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The original St. Augustine Lighthouse was first
built by
Spanish settlers during the 1600's. In 1824,
it became an official U.S. lighthouse in one of the
oldest cities in North America: St. Augustine, Florida. The present,
haunted lighthouse was built in 1874 and replaced the original light
(formerly located 1/4 mile away), which was lost due to tidal
erosion. The original lighthouse had
one noted tragedy: lighthouse keeper, Mr. Andreu fell to his death
while painting the tower.
The U.S. government built
the current lighthouse by purchasing parcels of land from several owners. One
of the land owners, Dr. Ballard, disputed his neighbors over the
land deal and some
tour guides have reported seeing his ghost. Possibly, Dr.
Ballard or even Mr. Andreu still haunt the St.
Augustine lighthouse, but there are other stories of tragedy
associated with the haunted lighthouse. |
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Hezekia Pittee's daughters,
along with an African-American girl, all drowned
when the handcart in which they were playing went off the
tramway that was built to carry supplies from ships to
the lighthouse. There have been reports of ghostly
girls being sighted at the St. Augustine Lighthouse, but there
is no way to know whether or not they are the Pittee
girls or their friend. In fact, no one ever reports
the spirit of a third girl being seen. The most
credible reports have been of a single girl.
One
former keeper spoke often of hearing footsteps following
him during his rounds, and also noticed the odor of cigar
smoke, possibly from a former lighthouse keeper from whom
he was mentored. The cigar smoke has been
noted by many visitors, usually within the lighthouse
tower. Perhaps one of the former keepers is still caring for the lighthouse.
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Left:
Ghost photo
taken at St.
Augustine
Lighthouse
shows an orb
on Jake's
shoulder.
Both photos
courtesy of
Brian Bateman.
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