Haunted Lighthouses on the US East Coast

Sep 29 2021, 7:00 am in haunted lighthouses

I couldn’t decide which east coast Haunted Lighthouse to feature this week. There are so many.  So, what the heck,  I decided to  do several.

     I’ll start with the Ram Island Light located on Casco Bay, Maine.  In 1900, because of a long history of shipwrecks in the area, Congress appropriated funds to build the 90 foot high granite light. With the many shipwrecks come several ghostly stories. One sailor tells how his boat was caught in a terrible storm. Wild waves and lightning streaking across the sky turning night to day. He was unsure of his bearings until he saw a woman dressed in white, shinning as if full of electricity, standing on the reef at Ram Island, waving her hands in warning. He goes on to say if it weren’t for her he would have struck the ledge. He was never able to find out who she was.  Another fisherman: “I was in danger of running into the rocks when I saw a burning boat near shore, about to smash on the rocks and in the boat was this woman, warning me away. I quickly changed direction. The next day I saw no trace of the burning boat or the mysterious woman.”

     The ghost of a beautiful young woman dressed in white walks the shores of the beach near Hendrick’s Head Lighthouse, Southport, Maine. There is speculation she’s the ghost of a woman found drowned there one morning, or…is the ghost the mother of a baby saved in a shipwreck?

     In 1871, a vessel went aground off shore during a March gale. The light keeper, having no means of rescue, watched helplessly as the ship sank. The next day the keeper and his wife gathering debris found feather mattresses bound with rope, a wooden box wedged inside. Opening it, they discovered an infant girl. Someone, more than likely the mother, had done their best to save the baby, and succeeded. The keeper and his wife rushed her to the house where they cared for and kept her as their own.

     Who do you think the ghost who walks the beach is? The drowned woman or the infant girl’s mother?

     Owl’s Head Light, near Rockland, Maine, has two ghosts, one a former keeper who polishes the brass. The other known as the “Little Lady” resides in the kitchen. She is credited with doors slamming shut unexpectedly and silverware rattling. Those who have the pleasure of bumping into Little Lady say she imparts a peaceful feeling.   

     Light keepers are the ones who usually encountered the unknown, brass polishing keeper, seeing him out of the corner of the eye. His brass polishing skills make him a welcomed ghost. Brass work was the bane of lightkeepers.  Footprints in the snow have been attributed to him. The 3 year old daughter of a keeper woke her parents telling them to ring the fog bell because it would soon get foggy. Which it did indeed do. When questioned how she knew, she revealed her friend told her. The friend who looked like a sea captain in a picture in the house. The lighthouse keeper’s house is currently used as quarters for the local Coast Guard and the thermostat is frequently lowered presumably by the ghost. Frugality passes on into the afterlife.

     The Boon Island lighthouse stands on a  300 X 700’ barren shoal in the Gulf of Maine.  In 1710  the Nottingham Galley crashed into the island. The crew that survived had no way to reach the shore six miles away and survived a winter by resorting to cannibalism.  Eh…. what about fishing, maybe catching birds? Sounds crazy to me.

     Many report seeing an ethereal young woman shrouded in white on the Boon rocks at dusk. She  may be Katherine Bright, who came to Boon as a newlywed with her lightkeeper husband. Four months after arriving, a surge tide swept the island. Attempting to secure the island’s boat, Keeper Bright slipped on the rocks and drowned. Katherine pulled his body ashore, dragged it to the lighthouse and left it at the foot of the stairs.  She took over lighthouse duties for five days and nights, without eating or sleeping. On the sixth day, the light was out. Fishermen investigated and found Mrs. Bright sitting on the stairs holding the frozen corpse of her husband. She’d completely lost her mind and died a few weeks later. Those who see her apparition also say they hear her screams.

Do you have any haunted Lighthouse experiences?

                                                                     Rita

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