Spooky Travel: St. Augustine, Florida & its Lighthouse

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Hi, welcome to True Creeps,where the stories are true and the
creeps are real.
We'll cover stories fromgrotesque gore to.
The possibly plausibleparanormal to horrifying history
to tense and terrible truecrime and.
Everything else that goes bumpin the night. We're your hosts, Amanda.
And I'm Lindsay, and we wantyou to join us while we creep.
We cover mature topics.Listener discretion is advised. Hello,

(00:30):
everyone. Today in our spookytravel series, we are heading to
St. Augustine, Florida.
I'm so excited.
And there's a reason why we'revery excited for this particular
spooky travel episode, andit's because Lindsay and I are actually
going to St. Augustine nextmonth and we have a few spooky investigations
planned while we're there. Sowe've been freaking out for so long,

(00:51):
but we haven't actually beenable to say it yet.
Yeah, when I went to lawschool, it was in Jacksonville, which
is about 30 minutes away fromSt. Augustine. So I'd go there relatively
frequently. I would say thatthe whole place feels fucking haunted.
And that was like, before Iwas the version of myself that I
am now. That's a little bitmore into the ghosty things, a little
bit more aware of energy andshit. I'm intrigued to see how it

(01:14):
feels different now.Especially like, in comparison when
I'm like, oh, it used to feelsuper haunted already.
Yeah. And I've never been, soI've only read about it, so I'm very
excited. And then later onthis month, so on the 28th, we have
Patreon night. And it's alwaysa good time. We have so much fun.
We sometimes play games. Just chat.
Yes.
But what we are hoping to chatabout this time is our trip. And

(01:36):
we're asking patrons, whenyou're listening to this, if you
think of something that you'dlike us to do on the investigation,
like go to a particular area,try to get an EVP somewhere. There's
more. I don't want to spoilit, but if there is something you'd
like us to do or ask perhaps aspirit, we would love to hear it
on Patreon night.
Yeah, it's such a fun time tohang out with people too.

(01:57):
And it's really fun when youget other people's input on investigations
because sometimes you don'treally think of a particular question.
And like, even when we were atVillisca, we were like, oh, we should
have done this, or we shouldhave asked this. So I think having
a group of like minded, spookypeople to Chat about it beforehand
is gonna be the best thing.
Oh, yeah. And like, before wewent to Villisca, Amanda and I had

(02:18):
never talked, like, reallyintensely about, like, what our ghost
experience was. So we getthere and Amanda's like, so, like,
what were your otherinvestigations like? And I was like,
what? And she's like, like,she didn't make that sound, but I
feel like she was like, oh,okay, okay, okay. She's fresh.
Fresh at this.
Okay, okay. And so, but wedidn't have, like, conversations

(02:39):
about, like, what we wanted todo in every room. We had a vague
idea and like, Amanda and Isimilar vibe with the rest of the
group that we went with, whichwas like, being be very respectful,
be kind, etc. I think I'mexcited for the opportunity to, like,
go in with like, okay, theseare the things we want to do. This
is kind of like our game planof the things we want to say and
ask while still being fluid inthe moment. But I'm excited to do

(03:00):
that with our patrons too.
I think it's gonna be a funtime. So the 28th, if you aren't
a patron and you want to be,that's still open so you can sign
up for it. Just before the28th, we have tiers starting at only
a dollar.
Yeah.
So that'll get you into our party.
Our party. I love it. I love it.
Well, we're gonna jump rightinto it because St. Augustine is

(03:22):
rich with history.
That's a word for it.
We started researching andwe're like, oh, oh. There's so much
here that we might need to doa little bit of like a high level
overview of it. Because thenwe probably have like four episodes
on just the history.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it islike, it is hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of years.Oftentimes people are like, oh, we'll

(03:44):
just start the history whenwhite people settled here. But there
were people living where St.Augustine was and in the area hundreds
of years before that.
Right.
It's a lot to look through.
It is.
And especially when you'retrying to find the real history of
the area.
And so for today's episode, weare going to go over, like I said,
a high level overview of thehistory of St. Augustine. And then

(04:07):
we're going to talk about oneof the spooky places that we're going
to be going to and talk aboutwhat might be happening there. It's
a little different from whatwe typically have done in the past,
but I think we learned a lot. Yeah.
I feel like this research hasbeen Some of the most eye opening
for me where I was like, oh, Idid not realize that I was consuming,

(04:27):
like historical tourism in away that was disingenuine. Because
I don't want that. Everythingelse aside in who I am, I do not
want to be lied to. And I'mnot comfortable being lied to. And
I'm not comfortable withsomebody else deciding what the truth
is, like giving me part of thestory and telling me it's the whole
story. I wouldn't like that inmy day to day life.
Yeah.
So I certainly don't want itwhen we're talking about, like, what's

(04:49):
the history of the countrywhere I live.
Right, right. So as with anypreviously populated place in America,
St. Augustine, Florida'shistory is positively teeming with
atrocities.
Yeah. Any place that hassettlers is gonna have a disgustingly
abundant amount of fucked. Uppery.
Yes. Perfect way to describeit. Yes. So up until the 1500s, which

(05:12):
is insanely long ago, the areawhere St. Augustine would one day
be developed was inhabited bythe Timucua people. And they lived
in northeastern and northcentral parts of Florida. And their
population was estimated to beanywhere from 200,000 to 300,000.
So a lot of people.
Yes, yes.
And there were several groupsthat spoke a common language, but

(05:35):
they all had differentdialects. It seems like how it is
today in the US Though. Like,you and I speak very differently.
Yeah.
And even within the samestate, people can have different
dialects.
Yeah.
So all throughout what wouldeventually become American, European
settlers, including British,who then became American colonists,

(05:55):
ravaged the indigenouspopulations. White European settlers
not only brought diseases thatdecimated the populations of indigenous
peoples, but they alsoenslaved, raped, incarcerated, and
killed indigenous populationsin horrifying volumes. When you're
thinking of just howhorrifying that volume is, I want
you to imagine that 200 to300,000 number of Timucua who. Their

(06:20):
numbers dwindled so much thatthere was eventually only just a
few of them left. And theywere. They assimilated into different
tribal nations. Some moved toCuba. But that's a lot of fucking
people. That is disgusting.
It's shocking. Yeah.
So the earliest account ofEuropean settlers in Florida was

(06:41):
from 1513, when Ponce de Leonclaims to have discovered Florida.
I just don't think you candiscover a place where people already
are. That's not what that is.That's called stealing. Right.
I found this for the firsttime. Yeah.
Yeah. Like, if I walked intoyour house and said, I don't respect
you. This is my house now, youmight have feelings about That.

(07:05):
I mean, it seems like it's atrend, though, with us.
Yeah, I hate it.
Yeah.
So Florida was named Floridaby Ponce de Leon, and it was because
it was named after the Easterseason, which was pesco of Florida
in Spanish. So that's howwhere Florida comes from.
I didn't know that.
Yeah. In 1564, the Frenchbuilt a fort in this area that was
not yet St. Augustine. Andthen just the following year, in

(07:28):
1565, Spanish came, took itover, and they established St. Augustine.
What follows is literalcenturies of fighting between European
countries and British coloniesto determine who can be the ultimate
owner of Florida. Castillo deSan Marcos, which is one of the most
iconic pieces of, like,architectural history. I think in
St. Augustine, people justhave often call it. Also, the fort

(07:51):
was built by the Spanish andit defended, from my understanding,
its first attack from theBritish in 1702. Unfortunately, what
happened, though, was rightafter, when they were like, we can't
take the fort. They justburned the fucking city down.
If I can't have it, no one will.
Literally. So any hauntedplace, a horrific fire. In the early

(08:11):
1700s, the Spanish governor ofSt. Augustine said that slaves that
escaped the British colonies,eventually American colonies, would
be given their freedom in St.Augustine if they won declared allegiance
to the king of Spain and two,embrace Catholicism. The first legally
sanctioned free community offormer slaves was established in
St. Augustine in 1738 and wasnamed Gracia de Real, Santa Teresa

(08:35):
de Mos. It's believed that theSeminole wars, which spanned from
1816 to 1858, was instigated,at least in part, because the American
colonies were pissed thattheir slaves had a place where they
could escape to. So they're,you know, they're crossing from,
like, the border betweenGeorgia and Florida, which kind of
blurs for a bit of time beforeit's ironed out.

(08:57):
Yeah.
But so they're. They're.They're pissed about that. Among
other things, which some ofthose other things, by the way, were
resources. There was a verybig cattle industry in Florida that
was very lucrative, and it waspredominantly run by. By indigenous
populations. And so they werelike, that looks nice.
Yeah, we'll take that. Awful.

(09:17):
And then speaking of theseminole wars, eventually 1400 soldiers
from America were eventuallyburied in St. Augustine. So we've
got a genocide of indigenouspopulations. We then have the bodies
of soldiers who fought againstindigenous populations. And depending
on your beliefs, some peopleare like, ghost follows body. So,

(09:38):
like, if you're just thinkingof, like, how do we end up with what
becomes a haunted soup oflike, who knows what the fuck is
here? Who knows what kind ofenergies we're mixing.
Right. And everywhere too.
Exactly. So portions ofFlorida were considered to be United
States territory for decadesuntil the whole state was accepted
into the Union in 1845. Andthen shortly after this, the whole

(09:59):
war starts. And pretty sooninto the war, Union troops occupied
St. Augustine and they did sothroughout the war.
So a lot of bloodshed.
A lot of bloodshed. So we'vegot genocides, we've got battling
over the territory, then we'vegot civil war. There's a lot happening.
There's a lot of bad stuff happening.
Yes, let's add to this. So in1914, the St. Augustine fire destroyed

(10:21):
a significant portion of thecity. This includes homes, businesses,
the courthouse, the operahouse, and six hotels. Relatively
speaking. Like that. I wasgonna say that's not terribly long
ago. Like, because of how oldthe history here is. Yeah. But wild.
So of course we always needthe fire with the haunted places.
Yeah. We got a second fire.
We'll talk more about it in a minute.

(10:42):
And that's not even includingthe other fires that, like, we don't
even know because we're notgetting into the full battles between
the Spanish and French andBritish and everybody.
Yeah. In the civil rights era,there were nonviolent demonstrations
and marches that were met withviolence from white supremacists,
which at that point they werecalled segregationists. And unfortunately
we're, we're seeing thathappen right now. Again, disgusting.

(11:06):
One of the things that peopleoften say about protests, especially
when there's property damage,is why can't there be nonviolent
protests? Why can't it bepeaceful? Why can't it be quiet?
Why can't it be easy? That is,I, I, I've heard it countless times.
Yeah. That's what they all,yeah. Comment and say. And yeah,

(11:26):
it's, oh, well, if you're.
Upset, you don't have to do da.
Da da da da.
But in the civil rights era,there was so much nonviolent protest
that was met with violence.
Yeah.
So for example, they had waitins because there was segregated
pools and beaches were goingto segregate nature. Get fucked.
They.
So they had wait ins and aspart of a protest, black people got

(11:49):
into a pool and the manager ofthe fucking hotel poured hydrochloric
acid into the pool, which canburn your skin. It's fucking acid.
Yeah. Right.
And then police officers gotinto the pool to arrest the people.
Like, fuck them. Yeah.
Ridiculous.
No, it's horrific.
Mind boggling.
Oh, yeah.
When we were reading it, wewere just like, what the literal

(12:10):
fuck?
Right. So the KKK would evengo into black neighborhoods and shoot
into homes.
There's no reason for thatother than hate.
Ugh. Breaks my heart. Thisone's a tough one. But we thought
it was. It was important to goover the history because this is
why a big portion of why a lotof the area is haunted is because
there was just so muchbloodshed year after year after year.

(12:31):
It wasn't even just like onebig thing. It was like, no, let's
do this all the time.
Another reason why we wantedto do this was because we did not
want to provide the palatableversion of the history that is given.
When you look at Taurusmaterials, when you look at like
heritage tourism, which issomething that we looked into, was
like, what does that looklike? When you start writing history

(12:54):
and making it kind ofperformance in a way that is consumable
to people who are coming tovisit you break off bite sized pieces
of history so that the mostpowerful class does not seem like
the bad guy. A lot of theTaurus materials really focus on
this, like, idealistic idea ofhistory and enduring spirit and that
people worked really hard andit was valiant soldiers and that

(13:16):
it's all good things and thateverything ended up fine. But it
didn't. It ended up fine forwhite people.
For certain people.
Yeah.
Not for everyone. Yeah.
Like, the Timakua people aregone. How is that fine?
Yeah.
So not a fun conversation, buta worthwhile conversation to consider.
Whose history are we sayingwhen we talk about history? Who decides

(13:39):
the history of a place? Italso shamefully never occurred to
me to consider that when I goto a tourist location, especially
one that is consideredhistorical, to really dive into whose
history am I ingesting? Like,whose history am I looking for?
Yeah.
Am I taking this at face valueor am I considering the source as
I would with other things inmy life? Right. Like, I've just been

(14:00):
like, I'm in historic insertplace. This is the history of it.
And I'm like going on thelittle tours and never thinking like,
oh, hey, this is a curatedthing. Like, this is a curated experience.
Yeah.
And often it's gonna becurated for children and adults.
And, like, I get you don'twanna teach children horrible things,
but also children kind of needto know the horrible things. And

(14:22):
if children are in a placewhere they are going to meet violence
in their schools, then theyshould be considered mature enough
to be able to hear aboutviolence from our past.
Yeah, yeah. Cause theyunfortunately sometimes have to live
it. But no, I agree with you.I feel like it's. You read the same
chapter of the book, but youdon't read all the other chapters
that include all of the peoplethat were in an area. And not saying

(14:47):
that we are covering all of itbecause there's just so much, but
this is like a high overviewand we tried to include at least
as many of the people as we could.
Yeah. One of the resourcesthat we used for today when we were
really figuring out how wewanted to present The History of
St. Augustine, it was adissertation by Dr. Camille Peterson.

(15:07):
It was their dissertation andit was like 179 pages. And I was
like, this is a brutal mindopening read and I am fundamentally
changed about how I viewhistorical tourism after this moment.
We'll link it in the shownotes. If you're in a place, and
I hope you are, where you'relike, I'm willing to change my preconceived
notions on what America is, Iwould just say, like, it's an interesting

(15:30):
read.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I did not know this before wedid this research, but when you look
at St. Augustine's history,they consider the start of the history
when white settlers came. Theycall the time before that prehistoric.
When I think prehistoric, Ithink dinosaurs.
So do I. Yeah.
Not pre white people. I waslike, what the fucking fuck?

(15:53):
Yeah, that's. That's a wildway to refer to it. Yeah. Yes. How
is that prehistory? How isn'tthat just history? Yeah.
But anyway, getting back toour. What is the energy in St. Augustine
like conversation, aka thelist of the atrocities of St. Augustine.
Right. So we referenced thisearlier but wanted to give more specifics

(16:16):
about how deadly the illnessesthat were brought to Florida were.
So throughout variousoutbreaks of yellow fever in St.
Augustine starting in 1649,there have been hundreds of people
who've died from this illnessalone. Shortly after the first yellow
fever outbreak, there was thefirst smallpox outbreak in 1655.
So they didn't really catch abreak. And then the first measles

(16:39):
outbreak in 1659.
Just one after a fuckinganother, it feels like.
Yeah. So 49, 55 and then 59 back.
To back to back. And I can'teven picture that with medicine from
then. Oh, no, I can't picturehow devastating that would be today,
let alone like in that time period.
Right.
Wild.
So again, to try to summarizethe best we can, we thought it was

(17:01):
important that we all knowwhat happened in this particular
place and then wanted to, youknow, quickly point out the sheer
amount of cruelty, strife,death, and destruction that is embedded
into St. Augustine's history.And I think, like Lindsay said before
going there and being a littlemore in tune with, like, spiritual
things and spooky things, it'sgoing to be a lot more than some

(17:25):
of the other places that we'vegone to.
I am nervous because I thinkit is going to be so impossibly sad
when you're there. It justfeels heavier. And I don't mean in,
like, a fully negative way.Right. Like, I don't think there's
many places that are only bad.So, like, it's not as though it's
the worst place to be ifyou're a person who, like, feels

(17:47):
things. You might feelsomething if you go there. So, speaking
of feeling things, one of thefirst things that I did when I went
to St. Augustine and saw acoquina building was I felt it because
it is very rough, and it wasnot something I was familiar with.
So Amanda said, we're going togo into history, and then we're going
to talk about ghosts, but wefold you. There's something in the

(18:08):
middle. We're going to talkabout building materials that you
may not have heard of before.I didn't hear about it before I'd
gone to St. Augustine. Amanda,had you heard of it before we were
doing this research?
No. No, not at all.
Yeah. So we're gonna talkabout coquina and the fort way that
we mentioned earlier. Castillode San Marcos is made of coquina,
which is one of the reasonswhy it's so fucking sturdy. It's

(18:29):
still there and was built inthe 1700s, at least.
Yeah.
Wild. So let me tell you alittle bit about coquina. It's comprised
of shocker here, coquina,clamshells that are adhered together
with a porous type of limestone.
And we've talked aboutlimestone before.
We have. So it's actuallypretty interesting how nature makes

(18:50):
this. The process startshundreds, thousands, if not millions
of years ago with clams doingtheir thing, living in the shallow
water of coastal areas inFlorida. Now, over these hundreds,
thousands, millions of years,the clam shells for when the clammies
die, they're layering up.They're layering and they're layering
and they're layering and thelayering, and the water is shallow,

(19:11):
so there's water in between.Then we have the most recent ice
age we had, and the sea levelsdrop. So these layers and layers
of layers of X ziza ZBazillions of clamshells are no longer
submerged underwater. Sothey're exposed to the open air,
to rain, to wind. And like anyplace that's not covered with water,

(19:32):
you know, dirt and soileventually begins to accumulate.
So the dirt and soil begins toaccumulate. So now there's clamshells,
bazillions of layers and thenyour soil and then what grows in
soil but vegetation and trees.So then water is coming in through
the plants and it's tricklingdown through the vegetation and the
soil. It basically becomescarbonated water. So nature seltzer

(19:55):
fizzles down to these littleshells and begins to dissolve some
of the calcium on the shells.And what you get is this, like, seltzer
slurry that exists.
What a thing to think about.
Delicious. So we've got toplayers kind of dissolving seltzer
slurry dribbling through allof these layers. And so over time,
the bottom layers start tofuse together. And that's what creates

(20:19):
the limestone, is thedissolved slurry mixed with the seltzer
ish, that kind of comes downand it builds this surprisingly sturdy
building material that theycould like, basically, like cut out.
And they would take it out ofthe earth and they would have to
cure it, wet it, cure itagain. There's a whole process we're
not going to into that wholeprocess. Fascinating that this is

(20:39):
a naturally occurring buildingmaterial that's right around here.
Yeah.
And there's roughly 40buildings in St. Augustine today
that are still made ofcoquina. And Amanda referenced it
earlier, but we've talked,we've talked a bunch about limestone
before. And I actually, I knewwhat coquina was and I was like,
salt water ghosts, likecleansing. I wonder if there's something

(21:00):
weird with the coquina. Ididn't even know that it was limestone,
so I was like, woof. We'vementioned it before, but limestone
is believed to have theability to absorb and release energies,
which is why a lot of peoplein the paranormal community think
that buildings with limestonehave more ghost activity. And that's
because it, like, maybe it canabsorb energy differently. So we're

(21:22):
talking about an area that isbuilt mostly with limestone. And
not just limestone, butlimestone that came from the ground
there, where the shit washappening. Yeah, it just feels like
double.
Double haunted.
Double intention intense.Yeah. I don't want to say double
haunted, but like double.
Yeah.
In some areas there's thingsbuilt kind of basically right on
the. The coquina. So thecoquina like in the Earth.

(21:45):
Places, it's just sponging upall the energy everywhere.
There's plenty of energy. So,okay, we're going to talk about one
of the haunted places there.We've gotten to that time of the
episode.
Yes. So we are going to thisparticular place and after seeing
some videos from it, I reallydo think it's going to be very spooky.

(22:06):
So we're heading to the St.Augustine lighthouse. And I know
we just talked about history.We're going to go through a brief
history of the buildingitself, just so you understand why
there's so much history andwho could be there, perhaps. So the
lighthouse has existed in somecapacity since 1586. And there is
a reason why we say in somecapacity. And you'll see, before

(22:27):
the first actual lighthouseexisted, there was a wooden watchtower,
which technically isn't alighthouse. It wasn't there to help
navigate ships, but to keep aneye on of what was going on at the
time. The first lighthousethat was built was, quote, the earliest
permanent aid to navigation inthe continental United States. And
that was around 1737. Andthat's when another tower took over

(22:50):
the watchtower. Watchtower wasmade of wood. The new tower was constructed
with coquina. And also just tonote where the tower took over, that
happens to be right near theAnastasia Coquina formation and the
quarry to mine the coquina. Soit's like super dosed in coquina,
that whole area.
Yeah, yeah.
So after the structure wasbuilt, a guardhouse and a chapel

(23:13):
were later added. Then in1824, the tower was restored and
upgraded. They added thingslike whale oil lamps and a keeper's
house. So at least they havesomewhere to go. Right. Its first
keeper, his name was John orJuan Andrew or Andrew. I've seen
a few different ways thatthey've pronounced it. And he lit
the lamps and that's when itofficially became a lighthouse. So

(23:35):
there's light coming off ofthis tower now. He was paid 350 a
year to take care of thelighthouse and to tend to the 10
oil lamps. And in today'smoney, that's about $11,387. This
doesn't seem like too much now.
Woof. That's not a lot ofmoney. I would also imagine that,
like, the relative cost ofitems was different.

(23:56):
That's true. We've also seenthat it was after the Seven Years
War that it slowly startedconverting into a lighthouse to direct
ships. So somewhere between1763 and 1824 is when it officially
turned into a lighthouse. So alittle bit up in the air, but ultimately
it became a lighthouse. Okay.The first lighthouse fell into the

(24:16):
ocean on August 22nd of 1880after standing for 143 years. Now,
this was due to coastalerosion, and luckily they recognized
that it was likely to happenaround 1871. They're like, that's
not going to last too muchlonger. So Congress appropriated
around 100,000 in funding forthis new lighthouse. And it sounds

(24:39):
like they gave less at first,and then they just kept needing more
and more money to completethis lighthouse. And that's where
we will be visiting today. Sothe new lighthouse was finished on
October 15th of 1874, but thebuild started around 1871. So it
took a while to construct thislighthouse, and it was located about
500 yards southwest of wherethe original structure stood. So

(25:01):
it's still like in the same vicinity.
Yeah. So the light from thenew lighthouse could be seen up to
24 nautical miles away, whichis about like 28 land miles.
That's like a far distance, though.
I say with a question. Yeah,that's pretty fucking far. Like,
could you imagine if yourneighbor's house, like, had a light
that you could see 28 milesaway? You'd be like, that's a fucking

(25:22):
bright light. I actually dothink my neighbor's light might be
that bright. It likeilluminates my bedroom window. I'm
like, okay.
Oh, yikes. Don't like that.
And that's with curtains, too.I'm like, okay, I guess I could just
read a book. But anyway,anyway, so the light was bright and
interestingly, the same lenswas in operation for a very long
time, and it was made for St.Augustine in Paris, France. But in

(25:43):
the 80s, people shot at it, sothey had to replace the lens. Now,
look, we are not lighthouselens scientists, so I'm not going
to act like I understand thefull science of lighthouse lenses.
From our understanding, itseems like parts of the lens may
have been kept and parts of ithad to be recreated. But that happened
in the 90s.
Some places say it's the samelens, but I don't know if, like,

(26:04):
part of it got shot or whatexactly happened. It's kind of muddy.
Yeah.
I'm like, did safe light comeout and, like, safe light repair,
safe light replace. You knowwhat I mean? Like, did they just,
like, skitter on up? Oh, my gosh.
I've seen a lot of lensinformation about lighthouses in
the last week or two.
Yeah, yeah, fair.
And now I'm excited toactually go and like see it and understand

(26:25):
it a little bit more becauseit's, it's kind of hard to like,
I don't know, to understandhow everything works. Yeah.
Conceptualize it.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well. And I also like,am thinking now that like you were
in Arizona. When did you moveto Arizona?
Kindergarten age.
So like, you haven't lived ina lot of places that are like right
on the water. Yeah. That likehave lighthouses. Cause I'm like,
I've seen lighthouses tons of times.

(26:45):
Yeah.
Where we've been on vacationas kids, where I've gone on vacation
as adult. If it's near water,I've seen a lighthouse. I'm like,
whatever is a lighthouse. It'soccurring to me in this moment that
you're like, wow, a lighthouse.
Yeah. I mean like we've takencruises and stuff and we've seen
them, but I've never beeninside one. Like I haven't gotten
to check it out and see howthings work. Yeah.
Yeah. So there were typicallythree keepers stationed in the lighthouse

(27:08):
at a time and each would do aneight hour watch. Their responsibility
was to care for the light. Andit sounds like it would be easy.
You're like just like switchthe light on or turn your little
thingy on or like light afire. Right. But it was not that
easy. They would have. Theywould have to lug up a 30 pound can
of lard oil up the towerstairs. And then once they were up
there, they'd have to wind upthe weight that revolved the lens,

(27:31):
which was just a casual £275.
No problem.
I also just want to say whenthey have to take it up the stairs.
Hundreds of stairs.
Yeah.
They're tall. It's not likethere's like an elevator. They had
to like hike it up. So you'relike £30, not that much, but £30
more than what you normallycarry if you're going up hundreds
of stairs.
Yeah.
Just does not feel easy. Thatfeels hard.

(27:52):
Yeah.
In addition to dealing withthe heavy weight, doing endless cardio
up with jugs of lard. Right.They would also have to care for
the buildings, give occasionaltours to visitors. And some of them,
while they were doing theirkeeper duties, had saved some lives.
In one of the log books fromSeptember 23rd of 1887, it said Schooner's

(28:14):
dream went on sandbar nearlighthouse at 3am Nine passengers
rescued by keepers lost anchorsails and small boat vessel floated
off in damaged condition. Solike, if the keeper had not been
there, they wouldn't have,they wouldn't have been able to save
them. And then on November13th of 1890, the log said at 5pm
the steamer Star SpangledBanner found on the bar, a total

(28:35):
wreck crew were rescued by keeper.
So they had, they wereeverything. Right. Like their job
mainly was to keep the lightgoing so, you know, no ships would.
Yeah. Crash or not know wherethey are. But then in between they're
just, you know, out theresaving boats when they mess up.
You're there in the wee hoursof the morning.
Yeah.
Where it's still dark and youare the only person who's likely

(28:56):
awake and milling about. Whois, who's there to see it. So what
do you do? What do you do butgo help the people? But it's like
an interesting thing that youmay not have thought it was like
part of your job descriptionwhen you first did that.
Right. And I was thinking too,they saved so many people, but if
there were any lost peopletoo, around that area, like, and
the keepers were the onestrying to save them, like, that's

(29:19):
another layer of somethingthat could be going on there.
Yeah, absolutely. So thekeeper's house was built in 1876
and was in use for the keeperand the assistants until 1955. Now
the headkeeper lived on thenorth side of the building and the
first assistant lived in thesouth side. So we've got south side,
north side taken. Now inbetween there were two small rooms

(29:41):
that were on the top floorthat were kind of like between the
sides. And that's where thesecond assistant got.
They got the leftover rooms. Yeah.
So on each side the bedroomswere located upstairs and then the
downstairs had a dining roomand a parlor. So I think of it like
a back to back duplex, if youwill, with like a little.
Yeah, yeah. And when you seethe building.
Yeah.

(30:01):
There's so many doors. And thefirst time I saw it.
I was like, why?
But it makes sense now.
It's a lot of doors. And thenin 1888, brick kitchens were added
along with a new roof. Perfect.
And something that I foundinteresting too when we were researching
is there is somewhere onlinewhere it lists all the first keepers
and second keepers and mainkeepers, just like the dates that

(30:22):
they were the keeper. And someof them moved up, some started as
an assistant and then ended upbeing a keeper eventually. So there's
just. There's a lot.
Yeah.
So in 1955, the lighthouselamp was fully automated. And so
the U.S. coast Guard replacedthe keeper with a position called
lamplighter.
That's not as cool.
It's really not. So basically,the lamplighter had all the same

(30:45):
duties as the light keeper,but they didn't get to live on site,
which seems like why.
Like, there's a house rightthere. Yeah.
So the house became a rentalfor a bit. And I want you to remember
that later because we'll bringit up again. In 1970, the house had
been empty for some timebefore it mysteriously caught on
fire. You know, like all thehaunted buildings that we talked

(31:05):
about and the basement andcharred timbers remained, but there
wasn't much left of thebuilding. There are photos of this
building.
Yeah.
Online. And it. After thefire. And it's wild that they were
able to. We'll talk about rebuild.
When you're looking at it, Iwant you to imagine, like today if
you were to go buy aconstruction site and see, like,

(31:26):
the bare bones, just wood of ahouse before walls and such are added.
That's kind of what it lookslike at first glance.
Yes. Yes.
The kind of skeleton of ahouse is what it looks like.
Mm. Mm. And then the basement,I believe, also wasn't made of coquina,
and so that remained. So theywanted to demolish it for safety

(31:46):
reasons because, as she said,it looked like a skeleton. But 16
women in the All VolunteerJunior Service League of St. Augustine
was like, fuck, no, you're notdemolishing it. They were able to
raise $1.2 million over thenext 15 years to restore and renovate
the building, as well as thelighthouse tower.
Damn.

(32:07):
Including the lens that wasstill there. Wow. So they were able
to save everything and add itto the National Register of Historic
Places. Ultimately, it becamepart of the Lighthouse Museum of
St. Augustine. And it housesexhibits related to St. Augustine's
maritime history. And I didsee in the history of all these buildings
too, there were variousowners, like, certain, I don't know,

(32:28):
cities or whatever. And thenultimately they were able to be own
together again after sometime. So it's kind of odd that they
would, like, separate it, Iguess, in my head. So this lighthouse
is the seventh tallestlighthouse in the United States.
And Lindsay, are you ready forthis? There is 219 steps to get to
the top.
I'm gonna need to start, like,running up and down my stairs to

(32:50):
practice to, like, get mycardio up for when we go.
Oh, yeah, yeah. And there'seight landings, luckily.
So, like, moments to checkyour breath.
It's broken up. You can have,like a little chill area. I think
I saw in some of the videosthat there is A little bench on one
of them.
Great. We'll sit and have apicnic on one. We'll be like, okay,
this is the halfway markbetween intermission.
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. When wewere researching, just thinking about.

(33:11):
Oh, my. My big thing was 219steps. And we're gonna talk about
how spooky it is in a moment.But what if something happens, like,
halfway up, you know? Or like,when you're all the way at the top
and you're like, I need aminute, and you're. Allow me to run
down the spiral staircase of219 steps to get out of it.
It's also just like the spiralof it.
Yeah.
You can't go up too fast oryou'll get dizzy.

(33:33):
And looking up or down it initself without anything is creepy.
Like, frankly, I'm gonna beagainst the outer wall because I'm
afraid of heights, and when Ilook down, I get dizzy. So I'm gonna
be like, it's fine. I'm fine.I didn't even think about that until
this moment. What a new levelof horror.
It's gonna be a time, so sorry.
It is certainly going to be atime, but I am excited to go.

(33:56):
Yes. And now this is thespooky part. We're going to talk
about its hauntings. And Iwill say, after seeing some videos
from here, there were a fewthat gave me chills.
Oh, yeah. No, they're terrifying.
Yes. So because it's sofreaking haunted. The lighthouse
has been featured on manyspooky travel lists, paranormal shows

(34:16):
all over the place. And one TVshow it was on was Ghost Hunters,
and that's season two, episode19. I watched that episode, and that's
where I saw one of the videosthat actually, like, chilled me.
And typically on those shows,you don't see a lot. It's normally
like, what was that? Orwhatever. No, no, they were there.
Like, they. They have it oncamera. So Buzzfeed Unsolved also

(34:36):
went there. That's, like, oneof my favorite spooky shows to watch
about any place.
Yeah.
There's also a large number ofdifferent tours that feature it,
and many locals in the areahave said that the lighthouse is
the most haunted place in St.Augustine. So lots. And it's not
even just, like, thelighthouse. It's all of the buildings
and the area, like, thegrounds of it, too. And people have

(34:59):
reported things like suddendrops of temperature, hearing noises
that can't be explained, andmany of them have seen full apparitions
just on the grounds. Like,it's not even just in a particular
place. Like it can happen anywhere.
Just strolling about.
Yeah.
So one of the major spookyareas is the basement of the keeper's
house. And it's also one ofthe only places, as Amanda mentioned

(35:20):
earlier, that remained in thefire. It's also made of that coquina
baby. So it's been said thatone keeper or maybe an assistant
hanged themselves a few yearsafter the new lighthouse was finished.
But we couldn't find anyconfirmation that any hangings took
place there. Several sourcesmentioned it, but they seemed. It
seemed like it may have beenin the 30s. Also. Suicides aren't

(35:41):
always reported on like that,especially in the 1930s. You're just
not going to see as much about it.
Yeah, agreed.
It's not been confirmed who itwas. People have seen a man wearing
a blue suit in the same area.And again, not sure if this is the
person who hanged themselves,but some people think that it was
Peter Rasmussen or JosephAndrew who were keepers at different
times, which I am not for aperson living in their profession

(36:07):
after ghosting.
Nope.
But I will say that I wouldimagine there was a different level
of, like, dedication and thisbecoming who you are.
Right.
You lived there, you livedthere, you oversaw that coast. I
feel like that would beintertwined with your sense of self.
So that one, I will not say,don't work for free. So we're also

(36:28):
going to talk about this areaa bit more when we talk about different
sightings from employees. Soone of the keepers who was the keeper
between 1849 and 1853, JohnJuan Carrera, was the first documented
death associated with thelighthouse. He died while serving
in the original structure.However, we were again unable to
find anything out about him.But he definitely could still be

(36:49):
there.
Right? Right. And we couldfind so much of who was the keeper
at what time. But there areseveral we're going to talk about
too, that there's deaths, andwe don't know how they died or why
or if it was sickness, whatever.
So we mentioned Juan Andrewearlier, but there's also his cousin,
Joseph Andrew, and he was thefourth head keeper of the light.
And in 1859, Joseph waspainting the tower and fell off the

(37:10):
scaffolding. It sounded likesomething in the scaffolding had
snapped or gave. So that'swhat caused him to fall 60ft to his
death on December 10th of1959. The St. Augustine examiner
said that he, quote, firststruck the roof of the oil room about
35ft below. Once he glancedoff and struck the stone wall which
encloses the lighthouse andthence to the ground, killing him

(37:33):
instantly.
That's a lot of description.
A lot of description.
He was just doing his job,like, keeping up on the buildings.
That was part of it, yeah.Some visitors have reported hearing
screaming, which they mightbelieve to be Joseph falling.
That's heartbreaking.
Which I would imagine, like,if you hear a scream that travels
downward, I could see how youwould think that.
Yeah.
And then in that ghost huntersepisode, they actually caught audio

(37:56):
of someone yelling. So thatcould have been him. And so after
Joseph's death, his wife,Maria Mestre de los Dolores Andrew,
took over as the keeper untilthe Civil War, when the light was
off for a period of time. Andjust as another note, the Coast Guard
recognizes Maria as the firstHispanic American woman to serve

(38:16):
in the Coast Guard or itspredecessor services and the first
to command a federal shore installation.
That's a lot like she was thefirst one. And it's under tragic
circumstances.
Yeah.
And some people believe thatshe's there as well.
I would wonder throughout theyears how many wives of keepers were
informal keepers, like,helping do all the tasks, and were

(38:38):
there just as much, but we'renot getting the credit.
Yes.
Like, if she could just takeover if she was qualified to run
it for a short time. I justhave a feeling that the other wives
of keepers were likelystepping up and doing things, but
were not given the credit forthat work.
Probably. Yeah, It's. It's a lot.
And I definitely hauled abitch. If my work was not given credit

(38:58):
for. And they were onlyremembering my husband, I think I
would have feelings aboutthat. That might.
Yes. Stay after death,probably. So now the next story we're
going to talk about isprobably the most discussed in the
area and maybe the most activeof spirits. So when it first became
known that the firstlighthouse was going to eventually

(39:19):
fall, we mentioned that theystarted working on a new one. And
so the construction started in1871, and the superintendent of lighthouse
construction, Hezekiah Pitti,moved him and his family to St. Augustine
to oversee the construction.And they were all from Elizabeth,
Maine, so it was like a decentmove. Pitti's family included his
wife Mary, and their children.Mary, adeline, who was 15, Eliza

(39:42):
Edward, who was 13, andCarrie, who was just four. Now, children
being children, they decidedthat the construction site was a
super cool playground. Theywould also play with other construction
workers kids. So there's justkids running around all over this
place. By 1873, the foundationin about 42ft of the tower was done.
And how construction workerswere moving the supplies was via

(40:06):
railway cart. So what it woulddo is it would move the supplies
from the supply ships and theywere docked at Salt Run. And then
the little cart would carry itto the construction site. So back
and forth. Yeah, well, to akid, that was essentially a cool
roller coaster.
Right.
Like it's a moving cart.
I could see how that could be.
Yeah, yeah. So the kids lovedit. And what they would do is they

(40:28):
would ride the cart down tothe water and at the end there was
this wooden board, is the bestI can describe it. And it would stop
the cart at the end. So they'dlike hit this piece of wood, stop,
get out and do it again.
Okay. Yeah, fair. It soundslike how you would imagine it to
work.
Yes, yes. Now, on July 10th of1873, the girls were playing with

(40:49):
an unnamed girl whose fatherlikely was also working construction
on the lighthouse. And thisbreaks my heart. And I, judging by
the history of the place too,I think this is why the only details
that we can find on theunknown girl are that she was just
10 years old and she wasblack. That's it. No names, no nothing.
You don't know who her fatheris? Nothing.

(41:10):
I hate it.
Just that they guessed that hemight have been working. And so that
like broke my heart that wedon't know more about her. And then
some other stories say thatthere might have been five kids total,
but I haven't seen any othernames that might have been doing
it, so not sure. I believe itwas just the four of them though.
So the three Pittie girls andthen the unnamed girl, the kids were
riding the roller coaster,doing their thing. However, this

(41:32):
time it was different. Thewooden board at the bottom was not
there.
Oh, no.
So when they went down, theywent straight into the water, but
the cart flipped onto them inthe water, trapping them underneath.
And so Dan Sessions, who wasone of the workers nearby, saw it
happen and he ran to thewater. He jumped in fairly quickly,

(41:54):
from what I understand, and hedid everything he could to try to
save the kids. Yeah.Unfortunately, by the time he was
able to lift the heavy cartup, three of the girls had already
drowned. So the only survivorwas little Carrie, the four year
old. Those poor kids.
Yeah.
So the town and theconstruction site all shut down for
the funeral of the kids. Likeeverything just halted. The Pitti

(42:16):
family ended up heading backto Maine and they buried their girls
there. And unfortunately, it'sunknown where the other.
Little girl was buried.
Some sources also said thather body was never recovered, but
I only saw that in one or two,so I'm not sure. Other sources didn't
even mention her.
I hate that.
Which is heartbreaking. Theyjust mentioned the Pitti girls. Yeah.

(42:37):
But I'm. I'm pretty sure thatthere was an unnamed girl there.
So a psychic who visited thearea once contacted the staff, and
they said, hey, I might knowthe little girl's name and said it
might have been Ellie orEleanor. Cute, sweet name. Yeah.
The St. Augustine Lighthousewebsite said that they have been
continuing archival researchto hopefully find the answer one

(43:01):
day.
Yeah.
So I'm glad that, like,they're at least looking for it to
see, like, can we find recordof her and talk about her too?
Yes. So there have beennumerous sightings of the little
girls on the property. Somehave seen a little girl wearing a
blue velvet dress, which iswhat people believe Mary was wearing
when she drowned. So anothervisitor saw a little girl wearing

(43:21):
a Victorian era outfit sittingon a bench reading a book. I think
I would be terrified. Butalso, that's kind of adorable, Right?
In this instance, the womanwent up to the little girl to ask
a question, but then anothergroup came up at the exact time,
and when she looked away atthe other group who was approaching,
the girl was gone. When shelooked back, should I be like, yeah.

(43:43):
And that's why, like, thewhole grounds are haunted. Like,
it's not just inside the buildings.
Yeah. That's why I'm like, allof St. Augustine is haunted. The
whole place, it feels like.
Yeah.
So in another story, during atour, a woman approached another
woman on the tour tocompliment her daughter's behavior.
So the woman's like, what? Idon't have a daughter? And then the
other one was like, butthere's been a little girl standing

(44:04):
by your side all night.
That could be chills.
Yeah. There was no childsigned up for that tour. Can you
just imagine being like, I'msorry. What? I'm sorry, Right?
I've been here for how longand there's been a little girl next
to me that I can't see.
Why didn't I know that?
Yeah.
How corporeal must she have looked?
Yes.
I don't know what's worse,being the friend of the ghost that

(44:26):
they're hanging around with orbeing the person who was like, no,
but that was a real child.Like, no, no, no, don't tell me that.
Don't tell. No, no, no, no,no, no. Like, I haven't been just
present with this ghost forhours. Not noticed Right, right.
But so many visitors hear thesounds of kids laughing. And then
in the gift shop, the musicboxes will, just, on their own, pop
open and play.

(44:47):
They're having a good time, at least.
Cute, but sad, too.
Yeah. So remember how I saidthe keeper's house was rented? Someone
who rented it once reported asmall girl standing by their bed.
So she's like, what you doingwhat you do?
And you try to snooze.
Oh, that is a lot. Okay. Sosome guests have also reported seeing

(45:11):
apparitions of girls playinghide and seek, and at times, they
may even include people thatare in the area in their game, and
you won't even know thatyou're playing. One night, an employee
was closing up, and they heardgiggling coming from the tower. So
they're like, oh, no, I mighthave left someone up there.
Yeah.
So they go up, you know, the219 steps casually, and they go up

(45:32):
there, and there's no one. Noone's there. We've talked about ghosts
that, like, prank people before.
Yeah.
But, like, I'm sorry, 219steps of prank is a lot.
That's simply too much.
Don't make.
Don't make me walk up there.At least halfway up. Be like, yo,
I'm a ghost.
Yeah, yeah.
You don't need to come all theway up here. I'm not real. I'm not
real.

(45:52):
Just kidding. But, yeah. Sothere's no one up there. So he's
like, okay, maybe I heardsome. You know, I was hearing things.
So he starts to walk back. Ashe starts to walk back down, he heard
the giggles below him, andthen he got to the bottom, same thing.
No one was there. And it'slike, one staircase. It's not like
someone could, like, disappearin there.
Yeah.
You will run into them. Sothey do that. Another story involving

(46:15):
hide and seek. Sounds likesomething like I would consider doing
while we're there. I don'tknow how you'd feel about.
This within a group.
Yes, yes. But there was agroup of young women, and they attended
the tour and had an EMFreader. While holding it, she asked
the children if they wanted toplay hide and seek because she had
been told that they like it.Right. The EMF reader immediately

(46:36):
spiked. So she's like, okay,let's play hide and seek. So she
walked around the area and waslooking for them, essentially. And
she's like. She figured whenthe EMF reader went off, she found
them. So when she gets to thestaircase that leads to the main
floor, they were in theBasement. The EMF reader spikes.
So she's like, found you. Doyou want to play again? And then
it spikes again. So she'slike, okay, let's keep going. She

(46:58):
wandered the basement more,looking for them again. EMF reader.
It does end up going off bythe children's play table.
Yeah.
So she's like, you know, Ifound them again. But right after
this, another group went downinto the basement, and the EMF reader
just stopped altogether. Nomore readings.
Interesting.
Yeah.
I would imagine, like, noteverybody, just some people who you

(47:18):
feel kind of safe with. Youwould do that if you were a little
kid.
Yeah. And we're. We'll. We'lltalk about it, but I think that they
like groups of women.
Yeah. Reasonable. So we alsodid find a story from a tour guide
that was creepy but sweet. Thetour guide was talking with a woman.
As the woman got back onto thetour bus, she started talking about
how she had such a wonderfulexperience at the lighthouse. And
she said that it was soconsiderate, they had added hidden

(47:41):
intercom speakers on all thelandings. And she said that every
time she got to a landing andwas like. Like, I can't keep going
up these. She heard a littlegirl's voice over the speaker telling
her she could do it. Butthere's not hidden speakers. They
don't have motivational littlechildren at the landings, being like,
you go, girl. You've got this.Right? Like, that would be a strange

(48:01):
tip.
Yeah.
I actually don't think I wouldenjoy that. I'd be like, don't look
at me.
You know, don't judge me.That's a lot of stuff.
Like, that's. That's more like it.
Also, they don't employ children.
Yeah. So other guests havealso reported feeling hands on their
back as they climb in thestairs too. But we're not sure if

(48:23):
that's the little girls.
That's a lot.
It's a lot. It's also saidthat the girls enjoy playing pranks
on people too. This all feelslike pranks, too. I mean, like, we're
just popping up saying, what's up?
Yeah.
But one person that attendedthe tour was about to start to climb
the tower, but she said shecouldn't move because her shoelace
had been tied to the staircase.
She waited around too long.

(48:43):
She was like, you're holdingstill too long. I'm just gonna be
a little silly, goofy gal.
Yeah, that is funny. But couldyou imagine, though? You're, like,
ready to finally go. You. Yougot that motivation that you're like,
oh, how did this happen?
Heard where Van slides.
Yes, yes. And we're actuallygonna bring that up in a minute in
a little bit. So the nextperson we want to talk about is Major

(49:04):
William Harn. And he was thelighthouse keeper between 1875 and
1889. Now, he was a Civil WarUnion army officer. There's a lot
on him. There's a lot ofinformation on his background and,
like, his connection to thewar and everything. But he served
in the Civil War as a captainand a Commander of the 3rd New York
Independent Artillery Battery,which was a unit he led at the battle

(49:28):
of Gettysburg. Now he tookover the lighthouse, bringing his
wife Kate, and their fivedaughters, Ruby, Molly, Charlotte,
Catherine, and Ida. And thenlater, while there, they had another
daughter. In 1882, when theymoved, they moved into the keeper's
house of the old lighthousebefore they moved to the new one
once it was finished. Now,unfortunately, he got very sick.

(49:48):
He died of malaria andtuberculosis about 13 years after
moving in. And he died on May31st of 1889 around 1am and from
what I understand, it was along bout of coughing and just being
sick. So he was in thekeeper's house. Well, he was 55 when
he passed, and he is buriednearby in the evergreen Cemetery

(50:12):
in St. Augustine. After hedied, his wife took over as second
assistant for about sixmonths. And it was until she received
his military pension. And inthe early 1890s, she and her kids
moved back to Maine. And Ithought this was kind of sweet. The.
The people of St. Augustinewere very fond of them, and they
actually kept track of theirlives for years. And it sounds like

(50:33):
some of the papers even, like,reported on the things that were
happening, like when the girlsgot married or engaged.
That is sweet.
I thought that was sweet.Yeah, because it's like a tight knit
thing. And like, they servedthis lighthouse for a while. It's
also said that the newspaperreported when Kate died over 30 years
later after she moved away.So, like, they were invested in this

(50:53):
family.
They loved their keepers.
Yeah, yeah. Now, often whenpeople are in the keeper's house,
in the parlor alone, they'llhear someone coughing. Sometimes
it even sounds like it's rightnext to your ear. So you'll be the
only one in the room. Andyou'll hear it, like, right over
you.
I don't want that. That's thelast sound I want to hear.
I don't either. Right. And Ifeel bad, like, if he is still sick,

(51:17):
you know, after that, or ifit's like, residual, he's got a little
tickle. Residual energy. Idon't know. I hope he's not sick
still.
I mean, honestly, if I happento be a ghost who was haunting people,
I actually think it would behilarious to cough in people's, like,
face. Like, that would beobjectively funny because, like,
the gut instinct is to belike, what the. What the fuck? And

(51:39):
then there's no one there.
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
And it's an unmistakablesound. It could also be a funny little
joke.
Yes. Now, other people in thesame area. So the parlor have seen
an indentation on one of theseats just appear, like someone just
sat down. It's often pairedwith a long, drawn out sigh.

(52:00):
Like taking a load off. Yeah.
Like you finally just sat downafter a long day. Yeah. Like you
just climbed 219 steps up.
And down more than once, likely.
And then you got home. Yeah.Yeah. Now this is the scariest thing
to me personally. There's arocking chair that moves by itself.
Uh oh. And one of the storiesI was able to find is that there

(52:21):
was a new tour guide and shereferred to Harn by the wrong title.
She called him Mr. WilliamHarn instead of Major.
Oh.
And so that pissed him off. Soright after she said it, the rocking
chair started violentlyrocking back and forth. And she has
guts because she's like, stopit. She told the chair to stop. It

(52:43):
stopped. And then she took hergroup out of the room and did not
go back for the rest of thenight. So we will be very respectful
while.
We are there, of course. Ofcourse. So after Harn's death, Joseph
Radia took over as the Keeperin 1889. His wife Mary died on September
23rd of 1894 at 9pm butunfortunately, we could not find
more details on how she died.We just saw that Joseph continued

(53:04):
to work at the lighthouse fora bit. Joseph was there a total of
12 years before transferringto the Hunting Island Lighthouse
in South Carolina, replacing aman named Peter Rasmussen. It's funny
because he ended up takingover the St. Augustine lighthouse
from 1901 to 1924 and ended upbeing the longest serving keeper
there. We don't think he diedon the property, but he did love

(53:26):
his cigars and he took his jobvery seriously. He recorded things
in the log books, like whenbathtubs, closets, and lavatories
were installed in theinnkeeper's house. So, like, he was
keeping like a diligent recordrecord of, like, how the property
changed.
Yeah. And I heard he wasreally kind too. Like he Would like
when guests would come, he'doffer them like lemonade and stuff.
So people would also smellcigars in the keeper's quarters and

(53:49):
they believe it's Peterstopping by. Specifically, he enjoyed
cherry tobacco. And people saythey specifically smelled cherry
tobacco. I could not tell youwhat that smells like. I'd be like,
ah, something.
No, but like if someone smokescigars, they might, you know.
Yeah. And we are all aboutbeing respectful. It's any type of
ghosties. So we hate this. Butsomebody said that he was stupid
once and then they justsmelled a cigar right after. Excuse

(54:12):
me.
Yeah, from what I understand,they were like leaving the room and
they're like, Peter, stupid Orsomething along those lines.
Yeah. And he's like.
And then immediately it waslike, I don't think that they saw
the smoke, but it likeoverwhelmed the person.
Like a scent. Scent.
Oh, I'm here and I'm watching you.
Yeah, I heard that.
Yeah, exactly.
So now we're going to talkabout some of the stories of what

(54:34):
people have experienced at thelighthouse. The reverse is from Alan
Studer, a retired lighthouseguy. And he said that he's heard
groaning sounds while he's inthe lighthouse. Paul, the director
of education, was featured onGhost Hunters and he shared several
stories. He said that whenclosing up for the night, the person
who closes would always closethe door to the outside viewing area
and then padlock it. So it'slike lock. Locked.

(54:56):
Yeah. So that's like up at thetop, like where you can go on that
lookout area.
Yeah. However, people wouldcome in to open the next morning
and they would see that thatdoor was open and for whatever reason
the alarm for that door,because quite reasonably that door
should have an alarm didn't gooff whenever it was open. So like
whatever opened it alsobypassed the alarm.

(55:18):
Yes.
And so reasonably they werelike, okay, we need to get this investigated
because that's a hazard. Sothe alarm company investigated, but
nothing tripped the motionsensors. Some believe this happened
because the Pittie kids andtheir friends were playing kind of
cute, but also terrifying.
They're just like, we wantthis open.
Yeah. No, we prefer the view.
Yeah, yeah. Now, Paul alsosaid that people have reported that

(55:42):
during storms they've spotteda woman in white or a little girl
in period clothes up at thetop of the tower. No, always a woman
in white. We always talk aboutthat. But the little girls obviously
could be the sisters or theirfriend. And as for the woman, it
could be a couple differentpeople, but a lot of sources believe
it to be Maria and that theymade it really sad. They said that

(56:05):
she'd go up there and standover the edge and look down where
her husband's body would have fallen.
Fuck.
I just feel like that'sprobably not what I'm hoping, that
she's not just focusing onthat forever, but maybe. And then
others have seen the samewoman walking in the yard between
the buildings. So there mightbe a woman up there. Now, Paul also
talked about the lightkeeper'shouse, specifically the parlor, and

(56:29):
he said it's very full ofactivity. The last lighthouse keeper,
James Pippin, would hearfootsteps. He'd also see lights turn
on and off, and he heardvoices, even though no one was there
with him. He was so afraid ofthis house that he refused to sleep
in it. And he ended up optingto stay in a Coast Guard bungalow,

(56:50):
saying that he didn't want tostay in the haunted house. So, like,
the last keeper was like,hell, no, I am not staying in this
house.
Honestly, that's fair. Yousimply cannot be forced to live in
a haunted house. That's not reasonable.
He's like, no, thank you. Now,according to Paul, the majority of
the activity seems to happenin the basement in the keeper's house.

(57:11):
And so while in the basement,the executive director saw, quote,
an image of a man walk past.And I believe it's like, the opening
into the other, like, room ofthe basement. And she called out
to the man, and then shewalked into the room. When she entered,
no one was in there, but she,like, for suresy, saw a guy walk
by.
No, thank you.
Others have reported spottinga man in the same area of the basement,

(57:34):
but he's gone when they lookagain. And now when they describe
him, they say that he lookslike he's either wearing a uniform
or a suit, kind of like the.The one that we mentioned earlier.
Mm.
But a lot of the employeeshave also seen this. Now, Paul's
interview was on GhostHunters, and we wanted to share that
in that episode, they not onlyheard voices, but they saw a shadow

(57:55):
on the stairs of thelighthouse. And this is the thing
that gave me chills. Whenthey're looking, like they look up
the spiral staircase to lookat how. How big the staircase is,
and they're talking about it,and they see what looks like a person
going up to the railing andlook down at them.
Mm.
And then a couple secondslater, it's on a different landing,
doing the same thing.

(58:16):
It's so scary.
It's unsettling. And now,another thing, too, is the landings.
Like, when you go towards. Ibelieve it's the top. Ish. There's
a motion activated light. Soif whenever anyone's, like, heading
up the stairs, it turns on.Well, when that figure was all the
way, like, towards the top,that light never turned on. That

(58:37):
video is probably the. Thecreepiest video I've seen on a TV
show.
Yeah, I always get a littleskeptical about TV show ghost things
when I'm like, for sure. Couldyou have hired someone there? And
I'm like, I just don't seewhat the benefit of that necessarily
is. And I feel like that'd bean easy one to debunk.
Yes. Yes.
And there's enough weird shitthat happens there. They don't need
to make anything up.
I think even just the thoughtof someone looking down at me when

(59:00):
we're the only ones therewould give me a heart attack.
Looking up and expecting tosee, like, the geometric pattern
of the spiral. And seeing,like, because when. Look at it, it's
not as though you can see,like, a person. It looks like you're
looking at a shadow.
Yes.
And that with me.
Yes. It really reminded me of Malvern.

(59:20):
So other employees havereported seeing a hazy male figure
walking inside the lighthouse.They've also heard footsteps both
inside and in the gravelaround it when no one else is there,
which is a very, like, gravelwalking is a very distinct sound.
And it's a very distinct soundof humans walking on gravel versus
animals walking on gravel, ifyou will.
Yes. Yes.

(59:41):
So Abby Smith, the specialtyprograms manager, says that she now
wears shoes without laces. Andshe does that because she had to
untie her laces just so manytimes. From what she believes was
the little girls playingtricks. Earlier, I mentioned that
they had tied the shoelace ofa person who was on a tour, but now
this person who's there allthe time, they're doing it to her

(01:00:02):
over and over again. They'relike, this is funny every time. Like,
we don't just need, like,fresh people. Like, it's funnier
if we do it repeatedly.
Poor Abby.
Abby also mentioned that thegirls like to hang out with moms,
teachers, nurses, caregivers,and other kids. Very reasonable.
Makes sense. And that theyalso leave footprints in the keeper's
house. There's even a photothat shows little kids, like, footprints

(01:00:24):
on the floor. And it's prettydistinct looking. Like you can. You
can tell. Tell.
Yeah.
So we, you know, we talk abouthauntings. We talk about, like, what
are hauntings? Is it aresidual ghost? Is that a traumatic
thing that happened? Like,what's going on. Many people suspect
that the hauntings at thelighthouse are kind of like an energy
loop, especially theapparitions that are walking up and

(01:00:45):
down the stairs or looking outor, like, walking around the gravel
and things like that. And evenif you think of the little girls
and their tricks and how theyrespond to people and how they interact,
it does seem like the energyis looping and doing the same things.
It's not like it's changingover time. It's doing similar patterns
of activity. So I think that'sreally interesting.

(01:01:06):
Right. I think especially theones that are working.
Yeah.
Like, they're still justworking because they've. They're
just up and down, up and.
Down, and, like, it was such a routine.
I'm hoping it's not them justdoing it all the time. I. Hopefully
it's just energy that's just,like, repeating. So, yeah, everyone's
happy and doing their ownthing now.
Yeah. Yeah. So, as always, wewant to know what you think, but
I'm going to ask Amanda first.What do you think? Do you think it's

(01:01:28):
energy from the buildingholding their energies in, or do
you think that, like, this isthem with a little imprint, if you
will?
Right. I think that there's a variety.
Yeah. Yeah.
I think that some of. Some ofthe ones that are just, you know,
walking up and down thestaircase and looking down, I think
those are just an imprint,something that they're.

(01:01:48):
Just doing over and over.
There's no time or whateverthat makes it repeat. It's just they're
doing it all the time, andthat's why it's happening during
the day and at night. Becausethe keepers were working.
Makes sense.
The kids, I think, are alittle different, actually, because
they're reading books, they'redoing the shoelace thing, they're
chatting with people on thelandings. Like, they're just doing
so much. I do think that thereis something there. I don't know

(01:02:12):
if it's the kids. I'm hopingit's really not kids. I feel bad.
Yeah.
That's, like, why I was hopingit was energy, not them. Because
I'm like, oh, little kid goes.Make me feel sad.
Yeah, it makes me feel sad.But I wonder if those are the ones
that you would be able tointeract with. Mm.
Yeah.
And then who knows what theCoquina has? So who else could be
there? It could be anyone. Itmay not even be some of these people.
It could be anyone.

(01:02:32):
Yeah. Yeah. And we're talkingabout an old place. It's possible
somebody Brought a thing thatsits in the keeper's house.
Yeah.
Brought it and left it.
So you think it's a variety aswell, then?
Yeah, I do. I think thatthere's a mix, because when we're
talking about, like, up anddown the stairs, looking out, walking
around, that's one thing. Butwhen you're talking about looking

(01:02:54):
over the stairwell at someoneand then walking up a little bit
more and looking over thestairwell, that wouldn't have been
a part of your normal day.That's active interaction. That's
like a reactive response, notsomething just happening, and you
happen to be there as part ofthe loop. That feels a lot different
to me. I think it is a mixtureof the two.
Interesting. I'm excited togo. I cannot wait for this lighthouse.

(01:03:15):
I am, too. I am, too. Me, too.
So, like we said, we're goingnext month. We are stoked to be able
to share our investigationwhen we come back. So keep an eye
out for that. Now that we knowa lot of what happened at the lighthouse,
we're going to try to go tosome of those spookier areas and
check it out.
Yeah.
And patrons will see you onPatreon night. If you can think of

(01:03:37):
anything related to TheLighthouse or St. Augustine in general,
write it down. Let's chat onthe 28th. Yeah, we'd love to get
any suggestions for theinvestigation. You know, whatever
you want to talk about aboutSt. Augustine. And if there's questions
you want us to ask spiritsthere. Where do you want us to do
the EVPs? We're going to tryit. I can't guarantee hauntings like
we talk about on the HauntedDolls episodes.

(01:03:59):
Yeah, we, in fact, cannotguarantee haunting.
Should we play hide and seekwith the kids? I'm actually kind
of excited to play with thekids. Yeah, I don't want it to be
kids, but, you know. And,yeah, we just want you guys to help
shape the investigation. Andwe're excited to, like, partner up
with you guys. Yeah. Yeah.
That's going to be fun. That'sgoing to be really fun. We can't
wait to talk to you about it.And with that, have a great weekend.
Thanks for creeping with us.

(01:04:22):
Thanks for listening. And asalways, a special thank you to our
patrons who support us via Patreon.
Please see the link in ourshow notes to learn more about how
you. Yes, you can begin tohaunt the dump, guard vortexes, or
even become a scorching sasquatch.
Ooh. Also in our show notes,you can find the link to our website,
more information on oursources, our social media handles

(01:04:43):
and our merch store.
We'd love for you to keepcreeping with us. So if you like
this episode, pleasesubscribe, rate, review and share
the show with your fellowcreeps and or ghosts.
I beg of.

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