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Monday, January 23, 2012

Haunted Lighthouses

The lighthouse of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' opera is not the only lighthouse with a scary and mysterious tale.

Discover the haunted lighthouses near you as we take you on a tour of the haunted lights of Massachusetts. Tales of other haunted lighthouses will appear each Monday until our production of The Lighthouse opens on February 8.
Stop back for all the spooky details.

The Haunting of America's Oldest Lighthouse
Location: LITTLE BREWSTER ISLAND/BOSTON HARBOR
Station Established: 1716
Current Tower First Lit: 1783
Operational: YES
Automated: 1998

The first lighthouse in America was built on Little Brewster Island and was completed in 1716.  Later the original tower was destroyed during the Revolutionary War. The present tower was constructed in 1783 with 14 additional feet added in 1859. The Lighthouse is said to be haunted by its first two keepers, George Worthylake and Robert Saunders. Both gentlemen died within months of accepting their jobs at the lighthouse. After two disasters, some people believed that the island and its lighthouse might be cursed.

The other tale of the old lighthouse on Little Brewster Island is about its very large bell to help warn ships of the dangerous shore line ahead. Despite the size of the bell the ring will not reach a stretch of water several miles east of the lighthouse. The mariners call this area of sea the “Ghost Walk” because ships can not be reached by the guiding sound of the bell. No one has ever been able to explain the Ghost Walk, not even a team of MIT students who spent an entire summer on Little Brewster Island studying the mystery.

--
Kalina Schloneger, Education & Community Programs Intern

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Resources/for more about this haunted lighthouse visit:
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See our haunting production of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse, Feb. 8--12

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