St. Augustine Lighthouse

Florida · United States · Lighthouse

The girls who drowned during the lighthouse construction are still heard laughing in the tower — and tying visitors' shoelaces together.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse in Florida is one of the most widely reported haunted lighthouses in the United States. The hauntings centre chiefly on the drowned Pittee girls.

Their father Hezekiah was hired in the 1870s to oversee the lighthouse construction and brought his family with him. The children played in a railway cart used to move building materials from the beach to the site. On 10 July 1873 the cart broke loose and went into the water. Five children fell in; the workers saved a boy and a girl, but the construction superintendent's two daughters Mary and Eliza, along with another young girl, drowned. Only the youngest, Carrie, survived, and the Pittee family returned to Maine to bury their daughters.

In the 145 years since the accident, strange occurrences have again and again been attributed to the girls' spirits. They are said to be heard laughing in the tower late at night, and the eldest, Mary, has been glimpsed in the same blue velvet dress and blue hair ribbon she wore when she died. According to the lighthouse staff, the girls' ghosts like to tie visitors' shoelaces together, play tricks with the glow sticks handed out on tours, and play hide-and-seek.

One of the keepers, Joseph Andreu, is also seen and heard at the very top of the tower, more than a century after his death — he fell to his death while painting the tower's exterior, and his spirit is often seen gazing out from the top.

Sources: staugustinelighthouse.org, ghostsandgravestones.com, hauntedus.com, clickorlando.com

FAQ

Where is St. Augustine Lighthouse located?

St. Augustine Lighthouse is in Florida, United States.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Linda Andersson Smith — egen bild (kontakt: @oursmithdays)