An Old Haunted Lighthouse Was Voted The Creepiest Place In Florida
There’s 31 lighthouses in Florida, so what makes this one so special? It’s not the oldest in Florida, that’s the Amelia Island Lighthouse, built in 1838. It’s not the tallest Florida lighthouse, at 175 feet the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse takes that honor. So what’s so special about the St. Augustine Lighthouse? What makes it the creepiest place in Florida? Here’s the story.
Construction on the St. Augustine Lighthouse began in 1871. Hezekiah Pittee, moved from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, with his family to oversee construction. He came to St. Augustine with his wife Mary, and their 3 girls. As kids do, the children turned the construction site into their playground.
Part of the construction site was a rail cart that was used to bring supplies up from the shore to the lighthouse. The girls turned this into their own roller coaster. They would ride the cart on it’s rails down the hill until the cart was stopped by a wooden board. This prevented the cart from plunging into the water.
According to the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, “On July 10, 1873, the three Pittee sisters, Mary (15), Eliza (13), and Carrie (4), along with an unknown African-American girl (10), whose father may have worked on the site, were riding in the cart as normal. The wooden board that stopped the cart from going into the water was not in place. ”
The cart made it to the shore and flipped, trapping the four girls underwater. Before a worker could right the cart, 3 of the 4 girls had drowned. Only the youngest, Carrie, survived. The family returned to Maine to bury their children.
Since then, strange incidents have occurred, with their happening attributed to the spirits of the young girls.
Noises, giggling, and the girls sometimes appearing to people in fully formed apparitions. Dressed in the Victorian clothing they would have worn at the time of their death.
Another spirit is the ghost of Peter Rasmussen. He was the keeper for 23 years in the early 1900’s. His presence is known by his cherry tobacco scent. There’s also been reports of hauntings from Major William Harns and his wife, Kate. The first keepers to live in the parlor. A chair rocking by itself, an indentation on a seat. Unexplained events.
This lighthouse has many stories, from many different spirits.
See, for yourself. HGTV states “the Dark of the Moon tour takes visitors inside the lighthouse tower and the keepers’ house at night.”
Yeah, if you’re gonna visit the Creepiest Place In Florida, you’ll want to visit at night.
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