Ghost Hunters Recap: Pensacola Lighthouse

“Pensacola Lighthouse” Pensacola, Florida

HISTORY: (from Wikipedia)
“The first Pensacola Light was the lightship Aurora Borealis. It was moved to Pensacola in 1823 from its previous post at the mouth of the Mississippi River after a lighthouse had been completed there. Because of frequent rough seas, the lightship had to be anchored inside the bay entrance, behind Santa Rosa Island, and could not reliably be seen from ships outside the bay.


In 1825 a 40 foot tower was built on a 40 foot bluff at the south entrance to Pensacola Bay. This light was also partially obscured by trees close to the tower and on Santa Rosa Island. In 1858 a new tower was built on the north side of the bay entrance, and was lit on January 1, 1859. The new, and current, tower is 150 feet tall, and also sits on a 40 foot bluff located on the Pensacola Naval Air Station, placing the light 190 feet above sea level.


The Pensacola Bar Beacon, with the Pensacola Lighthouse in the background.The new location allowed the tower to serve as the rear range light marking the passage across the Pensacola Bar. Little is known of the first front range light. In 1879 a new front range beacon was erected 448 feet southeast of the light tower. This light, known as the Pensacola Bar Beacon, was a square pyramidal wooden tower, 26 feet tall, sitting on a point 29 feet above sea level, so that the light was 55 feet above the water. It had a sixth order Fresnel lens, and showed a fixed white light visible for 11 miles. The Pensacola Bar Beacon was removed from service and demolished some time in the early 1900s.


At the start of the Civil War, Pensacola was controlled by Confederate forces, while Fort Pickens across the bay remained in Union hands. Confederate authorities removed the lens from the lighthouse, and most of the lighthouse supplies were requisitioned for the war effort. In November 1861 an artillery duel between the two forces damaged the lighthouse tower.


Confederate forces later evacuated Pensacola, and were replaced by Union forces. In 1863 the Pensacola Light was relit using a fourth-order Fresnel lens. A new first-order lens was placed in the tower in 1869. The tower was all white during the Civil War. Later, the upper two-thirds of the tower was painted black. Electricity was introduced to the lighthouse in 1939, eliminating the need to rewind the light rotation clockworks every 4 1/2 hours. the light was automated in 1965. The lighthouse tower and associated buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.”

Again, Dustin and Britt join TAPS as guest invesitgators while Steve and Tango concentrate on their show “Ghost Hunters Academy”.

The Pensacola Lighthouse is still an active lighthouse and is run by the coast guard. Some of the claims are hearing footsteps, people’s names being called, and a man heard something fly across the floor, land in front of him, but there was nothing there to make the noise. Brian Day, a coast guard and Richard Callaway, president of the pensacola lighthouse association are the ones who gave TAPS the history and haunts. They start the tour in the Keeper's Quarters basement. While a woman was walking down the stairs, she felt someone touch her shoulder. She looked around and nothing was there. Another person felt her hair pulled. Also, during a tour a witness tells about a piece of metal flying off the wall, bounced off the back wall and landed in the middle of the room. There was no body else in the room. During the Civil War a runaway slave hid in that room. His apparition has been seen in there. Now it is upstairs to the Keeper's Quarters on the 2nd floor. For many years, stories were circulating in town about an abused wife who became angry and killed her husband. They tell of a big spot of blood on the floor, surrounding the bed. When the floors were redone 13 years ago, the blood stains were seen. That room was where the keeper and his wife sleep with their two sons sleeping in the next room. The boys heard footsteps going down the stairs. The youngest son got up and looked down the stairs but could not see anyone. He heard the door opening, then shutting below. Now they go to the tower where the Original Keeper's room is located. There, witnesses have reported hearing voices, usually a women's voice and you can make out clearly what she is saying. The feeling of a strange sensation has been reported there as well as a cold feeling at night. One time on a very hot day a man was climbing the stairs to the tower. As he got next to the entrance of the Keeper's Quarters, he felt a cold chill, and the tower is not air conditioned. They head next to the top of the tower, having to climb 177 steps to the top. While climbing up there, some have claimed hearing banging from above with no one there. At the top of the tower is a trap door which is very heavy. This door is known to close on its own when left open. Some have seen a woman in a long white dress. She was transparent because the light was seen through her.

INVESTIGATION: Jason and Grant start in the lighthouse climbing the stairs. The KII meter started going crazy, lighting up to the max. They head up to see if it continues to light up and it does. They started hearing sounds light someone was above and heard the latch door close. Grant checks the bottom to see if someone was there but no one was. They hear walking from above and head up. They continued to climb up the stairs and hearing noises above them. They get to the top and circle around the outside and found nothing. Grant climbs to the very top but sees nothing up there either.

Britt and Amy start in the Keeper's Quarters. They split up to see if they hear any noises or voices in the area. Amy asked questions and Britt hears a faint chair dragging sound. They find nothing that would cause that noise.

Britt is now with Dustin in the tower sitting on the stairs asking questions. They decide to climb higher to check out the trap door and felt that it really had to be pushed hard to close. They check out the place with the thermal but seen nothing.

Amy and Kris head down to the Keeper's Quarters basement checking it out. Amy said that when she was setting up the equipment down there, it felt creepy. While walking around, Kris feels something touch her head while Amy felt a breeze brush by her. Then she feels a breeze on her hand. They grab the thermometer and it showed the temperature getting colder.

Jason and Grant in the Keeper's Quarters room, 2nd floor. They kept hearing strange sounds and voices that appear to be answering their questions. They go in the office, then hallway and the stairs where most of the noise was coming from but find no source for the noises.

Amy and Britt are now in the second floor Keeper's Quarters. As they were coming up the stairs they heard a voice like a child or female. While walking around they heard footsteps. Amy said that after talking with some locals, the real story is that a woman gave birth and the blood on the floor was from the birth of the baby. Ella was the woman's name, and ended up dying a couple of months later. They get a tapping sound and footsteps around them while Amy told the story. Amy stays in the room asking questions while Britt sits in the hallway. Britt hears footsteps walk right by him and he also felt the impact of the footsteps on the floor. They hear the footsteps again but this time they sound further away.

Jason and Grant in the Keeper's Quarters basement where they hear female voices. They check to see if it was Kris and Amy but they were not near that building. They move up the the Keeper's Quarter main house where Grant’s camera light turned off and he had to hit the switch to turn it back on. Then the switch kept turning off and then back on. Afte that, behind them they hear a squeaking door sound and Grant's camera kept turning on and off again. He changed out the light and the new one kept doing the same thing.

Dustin and Kris are in the basement to see if they get the same action Kris and Amy got earlier but nothing happen. They wrapped up the investigation.

RESULTS: Britt's camera picked up the footsteps he and Amy were hearing. Jason and Grant in bedroom of main house caught a voice after Grant asked “were you attacked in here”. The voice whispered "no". No documents were found to back up the claims of the murder in the 2nd floor room or about the child birth. They felt that they did get enough evidence to back up the claims of paranormal activity.

Go here to watch PENSACOLA LIGHTHOUSE once again.

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