Anastasia Island

The Haunting

The Lighthouse - near St. Augustine, many spirits are here; one of a man who hung himself (when, not known), and one unidentified spirit in the basement of the keeper's house. During the 1980's, when the keeper's house was being restored, workers spent the nights in the place to protect it from vandals. They would wake up in the middle of the night to see a small girl in old-fashioned clothes watching them. She would then vanish. The workers would also sense things during their work and would look up to see an apparition of a man hanging from a rafter. The spirit in the cellar has never been seen, but workers at the lighthouse all report an uneasy feeling when they're down there alone, especially at closing time when the place is very quiet. There have also been stories of footsteps on the lighthouse stairs when there's no one around. The guides there are very open about the ghosts. There are many good reasons for the lighthouse and keeper's house to be haunted: the man who hung himself, the little girl who was killed by the train, a light keeper who fell to his death while painting the former lighthouse (very close to the newer one), and 13 executed pirates who were buried behind the lighthouse. Also, there has been some form of a lighthouse on the site since Ponce De Leon in the 1500's. - Update about the little girl spirit, it is believed that there are 2, They were daughters of the lighthouse keeper and of the foreman when the new lighthouse was being built further up on the island. They used to play on the train-carts that were used to haul supplies from the water to the new location of the lighthouse. According to the local historical society that provides tours of the area, the girls were playing on a cart with the daughter of the foreman. Apparently, the brake was loosened, sending the cart hurtling toward the inlet below. Three of the 4 girls (2 of the keeper's daughters and the foreman's daughter) were not saved in time and drowned when the cart flew into the water. Occasionally, you can hear girls giggling in the vicinity of the lighthouse, and the girl that appeared to the workers was also one of the daughters that is more active than the others.