Keeper George Parris and his wife, Lorraine, moved into the Old Presque Isle Lighthouse and Museum in 1977.  The lighthouse had been built in 1840.  In 1870 the lighthouse was decommissioned when the taller New Presque Isle Lighthouse was built.  The old lighthouse suffered from neglect until the Stebbins family bought it from the U.S. government in the early 1900s.  The family rebuilt the keeper's dwelling and used it as a summer home.  They opened the restored keeper's dwelling and lighthouse to tourists.  After their children were grown, the Stebbins family decided to give the property to the tourist.  George and Lorraine became the caretakers, moving into the keeper's dwelling in mid-May. 

  George enjoyed the visitors to the lighthouse, especially the children.  He enjoyed taking the visitors to the lighthouse on a tour of the buildings and grounds and telling them about the hard life and heroic deeds of the Keepers and their families.  He also enjoyed playing harmless pranks on the light station visitors - the grownups as well as the children - by giving them a "muscle test" with the foghorn.  The blast of the foghorn invariably knocked the visitors off their feet!  In spite of his tricks, the visitors loved George and would return year after year to visit the lighthouse and to see what new tricks he had decided to play on them. 

  On January 2, 1992, George died of a massive heart attack. The following May, Lorraine didn't want to go back to the cottage alone, but her kids talked her into it.  One evening when Lorraine was driving along Grand Lake Road on her way back to the light station, she felt her eyes drawn to the tower - and to her utter amazement she saw a light shining in the lantern room!  Lorraine knew that this was impossible as the George had disconnected the electricity to the tower so the light wouldn't be accidentally turned on.  The Coast Guard said it was illegal to display a light in the tower as mariners might confuse it with the New Presque Lighthouse.  To be doubly certain that no accidental lighting would occur, the Coast Guard had removed the gears so the lens could no longer rotate. 

  As Lorrain approached the house, she could no longer see the light.  The next day she climbed to the tower to reassure herself that someone had not reconnect the power lines and restored the gears.  The lantern room was empty. 

Lorrain didn't say anything to anybody about what she had seen as she didn't want to be ridiculed ... but she continued to see the light whenever she drove along the stretch of Grand Lake Road that looks out over Presque Isle Harbor. 

Soon people began reporting the light in the old tower.  The light appeared to have a yellowish cast, as if from an old oil lamp.  National Guard pilots reported seeing it when they flew night missions over the peninsula.  The Coast Guard being taking notice of it too! 

  On July 4, 1992, a little girl reported seeing a man at the top of the stairs leading to the lantern room.  The little girl described a tall man with snow-white hair and a beard, and wore glasses.  When shown a pictures of George, she said it was the man in the tower but he had been "brighter white" when she saw him than he was in the pictures.  This child had never met George when he was alive. 

  These are but a few of the strange happenings at Old Presque Isle Lighthouse.  People have reported that George's light had guided them safely to shore on dark, stormy, foggy nights.  People have reported playful pranks by unseen hands while visiting the lighthouse.   To this day, the light still comes on at dusk and goes off at daylight. The U.S. Coast Guard has classified it as an "unidentified" light. 

  Is Old Presque Isle Lighthouse haunted by friendly and fun-loving George?  You decide! 
 
 

  In the late 1760s John and Hannah Thomas agreed to allow a lighthouse to be built on their property at the northern corner of the mouth of Plymouth Bay, if John was awarded the job as keeper.  The lighthouse complex consisted of a dwelling with two attached towers.  In 1769 the lighthouse began operating.  John and Hannah were faithful to their duties and kept the oil lamp in each of the two towers burning.  When John left to fight in the Revolutionary War, Hannah faithfully kept the lamps burning by herself. 

  Colonists defending the fort near Gurnet Lighthouse exchanged cannon fire with the British frigate Niger when the vessel ran aground nearby.  One of the frigate's shots hit one of the lighthouse towers as Hannah stood watch. 

  John never returned from the war and was presumed dead.  Hannah continued to tend the twin towers and in 1790 lighthouse officials awarded the keeper's post to her, making Hannah America's first female keeper.  In 1801 the structure burned to the ground and was replaced in 1803 by a new dwelling with taller twin towers.  Both towers were rebuilt in 1843 and in 1924 the northeast tower was decommissioned as it was decided that two towers were not needed.  The northeast tower was dismantled.  The south tower became known as the Plymouth Lighthouse and now houses a solar-powered optic and continues to flash its distinctive white and red beams. 

  The lighthouse no longer needs a resident keeper but apparently Hannah is still on duty.  When Bob and Sandra Shanklins, lighthouse photographers, decided to spend the night in the old keeper's dwelling at Plymouth Lighthouse, Bob awoke during the night.  He saw a woman's face hovering above Sandra's head.  The woman was wearing and old time garment that buttoned tight around her long neck.  Her long dark hair was parted and flowed down to her shoulders.  She appeared to be in her mid-thirties and seemed intensely sad.  Bob turned his head away from the woman to look at the lighthouse through the window.  When he turned his attention back to the apparition, it was gone. 

  Bob and Sandra surmised that she was probably Hannah Thomas, thinking that John had finally returned home from the war. 

  Is the ghost of Hannah Thomas haunting Plymouth Lighthouse?  You decide! 
 
 

  It took workers 5 years to build the Heceta Head Lighthouse because wagon roads to the cliff-top construction site had to be built first.  In March of 1894, the light was lit for the first time.  The structure consists of the light towers, the head keeper's dwelling, the two family assistant keepers' dwelling, the oil-storage buildings, and other outbuildings. 

  Early records were not kept but on the grounds of the lighthouse is the grave of a baby girl.  The assistant keeper's duplex has been haunted by a lady ghost for as long back as people can remember.  It is thought that this lady ghost may be the mother of the little girl in the lonely grave. 

  This lady ghost, who has been named "Rue" doesn't seem to like things being done to the buildings.  Once, when volunteer workers were doing some painting, the fire alarm kept going off.  One of the workers got up and made sure there was no fire and then went back to bed.  The fire alarm went off again.  Once again, the worker checked the dwelling and this time removed the battery from the alarm when he was certain that there was no fire.  Didn't help.  Although the battery had been removed, the alarm again sounded! 

  Rue makes her presents known whenever any work is being done on the assistant keeper's dwelling.  She has a habit of opening cupboard doors and moving objects from one place to another. 

  Perhaps Rue is mourning the loss of her home as well as the loss of her little girl.  Perhaps she is fearful that the smaller dwelling will be razed and she will have no home left near her baby's grave. 

  Many instances have been reported by numerous people over the years.  One workman's tale was that he came face to face with Rue in the attic.  He was so startled that he fled the building and would not return to the attic.  Days later, he accidentally broke the attic window when he was working on the exterior of the building.  He repaired the window from the outside - refusing to enter the attic to sweep up the glass.  During the night, workers reported hearing scraping noises coming from the attic.  When one of the workers went to the attic the next morning to investigate, he found that the glass had been swept into a neat pile beneath the repaired window! 

  Over the years, workmen, caretakers, and college students using the dwelling as a classroom or overnight retreat have reported finding missing or moved objects, hearing dainty footsteps in the attic, seeing an elderly woman looking down at them from an attic window, and catching glimpses of a smoky female figure they nicknamed the "Gray Lady." 

  Is Heceta Head Lighthouse haunted by Rue?  You decide! 
 
 

  The Old Port Boca Grande was completed in 1890.  From the first, erosion threatened the structure.  By 1970 seawater lapped at supports that held up the lighthouse.  Construction of a 265 foot granite jetty helped save the historic building.  So, too, did the Gasparilla Island Conservation Association, by raising funds to restore the lighthouse when the Coast Guard abandoned it in 1967.  The station was relit and returned to service in 1986. 

  During the lighthouse's history, the young daughter of one of the keeper's died in the dwelling, most likely of diphtheria or whooping cough.  Annmarie Sampley, 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.  Annmarie said that at midnight, you can hear her upstairs playing. 

  This old lighthouse also has another ghost.  Legend says that a Spanish pirate, Jose Gaspar, better known in Florida as Gasparilla, buried his treasure in the sands near where Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was built some ninety years later.  Gasparilla had captured a Spanish princess names Josefa.  According to the tragic legend, Gasparilla fell in love with Josefa.  Josefa spurned his love and in a fit of rage, he drew his sword and cut off Josefa's head.  Mortified by what he had done, Gasparilla tenderly gathered up Josefa's lifeless body and buried her in the sand on his island.  Because of his great love for her, he didn't want to leave her and he allegedly carried his beloved's head with him for the rest of his days.  Mariners and others have reported seeing the headless Spanish princess wandering the beach on Gasparilla Island, presumably looking for her head. 

  Is Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse haunted by the keeper's little girl?  Is the beach haunted by the ghost of the Spanish princess, Josefa?  You decide! 
 
 

  Seul Choix Point Light was built and became operational in 1895.  The conical brick tower, seventy feet tall, was topped by a ten sided, cast-iron lantern, giving its third-order Fresnel lens a focal plane just over eighty feet above the lake.  The two-story brick keeper's dwelling still stands and is attached to the tower by an enclosed brick passageway.  To this day, it is still an operating light station although the Coast Guard automated the lighthouse in the 1970s. 

  James Townshend, captain of a Great Lakes ship dropped anchor at Seul Choix Point Lighthouse whenever he was sailing near the peninsula in northern Lake Michigan to visit his brother, Joseph, who was the keeper.  The captain was in his mid-sixties at the time of his last visit to Seul Choix Point Lighthouse.  According to a newspaper account, he suddenly fell seriously ill.  Joseph made his ailing brother as comfortable as possible in the bedroom right at the top of the stairs in the keeper's dwelling.  Captain Townshend's violent illness caused him excruciating pain, and he screamed in agony day and night. 

  Captain James Townshend, who was a very heavy cigar smoker, died on August 12, 1910.  His body was embalmed in the basement of the keeper's dwelling and then placed in a rough-hewn cedar casket for public viewing.  The captain's body remained in the parlor of the keeper's dwelling for a long period of time to give the captain's family and friends a chance to reach the relatively isolated Seul Choix Point by ship or horse and buggy. 

  In recent years Captain James Townshend's heavy cigar smoking has become a giveaway to his continued presence in the lighthouse.  Guests and members of the Gulliver Historical Society have reported smelling pungent cigar smoke on several occasions when no one was in the lighthouse smoking a cigar. 

A carpenter, who was working in the basement, reported hearing heavy foot-steps while he was hammering.  At first he thought it was just an echo of his hammering as he only heard the foot steps while he was hammering.  When he would stop hammering, the foot steps would stop.  The carpenter stopped working, checked out the lighthouse to be sure he was the only person there and checked the doors to be sure they were locked.  Assuring himself that he was the only person in the building at the time, the carpenter resumed his hammering.  But this time when he stopped hammering, the footsteps continued ... heavy footsteps walking from room to room.  The carpenter picked up his tools and left vowing never to return by himself. 

  The old captain apparently is also fun loving.  Sometimes he turns around the hat on the mannequin that's dressed in an official keeper's uniform, sometimes he places a cigar or two in the pocket of the keeper's coat.  On several occasions he has turned over the silverware on the table.  Captain Townshend used to hold his fork upside down when he ate.  Sometimes he shuts the Bible that's on display.  Every once in awhile, glimpses of the captain are caught when the workers are cleaning the mirror on the dressing table.  He is said to have heavy eyes and a white beard - and his eyes follow them as they move around the room. 

Opening Page	More Lighthouses
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Lighthouse Lenses and Other Things	Haunted Lighthouses
Loyal Lighthouse Ladies	The Life of  a Lighthouse Keeper and His Family
Forever Christmas	Some Of My Collection
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