Coastal Home Decorations: 3 Scary Lighthouse Stories

Lighthouses are the perfect settings for ghost stories. Their location on lonely, windswept beaches and islands provides the perfect background for scary tales to be told around a beach bonfire. From Maine to Oregon, nearly every state with a coastline has at least one tale of strange happenings at a lighthouse. These are the stories of three of them.

Seguin Island Lighthouse – Maine

Located on an isolated island accessible only by boat, the Seguin Island lighthouse is said to be haunted by the ghosts of a mid-1800’s keeper and his wife. As the story goes, the keeper had a piano shipped to the island to entertain his new wife during the long, lonely winter months. The piano only came with one sheet of music, which the wife played over and over until it drove her husband insane. In a rage, he chopped up both her and the piano with an axe before taking his own life. The keeper’s ghost is said to have been spotted by later keepers, and keepers and visitors alike have reported hearing piano music over the waters near the lighthouse.

Old Presque Isle Lighthouse – Michigan

Built in 1840 on Lake Huron, the Old Presque Isle lighthouse did not operate long before a newer, taller lighthouse took its place. The old lighthouse was restored as a summer home in the early 1900s and opened to visitors, eventually becoming a tourist attraction. The caretaker of the old lighthouse and keeper’s quarters, George Parris, enjoyed showing it to visitors, and lived in the keeper’s dwelling until he passed away. It is believed that George still resides there and tends to the lighthouse he loved. His wife reported that he often cooked bacon for breakfast and she has awakened to the smell of his cooking many times since his death. She and other witnesses, including members of the Coast Guard and National Guard, have also seen the light in the tower of the old lighthouse, even though the Coast Guard removed the wiring before George passed away.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse – North Carolina

The tallest in America, Cape Hatteras lighthouse towers over the Graveyard of the Atlantic, aptly named for the numerous shipwrecks that have occurred in the waters there. Although a crowded tourist destination now, there are still reports of phantom ships and ghostly pirates or shipwrecked sailors haunting the sea and beaches in the shadow of the lighthouse. The best known is the apparition known as the gray man, who reportedly walks the beach near the lighthouse to warn of impending hurricanes. The locals say that when you see the gray man, it is time to get off the island.

If lighthouses are your passion, Everything Nautical, LLC has a wide selection of lighthouses and other Coastal Home Decorations. Please contact us for more information on decorating your beach house.