The History of the Haunted Lighthouse
The actual age of this lighthouse remains undetermined, but it was apparently in existence long before 1748, when the first settlers arrived in the area. The original tower stood alone on a rocky outcropping, and was rumored to have been build by a group of nomadic druids. The stucture was modified for use as a lighthouse in 1873.
It is worth noting that since this lighthouse first went into service, an alarming number of ships have crashed on the rocky coastline, due to the lighthouse suddenly going dark when it was most needed. And many of the lighthouse keepers have either died or gone mad.
Joshua Ellings, the first lighthouse keeper, was found living in his rowboat and refusing to go near the lighthouse. His duty was to keep a fire burning atop the tower to warn ships away from the rocks, but he swore there were creatures that kept extinquishing the flames. He hung himself later that year.
In 1882, Artimus Haldridge became lighthouse keeper. More ships crashed into the rocky coast as the fires continued to fail. Guilt and grief apparently led Mr. Haldridge to jump from the tower in 1883, smashing himself into the jagged rocks below.
An electric light was added to the tower in 1906, as well as a large foundation to help support the tower's crumbling base. A small cottage was built on this foundation and a man named Bradford Mellish became the new lighthouse keeper. The light began shutting off at the worst possible times, and several more ships were lost. During one such episode, Mr. Mellish was apparently racing up the tower stairs to try to repair the light when he suffered a heart attack.
His replacement, Garrick Langstrom, found himself racing down the stairs to fix the generator after the light again went dark. He tripped and fell to his death on the stairs.
In 1942, the National Guard decided to store a few small cases of dynamite in the top of the tower, feeling it might be needed to throw at invading enemy warships. The lighthouse keeper, Addison Boone, was attempting to fix a short circuit in the light when a spark ignited the dynamite. Mr. Boone's remains were never found.
The final lighthouse keeper was a man named Alfred Cranston. After living in the cottage for a few months in 1956, the lighthouse went dark and Mr. Cranston was found delirious and screaming about monsters that wanted to eat his soul. Alfred Cranston was commited to a mental institution, where he continued to mutter and wail about monsters that would extinquish the light and devour the souls of drowned sailors.
Oddly, a search of the lighthouse revealed a small attic area filled with ancient books and charts. Although moldy and falling apart, they seemed to focus on occult and supernatural topics. A hole had been torn in the cottage floorboards, revealing steps that led to a hidden chamber in the lighthouse foundation. This chamber held a large stone block marked with strange symbols. A large hole was found in the opposite corner, which led to a network of caves deep inside the rocks. There is no record of whether or not these caves were ever explored, and no further information is available. The lighthouse has remained vacant and unused since that time.