovered his wife had run away with the captain of the Block Island Ferry. Despondent, he jumped from the roof to his death and has haunted the lighthouse ever since, opening and closing doors, turning televisions on and off, turning the fog horn on and off, and even untying secured boats on the dock.

Old Point Loma Lighthouse—San Diego, California’s Point Loma is home to this two-story lighthouse that first became operational in November 1855. It operated for forty years and also served as a family home. Today, it is a popular tourist spot as well as a historical landmark. Tourists can go inside and see how the family once lived and might even encounter the ghost of Captain Robert Decatur Israel, the last lighthouse keeper before it was shut down.

Old Presque Isle—Presque Isle, Michigan, is home to this well-known, haunted lighthouse on Lake Huron. The ghosts of a screaming woman who may have been a keeper’s wife locked away in the tower years ago is often heard as well as the ghosts of George Parris, who, with his wife, moved into the lighthouse keeper’s cottage in 1990 to run the museum and give guided tours. Ever since his death, the beacon light comes on at dusk and shuts off at dawn each night, even though the light has been permanently disabled! The light has even been reported by Air National Guardsmen flying over, even after the Coast Guard went in and removed the old light for good. Or so they thought.

Owls Head—The Owls Head Light State Park in Maine is open year-round. With lovely views of Penobscot Bay, the lighthouse and keeper’s residence is not open to the public. Locals claim a three-year-old girl, who was the daughter of a former keeper, once told her parents that the fog was rolling in and it was time to put the foghorn on. The parents learned she had an imaginary friend who informed her, an old sea captain who left footprints outside the snow, polished brass in the house, and even turned down the thermostat!

Built in 1840, the Old Presque Isle Light in Michigan was the first lighthouse on the island. Former museum caretaker George Parris is said to still haunt the building, turning its beacon light on and off each night.

Plymouth—The Plymouth Lighthouse was originally built in 1769 at the mouth of Massachusetts’s Plymouth Bay. It was built upon land owned by John and Hannah Thomas, who became the first keepers. John was killed during the Revolutionary War, leaving his wife as the first known female American lighthouse keeper. The lighthouse was rebuilt twice, once in 1843 and again in 1924, when it was automated. Many visitors believe the ghost of Hannah Thomas haunts the tower in the form of a floating apparition, sometimes just the upper portion of a woman’s body, dressed in old-fashioned clothes and with long, dark hair.

Point Lookout—Scotland, Maryland, is home to the Point Lookout Light, which paranormal experts call the most haunted lighthouse in America. The lighthouse was built upon land once used for a Civil War hospital, and a prison camp was built next door by the Union Army, creating a literal breeding ground for disease, illness, and death. This may explain the apparitions reported of both males and females and doors that open and close on their own. Voices and footsteps have been reported as well as mysterious snoring, despite there being no one there. One of the first keepers, Ann Davis, is reported to haunt the lighthouse and has been seen standing at the top of the tower stairs. Other figures appear throughout the basement area. The lighthouse went dark in 1966 and is now part of a state park.

Point Sur—The Point Sur Lighthouse sits atop a mound of massive, volcanic rock between California’s coastal towns of Big Sur and Carmel. The light, which went operational in 1889, once warned ships of the treacherous coast, but many a shipwreck occurred anyway, and the ghosts that haunt this historic tower are said to be the spirits of those who drowned in the shipwrecks. They now roam about the lighthouse and surrounding buildings, including a ghost of a tall man in dark blue clothing reminiscent of the nineteenth century. The lighthouse is now part of Point Sur Historic State Park and is open to the public for guided tours.

Port Boca Grande—You might hear the sound of a young girl giggling and moving about in the upstairs keeper’s area of this Gasparilla, Florida, lighthouse near Fort Myers. There is now a museum inside the lighthouse building, and many a visitor has heard the sounds of what may be the ghost of a former keeper’s daughter who died in the building. You might also see a headless apparition of a woman named Josefa walking on the sand near the lighthouse, who was a Spanish princess decapitated by a pirate.

Saginaw River—The full name of this lighthouse is Saginaw River Rear Range. It is located in Bay City, Michigan, on the Great Lakes and may be one of the first two lighthouses to be built on the lakes. The lights of the range helped mariners navigate through the river’s shipping channel. Coast Guard officers who have stayed at the house report heavy footsteps on the iron staircase of the tower, which has been closed to the public since the 1970s and remained unoccupied after that.

Seguin Island—Bath, Maine, is home to the Seguin Island Lighthouse, Maine’s tallest and second-oldest lighthouse. The now desolate site, on an island accessible only by boat or helicopter, was once the home of a keeper and his wife. When she would get bored in the winter, the keeper got his wife a piano, but it only had sheet music for one song. She had to play the same song over and over since the island was unreachable due to ice. Eventually, the keeper went insane, chopped up the piano with an axe, took it to his wife, and then took his own life. Some say you can hear the sound of piano music on a quiet night and see the keeper moving about the house.

Seul Choix—Gulliver, Michigan’s Seul Choix lighthouse overlooks Lake Michigan. The seventy-eight-foot tower was first put into service in 1892. One of its first keepers, Captain Joseph Townsend, now haunts the tower and museum. He died in the keeper’s house in the early 1900s, but his body wasn’t discovered for months due to the snow and weather. It was kept in the basement and may be the reason his spirit haunts the tower to this day. Staff and visitors alike have reported the smell of cigars, which Captain Joseph loved to smoke, and even the apparition of a man looking out the windows.

Sherwood Point—The Sherwood Point Lighthouse is located about fourteen miles east of Manistique, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. The last of the Great Lakes lighthouses to be turned over to automation, it ended personnel service in 1983. It is now used as a private Coast Guard retreat and is open to public tours. U.S. Coast Guard reservists have reported hearing noises at night and seeing the spirit of a woman who may have been Minnie Cochems, who operated the lighthouse with her husband and died there in 1928.

St. Augustine—The St. Augustine, Florida, lighthouse has a notorious reputation for being haunted. Built in 1824 and then reconstructed in 1874, the many ghosts that make the lighthouse their home are that of a twelve-year-old girl who was the daughter of one of the lighthouse builders and a dark, male figure in the basement who may be a caretaker who hanged himself in the lighthouse. Many paranormal groups have investigated the lighthouse and found it to be highly active.

St. Simons—St. Simons Island in Georgia is home to a haunted lighthouse of its own. The beautiful and towering St. Simons light overlooks the Atlantic coast of Georgia and is considered a historical landmark. The tower was built in the 1870s as part of an older structure still in place, Fort St. Simons, built by the founder of the state of Georgia, General James Oglethorpe. During the Spanish attack of 1738, the area was evacuated, and the fort was then used by the Spanish. During one bloody battle, the fort was destroyed. In the early 1800s, James Gould built the lighthouse tower and became its first keeper. It was destroyed by the Confederate Army in 1862, then rebuilt by architect Charles Cluskey in 1872. The 104-foot tower is in use even today. But beware of the resident ghost of Frederick Osborne, one of the past keepers who was shot by his assistant keeper, John Stevens, after Frederick made inappropriate comments about the assistant’s wife. His footsteps and the sounds of men arguing can be heard from the vacant tower in the still of the night.

White River—Whitehall, Michigan, is home to this Great Lakes lighthouse, which was sadly deactivated in 1960. There is now a museum on-site, and the staff and visitors say they hear footsteps of someone pacing back and forth in the limestone tower and keeper’s house. Perhaps they belong to the lighthouse’s very first keeper, Captain William Robinson, who served as the keeper for forty-seven years before he died in the building. His wife, Sarah, may also be haunting White River, as apparently, someone likes to dust museum cases when no one is around!

This is only a sampling of the many haunted lighthouses both here in the United States and in Canada. Sadly, many older lighthouses have fallen to complete disarray, and no money has been available for restoration purposes. One can only imagine the ghosts that walk their grounds, wondering what happened to the homes they so loved and found solace and comfort in.