Most Haunted Place in America: Tybee Lighthouse Station
There are many interpretations of the actual name Tybee. The most common one however is it comes from the Euchee Indian word for salt which is resource abundantly found on the island. Tybee Island itself has a history over 400 years long. It traces back to 1520 when Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon laid claim to Tybee for Spain. In 1605 the French came to Tybee in search of sassafras roots but where eventually pushed back in a naval battle with Spain just of the shore of the island.
Eventually Spain would give up their claim and in 1733 General James Oglethorpe came in and claimed the area calling it Savannah. Tybee was immediately recognized as an important part of the development as well as defense to the Savannah region. In 1736 General Oglethorpe ordered the building of the lighthouse as well as a small fort on Tybee to help merchants ships safe and keep control of the mouth of the Savannah River.
The Tybee Island Light Station is said to be one of America’s most intact light station as the 5 acre site still has all the historic buildings still on the property. The lighthouse however has had an interesting history getting to its now resting place. The first one was 90 feet tall and is thought to be the tallest building in its day. Unfortunately it was also built to close to the shore and in 1741 was washed away be a big storm.
In March of 1742 the second lighthouse was completed and with an addition of a 30 foot pole on top of the 90 foot structure, it now stood 124 foot tall and leads Oglethorpe to say “was much the best building in America”. Again however, they did not move it back enough and the ocean looked to take it. In 1773 the third lighthouse was built that now stood 100 feet tall. In 1790 Georgia ratified the Constitution and the lighthouse and surrounding land was given to the US Government.
In 1857 an 8 foot tall Fresnel Lens was installed removing the 16 lamps that were used for light before it. It was this light that doomed the third lighthouse as the Confederates in nearby Fort Pulaski thought the lens was too bright and would aid the Federal Forces so ordered the lighthouse burned to the ground in 1861.
In 1866 the fourth and current lighthouse was built and the first 60 feet is constructed with the original 1773 foundation. The current lighthouse is 150 feet tall and is topped by a 9 ft. Fresnel Lens. It took three keepers to man the lighthouse until its conversion to electricity in 1933. George Jackson became the last light keeper until his death in 1948.
Paranormal Investigation of Tybee Lighthouse
We had available, the Head keeper’s house, built in 1881. The original summer kitchen house that was built in 1812 and after 1910 was used as a storage house. The second assistant keeper’s house built in 1861 and originally used as confederate barracks and of course the lighthouse itself.
We interviewed a staff member on hand and found out that there had been an apparition of a man seen in the First assistant keeper’s house as well as constant hearing of footsteps. Unfortunately this building is now used as office space and was not available to be investigated.
The Head keeper’s house has had a claim of hearing whistling, not necessarily a song but just whistling. The Second Assistant keeper’s house has just finished renovation and has been converted into a theater room to show videos to visitors and tour groups. This staff member did not know of any activity in that house but we did find a person that had been in that room and claimed that she heard the front door try to open and it was loud enough that she and two others turned to see who was coming in, no one did.
The last bit of paranormal activity shared with us was that during an event there happened to be a psychic among the group who claimed to see spirits of two children playing in the yard jumping rope and they had a guy dressed as a light keeper in front of the lighthouse. The psychic claimed to see the ghost of another keeper behind him mad because he did not have a pocket watch on him and was not flying the proper warning flag due to the high winds that day.
We are currently going over all the audio we collected, we had the opportunity to do evp sessions in every building. We do have an EVP from the Second Assistant keeper’s house were we asked if anyone would like to communicate with us and the answer was a polite “No”. We will post all the evidence we collected as soon as we get through it. For further information on the lighthouse you can go to Tybee Island Light House.
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