Station Established: 1850
Current Tower First Lit: 1860
Operational: YES
Automated: 1947
Minot's Ledge lighthouse was a place no sane person wanted to live. It is just a tower coming out of the sea on a reef located off Scituate, Massachusetts. In fact, the first tower was destroyed by the sea only a year after it was completed! In April of 1851 keeper John Bennet went ashore leaving his two assistants in charge of the lighthouse. While Mr. Bennet was on land, winds kicked up to more than 100 mph and he could not return to the lighthouse until morning. When keeper Bennet finally made it back to the lighthouse there was nothing left of the tower. The bodies of his two assistants washed up later on Nantasket Beach and Gull Island. Since this tragedy fishermen say they hear cries coming from the island and swear they have seen a man hanging from the ladder screaming to passers by “Stay away! Stay away!”
After the tragedy on Minot’s Ledge other strange things began to happen. When an assistant was ordered to clean the lighthouse the windows would always be sparkling clean by the time they reached the top to complete the task. Other keepers heard taps echoing up through the stairs. This was the signal for the two assistants that they could leave their post. Most keepers learned to live with the ghosts but others lost their minds. One keeper could not handle it and slit his own throat another went insane and had to be taken from the lighthouse in a straight jacket.
--Kalina Schloneger, Education & Community Programs Intern
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