Most Haunted Places in America: Race Rock Lighthouse

Off the southwest coast of Fishers Island, New York, stands the haunted structure of Race Rock Lighthouse. Erected in 1878 by Captain Scott and designing engineer Francis Hopkinson Smith, the lighthouse took 7 years to complete under torrential oceanic conditions.

Race Rock is a series of dangerous rock formations found a few miles offshore. The rocks cause a hazardous flow of ocean currents that collide from two directions at once. When the weather turns for the worst, the waves can become quite high, crashing anything in their path down upon the reef of Race Rock.

From 1829 to 1837, 8 vessels were destroyed upon the dangerous Race Rock reef. This resulted in congress allocating $3,000 for the construction of a much needed lighthouse upon the rocky formation in 1838. Unfortunately, nothing ever came of the proposed foundation, and no lighthouse was built. Instead, buoys and spindles were attempted, but these were terribly unstable and failed miserably.

The government tried again to appropriate funds for a day-beacon, and again for a lighthouse in the 1850′s, but most of the money was spent on surveys. Finally, in 1870, congress concluded that it would need at least $150,000 to build a lighthouse structure on such dangerous, unstable terrain. Smith began the design and construction began in 1871, complete in 1878.

Reports of ghosts and haunting activities began flowing in long before Race Rock Lighthouse was ever erected, attributed to the countless shipwrecks and deaths associated with Race Rock. Numerous coast guard employees have reported everything from ghostly apparitions and the sound of footsteps to whispering, yelling, laughter and disembodied voices calling out their name. Some even claim to have been pushed, touched and/or poked by these ghosts, and refuse to return to the island of Race Rock.

One of the most unusual reports regarding the haunting of Race Rock Lighthouse, told multiple times by different visitors to the island, is that they have heard running water or seen damp footsteps coming from what used to be the location of showers. The showers were removed, and no water has run through the pipes many years ago.

Under the cover of night, ships passing near the Race Rock Lighthouse have continually reported the vision of a shadowy figure in the lighthouse, illuminated as the light passed by. Race Rock Lighthouse in not inhabited by anyone, day or night, as it has been automated for some years now. The only living beings to visit the lighthouse are the Coast Guards maintenance crew, which is intermittent at best, and never during the twilight hours.

The TAPS team was asked to investigate Race Rock Lighthouse by concerned members of the Coast Guard. The team moved in for the night and determined that the structure was, indeed, haunted. They discovered an EMF (electro-magnetic field) reading high above the normal rate moving up and then down the long winding steps of the lighthouse, at about the same time in which the past caretaker would have been making his trek to check on the light. Their cameras picked up unexplained orb activity and an eerie fog that the TAPS team did not recall from the actual time of investigation.

The most convincing piece of evidence was the Race Rock Lighthouse ghost video in which they captured a chair moving across the floor. The room was empty at the time and there was no other movement to indicate the chair was pushed or effected in any other way than ghost-inspired support.

While no one seems to know exactly who is haunting the Race Rock Lighthouse, or how many ghostly apparitions may reside there, it is fairly certain that the lighthouse in quite haunted by ghost activity and is considered one of the most haunted places in America.

Related posts:

1. Ghosts of the St. Augustine Lighthouse
2. Ghost Videos: St. Augustine Lighthouse
3. Race Rock Lighthouse Ghost Video
4. Execution Rocks Lighthouse
5. Haunted Places: The North Island Lighthouse