15 Most Haunted Lighthouses in the World
Standing alone against violent seas and dark stormy skies, lighthouses have always had an atmosphere unlike anywhere else.
For generations, lighthouse keepers lived in extreme isolation, sometimes miles from the nearest town or village. Their job was to keep the light burning through fog, darkness and some of the worst weather imaginable, knowing that ships and human lives could depend upon them.
But many of these lonely towers have also witnessed tragedy.
Keepers have vanished without explanation. Ships have been wrecked on rocks below. Children and lighthouse families have died in terrible accidents. And long after the last keepers departed, visitors have continued to report footsteps on empty staircases, unexplained voices, shadowy figures and the unsettling feeling that somebody, or something, is still watching from the tower.
Some of these stories have a well-documented history behind them. Others have become increasingly difficult to separate from folklore.
From a remote Scottish island where three lighthouse keepers disappeared without trace to an Australian lighthouse surrounded by an extraordinary history of death and disaster, here are 15 of the most haunted lighthouses in the world.
1. Flannan Isles Lighthouse – Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Flannan Isles Lighthouse looks out from one of Britain’s most isolated places.
Few lighthouse mysteries are as unsettling as what happened on the remote island of Eilean Mòr in December 1900.
Flannan Isles Lighthouse had only been operational for around a year when its three lighthouse keepers, James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald McArthur, disappeared.
When the relief vessel Hesperus eventually reached the island on the 26th December, nobody came to greet it.
The lighthouse was deserted.
An investigation found extensive storm damage around the western landing. The official conclusion was that the men had most likely gone outside to secure equipment and had been swept out into the Atlantic by an enormous wave.
Their bodies were never recovered.
The Northern Lighthouse Board still records the loss of the three men as one of the saddest events in its history and acknowledges that their exact fate remains unknown.
Over the decades, however, the disappearance has attracted increasingly strange theories.
Stories have circulated about the abandoned meals, mysteriously stopped clocks, terrified keepers and even supernatural forces abducting the men.
Many of the more dramatic details appeared long after the actual disappearance and should probably be treated as folklore rather than established fact.
The truth though is disturbing enough.
Three experienced lighthouse keepers disappeared from one of the most isolated places in Britain, and more than a century later nobody can say with certainty what exactly happened to them.
Read the Full Flannan Isles Mystery
I have previously taken a much deeper look at the disappearance of the three keepers and the strange circumstances surrounding the case.
Read more about the mysterious disappearance of the Flannan Isles lighthouse keepers
2. St Augustine Lighthouse – Florida, USA
St Augustine Lighthouse where tragic events happened during its construction.
If there is one lighthouse that has become almost synonymous with paranormal investigations, it may be St Augustine Lighthouse in Florida.
The present tower was constructed during the nineteenth century, but one of the darkest events associated with the site happened while it was still being built.
On 10 July 1873, several children were riding in a railway cart used to transport construction materials.
The cart lost control, flipped over the seawall, and plunged into the water.
Mary (15) and Eliza Pittee (13) and another young girl drowned in the accident. The tragedy is documented by the St Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum.
Years later, stories began to emerge of children’s voices and laughter being heard around the lighthouse and keeper’s house when no children were present.
Other visitors have reported seeing shadowy figures and apparitions as well as hearing footsteps and unexplained voices.
The lighthouse has become so closely associated with paranormal activity that its museum operates dedicated after-dark ghost tours and discusses the reported spirits connected with the building.
Whether the activity is paranormal or simply just the result of an atmospheric historic building is impossible to prove.
But standing inside an old lighthouse after darkness falls while knowing the tragedies connected with the site must make every unexplained sound considerably more unnerving.
Explore Haunted St Augustine
St Augustine is one of America’s oldest cities and has plenty of ghost tours and haunted-history experiences away from the lighthouse itself.
3. Point Lookout Lighthouse – Maryland, USA
Thousands of Confederate soldiers died at Point Lookout Lighthouse.
At the point where the Potomac River meets Chesapeake Bay stands a comparatively small lighthouse surrounded by an enormous amount of dark history.
During the American Civil War, Point Lookout became the site of both a military hospital and a huge Union prisoner-of-war camp.
Thousands of Confederate soldiers died there of disease and starvation.
Maryland’s tourism authority says that terrible conditions at the camp resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 prisoners and openly acknowledges Point Lookout’s long reputation as one of America’s most haunted locations.
Reports from the lighthouse and surrounding area have included disembodied voices, footsteps, strange lights and apparitions.
Visitors have also described the uncomfortable feeling that they are being watched.
The lighthouse itself may not account for every paranormal story associated with Point Lookout.
Instead, it stands within an entire landscape connected with suffering, disease and death.
And perhaps that is precisely why the area’s paranormal reputation has proved so difficult to shake.
4. Souter Lighthouse – Tyne and Wear, England
With its distinctive red and white strips, Souter Lighthouse and its spirits look out over the North Sea.
With its distinctive red-and-white striped tower overlooking the North Sea, Souter Lighthouse is one of the most recognisable lighthouses in North East England.
This lighthouse is particularly familiar to me because it stands on the coast of my home town, and I know the surrounding coastline well.
Even without its ghost stories, there can be something remarkably atmospheric about Souter.
On a bright summer’s day the cliffs and surrounding area can look amazing, but when the North Sea turns grey, the fog rolls in, and the cold wind picks up, it isn’t difficult to understand why stories of ghosts have become attached to the place.
Built during the Victorian era, Souter was constructed to warn ships away from a particularly dangerous section of coastline between the rivers Tyne and the Wear.
Over the years, staff and visitors have reported hearing unexplained footsteps, feeling cold spots, hearing strange sounds and seeing apparitions all inside the lighthouse and the former keeper’s accommodation.
One of the spirits traditionally associated with Souter is Isabella Darling, a relative of famous lighthouse heroine Grace Darling, who lived at Souter during the nineteenth century.
Whether Isabella really remains at the lighthouse is impossible to know.
But Souter has all the ingredients of a classic British haunting, an isolated Victorian lighthouse, a dangerous stretch of coastline and the relentless North Sea just beyond its walls.
For me, including Souter in this list also feels slightly different from the other locations.
It isn’t just somewhere that I have read about. It is a place that I know.
5. Seul Choix Point Lighthouse – Michigan, USA
The ghost of Captain Joseph Willie Townsend is said to haunt Seul Choix Point Lighthouse.
The name Seul Choix translates roughly as “only choice”, referring to the sheltered harbour that once offered one of the few safe refuges along this dangerous section of the Lake Michigan shoreline.
Today, however, the lighthouse is famous for something else.
Ghosts!
The figure most commonly associated with its paranormal activity is former lighthouse keeper Captain Joseph Willie Townsend.
Townsend died at the lighthouse in 1910, and over the years an extraordinary collection of paranormal reports has accumulated around the building.
Visitors have claimed to smell cigar smoke when nobody is smoking.
Objects have supposedly moved.
People have reported seeing faces appear in mirrors, mysterious footsteps and the apparition of a man believed to be Townsend.
Michigan’s official tourism website acknowledges Seul Choix Point’s considerable reputation for hauntings and the stories surrounding its former keeper.
Even for sceptics, Seul Choix contains virtually everything you would expect from a classic haunted lighthouse.
Isolation.
Death.
History.
And long periods of darkness surrounded by water.
6. Cape St George Lighthouse – Jervis Bay, Australia
Only ruins of Cape St George Lighthouse remain today.
Sometimes the true history behind a supposedly haunted location is darker than the ghost stories.
Cape St George Lighthouse in Australia’s Booderee National Park is one of those places.
Only ruins remain today however, but during the nineteenth century the lighthouse became associated with an extraordinary series of deaths and disasters.
Children from lighthouse families died from disease.
A 13-year-old boy died from pleurisy.
Others suffered fatal accidents.
One particularly horrific incident occurred when lighthouse worker Edward Bailey was washed from rocks while fishing.
Another tragedy occurred when teenager Harriet Parker was accidentally shot and killed while playing with another young girl.
According to Parks Australia, seven people are known to have died at Cape St George Lighthouse and 26 ships were wrecked nearby.
The lighthouse itself was also notoriously badly positioned.
Rather than reliably warning vessels away from danger, its location created navigational problems, and it was eventually decommissioned.
With isolation, shipwrecks and so many deaths connected to a single location, it is hardly surprising that ghost stories eventually became associated with the ruins.
7. Pensacola Lighthouse – Florida, USA
Pensacola Lighthouse has developed a reputation for being haunted.
Rising above Pensacola Bay, Pensacola Lighthouse has guided vessels along Florida’s Gulf Coast since the nineteenth century.
It has also developed an impressive reputation for paranormal activity.
Visitors and investigators have reported apparitions, unexplained footsteps, voices and other strange phenomena around the tower and historic keeper’s quarters.
Unlike many supposedly haunted locations, Pensacola doesn’t attempt to distance itself from its paranormal reputation.
Ghost hunts and after-dark investigations have been held at the property, giving visitors the opportunity to explore the building for themselves.
That makes Pensacola particularly interesting because visitors don’t have to just listen to stories about something that supposedly happened decades ago. They can stand inside the rooms and climb the lighthouse to experience it themselves, and decide for themselves whether there is anything unusual going on.
Discover Haunted Pensacola
Pensacola also has paranormal and haunted-history experiences beyond the lighthouse.
8. Gibraltar Point Lighthouse – Toronto, Canada
Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is on of the oldest surviving lighthouses on the Great Lakes
Standing on the Toronto Islands, Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is one of the oldest surviving lighthouses on the Great Lakes.
Its haunting centres around the mysterious fate of its first keeper, John Paul Radelmüller.
According to the traditional story, Radelmüller was murdered on January 2nd 1815 following an argument with soldiers who had visited the lighthouse looking for alcohol.
Later versions of the story became considerably more gruesome.
The keeper was supposedly killed, dismembered and his remains hidden close to the lighthouse.
Human remains were reportedly discovered near the building many years later, although trying to prove they belonged to Radelmüller was impossible.
As with many ghost stories that are more than two centuries old, separating documented history from later folklore is extremely difficult.
Yet the legend has remained attached to Gibraltar Point.
Visitors have reported strange sounds and sightings around the lighthouse, while Radelmüller’s restless ghost is said to continue wandering near the tower where he once worked.
Explore Toronto’s Haunted Side
If you’re visiting Toronto, you can also explore some of the city’s darker history on one of its evening ghost walks.
9. New London Ledge Light – Connecticut, USA
New London Ledge Light stand isolated at the mouth of Connecticut’s Thames River.
Built on a concrete foundation at the mouth of Connecticut’s Thames River, New London Ledge Light looks isolated even when viewed from the shore.
Its famous resident ghost is known simply as Ernie.
According to the legend, Ernie was a lighthouse keeper who discovered that his wife had left him and subsequently he took his own life.
But there is one considerable problem with the story. Researchers have struggled to establish whether this tragic lighthouse keeper actually existed.
That hasn’t stopped generations of Coast Guard personnel and visitors from reporting unexplained events though.
Doors are said to open and close by themselves.
Strange noises have supposedly travelled through the building.
Even boats have reportedly become mysteriously untied.
The United States Lighthouse Society itself includes Ernie among the supernatural legends associated with New England’s lighthouses.
Perhaps Ernie existed. Perhaps he didn’t.
But whatever the origin of the story, the mysterious keeper has become inseparable from New London Ledge Light.
10. Hook Lighthouse – County Wexford, Ireland
Hook Lighthouse has guarded Hook Head for around 800 years.
Few locations on this list can compete with the sheer age of Hook Lighthouse.
The lighthouse has guarded Hook Head for approximately 800 years and is described by the attraction itself as the oldest intact operational lighthouse in the world.
Its history stretches far beyond the era of Victorian lighthouse keepers.
According to local history, monks once maintained warning fires on the headland long before the present medieval tower existed.
Visitors today can climb more than 100 spiral steps through the ancient structure while hearing stories about centuries of life at the lighthouse.
Unsurprisingly, a building this old has acquired its share of paranormal stories.
Visitors and paranormal enthusiasts have reported strange sensations, unusual sounds and unexplained experiences within its thick stone walls.
The surrounding Hook Peninsula contributes to the atmosphere.
Shipwrecks, violent seas, medieval history and generations of local folklore have all accumulated along this coastline.
Even if no ghost ever appears, climbing through a lighthouse that has watched over the Irish coast for eight centuries would be an atmospheric experience after dark.
11. St Simons Lighthouse – Georgia, USA
An argument between the keeper and his assistant is linked to the haunting of St Simons Lighthouse
The haunting of St Simons Lighthouse has its origins in a genuine nineteenth-century killing.
In 1880, an argument between lighthouse keeper Frederick Osborne and his assistant John Stephens ended with Osborne being shot.
The lighthouse keeper subsequently died from his injuries.
Over time, stories emerged that Osborne never completely left his lighthouse.
Footsteps have supposedly been heard climbing the tower when nobody is there.
Others have reported mysterious figures and unexplained sounds inside the building.
There is something particularly effective about lighthouse stories involving phantom footsteps.
The enclosed spiral staircase means you can often hear someone’s echoing footsteps approaching long before you see them.
But what happens when you hear footsteps steadily climbing towards you…
and nobody arrives?
12. Big Bay Point Lighthouse – Michigan, USA
Big Bay Lighthouse is isolated. Surrounded by woodland, overlooking Lake Superior.
Standing above Lake Superior and surrounded by woodland, Big Bay Point Lighthouse has an appropriately isolated setting.
Its best-known ghost story concerns one of its original keepers.
The keeper’s son became seriously ill following an injury.
Despite attempts to reach medical assistance, the young man died.
His devastated father later disappeared and was eventually found dead in woodland near the lighthouse.
Over the years, guests and staff have reported unexplained activity around Big Bay Point.
Doors have apparently behaved strangely.
Unexplained sounds have been heard.
Some visitors have even reported seeing the figure of a red-haired man believed to be connected with the lighthouse’s tragic past.
What makes Big Bay Point particularly unusual is that people can stay there.
For paranormal enthusiasts, spending the night inside a remote lighthouse overlooking Lake Superior might sound like the perfect trip. But whether you would actually get much sleep is another matter.
13. Yaquina Bay Lighthouse – Oregon, USA
There is a famous ghost story linked to Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. But is it true?
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse earns its place on this list for a slightly different reason.
Its most famous ghost story probably isn’t true.
The lighthouse opened in the nineteenth century but operated for only a relatively short period before being replaced.
Later, an extremely disturbing story became associated with the abandoned building.
According to the tale, a group of young people explored the lighthouse and discovered a hidden room.
One of the girls entered.
She disappeared.
When her companions searched for her, all that supposedly remained was a handkerchief and a pool of blood.
It is exactly the sort of disturbing mystery that would make Yaquina one of America’s most infamous haunted lighthouses.
Except researchers discovered something important.
The story appears to have originated in fiction, rather than an actual disappearance. It was a fictional story published in the Pacific Monthly magazine in 1899.
That makes Yaquina particularly interesting because it demonstrates how quickly a fictional story can become accepted as paranormal legend when it is repeated often enough.
Nearby Yaquina Head has also accumulated strange legends, including claims of unexplained compass behaviour but natural geological explanations have been suggested for those effects.
Does any of this mean nobody has ever experienced anything strange at Yaquina?
Not necessarily. But it is a useful reminder that when researching paranormal cases, sometimes investigating the legend itself can be every bit as interesting as investigating the ghost.
14. Hilton Head Rear Range Lighthouse – South Carolina, USA
The Blue Lady appears near the Hilton Head Rear Range Lighthouse when storms approach.
One of America’s most atmospheric lighthouse legends concerns a mysterious apparition known as the Blue Lady.
The story is associated with lighthouse keeper Adam Fripp and his daughter Caroline.
According to the legend, Fripp was working during a devastating hurricane when he suffered a fatal heart attack.
Before dying, he supposedly instructed his daughter to keep the lighthouse operating.
Caroline continued tending the light through the storm while wearing a blue dress.
Some versions of the story claim she later died from exhaustion or grief.
Ever since though, the apparition of a woman in blue has supposedly appeared near the lighthouse, particularly when storms begin approaching the island.
Not every part of Caroline’s story can be easily verified, so the Blue Lady should probably be viewed primarily as local folklore.
But it creates an unforgettable image.
A lone woman in blue still guarding the lighthouse as another Atlantic storm gathers offshore.
15. Seguin Island Lighthouse – Maine, USA
Seguin Island Lighthouse, where loneliness and isolation caused a murder and suicide.
Remote Seguin Island Lighthouse is home to one of America’s darkest lighthouse legends.
The story concerns an isolated keeper who lived on the island with his wife in the 1800’s.
Worried about her loneliness, he supposedly bought her a piano.
Unfortunately, only one piece of sheet music was available.
His wife played the same song.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Eventually, according to the legend, the combination of isolation and endlessly repeated music drove the keeper insane.
He supposedly destroyed the piano with an axe before murdering his wife and taking his own life.
Later lighthouse keepers allegedly reported hearing phantom piano music drifting through the building.
There is just one problem.
There is little solid historical evidence that this horrific murder-suicide happened in the way the story describes.
Like many lighthouse ghost stories, it appears to contain considerable folklore.
But even if the murderous keeper never existed, the story touches upon something that was very real.
Isolation.
Imagine spending months on a tiny island.
No television.
No internet.
Few visitors.
Violent storms preventing boats from reaching you.
And nothing but the ocean in every direction.
For some lighthouse keepers, that isolation must have been extraordinarily difficult.
And perhaps that is one reason ghost stories and lighthouses have become so closely connected.
Why Are So Many Lighthouses Said to Be Haunted?
There is something about lighthouses that seems almost designed for ghost stories.
For much of their history, keepers lived in remote locations far removed from other people.
Storms could leave them isolated for days or even weeks on end.
Shipwrecks occurred within sight of their windows.
Accidents happened.
Medical assistance could be hours or even days away.
And generations of keepers spent countless nights climbing narrow staircases through dark towers while storms battered the walls around them.
There are, of course, more practical explanations for some supposedly paranormal experiences.
Old buildings creak as temperatures change.
Wind travelling through a lighthouse can create strange sounds.
Pipes, machinery and enclosed stairwells can make it extraordinarily difficult to determine where a noise originated from.
Isolation and expectation can also influence our perception.
If someone tells you that a lighthouse is haunted before you enter it, you suddenly become aware of every unexplained sound .
But occasionally a story remains harder to dismiss.
A figure appears where nobody should be standing.
Footsteps climb the staircase towards you, but nobody appears.
Or visitors, separated by decades, describe remarkably similar experiences in exactly the same room.
Whether those encounters represent ghosts, unusual environmental conditions, tricks of perception or something we simply don’t yet understand is precisely what makes haunted locations so fascinating.
Visiting Haunted Lighthouses
One advantage lighthouses have over many supposedly haunted locations is that a surprising number of them can actually be visited.
Some operate as museums.
Others offer guided tours.
A few even allow visitors to stay overnight in former lighthouse keeper accommodation.
And locations such as St Augustine and Pensacola actively embrace their paranormal reputations with after-dark experiences and ghost hunts.
So if you are planning to visit any lighthouse mentioned in this article, always check access arrangements beforehand.
Some stand on military property, remote islands or protected land.
Others can only be accessed at certain times or during suitable weather conditions.
Never enter abandoned buildings or restricted areas without permission.
Explore More Haunted Places
If visiting haunted locations is your idea of the perfect trip, ghost walks and paranormal tours now operate in cities around the world.
Fact, Folklore or Something Else?
Researching haunted locations often reveals something unexpected.
Sometimes the historical event behind a ghost story is well documented.
The three lighthouse keepers really did disappear from the Flannan Isles.
Children really did die during construction at St Augustine Lighthouse.
Cape St George really was surrounded by an extraordinary number of deaths and shipwrecks.
But other famous stories become far less certain when investigated.
Ernie’s tragic history at New London Ledge Light is difficult to establish.
The blood-covered disappearance associated with Yaquina Bay appears to have originated in fictional story.
And the murderous piano-playing legend of Seguin Island has little firm historical evidence behind it.
That doesn’t necessarily make those stories worthless.
Folklore can tell us a great deal about the places where it develops.
Stories become repeated, changed and embellished until distinguishing the original event from the legend becomes almost impossible.
For anyone interested in the paranormal, sometimes discovering how a ghost story began is just as fascinating as deciding whether the ghost itself is real.
Final Thoughts
Perhaps no structure represents loneliness quite as effectively as a lighthouse.
A single tower standing against an enormous ocean, its beam turning endlessly through the darkness of night.
For generations, lighthouse keepers lived inside these places while storms shook the windows and waves crashed against the rocks below.
Some witnessed terrible accidents.
Some lost members of their families.
Some died while doing their jobs.
And a few simply just disappeared.
Most of the ghost stories surrounding the world’s haunted lighthouses will probably never be proven to be true.
Some can be traced back to folklore.
Others appear to have become exaggerated with each retelling and generation.
But behind many of them lies something undeniably real, shipwrecks, isolation, unexplained deaths and the lives of the men, women and children who once called these remote places home.
And perhaps that is enough to make an empty lighthouse feel just a little less empty after dark.
Would you spend the night inside a supposedly haunted lighthouse?
Let me know in the comments.
About the Author: Paul Nichol
