Stranger than fiction

FORGET HAUNTED HOUSES; THESE CT LIGHTHOUSE TALES ARE DOWNRIGHT SPOOKY

There is something inherently haunting about lighthouses. Lonely towers of stone, brick and steel, these beacons in the night are serenaded by a soundtrack of seagull calls, lapping waves and the piercing calls of foghorns. Built to ward off death and disaster by warning ships away from rocks, the lighthouses of Connecticut were manned from the mid-1700s until 1987 when the last keeper left New London Ledge Light in the care of an automatic lighting system. During that time, the state’s keepers of the light endured many Poe-esque tragedies. Passing ships ran aground and sank, at least one lighthouse keeper drowned, while others went mad. In the wake of some of these strange happenings and untimely deaths, there were whispers of ghosts, whispers that inevitably become louder this time of year. Here are five of the strangest tales associated with Connecticut lighthouses.

Versageek / Wikimedia Commons, U.S. Lighthouse Society Archive Above, The Penfield Reef Lighthouse in Long Island Sound off of Fairfield. Nils Nilson was assistant lighthouse keeper of the Southwest Ledge Light in New Haven in 1907 and 1908.

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