St. Augustine Lighthouse

St. Augustine's lighthouse heritage date back to the 16th century when Spanish settlers constructed a wooden watchtower on Anastasia Island to guide coastal shipping into Matanzas Bay. Rebuilt in coquina stone by the Spanish in the 1730s, this early tower was converted into Florida's first official American lighthouse in 1824. However, beach erosion progressively undermined the foundation, threatening the coquina structure and forcing the construction of a replacement beacon.

Work on the present lighthouse began in 1871 under the supervision of the United States Lighthouse Board. Designed by Paul J. Pelz and constructed using over one million Alabama bricks and iron fixtures, the 165-foot tower was completed and illuminated in October 1874, housing a massive hand-blown first-order Fresnel lens crafted in Paris.

Tragedy struck during construction in July 1873 when a supply tramcar carrying children derailed and plunged into Matanzas Bay, drowning three young girls. For decades, lightkeepers and their families lived on site, maintaining the light through hurricanes, naval blockades, and World Wars until the station was automated in 1955. Today, the site is operated by a non-profit museum dedicated to maritime preservation.

The ghost lore of the light station is deeply tied to the fatal 1873 tramcar accident that took the lives of Eliza and Mary Pittee, young daughters of construction superintendent Hezekiah Pittee, along with an unnamed African American girl. According to local legend, the young sisters were playing in a heavy wooden railway car used to haul coquina and brick from the shoreline. The braking mechanism failed, sending the cart plummeting down the steep track into the bay. Visitors frequently report hearing the sounds of young girls laughing, singing playground songs, or whispering near the base of the tower and in the surrounding woods late at night.

Another famous spirit is that of Peter Rasmussen, a dedicated 19th-century lightkeeper known for his fondness for cigars. Staff members routinely smell fresh cigar smoke drifting through the keeper's house and watch room when no smoking is permitted. Additionally, a tall dark shadow figure known as 'The Man in the Blue Coat' — believed to be former keeper Joseph Andreu, who fell to his death while painting the old coquina tower in 1859 — is frequently seen standing watch at the top lantern deck, watching over Anastasia Island. Other tales describe a ghostly woman pacing the shoreline near the original coquina ruins, staring mournfully across Matanzas Bay, disembodied footsteps marching up the spiral stairs when the building is closed, and phantom shadows ducking around gallery doors.

Staff members, visitors, and television investigators report encounters with the spectral Pittee sisters, disembodied laughter, phantom cigar smoke attributed to a former lighthouse keeper, and shadowy apparitions climbing the tower's 219 spiral steps.

In addition, electronic voice phenomena (EVPs), sudden cold spots in the basement, furniture shifting unassisted in the keeper's parlor, disembodied footsteps on the iron stairs, and unexplained shadow figures in the watch room are routinely documented during evening investigative tours. Research equipment frequently registers magnetic spikes near the top gallery deck, while visitors report hearing unseen footsteps following them down the spiral stairwell, feeling invisible hands touching their hair near the basement exhibit rooms, witnessing disembodied whispers echoing through empty tower flights, and capturing unexplained light anomalies on digital photographs. Night watchmen have also observed unseen shadows moving across the keeper's house lawn, while camera flashes trigger strange orb reflections near historic display cases, and EMF sensors record inexplicable energy bursts.

The maritime complex features a tall brick beacon decorated with a black-and-white spiral barber-pole pattern topped by a red lantern gallery. Inside, a cast-iron spiral staircase with 219 steps leads visitors up to the original working optic deck. The tower rests on a heavy concrete foundation designed to withstand hurricane winds and ocean squalls.

The grounds encompass a restored two-story Victorian brick keeper's house featuring a wraparound porch, decorative gables, green shutters, slate roofing, interactive museum exhibits, an active maritime archaeology laboratory, historic outbuildings, oil storage vaults, administrative offices, gift shops, historical displays, conservation workshops, storage sheds, courtyard gardens, oil house dependencies, and educational garden paths.

Located on Anastasia Island in historic St. Augustine, the maritime museum welcomes guests daily for daytime admission. Tickets include entry to historical exhibits, keeper's dwelling rooms, interactive archaeology displays, maritime history galleries, conservation labs, nature trails, and permission to climb the 219 steps to the lantern deck.

Special lantern-lit evening ghost tours are offered on weekends, offering guided access to the keeper's dwelling, basement, and tower after dark. Climbers must meet height rules (44 inches) and be physically fit for the steep stair climb. Parking is available on site for all visitors exploring Anastasia Island, with picnic areas and gift shops provided.

The site's haunted reputation rests on documented historical tragedies, consistent reports of paranormal activity by museum staff, and high-profile features on TV shows like Ghost Hunters, TAPS, and Ghost Adventures, making it one of Florida's premier haunted landmarks, attracting ghost enthusiasts, paranormal investigators, maritime historians, and travel enthusiasts from across the nation and world through its rich lore, tragic history, frequent supernatural sightings, and active research.