Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 20:48:26 -1000
To: ghost-stories@netcom.com
From: chips@lava.net (Jerry Monti)
Subject: Haunted lighthouse

I would like to share with you an experience that I had several years ago while working on a lighthouse on lake Superior.

Standard Rock Light House is located on a shoal about 30 miles from the nearest point of land. it is constructed on a hollow cylinder of concrete reinforced with a belt of steel . which rises about 30 feet out of the water. It has not been occupied since about 1961. It was in this year that a fatal accident occurred to the lighthouse keeper and his crew. Somehow the kerosene tanks that fueled the fog signal exploded, what followed was a fire so intense that it actually consumed part of the stone structure. the only way that some of the crew survived was to hang over the side of the structure suspended by lines. It was several days before the crew was rescued, and then only because a vessel passing at night had reported the light extinguished.

In the spring of 1993, our unit was tasked with making repairs to Standard Rock light house prior to the Coast Guard turning it over to the National Park Service. After loading the suitable materials on board we steamed from Duluth MN enroute the lighthouse, the trip over was uneventful , however as soon as we arrived at the light the weather began to deteriorate. Eventually it began to blow so hard that we had to drop the anchor and ride it out. after two days of this the weather calmed sufficiently for us to launch a small boat to take the work party over. We made the light, off-loaded our supplies, and went to work. This was about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. By 5 the weather started to turn bad again, the ship wanted to bring us back but we decided to stay the night, finish the job, and hope that we could get back to the boat the next day.

The job ahead of us was big but simple, fix what needed to be fixed, clean and paint. Each of us had a task to do, I was on the main level , several of the crew were on the top level , and the rest of the crew was scattered about. When I finished my job, I went down to the keepers kitchen where my friend Jeff was working to give him a hand. As we worked the talk turned to the fire that the had occurred at the light and of the fate of the three keepers. One level below us was the bottom of the light . When we first came aboard the light we all walked through it to check it out . This area reminded me of catacombs , one main chamber with tunnels leading in different directions. Cold, dark and damp it was not a very comfortable place to be. Around seven Jeff and I decided to take a break. I walked over to the door leading to the lower level. opened it and called down jokingly "hey George we're going up for a bite to eat , want any thing?" Immediately sounds could be heard in the level below, scraping knocking, but the most chilling were the sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs. Jeff and I looked at each other, his eyes were as large as Volkswagen head lights, I bet mine were just as big. not saying a word we both raced up the stairs to the main level.

We ate our dinner, calmed down and decided that we had imagined the whole thing, Jeff related the story to the rest of the crew and everyone had a good laugh. Jeff took another job on a different level and we all went back to work. About 11:15 a couple of the guys suggested going down to the basement at midnight to see if anything would happen, I really didn't want to but not wanting to be branded a coward , I agreed to anyway. At midnight 5 of us made our way in to the basement , we called out, shut the lights off and waited. We didn't hear anything but I sure felt something , the hair was standing up on the back of my neck , I swear I could feel something moving around us. I'm sure that I was not the only one either. When nothing appeared we went back upstairs to the keepers quarters. As soon as we were all out of the basement the sounds started again. The five of us just stared at each other, until the footsteps started coming up the stairs again. At this point there was total chaos as we all tried to get up the stairs at the same time. as luck would have it I was the last in line, as I was going up the stairs I glanced back and saw just for an instant a shadow with no definite shape emerge from the basement door.

Nobody said much , we just went back to work. when we finished it was about three in the morning. we moved up to the upper level of the light and tried to get some sleep. I wasn't easy because for the rest of the night we heard everything form banging on the walls to distant moans. When the sun finally came up and we went back downstairs we found that some of our gear had been scattered around, and a garbage can had been turned on it's side and looked like somebody, or something had jumped up and down on it. I don't know what caused this, but of this I'm certain...it wasn't of this earth