Keep the Light On

Traditionally, lighthouses were staffed by a keeper tasked with manning the watchtower and looking out to sea for ships in peril. Today, most lighthouses in the U.S. are automated with a small staff and volunteer base to manage upkeep, tours and gift shops.

The Pensacola Lighthouse, built in 1859 at the Pensacola Bay entry from the Gulf, is still active today. While keepers are no longer on the payroll, a few of bygone eras may still remain.

In 2009, the Travel Channel’s Ghost Hunters team visited to investigate and returned to follow up on the hauntings again in 2022.

Jon Hill, executive director of the Pensacola Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, admitted he was skeptical at first. He became less so when he heard what sounded like voices playing on an AM radio. On another occasion, he and a volunteer heard someone talking in another room.

“We heard a woman call my name,” Hill said. He replied, “‘Yes ma’am,’ but there was nobody there.”

Believers in the lighthouse’s ghosts have no doubt that they are intertwined with the beacon’s turbulent history.

The original Pensacola Lighthouse was first lit 200 years ago in 1824. Jeremiah and Michaela Ingraham were its first keepers. After Jeremiah’s death, Michaela continued watch until 1855. Photography by Steven Gray

In 1823, before the original lighthouse was erected, a light ship called the Aurora Borealis, was positioned in the calm waters between the end of Santa Rosa Island and Fort Barrancas at the entrance to the port of Pensacola’s massive bay. The ship was replaced by a rudimentary lighthouse near the fort.

This first lighthouse tower was lit in 1824. A young couple, Jeremiah Ingraham and his wife Michaela, managed the lighthouse and raised three children at the station. When Jeremiah died, Michaela continued watch until her death in 1855.

The new, current lighthouse was built a half mile west of the original lighthouse in 1859 to improve visibility. This one was taller and brighter — 159 feet tall, shining an improved Fresnel lens.

Over the years, death, war and natural disasters ravaged the lighthouse.

The tower was once a target for the guns of Fort Pickens before the Confederates evacuated in 1862. In 1874, it was struck by lightning, then struck again the next year. The eerie coincidence proved evidence of a faulty lightning rod. But in 1886, there was little explanation for an earthquake, a rare phenomenon for the area. A keeper’s report detailed, “… was accompanied by a rumbling as if people were ascending the steps making as much noise as possible.”

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Museum volunteer Kelly Merriman leads visitors on ghost tours. In her three years at the lighthouse, she’s witnessed her own haunting encounters on several occasions. Photography by Steven Gray

Today, ghost tour volunteers report regularly hearing people ascending steps or descending into the basement to greet them. It is not unusual to have conversations with the ghosts and spirits during the tours or in the original keeper’s quarters.

“Ghosts are like people,” said Kelly Merriman, a volunteer ghost tour organizer. “You could have a room full of people or a room of ghosts and spirits.” Merriman has given tours for three years. “My belief is ghosts are attached to the lighthouse or the grounds or historic items. We also have spirits that visit.”

The tours visit four high-activity areas during the two-hour experience. Volunteers use scanning devices, which light up when paranormal activity is present, and REM pods, which sense fluctuations in electromagnetic fields.

“You might hear them going up the steps or smell tobacco smoke or hear them going into a room,” Merriman said. Asking yes or no questions, she said, they get answers. “We have ghost meters that blink once for yes, twice for no.”

Merriman said she’s not easily frightened. However, there was one occasion when her fear meter peaked. Noticing a device light up and then another, she also heard a noise from the REM pod. “All of a sudden I’m cold, freezing,” she recalled. “The hair on my arms stood up.” Unnerved, she said aloud to a presence she felt and could not see, “I need you to step back away from me.”

The spirits who call the Pensacola Lighthouse home don’t seem to have an interest in scaring off their regular company. A happy home may be reason enough even for a ghost to respect boundaries.

No doubt, the historic beacon’s supernatural stars help to keep the original Fresnel light shining still today.

Ghost tour volunteers man devices such as the Ghost Meter, which helps the living communicate with present spirits. A volunteer will ask questions, and ghosts can respond by setting
the meter off: once for yes and twice for no. Photography by Steven Gray

Ghost Tours

Tickets for ghost tours are $25 for ages 13 and above. Admission to the lighthouse and maritime museum is $9.50 for adults, and children 12 and under are $6.50. Military and senior discounted tickets are $6.50. Either way, this is a small price to pay to be in the company of ghosts. To book ghost tour tickets or for more information, call (850) 393-1561 or visit PensacolaLighthouse.org.