House of light, lantern, navigator - these and many other meanings in translations from different languages belong to one word familiar to us - Lighthouse. The definition is clear - this is a structure at a specific position on the coast or at the highest point of the area adjacent to a body of water. Purpose - indicating the way, warning about the danger in coastal waters, marking the shore, lighting the surrounding area for the safe passage of ships. These concepts are clear to everyone, young and old. A tall tower structure that invariably exudes light from the upper platform, leading ships through dangerous rocky shores, storms and bad weather - to the house. But the image of a lonely standing savior of human souls, a guardian of destinies, against whose armor ice waves and harsh winds break, is not always marked by a fond memory in history.
The first mentions of lighthouses can be found in antiquity - in the III century BC, the Alexandrian, or Pharos, tower was built. A huge pillar-like structure more than 100 meters in height, at the top of which bonfires were kindled, pointing the travelers in the right direction. The tower has not survived until our time - the lighthouse was destroyed by earthquakes for centuries until it finally disappeared in 1480 - but its construction marked the beginning of the era of lighthouses.
The centuries changed, technologies improved, the lighting range increased, but one thing remained unchanged - each "house of light" during its life was overgrown with its own legends and stories.
More often than not, we come across dark, frightening to the shiver of stories about rangers gone crazy, abandoned lighthouses shrouded in legends, and mirage of light, forcing travelers to find their last refuge on the rocks. And we will talk about them now!
Depending on the location, lighthouses are usually divided into three types: heavenly, hellish and purgatory lighthouses. The first two indicate an open path for passage between themselves. One is always located on the shore - a piece of "Paradise", and the second - rises in the middle of nothing, in the open sea - "Adu". The buildings rebuilt on the islands secured the name "Purgatory".
Fenced off from cities and society, lighthouses erected in remote corners of the coasts and islands frightened by their isolation. Therefore, brave and strong men were always chosen for the role of caretakers. In the old days, they entered the service for several months in a row, stocking up on provisions and the necessary tools, and while away their days in brigades of at least three people. The need for such a large number of people was not only hard physical work that the caretakers had to do to keep the lighthouse running, but also that keeping the mind clear in the fight against the elements was not an easy task.
These matchmaking rules were preceded by a real-life incident in 1801 at Smalls Lighthouse in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which served as the inspiration for Robert Eggers' film The Lighthouse, when it was revealed that two watchmen, Thomas Howell and Thomas Griffith, were on watch.
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The namesakes did not get along well with each other, and when Griffith suddenly died of an illness, Howell feared that he could be blamed for the death of his partner. Then he decided not to betray the body to the sea, but to leave it on the island until the end of the watch, putting it in a hastily put together box. First, after holding the corpse of a comrade in the living room of the lighthouse, Howell began to succumb to the smell of decay and was forced to put the coffin on the bridge outside the tower. But there, an incessant storm swept over a box secured against the wall of the lighthouse, breaking boards and disturbing the dead man's peace, making Howell think that he was still mocking him after death. Needless to say, after the watch, only a faded shadow of a man returned from the island, completely devoid of reason in isolation and loneliness?
And this case is not the only one in history: it happened that the team taking over the shift found their predecessors in complete madness, confusion, or even on the verge of suicide - who knows how long they gazed into the abyss at night in the light of the lighthouse? And did she look back …
Even now, in one of the last active lighthouses on the coast of France, near the village of Oleron, famous for its oyster farms and salt lakes, two people take over the watch. The shift lasts no more than two weeks, and each employee, if necessary, can use the services of a psychologist.
On the islands of the west coast of Scotland is the Eileen More lighthouse. After the history that took place within its walls, which was never solved, the lighthouse was considered one of the most mystical places in the country.
And the reason is not at all in its isolation from the settlements, not in the absence of plausible explanations for what happened, not in the old tales of the dark forces inhabiting the island and not tolerating guests from outside, but in the fact that a team of three caretakers who mysteriously disappeared from the lighthouse sealed from within, never found. All their belongings were found in their places, but from themselves - no trace. Tourists and local children are still frightened by history, and the legend is overgrown with details, but the frightening secret remains unsolved.
There are plenty of stories about ghosts tied to the cold walls of lighthouses. Obviously, the peak of loneliness, fear and irresistible horror from the abyss of water raging in a storm cannot but leave an imprint on consciousness. Lovers of the paranormal have already run over to such places. They shot videos, interviewed eyewitnesses, wrote articles and entire books. Particularly brave, read - reckless, stayed overnight in the caretakers' rooms to experience everything on their own skin.
Among such places, the lighthouse on Seguin Island in Maine, USA stands out for its history.
Here the caretaker, who could not bear the monotonous work and loneliness in the raging elements, hacked his wife with an ax in a mad rush. And later, realizing all the horror of the creation, he himself gave up his life.
Later, more than a hundred years later, the authorities decided to decommission this lighthouse. Law enforcement officers who came to take things out were forced to stay there overnight. Returning to the mainland alive, they subsequently assured that in the night, along with the frightening sound of waves crashing against the shore and the howling of the wind, they clearly heard a woman's voice begging them to leave the lighthouse immediately, leaving everything as it is. And if they had listened to the disembodied voice, perhaps part of the team that transported things from the lighthouse would not have gone down with the boat.
The ghost of the woman in white is one of the most common horror stories in the world. White robes symbolize the innocence and purity of the spirit that has not found rest … or vice versa - they lure with their bright side, hiding dark thoughts under it.
The history of the Boone Island lighthouse, USA, is one of that number. There are several versions of the terrible events that occurred in those places in the middle of the 19th century, but the most common of them is about how the caretaker drowned during a storm and his wife, distraught with grief, pulled the body out of the water, transferred it inside the structure and grieved over the lifeless corpse for another week while continuing to maintain the light of the beacon. The locals who found her could not do anything: a few days later, the woman left the world of the living. But she did not leave her watch: her ghost was often met by local fishermen and visitors to the island. And the following caretakers more than once noted that they saw some kind of a female figure, lighting up the light on the top floor of the lighthouse at a time when no one could be inside its walls.
Isaac Kay is also covered with stories about the spirit in white robes. A lighthouse was built there in the middle of the 19th century, and a few decades later there was a shipwreck, as a result of which the only survivor in an unequal struggle with the elements - a baby - was thrown ashore. The islanders claim that they have more than once met the ghostly silhouette of a woman walking in a wild, inhuman howl, grieving for her lost child. Perhaps this ghost was involved in another mystical incident - in 1969, the keepers disappeared at the lighthouse, leaving no trace behind them. It will not be possible to find confirmation of these stories - today the lighthouse is mothballed and completely fenced, so you can admire its greatness and fear the secrets stored within its walls only from the water.
The coastal part of the French province of Brittany forms one of the most dangerous lines - it accounts for a huge number of the wildest storms and the strongest winds and currents. That is why a good third of the country's lighthouses are located here.
Many people are familiar with the photograph of the lighthouse keeper "out for a smoke" during a violent storm. But not many people know the real story behind the impressive shot.
The lighthouse La Joumen, or the lighthouse-hell Marais, bit into a tiny piece of rock, near which there were countless terrible shipwrecks, was desperately trying to resist the monstrous storm.
In 1989, when the waves knocked out windows and doors, partially washing the furniture from the rooms into the raging ocean, caretaker Theodore Mulhorn ran outside, hearing the noise of a helicopter, which was supposed to evacuate him, over the hellish rumble of water. It was at the moment when a huge wave practically engulfed the structure, that the famous frame of the photographer Jean Guichard was born. Fortunately, the caretaker managed to hide in the depths of the lighthouse in time and survived. But the horror of the confrontation of the elements remained on the film for many years.
The lighthouse keepers rarely returned to the mainland the same. There were cases that due to bad weather they could not be taken out for several months, and the unfortunates, exhausted from hunger and loneliness, went crazy and died.
This is precisely the fame that the Tevennec lighthouse enjoys in Brittany. Standing in the middle of a tiny rise in the middle of endless water, it is shrouded in eerie stories. During its existence, this place has driven mad and killed many caretakers and their families. At first, the lighthouse was classified as requiring one caretaker, but after two people in turn complained about the nightmarish voices that ordered to leave the lighthouse, it was decided to appoint caretakers in twos. The most terrible fate befell the couple who worked there after that. During the watch, the husband died, and since, due to the constantly raging storms and the remote location, no one could get to the lighthouse for several months, the caretaker's wife kept his body in sea water. Do I need to explain what happened to the woman after this?
What is the reason for such a large number of terrible stories and lost souls, who have not found peace either within the walls of the lighthouses or beyond? Perhaps the abyss does not care: even if people figured out how to protect themselves from shipwrecks by erecting beacons and showing the way to sailors, the depths of water will still find a way to take away the sacrifices due to them.
Author: Irina Kukushkina
