Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse

Located at the southern end of Gasparilla Island you'll find the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse. Right next to the lighthouse sits its twin - a building that served as the lighthouse keeper's assistant's home. Originally built in 1890, these two buildings were nearly lost to the sea. By 1970, the shoreline had been eroded by hundreds of feet and the sea was beginning to reach the lighthouse foundation. Local concern grew and the government took steps ensure the lighthouse would be around for future generations.

When phosphate was discovered several miles upriver from the lighthouse's future location in the early 1880's, the phosphate was shipped down the river on barges to Port Boca Grande and then loaded onto ocean-going vessels. Due to the increased business of the port, Congress appriated $35,000 for the construction of a lighthouse at the southern tip of Gasparilla Island in 1888, and the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was born.

Lighthouse keepers and their families lived and worked in the lighthouse from 1890 until 1951. The Boca Grande lighthouse served as a home for the lighthouse keeper and his family, and the twin building next to it served as home to the assistant lighthouse keeper. The keeper would take care of the light until midnight, and then his assistant would tend to the light for the rest of the night.

The Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is thought to have two ghosts. During the lighthouse's history, the young daughter of one of the keepers died in the dwelling, most likely of diphtheria or whooping cough. Tour guides say that she can be heard playing in one of the rooms of the building's upper floor. A former park ranger who led tours of the lighthouse, often pointed to a doorway on the second floor and told visitors that it was one of the little girl's favorite places to play. the former ranger also said that at midnight, the little girl can be heard upstairs playing.

The second ghost is said to be the headless specter of a Spanish princess named Josefa. Legend says that a Spanish pirate, Jose Gaspar (aka Gasparilla), buried his treasure in the sand close to where the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was to be built some ninety years later. Apparently, Gaspar fell in love with this Spanish princess he had kidnapped. She wasn't interested and when she rejected his love, he drew his sword in a fit of rage and cut off her head. Shamed by what he had done to Josefa, Gasparilla gathered up her lifeless body and buried her in the sand on the island. Unfortunately for her, his love for her was so great that he didn't want to leave her and legend says he carried his beloved's head with him for the rest of his days. Reports say that her headless spirit has been seen wandering the beach on Gasparilla Island, presumably looking for her head.

The U.S. Coast Guard automated the light in 1956. Ten years later, in 1966, the Coast Guard removed the light from the building, which was deteriorating due to neglect and beach erosion. In 1972 Lee County took over ownership of the lighthouse and surrounding 13 acres, and began a long process to save the building. Funds were raised by the Gasparilla Island Conservation Association, and the lighthouse was restored.

The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and in 1986 the lighthouse was relit and returned to service as a working Coast Guard light. In 1988 the lighthouse and surrounding land was transferred from Lee County to the State of Florida and became Gasparilla Island State Park.

The Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is open to the public. Although it's fenced off, you can get a great view of the lighthouse from the nearby park and beach. The assistant keeper's house is now used as a house for the park ranger.

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Pensacola Lighthouse - Florida

Nearly one hundred and fifty years old, the tower is maintained by the US Coastguard and they tend to refuse the rumors about ghosts.

The local story talks about a tragedy in the late eighteen hundreds on a hot summer night. An argument between a keeper and his wife resulted in a bloody and brutal murder, likely, the locals say, after years of abuse. The blood stain won't be scrubbed out. It returns no matter how much one tries to clean that part of the bedroom floor.

A plumber, looking for frozen pipes one cold January evening, saw and heard a person near him and around him, not his work partner. He spoke to him and the specter spoke back. To this day the plumber swears the encounter is true.

Tour guests have seen a lady in white on the second catwalk on the tower and even though the stairs and tower are locked, the spirit is seen walking around the light.

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Prospect Harbor, Maine

The keepers quarters is used for navy personnel, calling it Gull Cottage. The former light keeper's ghost is said to haunt Gull Cottage and the solitude brings on a tale about an old man called Captain Salty.

Guests often talk about the events that plague them through the night, like doors opening and closing, lights going on and off and other odd occurrences. The owners leave journals for the guests to write in if they have odd occurrences. There are a trio of statues at a window at Gull Cottage and in the morning, they're faced in a different direction than they were in before the guests retire.

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Maine, Owls Head Lighthouse

An hour north of Portland, Maine, Curtis Island Lighthouse is a bird sanctuary. Even closer to Owls head, we get to Breakwater Lighthouse, one of the few said to be not haunted.

Owls Head is a rocky, craggy area on the coast, sitting haunted on the hill. Footprints appear on the stairs and the cleaning's been done after a rain, but the footprints don't go down the stairs. Is it the spirit of a keeper taking his job seriously to this day?

One family that stayed in the keeper's house in the eighties, who found the ghost interacting with their daughter. The tiny daughter told the dad in the middle of the night that he had to turn on the fog horn. The family knew it wasn't coming from the little girl, but from a keeper from days gone by.

Strange events have gone on in the house, the footprints, the cleaning, the extreme care of the lighthouse, points to a former keeper. The resident family never feels alone.

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Heceta Head Lighthouse

To get to Heceta Head Lighthouse from Portlant, Oregon, you have to drive along highways of incredible vistas. The Pacific Ocean and the rugged shores of the Pacific Northwest, some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Heceta Head Lighthouse sits on a wedge of cliff, with its keepers quarters and light tower.

The keeper's quarters is a Queen Ann style fully restored house, beautiful amid the trees and rock croppings, now open to the public as a bed and breakfast. It is said to be the most haunted area of the compound.

The legend talks about a keeper's wife named Ru. who lost her child in an accident, with conflicting tales of the way the child died.

Guests of the bed and breakfast talk over the breakfast table of ghostly experiences and for the most part, the tales hold true to the legend.

The curator tells of the DeRoys, a couple, the wife joining her husband the keeper at Heceda Head. Staff have seen a woman, the style of the early nineteen hundreds, moving about the keepers quarters. A workman in the attic saw woman's reflection in the windows he was cleaning, the image clear and not fleeting.

The desolate area and windy weather gives the haunted lighthouse an even eerier feel, but none who work there have reported feeling uneasy with the spirit which resides there. All have reported feeling quite comfortable in the keeper's house.

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Yaquina Bay Lighthouse (old) Newport, Oregon

The older lighthouse is said to be haunted by a strange mystery and a disappearance.

The story says that someone disappeared after the old lighthouse was abandoned. The tale got its start with an old magazine story called the Haunted Light, a late nineteenth century story about a young girl who is drawn to the empty lighthouse one day while picnicing with friends. She disappeared that day.

Some say her spirit still lingers, yet was it a story of fiction or fact? The legend of Muriel is a well-known tale in these parts, with locals lending their stories of sightings to the energy of the story.

To the north of the old lighthouse is the replacement. Yaquina Head Beacon is still said to be haunted. In the thirties, one of the lighthouse keepers said he heard the ghost on the stairs almost every night.

No keepers now, but the staff and visitors and volunteers have heard voices and footsteps in the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Most believe that the spirit is one of the old lighthouse keepers.

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