Morbid - The Unsolved Murder of Kristin O’Connell

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey guys, today we did a little collab, or I should say a big collab, because it was long, it was a lot of fun, and we are going to do it again soon. Hell yeah, brother. We collabed with National Park After Dark, which is hosted by Cassie and Danielle, two amazing humans who we had so much fun with. We're going to be collabing again with them on their feed. But today, you're just going to sit and listen to us, do some lighthouse stories. And they got some good ones. They came to the freaking table. They came just completely like more than prepared. I'm telling you. There's, there's are so much better than ours. It's insane. But they killed it. And definitely check out their podcast. We did like a little like campfire tale kind of like round robin thing in here. So I hope you guys like it. And again, go check out National Parks After Dark. They're really rad people and they have a really rad podcast. Woo! Hey, weirdos.

Starting point is 00:01:00 I'm Elena. I'm Ash. I'm Cassie. And I'm Danielle. And this is morbid and National Parks After Dark. Clap! We're here. We're so glad to have you guys on the show.

Starting point is 00:01:40 We have Cassie and Danielle. We have been big fans of the show for a long time. As soon as I saw the name National Parks After Dark and the art for it, I was like, okay. The art is so good for your show. show. Oh, thank you. We have to bow down to Cassie's friend for that. She put that together. Oh, cool. It's so good. It just draws you right in. Really? And just the subject matter. It's a perfect subject to focus on because national parks are terrifying. Well, yeah. There's a lot going on there. There's a lot going on. Yeah, I mean, we kind of just as like a

Starting point is 00:02:15 brief background to probably everyone listening who is like, wait, who? What's happening? What's going on? So Cassie and I started this podcast a little over a year ago because we love nature and being outside in the outdoors and national parks, but we also love dark history, morbid, you know, content, all of that true crime. And it just kind of morphed into this. And it's been a wild ride. And it's so, I hate to say the word fun. Fun is not the word. I know.

Starting point is 00:02:50 It's so hard to describe. It's very intriguing and it's interesting and we found a lot of people really like it too. Yeah. So here we are. Yeah. It's crazy to know that you're walking into a national park and you're standing in the same spot that all this crazy, dark, morbid history has been. And you're like, oh, my God, this happened right here.

Starting point is 00:03:11 It just like hits you all of a sudden. And you would never know. Like that's the most of this stuff is so hidden, so hush, hush. Right. You're just walking into beautiful nature. You have no idea that like this awful atrocity happened here or like there's some crazy cryptid hanging out in the woods somewhere. Yeah. Well, every once in a while now that you like you have a trained eye, you'll look at a little plaque or like a little information sign that you may not have looked at before.

Starting point is 00:03:40 And then all of a sudden it's like in memory of. And then it's like, oh, there was a vicious grisly attack. Yeah. Right. Like, oh, all right. plane crashed right here. It's so wild. So heavy, too.

Starting point is 00:03:52 Like, I feel like you can just feel that when you walk in like you were saying. Oh, that's so heavy. But it's great. Well, we got a lot of people that are like, I felt really weird here. And now I hear this story. And it all makes sense. I didn't even think about that. But some people probably listen and are like, okay, like validation.

Starting point is 00:04:10 I knew something was weird there. But also, it's like, it's great because there's, the flip side to the coin, right? It's like it's dark and it's sad and sometimes it's scary. But then you open your eyes and look around and you're in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Exactly. You know? And it just brings a bigger appreciation for where you are. And it's just, it's great. So we love it all and we're glad that it's bringing people closer to nature in a really, really weird way. That's the only way to get closer to nature, just weirdly. Yeah. So, yeah, so we're doing some spooky lighthouses. Yes. I'm so excited for this.

Starting point is 00:04:55 Because people have been digging the spooky lighthouse series and it's been really fun to do because I didn't, I mean, you don't think about lighthouses that much and we just didn't realize how many lighthouses there are in the entire world and how almost all of them are haunted or something awful happened. in them. Every lighthouse is creepy. Hands down. Everyone. All old. Yes. And they all have some like phantom animal in them or phantom human in them or the lightkeeper just won't leave. It's always that. The light keeper is there to stay. Yeah. It's a full like it's a committed job. Like you are not leaving ever. Life and death. Exactly. Correct. And by I think when is like the newest constructed lighthouse? Because I know the new technology you don't. They're going, they don't need keepers. Yeah. Right. They're being like automated now. Which always bums me out.

Starting point is 00:05:48 Like whenever I see in my research, that's like, and then like keepers were taken out of there and now it's just an automated lighthouse. I'm like, no. Like, that's no fun. Because now it's not going to be as haunted. You guys are going to love my story then. Oh, man. My lighthouse is still run to the.

Starting point is 00:06:04 Oh, yes. You knew. You brought it to the table. I love it. Oh, okay. I didn't know that you were getting that one. We each brought a lighthouse today. So you're getting four lighthouse tales today.

Starting point is 00:06:18 So you guys got to strap in for the long haul. And I think I think Ash is going to start us off. I'm ready. Let's go. All right. We're going to go to Sigeen Lighthouse in Maine. Okay. And for a lot of this research, I read a book called Haunted Maine Lighthouses by Taryn Plum.

Starting point is 00:06:34 Thanks, Taryn. Yeah, Chapter 5, if you're interested in this particular lighthouse. So Sigeen Lighthouse, very fitting. is located on Sigeen Island in Georgetown, Maine, and it's the second oldest lighthouse in Maine. And the first oldest one is the Portland headlight, but the water surrounding the Sigeon, or, yeah, the Sigeon Lighthouse is known to be very, very rough. And when the area was first settled on about 13 years before the Mayflower even landed, the settlers really had no other choice, but to set up where they did on what would become Pompom Beach. They actually named the land after Captain

Starting point is 00:07:09 George Pompum, who was captain of one of the two ships that all the settlers had arrived on. He was either the captain of the gift of God or Mary and John. Not quite sure. It's all so biblical. It's very biblical. Wow. I know. Right before the Mayflower, so like that makes sense. Yeah, it does. But since the area was so hard to live on, nobody really lasted that long. A lot of people got sick. Unfortunately, a lot of people passed away. And they all decided to sail back to England after just a year on the island. And I think it's rough. Yes.

Starting point is 00:07:43 Seriously. The waters are on their quarry. We can say that. Yeah. We definitely can. And I feel like the Native Americans were probably like, yeah, we could have told you fuckers that because they had actually named the island before anybody had even settled it.

Starting point is 00:07:58 And they called it Sutquin, which translates it to place where the sea vomits. Wow. Oh. Yeah. Descriptive. You know that's going to be a pretty rough area. I love, that's a great description. Place where the sea vomits.

Starting point is 00:08:14 Like not where the sea empties out or anything. It's like, no, it just vomits. Yeah, it just barfs all over you. Because that's probably exactly what it looks like. Like you've just crossed the ocean to the place where the sea vomits. Yeah. Love that. Welcome.

Starting point is 00:08:28 Exactly. So after about 100 years after the first settlers arrived on the island, people started talking about the need of a lighthouse because this area is like, super, super foggy. It's actually one of the foggiest places in the country. And so the fog's rolling through. They're super rough waters. They're like, it would be a good entrance light to let people know where the hell they even are. And it could also serve as a safety measure because it'll prevent a lot of the shipwrecks that they knew would happen quite frequently because it was already happening. So in 1786, an official petition was put together and 55 men signed and then they brought that petition to the general

Starting point is 00:09:05 Court of Massachusetts because Maine actually didn't exist yet and would not for another 34 years. So it's like... That is so wild to think about it. It is. When I saw that, I was like, oh, my God, there was a time when Maine didn't exist. Like, oh yeah. Who knew? But the petition stated, the island Sagan seems to be designated by nature for this purpose,

Starting point is 00:09:28 being situated at the mouth of the Great River Kennebec and being an excellent direction, not only for that harbor, but likewise for the harbor of Falmouth, Booth Bay, Waccasset Point, New Meadows, and Harpswell. Your petitioners think that if there was a light upon this island, many vessels would be saved from shipwreck, and many persons persevered from immature deaths. Okay. And do you know who gave the go-ahead for this lighthouse to construct this bad Larry?

Starting point is 00:09:53 Who did it? No. President George Washington. Oh, that guy. Just that fans. I've heard of him before. Yeah. I've heard a little something about him. He looked a little familiar in my research.

Starting point is 00:10:02 He was in hand. Hamilton. Yes. That's what it is. That's where you remember himself. So the lighthouse was officially built in 1795. And over the years, there's been two huge renovations. In 1819, they just straight up removed the original tower and they replaced it with a larger stone structure. And then in 1857, they rebuilt the entire lighthouse again. And that's the one that still stands today. So 1857 to today. Crazy. It's always the second go around. They never stick around for the whole. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:10:36 It's always like, this one is the third one that's been in this site. It'll be a charm. Poor lighthouses. I know, right? It was a night like any other. We had some dinner. You know, we chatted for a little bit. We talked about school and work and everything seemed normal.

Starting point is 00:10:59 And then suddenly I was gone. But they didn't even have to worry, guys. I was literally just offscoring some quality time with my best fiends. I was like, hey, you little fiends, what's up? Let's play. Let's go. Let's defeat these motherfucking slugs. Others, other people, honestly, they might wonder about your mysterious disappearance. But if you're having as much fun with best fiends as I am, like clearly from this read, it is no secret while you sneak off and you try to find time to play. Guys, I don't want to like discourage you or anything, but I am pretty up there on the levels.

Starting point is 00:11:36 Like, I am going ham sandwich at this point. Because the thing is, best fiends, it's super fun to play, and it's a free to download mobile puzzle game with thousands of exciting levels for new adventures and challenges every single time you play. There are dozens of unique fiends to collect, although mine happen to be the cutest, so like literally don't even come for me, don't even try. But you can customize your team of fiends to defeat the menacing slugs. I told you, let's mess them up. Power up your favorite fiends to new levels of even more powerful skills. and watch them transform as they get even stronger.

Starting point is 00:12:09 It's also super fun to evolve them. I love doing that. It's like watching, I don't know, it's just beautiful. I couldn't think of a, what do they call that? I want to say metabolism, but it's actually metaphor. Anyways, with offline play, you'll never be stranded without fun, even if you lose your internet connection. Brand new events and challenges pop up all year round.

Starting point is 00:12:27 They're always super fun and they're always themed for like whatever holiday it is and I think it's super cute. And you've always got a chance to earn exclusive in-game items, characters and rewards which you're going to need to defeat those slugs baby download your new favorite getaway best fiends for free today on the app store or google play you'll even get five dollars worth of in-game rewards when you reach level five that's friends without the our best fiends so there's a lot of stories about the lightkeepers who have lived and run the lighthouses over the years but there's a few major stories that you'll always hear when you bring up

Starting point is 00:13:06 Lighthouse. Now the first tale comes from the U.S. Coast Guard, who was staying in the lighthouse in 1985 when they were dismantling the light. And unfortunately, we were just talking about it, it was going to become automated. Lame. I know. Like, boo. Yeah, R.A.P. Right? So part of the process in like dismantling the light and getting the place automated, they wanted to take the furniture from the keeper's house and kind of relocate it, probably put it in storage, which is so sad because it was probably so historical. It was. It was cool to look at later. I know. No one cares about cool antique furniture anymore. Come on. What the hell?

Starting point is 00:13:40 We care. Yeah, right? We care. We're here. So one officer was sleeping after a long day of work. And all of a sudden, he wakes up to his bed, like, violently shaking. And he gets brave enough to finally open his eyes after a minute of just his shaking bed. And he sees this apparition at the end of the bed dressed in oil skins, like the fish stick guy or the guy from now and then with the big yellow coat. I'm not going to lie. When you first said that, I was like, what? the hell the image that flew into my brain was like this giant eel just standing at the end of the bed or something yeah right it was like an oil skin like what is that I didn't I had no idea where you were going with that I was like I don't even know what I'm picturing like what's happening when I first read that I was like oil skins what could that be and I google it and that like yellow rain jacket pops up and I'm like oh the fish stick guy I get it now that's a little less scary yeah a little less like weird and dark than what I was thinking. Right. And then I was like, if you don't like fish sticks, you have to like the movie now and then. So you'll recognize that guy. That's very true.

Starting point is 00:14:42 But anyway, so he's dressed up like that. He's at the end of the bed, shaking the damn thing. And then he just yells out at the man, don't take my furniture. Please leave my home alone. Oh. Don't take his furniture. That's what everybody was saying. They were like, why would you take his furniture then? Oh, he likes the antique furniture too. He does. He likes the way he set it up, you know? Oh, man. I feel like he's like, it's like in Beetlejuice when they just have to watch their house be like turned into the terrible, like modern house. Yes. That's him.

Starting point is 00:15:13 He's like, I don't want this. I know you watch that and you're like, does that really happen? Because that'd be such a bummer. Oh, God, I know. I would hate that. You just have to watch people destroy your home. Yeah. Get out of here.

Starting point is 00:15:24 You need to your furniture. Get you know the caseworker in on it. Honestly. So the unfortunate thing, though, is that the ship with the furniture had already been loaded up and it was leaving the island the next morning. Not cool. But strangely enough, the ship that was carrying all of the furniture that obviously belonged in the keeper's house sank as soon as it was lowered into the water. Oh, that's somehow sadder.

Starting point is 00:15:48 It is sadder. But you're like, did he make that happen as like a, I don't know why he would want to sink his furniture, but I think he was just mad. It's like when a toddler goes a temper tantrum. Exactly. Exactly. That's what I was just thinking. I was like, you know, he saw it going and he's like, well, I can't stop it.

Starting point is 00:16:03 Now, oh, wait, I can. I'm a ghost. And he just, there it goes. He was just like, whatever. Can't have that anymore. Nobody can have it. But the weird thing is that people who visit the lighthouse now, while you can spend the night, I guess,

Starting point is 00:16:15 or there was a point in time where you could, and they'll hear the furniture being moved in the night. And, like, it sounds like somebody's rearranging the entire place. And then they wake up and everything is just as it was, like, not changed at all. Spooky. Oh. Super creepy. I would also be so annoyed if I woke up in the middle of the night to, like,

Starting point is 00:16:33 a renovation going on. I would not be happy. I feel like if you live in an apartment and your upstairs neighbors at 3 a.m. Just moving their couch and their holes. Yes. Around. It's like, excuse me. Somebody lives below you.

Starting point is 00:16:45 He takes a broom and hit the ceiling. At the top. Yeah. Oh, God. I almost like crashed through my ceiling in the first apartment I lived in doing that because it was like not well constructed. But they were so loud so it was necessary. They deserved it. Yeah, they sure did.

Starting point is 00:17:00 The broom is right through their kitchen floor. Just like impaled somebody's foot by. accident. Hey, you're loud. That'll quiet you down. So the other hauntings are, or this one that I'm about to talk about, is somehow more terrifying. So there was another keeper back in the day, and this was back in the 1800s. There's also like no proof that this ever happened, but I say it did. I believe, I believe you. I trust you. I'm the authoritarian on this lighthouse. Okay, I've never been there, but I know. You just feel it. So this story says that there's a keeper who's moving in, and his wife really loved socializing.

Starting point is 00:17:35 She was like a socialite. So she's like, I'm going to miss my friends and I'm going to miss going to miss going out all the time because, again, the water is really rough around here. She can't leave that often. And especially in the winter. It's always happening. Yes. The water's vomiting all upon you. And she's like, I'm not really into this. But her husband was like, well, I need a job.

Starting point is 00:17:52 So this is what we have to do. So realizing that his wife needed a distraction, the keeper was like, I'm going to get her a piano. And she can learn how to play piano. So she starts, and it was really the only thing she could do throughout the day other than cook clean and watch the water vomit onto the beach. So can we really blame her for becoming obsessed with learning how to play piano? We love a queen with a hobby. Yeah, she just gets hyper-focused. I feel that.

Starting point is 00:18:17 Same, right? I do the same thing on things I like. Yeah, she just loved it. Yeah. But there was one problem. She only knew how to play one song. And apparently she loved that song so much that it was the only song she would ever. play. Day in, day out, same song on loop. I can blame her for that. I'm blaming her.

Starting point is 00:18:37 Because that's not, I feel like that was, I feel like that was almost a little like dig. Maybe she was trying to get out of there. I think that she was like, I'm a socialite and I'm telling you I'm sad. I'm not going to be able to go out on the town. And you bought me a piano to play solitarily in my home. She actually just played. So I'm just going to learn one song and I'm going to play this one song until I drive you absolutely mad. I feel like it was like, This was her torture for her husband. Yeah, it definitely was. I think this was like a passive, aggressive, long game.

Starting point is 00:19:07 She learned F.U by Miley Cyrus on the piano and played the instrumental version only. Wow. I actually couldn't find what song it was. But anyway, so she's driving her husband absolutely crazy. He's like, please, maybe I could get you a book of music. You could learn another song. It will be wonderful. You're so great at playing this piano, but I'd love to hear a different song.

Starting point is 00:19:27 Stop torturing me. She was like, no, I love this song, man. Miley kills it. So he gets so irritated and so nuts over it that one night he grabs an axe and he just starts demolishing the piano, rips the thing to pieces. And she's yelling at him and he's not done yet. He takes the axe to her. Oh, overreaction. And murders her.

Starting point is 00:19:50 Whoa. And then he eventually killed himself after. Some people say that he did so with the axe. I'm not really buying that. Logistically. Logistically, I don't think. No. make sense. Yeah. Like, explain to me how that happens. Another means, I'm going to say. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:05 But people who visit the light host today say, or even if they're like in a boat near the water, they'll hear that same melody playing. Ooh, spooky. Super weird. And other people say that you'll still see the keeper roaming around the grounds still carrying the axe and covered in blood splatter. Oh. That's a ghost. I do not want to come. No. No. Especially not as the sea is vomiting in the background. Oh, that's just like over-stimulation too much. It really is. And there's one song on repeat over and over and over.

Starting point is 00:20:39 That song replaying, the ocean vomiting. And then this guy covered in blood holding an axe, I'd be like, no. What's that called? This could be an entire horror movie. It literally could. Honestly, they should shoot one there. That's a good idea. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:52 It's like overload, though. Like all that. It's like, I can't. I can't handle that. Exactly. So another paranormal being that people claim to see is way more innocuous. She's a little girl. And she seems to love the visitor.

Starting point is 00:21:07 She's like super social with them. She'll run around the lighthouse during the tours and she'll wave and smile. But then people will be like, oh, whose kid is that? And they're like, what kid are you talking about? And then they're like, oh, that's the little girl. Like she's not real. She's not on the same plane as us. No.

Starting point is 00:21:22 I love how casual that. Oh, she's just on a different plane, everybody. Yeah, she's fake. It's so worried. No worries. Yeah. It's totally fun. So the people, or yeah, there were people who claim that the little girl was actually buried on the island.

Starting point is 00:21:35 And that's why she haunts the lighthouse. Dark. But I'm not sure how true that is. I think that people might have the story confused because there was once a keeper, Walter F. Stevens. He was the keeper in like the late 50s into the early 60s. And he lost a daughter while he was working there. But it didn't happen like on the lighthouse grounds. He was with the Coast Guard and he was stationed to man the lighthouse.

Starting point is 00:21:58 house and he, so he couldn't leave when his wife went into preterm labor. And it was September of 1959, and his wife, Mary, had to travel into Bath, Maine and give birth. But unfortunately, her and Malter's baby didn't make it. And they named her Linda Joe, and they buried her in Oak Grove Cemetery in Bath, Maine. Oh, okay. And there's like a little marker to, like, remember her. But I kind of wonder if, like, her little spirit stayed with her family at the lighthouse. And I don't know how she grew up over time there, but maybe she did.

Starting point is 00:22:26 And then she paused. and she just said, I want to be a little forever and hang out in this lighthouse. I mean, that tracks. I think it's right. Yeah, it seems legit to me. I don't know who else this little girl could be because I was like looking through records of deaths here and no little girls died in the lighthouse. Hmm. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:22:42 Interesting. Maybe she was just. Well, there is, there is something about little kids haunting places because by nature, kids are awesome. Like cute, fun, lighthearted. But when they're a spirit, it's just. It's creepy as fun. Cassie and I stayed at where did, oh, the Crescent Hotel. Ooh.

Starting point is 00:23:02 Yeah, we stayed there and like out of all the ghosts, there was a ghost child. I'm like, if I see this ghost child, I'm going to shit my pants. Yeah, no. Anyone but the kid. Yeah. Anybody but the kid. That's exactly how I feel. I hate ghost children.

Starting point is 00:23:17 It freaks me out. Whenever somebody says, like, we stayed at the Lizzie Borden house in Fall River. And they said, they told us, we were sleeping on the top. floor in like this attic bedroom which already was like ooh no go they showed us the room and I was like I'm not sleeping here but we're like sure yeah totally and then we're like weird there's like a little trunk with toys in it like what's what's that about in the lizzie borden house and they were like oh there was like a neighbor kid what was the story it was horrible it was like there was a horrific yeah there was a few children that lived next door and they died in like a brutal house fire

Starting point is 00:23:53 and I think some of them must have been running to like the lizzie board and house to get away from the fire but like didn't make it or something and that's how they ended up over there. Yeah. And it's so they leave toys out for these kids and they'll say like the kids will play with the toys and like roll balls in the middle of the night. And we were like, nope. Like we were just like I'm out. We literally stayed in the living room downstairs awake all night. We were like we are not sleeping in the room. We abandoned that room with like those kids playing with toys to sleep on the couch where Lizzie like allegedly murdered her father. So we're like, this is better. I mean, you have to choose. Yeah. You have to choose. That's how much I am not into ghost kids.

Starting point is 00:24:33 No, just so creepy. But they do say that kids and just like spirits in general will go back to a place where they were the happiest. Yeah. So maybe this little girl was like from somewhere else and she had just visited the lighthouse and that's how she ended up there. Or maybe she was like the kid of like one of the families there and she didn't die in the lighthouse.

Starting point is 00:24:50 She just really liked it. Yeah. Yeah. You never know. Who knows? So that's just like heartbreaking and sad. So we'll finish it off with the fact. that serpents might be lurking beneath the waters in front of the lighthouse.

Starting point is 00:25:02 Okay. In front of the vomiting lighthouse, there's also serpents in the waves. Yeah. That's why the sea vomits because the serpents are, you know, like making it a little nauseous. Yeah, they're doing motion. Is it a serpent like snake or are we talking like champ or nessie? Like a sea serpent. Like a lot ofness.

Starting point is 00:25:20 Like definitely like Nessie. Okay. I was picturing small ones like Shark Nato like the waves come off and all of. And they're just like, ding, ding, ding. This is a big guy. And this happened in 1875. A captain, and I guess there was only one member of his crew, so two dudes, they claim to see a 130-foot-long serpent.

Starting point is 00:25:41 That's big. That's a big. That's a big boy. He just bopped his head over the side of their boat. And now here's the thing. That's adorable. That's what I said. That was my first response is that that 130-foot-long serpent was probably adorable.

Starting point is 00:25:55 And the fact that he pooped his head over is great. But they didn't really think so. I think he was just saying hi. Maybe he was going to eat them. But before asking what he was there to do, the captain hit him with a pike and scared him off. Look like he didn't kill him. You should just say like, kind sir, what brings you here today? That's how I felt.

Starting point is 00:26:14 But another report of a serpent comes from the morning herald. And that stated, quote, the monster was lazily floating along the water when sighted, occasionally lifting its head to look around and appeared to be making itself at home in that vicinity. good for him. And I'm like, it just seems like he's hanging out. He's having his best life. Yeah. It's not hurting anybody. He just wanted to say, what's up? I love that he just booped his head over. I think that's so cute. I don't know why I'm getting so many visuals from your storytelling. Great job. But I just pictured this like floppy ass serpent just like boop, like just plop it. Just like, hey guys. Like a dog when they're looking for head scratches.

Starting point is 00:26:53 Exactly. And just plop. Right. That's what I was thinking. I would give him a little. little scratch behind the ears. They've been like, get out of here. Go off in the sea. Go make the sea vomit again. Now, we'll finish it off with a couple of honorable mentions. One goes to a man simply referred to as old captain, which makes sense. He's apparently like a really grumpy old dude.

Starting point is 00:27:14 He will like things around if he doesn't like where they are. He'll knock your coat off the hook where people hang their like coats or hats up. He'll literally just knock them down to the ground just to be rude. and some people still see him working around the lighthouse. So at least he's putting work in while also being drunk. He's probably just mad that he has to work for all of eternity. Exactly. And then lastly, honorable mention goes to the foghorn vibrations,

Starting point is 00:27:39 which are so intense that they literally eat seagulls out of the sky. What? Eat the seagles out of the sky because they're so intense. The vibrations just punch sky rats out of the sky. Yeah, you know how like the keepers will leave like a log of things? The sky was writing it down. And he was like, at one point, there was just 50 seagulls laying at the foot of the lighthouse because of the vibration. Just knocked him down.

Starting point is 00:28:04 Yeah. I hope they were just like knocked out. Yeah. You know, I hope they lived. Hopefully it's quick. Yeah. It was just a cat now. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:28:10 Wow. So that is Sagan Lighthouse, guys. Wow. So remind me to never go there. Yeah. Never go there or let's all go together. But yeah. Only together.

Starting point is 00:28:22 Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to sleep in the lighthouse with. furniture moving around. No, we'll go for a day trip, guys. I would sleep in the room where the guy was like, don't move my furniture because I'd be like, listen, let's sit down. Because I agree with you. Like, I'd be like, you can tell me your woes. I get it. Are you going to find his furniture? Yeah, I'd be like, I want that old antique furniture. Let's get it. Yeah, we can pull like a Titanic. Yeah, let's go. The sea just vomits up a couch. Yes. Like this sick Victorian looking couch.

Starting point is 00:28:51 I'd be like, yes. That would be amazing. Perfectly preserved. It runs upright. It's a peace offering. It's like, I brought you this. I've regurgitated this to you. Have your couch back, sir. Just take off that ugly yellow coat. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:29:08 Your fish skin. What is it? Oil. Oil. Yeah. Oil skin. He just wrote that like we were supposed to know. I was like an oil skin.

Starting point is 00:29:17 Yeah. What? Just gave weird visuals, man. I did. I just thought it's not what I was picturing. Me too. because I was like, wow, that's a lot scarier. I guess that's why I looked it up right away.

Starting point is 00:29:28 I was like, what am I about to tell them? Then I was like, okay, that's fine. It's about to get weird near. The yellow rubber suit, we got. Yeah, yeah, you know. Way better. Way better. Okay.

Starting point is 00:29:39 Do you want to go? Am I going or do you want to go? Cassie? Yeah. I guess I do have a little intro to our national park lighthouses. Do it. Let's just go for that. All right.

Starting point is 00:29:52 So we are going to be. covering lighthouses within the National Park system. And, well, kind of. I, I, um, kind of dragged that out a little bit. It's just stretch. But, well, when you hear National Park immediately, like, a lot of people's minds goes right to, I don't know, like Yellowstone, Zion, Yosemite, like these big, huge expanses of protected wilderness that you can go visit and hike and camp in.

Starting point is 00:30:22 And while we love places like Yellowstone and Zion and Kosovo, the National Park System is actually so much more than that. In the U.S. alone, the National Park Service has over 400 units. So this includes not just wilderness places like those parks I just mentioned, but there's historical parks, there's battlefields, there's parkways, lake shores, monuments. Like, there's so much that the National Park Service has up its sleeve. That's so cool. I know. That really is. I didn't realize that either.

Starting point is 00:30:55 Yeah. In New England, they're so, like, when you think of New England, for a national park, what do you think of? Oh, God. Oh, no. I am so bad. Guys. Oh, Lord.

Starting point is 00:31:05 Like, I didn't study. Borderlands? It's like when you have that nightmare where they ask you, like, they're like, pop quiz and you're like, ah! And then I'll be a sudden you're naked. Okay. Okay. I'll give you a hint.

Starting point is 00:31:19 Okay. It's in Maine. In Maine. This park is in. Maine. I'm going to feel real stupid when you say the name of it. I have a sweatshirt that says indoorsy, so I feel like I'm exempt from this assignment. Okay. It's on the, there is a lighthouse in it. There's multiple. So it's on the ocean. And it rhymes with shmishmedia. Acadia. Yep. Nailed it. Got it. Knew I was going to feel dumb when I heard that.

Starting point is 00:31:50 Wait, that's actually hilarious because I know a girl that just named her daughter that because she loves a part, that park so much. I can't believe I didn't think of that. And we just talked about that yesterday. Because she was literally just born. There it is. That is really cool. Right. That's a really pretty name to Acadia. I know. Isn't that a cool? A cool thing to do. I think they're going to call her Katie for short. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Wow. Inspiration. I'm like slightly mad. I'm not named that. Like, wait a second. Mom. Change your name. So, well, good job. You got it. Look, we got it. Nailed it. Nailed it. So amongst the protected areas of the National Park System,

Starting point is 00:32:30 there are nearly 50 lighthouses within the park system itself. Oh, wow. So obviously we know that lighthouses were originally constructed to help aid sailors during stormy weather and poor visibility conditions. But even when they are no longer needed to fulfill their primary duty, they hold a huge amount of historic and cultural value. And the National Park Service wants in on that. and they want to preserve that.

Starting point is 00:32:55 So Congress passed the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act in 2000, which basically creates a process for the U.S. Coast Guard to transfer ownership of different lighthouses that were deemed no longer necessary over to other federal agencies like the National Park System. And fun fact, if that process happens and the National Park System is like, we actually don't want this lighthouse, they will be put up for sale. So you can buy them. What?

Starting point is 00:33:24 Let's get a lighthouse. Let's all buy a lighthouse. Let's all buy a lighthouse. Let's name it Chish Media. Oh, okay. Let's not buy a lighthouse. Never mind. Plan aborted.

Starting point is 00:33:38 Yeah, so if you have a couple million laying around and spare change, just go on and see if there's a lighthouse. Yeah. Okay. I love that. Some eccentric millionaire is just going to be like, oh, all right. I'm sure it's already happened. I'm sure there are some privately owned lighthouses that are just like a wild Airbnb or something like that. Oh, that is so cool.

Starting point is 00:34:01 And someone who's really into creepy ghost stories because there's no lighthouse that doesn't have some type of story. Yeah, you have to want to be haunted to own a lighthouse. You have to welcome the haunt. Yeah, well, business idea, like TM. There you go. Off the coast of like around Salemish. Yes. That'd be perfect.

Starting point is 00:34:22 Haunted house tour. TM. So we chose, Cassie and I chose lighthouses, obviously, but I chose out where I am right now in the West Coast. So I chose a lighthouse that I've actually been to, kind of, again, stretching it. Kind. So I am going to be covering that Tillamock Rock Lighthouse. and her nickname is Terrible Tilly. Oh, love that.

Starting point is 00:34:56 Terrible Tilly. So obviously similar to like my real life from the East Coast, but drawn to the Pacific Northwest, so let's go. Obviously, it is a bit of a stretch. It's not part of the National Park system, and I haven't actually physically visited Terrible Tilly, but I saw her. I saw her, though.

Starting point is 00:35:19 Okay, you were there from a National Park. Yes. Oh, there you go. Connection made. Okay, yep. Let's explain this connection. Okay. So essentially, I was gazing at her from afar when I was on a trail that's managed by the National Park Service. So as far as the trail that I was on, it's called the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. And I kind of want to like ask you when you think of a National Park Trail, what you think of. And I just from that last conversation, I feel like you're not. I'm not going to know the answer. You're going to get a great answer here. A pop quiz right now. I would say so a trail. So it's like the one of the longest trails, most popular trails that people hike. I'm going to think about like, you know, any little parks, like state parks that I've been to.

Starting point is 00:36:09 And I'd say it's like, you know, wildernessy. There's dirt. There's rocks. I'm going to say there's some trail markers along the way. Orange tape, perhaps. Uh, orange tape. Yeah, I don't know. That's a marker.

Starting point is 00:36:26 There you go. So the most widely known trail in the National Park system is the Appalachian Trail. I know that one. Yes. So there we go. We're getting somewhere. See? Connections.

Starting point is 00:36:42 This is great. This is great. So the AT is about 2,000 miles long. It goes from Georgia to Maine. But the one that I was on, the Lewis and Clark. National Historic Trail is a lot longer. It's about 5,000 miles, and it goes from Pennsylvania to Oregon. Oh, wow.

Starting point is 00:37:01 And yeah, so it's not a continuous dirt trail like the AT is. It's actually a combination of trails and roadways. And the National Park Service proposed it in the 40s. So it follows along the original expedition route of Lewis and Clark. Oh, that's so cool. I love that. Yeah. So obviously I didn't do all 5,000 miles.

Starting point is 00:37:24 No, why not? Two. We want reasons. Why not? So I did about two of them. And we were, Ian and I, my partner and I, we were at the very end of it, where it ends onto the sea, onto the Pacific. And that's when I saw a terrible Tilly.

Starting point is 00:37:44 There she was. So there she was. There she blows in all her glory. So when I first saw it, I was like, what is that? Because it looked like, obviously, it was a big rock and there was like a spec on it. And I used my Zoom lens to look at it. I'm like, oh, shit, that's a lighthouse. And it looks creepy as hell.

Starting point is 00:38:04 I need to know more. I needed to know more. And this was like, this was over a year ago now. So I was right. I found out I was right. So as far as terrible Tilly goes, She was built quite a long time ago, as all lighthouses are. She began construction in 1878 when Congress appropriated about 50 grand to help aid navigation of this particularly dangerous area of the coast.

Starting point is 00:38:34 So this area is renowned for its unpredictable weather and dangerous sea conditions. And it's dubbed the Columbia Bar, but that's because there's a bunch of bars and shoals at the mouth of the Columbia River where the river meets the sea. so it's super tumultuous. It's very rocky coastline. Like when you think of a beach, you're not thinking of the right thing. There's no sandy. You're not sunbathing here. No, very much like Acadia, actually, a lot of rocky coastline.

Starting point is 00:39:06 So it's actually also known as one of the most dangerous bar crossings in the world. There are over 2,000 documented shipwrecks here and more than 700 people have lost their lives here. It also marks the southernmost location of the graveyard of the Pacific, which stretches from this location up and north into Vancouver Island. So this solid basalt rock that is towering about 100 feet out of the sea just over a mile off of the shore was chosen for this lighthouse, despite beliefs by the local indigenous communities that this small island in the Pacific was cursed and riddled with evil. Oh, that's always the case. Everybody's always like, hey, that is evil and it's not going to be a good place to build something. And everyone's like, let's build something. That sounds great.

Starting point is 00:39:58 Yeah, probably not that bad. They're like, okay, let's, how about we don't do that? We've been actually avoiding that place for thousands of years. We've successfully kept the evil over there. Can you just not touch it? Don't mess with that. And we're like, nah, it's fine. Okay, I love shopping.

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Starting point is 00:42:15 hair salon and my feet would never be feeling rough or sad or cranky or anything like that. they're super durable i used to walk around the streets of newberry street with them and like if you you know it's like a lot it's a lot of walking and they they never felt yucky afterwards and they're just so cute you can pair them with anything you can like make an outfit a little bit dressier if you want to put on your pointy toe flat i don't it's just so cute i everybody needs a pair of rothies if you don't have one i literally don't even know what you're doing like you got to get away from me just get some rothies okay solve the case of your next favorite summer shoe with rothies plus get $20 off your first purchase at rothies you're doing com slash morbid. That's $20 off at R-O-T-H-Y-S dot com slash morbid. All right, so we're going to go ahead and do that. So obviously the area was rich in resources for indigenous communities like sea lions and seabirds. They all made a home there.

Starting point is 00:43:11 So it was really tempting to go there and utilize that. But because of the evil and the bad juju, they avoided it. So they know. Of course. They always know. They always know. So despite the warnings, construction went forward. And right off the bat, trouble began. Yeah, they told you. You didn't listen. I know, here we go. So before construction even officially, officially started, a 38-year-old master mason named John Tre Wavas, the first surveyor of the rock misstepped from a boat to the rock and was swept out to see immediately. and his body was never recovered. There it is. There it is.

Starting point is 00:43:52 That's day one. That's the omen. That's like the first strike. Oh, man. Not only is that day one, that's like minute one. It wouldn't even let you step foot onto it. Yeah. Like, come on.

Starting point is 00:44:04 Like maybe turn around and go home. Yeah. Go get a snack. It'll be good. Terrible Tilly does not give warning shots. Like she's like, nope, like you're not even getting on the island. She's like, yeah. No way.

Starting point is 00:44:17 So the. local workers were shook, obviously, because they had already heard about this longstanding bad juju surrounding this rock. And now that immediately someone has already lost their life, they didn't want anything to do with this construction. So they actually had to go to surrounding communities to find people to work there. To calm people. Literally, they're like, oh, no, it's fine. It's It's fine. So they finally get a crew together, and construction begins in October of 1879, which seems like such a terrible time to start construction in October.

Starting point is 00:44:57 Yeah. Off the coast of Oregon, because this is a rock that's a mile and a half out into the ocean. It's not on the shore. Right. And you're like heading into winter. Right. This is a great idea. What are we doing here?

Starting point is 00:45:10 Rainy season. It's already terrible. some of the worst weather in the world is here. Like, what are we doing? Yeah, what's happening here? They decided it was a good idea and they went forward with it. They built supply houses and a mixture of just different wooden and canvas shelters on the rock. And blasting began because, of course, this rock isn't flat because why would it be?

Starting point is 00:45:33 So they had to use dynamite to just obliterate the top of this rock. Oh, no. There's so many bad things happening here. So they used dynamite for months just to get it flat enough to start construction. My God. They really want this lighthouse. They need it bad. They were not listening to any of the obstacles that the universe was putting in their way.

Starting point is 00:45:55 The universe was literally like, what about this? Maybe you'll stop. No, okay. Let's just blow everything up. Next thing. Yeah. Yep. And then the crew members had to kill all the sea lions to make way for the lighthouse.

Starting point is 00:46:11 No. No, I'm out. Yep. So they killed all the sea lions and then all the seabirds are like, we're staying clear of that. So now this once lively rock, this big place for like all these sea creatures and birds, now it's totally, it's dynamite. It's just a, it's bad. Oh, that's awful. Now it's like desolate.

Starting point is 00:46:34 Yeah. It's awful. It's desolate. Everything's disrupted. No, it's human. It's human. No, it's human. It's representative of a lot of things, I think, now looking at it.

Starting point is 00:46:45 So, and it's small. It's only about an acre large. Oh, wow. So this is a tiny little place. Damn. The living conditions were miserable. The long hours of heavy labor, cramped living conditions, limited rations, constant sea spray, incessant foghorn blows, sweeping winds, and the constant dampness made for really low morale and very high tensions.

Starting point is 00:47:08 Because, again, we were talking about the same song. over and over. It's like the foghorns and then the sea spray, just imagine consistently getting... Oh, I could not handle that. I would be so stressed out. No. It's like when I went tubing when we were in New Hampshire, or in the Berkshires recently, I kept getting sprayed with the thing. And I was like getting so annoyed and I was doing something fun. So I can't imagine that happening with like manual labor involved. So four months into construction, a storm rolled in that caused massive relentless waves battering the island. So it's not just sea spray anymore. It's huge massive waves. Combined with the torrential downpours and the strong winds that often

Starting point is 00:47:50 reached over 100 miles an hour, after several exhausting days of the storm rolling in and trying to battle the elements, finally the men called it. After that, they're like, okay, we're holding, I imagine them holding like something in a hundred mile an hour. Like holding onto some pole. So they called it. The superintendent finally said, all right, let's just hunker down for a little bit. They get inside their shelters. And as the weather worsened, the waves were so powerful. They were slamming into the rock and breaking off these huge chunks of like this sized rock hurtling through the air.

Starting point is 00:48:33 There were so many warning signs, y'all. And imagine how hard those waves. leaves had to be for it to like chip rock off of an island. Chip rock off of a rock. Yeah, off of an actual rock. Like, damn. Slamming into the shelters. And of course, a lot of them are in this canvas-sided shelters, like tents.

Starting point is 00:48:54 So they brace themselves inside for more than two days trying to wait out this storm, which actually clocked in at hurricane force. Oh, wow. So they finally come out. And thankfully all the men were accounted for, no one had lost their life. However, the storm had demolished many of their structures, a lot of what they were working on. It swept away all of their tools, all of their provisions, and their freshwater tank. Wow.

Starting point is 00:49:21 I'd be like I'm out, guys. You're not supposed to be there, guys. Just imagine being in a tent during a hurricane. No. Nope. Normally you want to be in a basement or something. In a tent on a rock in the middle of the ocean. in a hurricane.

Starting point is 00:49:38 Not ideal. Yeah, this is probably fine. So the storm relented, but it hadn't ceased, meaning that it wasn't safe for help to reach them because, again, they're a mile and a half out into the ocean. You can't just get on a boat and come up and help them. So they're stranded. And the storm keeps going, keeps going,

Starting point is 00:49:58 and the men were stranded on this island for almost two full weeks before anybody was able to help with no fresh water. either. Or food. Or food. Good. How did they survive? How did you not just like jump off?

Starting point is 00:50:12 Rain water. Oh my God. Wow. And that's it. Wow. That's it. That's it. Wow.

Starting point is 00:50:19 For your troubles. Rain water for your troubles. Imagine the pay back then too. Oh. Here's a nickel. Literally. They like flick it. You know, when they like, they're like, hey.

Starting point is 00:50:32 Yeah. It's not even money. It's just like a circular piece of tin. Don't care you know. It's like a shilling. Yeah. So, construction continued because why not we've gotten this far? And on day 525, which brings us to January 3rd of 1881, just 18 days prior to its actual completion, tragedy struck again.

Starting point is 00:50:59 The British ship, the Lupiata, was navigating through a storm. The winds were shocker, really strong. there was a thick fog hanging above the water and unknown to the crew on the ship they were dangerously close to the rock on tillamac rock a small group of the crew heard voices through the fog and they saw like a faint red light through the darkness and the fog and they rushed to go to the tower because the tower is complete but there's no light there oh no so they're putting they're lighting lanterns and they started bonfires on the rock trying to get the attention like hey, you're too close. You're going to hit this rock. Yep. And they were shouting and trying to get the attention of the crew, but it was just too late. The ship smashed into the shallows. And as night gave in today, it was clear that there was no hope for the ship, the Lupiata or her crew. Twelve bodies washed up onto the beach and four of the crew members were never recovered. But there was a sole survivor found on the beach shivering and exhausted.

Starting point is 00:52:06 for over a mile paddle to safety through the rough waters. And it was the ship's dog. Oh. Stop. I love that the dog. Does the dog die.com? Yeah. No.

Starting point is 00:52:19 Amazing. No. Soul survivor. I read it was like a sheep dog type of breed. That's exactly what I pictured in my head. I pictured, you know, as soon as I read that, I thought of Max from Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:52:36 Oh, my God. The shaggy dog. That's exactly what I was thinking of. It's so shaggy. Because it also survives a shipwreck. Yeah. Truth. That dog is hardy.

Starting point is 00:52:46 Yep. So 18 days later, after this disaster, on January 21st of 1882, Tillamuck Wright Light was officially lit. And at the time, it was the most expensive lighthouse to be built on the West Coast. And that was coming in at around 112 grand, which is about 3.2 million today. Damn. Light keepers were assigned to duty, but for much shorter rotations than the typical professional length of stay because it was so rough there. The living conditions sucked. No one wanted to stay there for a prolonged period of time.

Starting point is 00:53:21 So they only stayed about two months at a time. And one of the keepers, Thomas Jones, slipped and fell 35 feet while painting the lighthouse and lost his life. So she claimed another life. And as the decades went on, so too did the storms and relentless onslaught of nature, which would often ravage the entire island, smashing the lighthouse, its windows, and its entire structure. In 1934, the worst storm on record pummeled the entire Pacific Northwest. It sent boulders flying into the lighthouse, smashing the lens of the lighthouse, flooding the building, and bringing in fish and debris from the ocean all the way into the lighthouse. Just giving them there is just like mass. flying through the windows.

Starting point is 00:54:07 Oh, my God. Like a fish in a boulder just come flying through a window. Oh, no. You're like, hello? Okay. The lighthouse keeper's like, oh, dinner. The waves were reaching over 100 feet above the lighthouse, which is already 100 feet above the water. That's horrifying.

Starting point is 00:54:27 If you look up, if you Google Terrible Tilly, there are classic pictures of just like these. waves ravaging this entire building. Don't mind if I do. Now I have to see it. Go ahead. You got to look. You got to take a good luck. Oh, my God.

Starting point is 00:54:44 No, thanks. So the lamp was replaced after all of the smashing about. And it remained operational for another 23 years before the Coast Guard shut it down in September of 1957, deeming it unnecessary, obviously with the advent of new radar technology, at which point, it gained another title, most expensive lighthouse in the country to maintain. Wow. So she's getting a lot of records here. She's expensive.

Starting point is 00:55:11 She is expensive. Yep. So Terrible Tilly was bought and sold to several private investors throughout the years. Like I said, you can buy lighthouses. And it changed hands several times. For example, in the 70s, a general electric executive actually bought and repaired the lighthouse in hopes of using it as a second home. Oh, honey, no.

Starting point is 00:55:35 Doesn't sound very tranquil. Like, set up camp here. Yeah. Great places for the kids to play. Only spent one night before changing his mind. I bet. That was a smart idea. I'm surprised it didn't even last at a full night.

Starting point is 00:55:48 Yep, terrible idea. So he changed that real quick. So maybe the TM like TM, like maybe we shouldn't do terrible Tilly. Yeah, maybe not. On TM that. And even one time she was featured as a luxury gift in the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog. Are you kidding?

Starting point is 00:56:03 me right now. Tilly. Tilly. She's all over the mat. She is. Wow. Most recently, it was sold in 1980 to a real estate developer named Mimi Morsetti

Starting point is 00:56:17 who gutted most of the lighthouse and converted it into a columbarium named Eternity at sea. And a columbarium is somewhere where you house earns. Yeah. That honestly, kind of the perfect place. Kind of. But I'm thinking of like,

Starting point is 00:56:33 smash when all the waves go through and the boulders come through the windows. I forgot about that. Does this look like the safest place? You know what? I'm looking at a very tranquil picture of it right now and I was like, that looks great. That would be great to do that. Yeah. And the picture I have of it, because I took a, I took a very nice picture of it.

Starting point is 00:56:49 And she looks pretty good. She does look good. She looks good. I got her on a good day. So, Mimi, her whole goal was to create this repository for up to 300,000 earns. Jesus. saying, I don't know what awareness we have after death, but if there is any awareness, I can't think of a more beautiful or romantic place as I view the Oregon coastline and the

Starting point is 00:57:12 wildlife flying by. I can. And I've never even been there. Like, I get the vibe. Like, I get that feeling. But I'm like, do you remember that this piece of rock is like super cursed though and evil? And this is treacherous as fuck. That's not nice.

Starting point is 00:57:26 No. And you can't even go visit. Yeah. You can't even go visit it. easily. Right. Yeah. Not like a calm resting place. No. You can visit your loved ones. It's like you might die, but go ahead. Go try to say goodbye. Go surf a 100 foot wave. Yeah. See you land, brother. So she was somewhat successful in her goal, but due to a lot of legal battles, her license to operate was revoked and terrible Tilly is once

Starting point is 00:57:56 again sitting abandoned. As of today, there are still about 30 urns that are inside of the lighthouse that is slowly being returned to the elements. And the sea has continued its slow destruction of the lighthouse. Birds have flown through the windows again. Sea lions have pushed their way back inside through the rustic pores. Looking at a picture of a bunch of them just lounges. They're back and they're better than ever. They're back, baby. There's periodic flooding of the building as high waves repeatedly hammer the rock. And if you're thinking like, oh, like, I'm kind of sad for Tilly. you know, she's been through some shit. And, you know, again, you're like,

Starting point is 00:58:36 maybe I want to start my investment in Terrible Tilly. You can totally buy her as of March of this year, 2022. She's for sale for $6.5 million. Oh, guys, you hear that? I'm surprised. They're not just like giving her to people at this point. Just take her. Someone, please.

Starting point is 00:58:54 Yeah. So she has some drawbacks. She still has 30 earned. She has no electric. No drinking water, no sewage system. She needs some major renovations because, you know, sea lions. Yeah, you know. And of course, she comes with some paranormal activity as well.

Starting point is 00:59:13 Of course she does. And you might die on the way there. There's also that. Yeah. Honestly, just give her away for like a cheesecake gift card or something. Like you got a cheesecake gift card. You can have terrible. She's yours.

Starting point is 00:59:27 So almost all reports of paranormal activity come from previous keepers. workers or members of the Coast Guard. However, every year, beach goers looking from shore have also reported some sightings to the Cannon Beach History Center as people every year have reported seeing full-body apparitions of people walking around the rock or the light shining from its long abandoned tower. Other reports from previous employees include seeing ghost ships appear and disappear, even on clear nights surrounding the rock.

Starting point is 01:00:01 So no trickery with fog. They see full-ass ships coming by and then disappearing. That would be awesome. I feel like that one would be awesome. Because you just be like, whoa, look at that ship. And then it's just gone. And you're like, wow, okay. There's no like personal interaction.

Starting point is 01:00:17 Exactly. I'm like, that was just an experience. That was fun. Yep. And you can't really, you're like, I just saw a whole ass ship. It wasn't like a flutter in the corner of your eye. Like we cannot mistake this. That was a ship.

Starting point is 01:00:29 I just saw. There's been moans, whispers, and chatter heard throughout the tower, and one previous keeper reported being chased and even pushed down the stairs by an unseen force. Oh, rude. One former employee, a U.S. Coast Guard member named James Gibbs, had one of the scariest nights of his entire life in a lighthouse. He was asleep when he was awakened by a noise. Unsure of what he heard and kind of writing it off as just the sea doing its things.

Starting point is 01:01:00 outside of his window. But then he started hearing footsteps, like the heel to toe, heel to toe. Across this dark room, because again, no electricity. No, thank you. And it was coming in his direction. He was freaked out, starting to panic. And then he felt a little flutter on his face. Like a cold, he described it as originally a cold hand on his cheek.

Starting point is 01:01:27 And that was it. That was last straw. out of bed, rushed towards his little light lantern on the other side of the room, flipped it on, if that's what you do for me. He just flipped it on. He cranked it really fast. He shook it. He was expecting to see this ghost of this long dead mariner or someone from the shipwreck.

Starting point is 01:01:50 But what he saw was a very alive goose. That is amazing. I did not know we were going there. It just like, stroked his face. It just like rested its bill upon his face for quite a second. What it did is it had injured its wing and like flew into the window somehow and gotten in because obviously there's like busted windows and shit everywhere. And it got in and it was like flopping around. So that was what the footsteps were.

Starting point is 01:02:22 And then he had a little like his wing fluttered across his cheek. The job. So, please tell me it became a pet for him or something. I don't know. There was no follow-up on the goose. So, like, let's hope. So let's all believe that that became the resident goose. Terrible Tilly doesn't have a cat or a dog or whatever.

Starting point is 01:02:44 It's a goose. A goose. So Terrible Tilly stands and is now part of the Oregon Island's National Wildlife Refuge. And it is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is managed by the National Park Service. Oh, there it is. We're like tying it in here. Full circle.

Starting point is 01:03:03 So visitation is prohibited without explicit permission, and the island can currently only be accessed by either a boat by the Coast Guard or a helicopter, because there's a helicopter landing pad now. Yeah, it's casual. You never know if it's going to be clear or not because all the sea lions are home now, again, on the island. They're lurking. They are lurking. But if you ever find yourself in the seaside Oregon area or head out onto the beaches with a pair of binoculars, you better take a good look at Terrible Tilly because she's quite the sight and you never know what you may see.

Starting point is 01:03:39 Ooh, I like that one a lot. I want to see Terrible Tilly so bad. I do too. I also love that you just like ran into her one day. Yeah. You know, I was just like, what's up with her? You just had an encounter. I really did.

Starting point is 01:03:51 I think I maybe texted you, Cassie, because as soon as Ian and I got back into the truck, I'm like, I just have a week. weird vibe about that lighthouse. And I looked, I did look it up and I saw that it was at the time it was the columbarium thing and there was a bunch of stuff about the news of, you know, burying your loved ones out there. But I didn't know that she had such a dark history and she had so many problems. And she might even be cursed. So maybe you were feeling some like residual curse. And just looking out there. About that. Oh, cursed 100. Definitely. You don't even have to ask. She's cursed. The indigenous community always knows they always worn white. And white people. And this is what happens.

Starting point is 01:04:29 It's true. Every single time. This isn't true. Yeah. It's fine. We just ignore it every time. And then everyone dies. Exactly.

Starting point is 01:04:36 It's like, well, we tried, but you're all idiots. A resounding theme. Truly. We're always fucking around and finding out. We always are. And just to look out at it and think like there are over 30 urns. Just sitting there. Just dead people.

Starting point is 01:04:55 Just there it is. Yeah, that's just hanging out in there. It's a lot to wrap your brain around. It's so dark. It is. I know. But she has cool to look at. She definitely is.

Starting point is 01:05:05 She's pretty. Yeah, it's not terrible Tilly's fault. She just got wrapped up. She didn't want to be there, you know? Yeah. She's like, you know what? I didn't do this. She really is cool.

Starting point is 01:05:14 I was going to say, there's some, like, beautiful photos of it. Yeah. Like, I was staring at the one. That's why I was like, this would be a beautiful place to put urns. Because I was like, the one where it's like surrounded by. sea lions, like just crawling up the sides of it. I was like, that's beautiful. I love it. Not at all threatening. Not at all threatening. Oh, man. Well, I'm following up that amazing one with one that I started. And I was like, wow, this is interesting history. And then I realized

Starting point is 01:05:42 that we really just have a ghost cat here, but pretty interesting. Why am you mad about that? I mean, I figured you would love it. I do. You know what, mine's the little palette cleanser between all the darkness. There you go. All the horrible. Perfect. Yeah. I got a little palette cleanser for everybody. Who doesn't love a ghost cat? Who doesn't?

Starting point is 01:05:59 Who amongst us? Like Zachary Binks. Thackeray Binks. The best ghost cat. Who else? I had such a crush on Packery Binks. She was just going to ask you that. I was going to say, who else?

Starting point is 01:06:11 Who else was like? Thackeray Binks, I will follow you into the unknown. At the end, when he walks away, I was like, take me with you as a kid. Oh, yeah. So I'm doing the Fairport, Fairport Harbor Lighthouse. and it's in Ohio. Now, it's located in Fairpoint. Why can't I say Fairport?

Starting point is 01:06:30 Fairport. It's because you want to say Fairpoint. I think I do. It's located in Fairport Harbor, and it's near Lake Erie, which I love Lake Erie because it's called Lake Erie. And I feel like it's just like, you got to be spooky. They don't spell it right, but it's okay. It's known as, quote, the light that shone for 100 years, because this lighthouse has remained

Starting point is 01:06:53 pretty original. Like it had to be rebuilt a little bit, but it's like one of the original ones and it looks it. I will say that. She's showing her age a little bit. It was built in 1825 and the keeper's house was also built at the same time, which didn't always happen, I guess. Sometimes they would just build the tower and then they would build the keeper's house after. The builder was Jonathan Goldsmith. And in 1841, he actually applied to become the keeper because he was like, well, I built this.

Starting point is 01:07:21 Can I manage it maybe? And they were like, thanks so much for building this, but no. And they gave it to somebody else. Which I was like, whoa, rude. Yeah, that's not cool. I was like, I don't know, give him a probationary period to try it out. Yeah, you got 30 days. He built it.

Starting point is 01:07:36 Let's see what you can do. Give Jonathan a try. It's essentially his, you know? Like, he made that. It is. And he asked nicely. He applied. And they were like, nope.

Starting point is 01:07:44 Now, unfortunately, like I said, because we can't have nice things, it had to be rebuilt in 1871 because of structural issues, which like fine, I guess. Yeah. Now, in haunted lighthouses, the book by George Stites, Carol Bertone, who is a volunteer at Ohio, Fairport Harbor Lighthouse and Museum, which is still there today. You can visit it. She says the lighthouse, quote, this is our castle, like in Europe. They have castles and we have lighthouses.

Starting point is 01:08:13 I love that. Which I love Carol's just like, this is our castle. Like, it's like such a bold claim. I love it. They have castles. We have lighthouses. It's not as regal. Not quite, but you know, we'll take it over here.

Starting point is 01:08:25 It kind of makes sense when you really think about it. We're like America. It's fine. Now, the lighthouse, actually, this is really interesting. The lighthouse became a safe haven as part of the underground railroad, actually. Oh, wow. Which I had no idea when I first started researching. The people of the town of Fairport were very against slavery and very open about it.

Starting point is 01:08:46 And a local tavern owner, and by most. sources, the first lightkeeper of the house was Samuel Butler. And he was voted as a chairman of a group that was going to rally against the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. And they wanted to make a safe haven. They wanted to be part of abolishing this. And he would organize hiding places all over town, including in his tavern and in this lighthouse for runaway enslaved people. And he organized them to hide high up in the lighthouse. So like if people came around, because they were literally coming around looking for them. Right. And so he would hide them like way up there because no one's coming up there. Good. It's a look. And so it kind of became like a beacon of freedom too. It was like,

Starting point is 01:09:28 it became like way more than what it was. So that was like a cool part of its history. And after the lighthouse was rebuilt in 1871, a civil war veteran, Captain Joseph Babcock became the first keeper of the newly rebuilt lighthouse. Now he and his wife Mary lived on the premises. They were adorable. I found a picture of them. They were just like these two like elderly, just adorable people. Like there's just a picture of them just not smiling, just looking like mean mugged right at the camera. You're like, I just love your energy. Blue stealing it. That's such a theme for old photos. No one smiles. No one they are so pissed off. And I get it. But adorable. Shit sucked. So like I get it. But he looks really He's spiffy. He's in like a hat. He's got a big bushy mustache and she has that giant hat with like the big

Starting point is 01:10:20 like flowers on it. Yes. Just like they really do it. Like real goals these two. Just angry standing by each other looking great. And they moved in there with their daughter Haddy and then they had two sons while they were living there. Now unfortunately in 1889, their very young son. I think he was around five years old. He died of smallpox. Oh no. And he died in the lighthouse. So there's that. But he doesn't haunt it, right? He doesn't, weirdly. He is not the ghost cat. Yeah, he's not the ghost cat.

Starting point is 01:10:50 No Robbie. No Robbie sightings that we heard. But his other son, Daniel Babcock, was actually his assistant and later actually took over as headkeeper. Oh, cool. And I think until 1926. So it's cute. It was like father and then son. Keeping it in the fam.

Starting point is 01:11:07 But unfortunately, they never really got, we're able to get through Robbie's death. It was like kind of unimaginable, which of course it is. Now, Mary Babcock, his wife, was obviously devastated, and she was in ill health anyways, but she became even more in ill health after this, and eventually was bedridden. Now, she was lonely and bored because she really couldn't get out of bed. So he got her a piano. He did not. He did one better. He did one better, because she started keeping cats as company.

Starting point is 01:11:35 Like, strays would come in and she would, like, befriend them. And her husband, Joseph, actually did not like cats. He was not a fan, but he was like, she loves them, so we're just going to let them hang out on our bed. Like, it's cool. But he was, what a good husband. He's just like, I hate cats, but you love them, so that's fine. So one day, he found a gray stray cat in the basement. And, like, it had just gotten in through, like, some, you know, everything sucked back then.

Starting point is 01:12:00 From the ocean. Just came, like, strolling in from the ocean. Oh, just surfboard. Yeah, just whoop, it came in. And he was like, you know what? She'll probably love this little gray cat. He was cute. And he seemed friendly.

Starting point is 01:12:12 So we brought it up to her to her bedside and she immediately fell in love with this cat. Like immediately fell in that day, just bonded right away. It was probably a mix of just like, that's a good, solid cat. And also that her husband who didn't like cats was bringing her a cat. I feel like that would make me love it even more. I'd be like, this is so cute. That's a love language for sure. That is.

Starting point is 01:12:33 Bring me a cat. I hate this, but I know you like it. So that truly is a love language. It truly is. And she named him Sentinel. And they were, I don't know. And they were inseparable. Don't love.

Starting point is 01:12:45 Like, right. She, one of the things she, all the other cats just kind of played on her bed and then they would like hop off and go somewhere else. But Sentinel stayed with her at night and like snuggled her. It was like a real, it was real bond. That's like Frankie. Now, unfortunately, Mrs. Babcock did end up passing away. And when she passed away, the cat vanished.

Starting point is 01:13:05 Oh. Completely vanished. They never saw it again. They searched everywhere. It never came back. Could not find it. it now we roll forward to the 80s, the 1980s, where shit gets crazy when I was born. And then a woman named Pamela Brent came to live in the apartment of the lighthouse to work as a

Starting point is 01:13:23 permanent overseer slash curator of the museum. Now she said as soon as she started moving in, she kept seeing things out of the corner of her eye. And then she noticed that it was a gray cat that would run across like a room. And she was like, yeah, this is my house. like everything's locked. It's the 1980s. Like, things are sturdier now.

Starting point is 01:13:44 How is this cat getting in my house? Like, I can't. And she didn't know any animals. She couldn't understand it. But she said she kept seeing it. She walked in the kitchen. The cat would run across the kitchen. But she said, at times, it felt like it would run across and almost vanish into where it was

Starting point is 01:13:59 going. Oh. Like she couldn't tell where it would end up. And she said, quote, then one evening, I felt its presence when it jumped on the bed. I felt its weight pressing on me. At first, it kind of freaked. me out, but ghosts don't bother me. They're part of the world. I love her.

Starting point is 01:14:14 Hell yeah. I was like, hell yeah, Pam. She's like, I don't give a shit. It was weird, but whatever. I don't give a shit. Which to me, I'm like, that must be the gray cat like snuggling with the owner, like thinking that she's back in bed. Totally. Now, after she left, staff would sometimes see the same gray cat running

Starting point is 01:14:31 around. And you would think maybe it's just a stray and they're seeing it. But they would say the same thing, that they never could catch it. They could never see where it ended up. And sometimes it looked like it would just vanish in the thin air. And they were like, we don't know what this thing is. It's weird. They would also hear meows and like hear a little skittering of paws.

Starting point is 01:14:49 And they just couldn't figure it out hairballs from time to time. But since-caused are so cute. They really are. The sound of cat paws are the cutest thing. I mean. Because it's like a pad, pad, pad, pad, pad. It's like, it is really neat. It's not the annoying clicking of my dog's nails that drives me insane.

Starting point is 01:15:07 It's true. That noise really is annoying. I love them, but God, yeah. But little pad pad, pad, pad is really cute. I will give it that. I'm a dog person, but I got to say, your cats are like top notch. Hell yeah, brother. Top notch.

Starting point is 01:15:21 We're adding one more to the bunch. And actually, that's weird because we want to get a gray one. There you go. You can get Sentinel. Okay. Because whenever he shows up, too, whenever they see this like cat that just vanishes into thin air, sometimes they say they'll also hear the voice of a woman. Oh.

Starting point is 01:15:35 And they'll hear like whispering of a woman. and they think that this might be Mrs. Badcock hanging out with her pal in the afterlife. So whenever they see the cat, she's just playing around with the cat now. Like she's not bedridden anymore. She's just playing with the cat. Yes, forever. Which I hope that's the truth. I feel bad for Joseph Badcock in that case because he hates cats.

Starting point is 01:15:55 And I hope he doesn't have to spend eternity playing with a cat. Maybe he like grew used to Sentinel, though. Maybe he did. He seemed to like that one. Yeah. I didn't like cats before we had cats and now we're about to have three. So there you go. They grow on you.

Starting point is 01:16:09 They totally do. Like, I like, I like hers. You did. We do that a lot, too. Whenever we go on a Zoom, we actually didn't do it this time, but usually we go, hello, at the same time, in the same inflection. We don't mean to. So, it's like weirdly embarrassing. Well, we love cats to an extent, but we also are veterinary technician.

Starting point is 01:16:34 So we see the not-so-great side of it. cats when they get real mad because they don't want to shot. Yeah. We see how fast do they move and those claws come out. Oh, yeah. Vettex are the best, by the way. Vettex are the best. We've been through some shit.

Starting point is 01:16:51 For the best. We had amazing because when our dog Bailey had to be put to sleep at the end of last year, it was like devastating, but the vet techs were just like our saviors in that moment. I will forever sing the praises of vet tech. Our vet deck had you. to lift a couch because I got Lux out of his carrier at one appointment, and he is like super skittish, especially around men, and it was a man. And so he skidded under the little couch, and they had to call in two vet techs to lift the

Starting point is 01:17:21 couch to get Lux from underneath it. So I love that text too. So vet texts for the win. Well, on behalf of many jobs. It's true. On behalf of all vet techs, thank you. You're welcome. You do have many jobs.

Starting point is 01:17:35 because I was like, me and my husband were literally like snot crying on our Ventech's shoulders. So, like grief counselors as well. That's why we wear scrubs. There you go. Yeah. That's it. I was like, I'm so sorry. No.

Starting point is 01:17:52 Recently in 2011, which isn't super recently, but recently enough, it feels like it was like four years ago. 11 years ago. Woof. That's really wild. So the company who worked, they were like renovating some of the heating. and electric systems in the lighthouse and in the Keepers area. And the company who worked on the electric and plumbing

Starting point is 01:18:12 for the renovations was Smith plumbing. And they found something while they were working on this place. Don't tell me it was sentinel. That was pretty interesting. No. So this guy, the guy who owns the company. Oh, sorry. I'm just like imagining a mummified sentinel.

Starting point is 01:18:29 So, this guy named Brian Smith, he owns the company. He was climbing up into a. small great type air duct situation to install some air conditioning. This was in the basement. He found some shit. My dad's an electrician and I'm a failure here. I'm still like that air duct air grate thing. I'm like, I don't know. Electricity happens there. Either way, he says he found what is possibly sentinel the cat. Now in the haunted lighthouse's book, he is quoted as saying, quote, this is about where it happened. He aimed his flashlight beam over to where it went. And he said, quote, I noticed something odd on the left side of my head in the grate. I turned slightly to see

Starting point is 01:19:10 what it was. Staring right back at me was the face of a cat. It was obviously very old, looked at me like it had looked to me like it had been there for at least 100 years, but the teeth were still intact and its ears were standing up. It was a cat all right. It was a bit, you know, spooky, pretty frightening, actually. So the cat was like, I shot myself. Completely mummified. How? And is on. display at the museum currently. You can see Sentinel, the mummified cat, which I was like, let's go. See Sentinel, the

Starting point is 01:19:42 mummified cat. Oh, you said it's in Ohio? Yeah. We're going to Ohio soon. We are, so we can go see this mummified cat. I'd like to. And people We have to, because this, I think this is Sentinel and people think it is. I believe it. Because they said the activity has gotten less

Starting point is 01:19:58 like prevalent after this, which is weird. Maybe he was trying to be found. Well, they think he's at rest now. because they took him out of wherever. He got stuck. Now, or like maybe he like went there to be alone, you know? Yeah, animals will do that sometimes. Cats especially.

Starting point is 01:20:14 Yeah. So paranormal investigators have come to this place a bunch and they do get like things about the cat on their thing. They have gotten meows in EVPs. It's like that the commercial hurts like meow, meow, yeah. Literally like meow mix. Yeah. So they, one paranormal investigation team bought like a ghost box, like the stuff.

Starting point is 01:20:33 Like the thing where we'll say words. And they asked the question, are there any ghosts around here? And the ghost box said, spirit of Babcock. Oh, shit. Which like, damn. Okay. Like very specific. Right.

Starting point is 01:20:47 There it is. Yeah. Like, what's going on? And this other group called the Ohio researchers of banded spirits. They went there in 2009 and they spent the night there and they said they caught, they actually did catch audio of a woman's voice. They couldn't figure out what she was saying. and they also heard a distinct meow on the audio.

Starting point is 01:21:06 That's beautiful. And it's like the cutest haunting this side of the Mississippi. I agree. Like truly the cutest. And on top of this, every Halloween, they tell this story. They have like a big event where they'll tell this whole story of Sentinel the Cat and other spooky tales. They serve wine and cheese. Oh, I'm there.

Starting point is 01:21:25 And then they do a moonlight climb to the top of the Lake County Tower. I actually am going to get that part. I would end it right after the wine and cheese. But like, really cool. That's awesome. Doesn't that sound awesome? That really is. I love when they will play into these things, like during Halloween time.

Starting point is 01:21:40 You got to have these cool little tours or like just really play into the lore. I love it. That's awesome. That is the mummified ghost cat. Sentinel. Fairport Harbor Lighthouse in Ohio. That's my kind of haunting. If a ghost is going to haunt me, let it be a cat.

Starting point is 01:21:58 Sentinel, the cat. Let it be Sentinel. I mean, sad for that what you said, electrician. Yeah. Who found it, you know? Like, not a fun discovery. Startling. It's a lot.

Starting point is 01:22:10 And, like, right next to his head in a dark spot. Right there. Like, just, I feel like electricians are always fine. I mean, I follow this page called Things Found in Walls. That's an amazing thing to follow that after this. Why if I not followed that? Best. It's the best. And it's like, it's usually construction of, like, you're renovating a house or whatever.

Starting point is 01:22:29 and there's like old tiny things like Oh, I love that. That's cool. So it's like Sentinel was a thing found in a wall. Oh yeah. Truly. He was technically a thing. Found in a wall.

Starting point is 01:22:46 Well, I guess going into my story since we've been all over the country for all these lighthouse stories, I'm reeling it back and we're going to Boston. Hell yeah. Oh my God, that was the perfect way to end it too. We're shipping up to Boston. We're going to Boston.

Starting point is 01:23:02 And we're going to Boston Harbor National Recreation Area, which is right outside of Boston. Yes. And kind of like Danielle mentioned at the beginning, the National Park Service serves as a lot of different avenues for a lot of places. And national recreation areas are designated for recreation activities. So like hiking, camping, swimming, wildlife viewing, fishing, boating, all those kind of things. they throw it into a reservation area because they also want to preserve the area. That makes sense. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:23:34 Yeah. And that's exactly what Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area is. And national recreation areas, a lot of times, they're located outside of urban populated areas because it's a way to set aside a place to be like, okay, we're right next to a huge city. But we have all this wildlife, all this cool stuff here. Let's preserve it. Yeah, like, let's not touch that. Let's let that be. Let's learn from history, please.

Starting point is 01:24:00 Literally everything else. Like we took over all of Boston here. Let's let this see short. Let this have a moment. Yeah. And it is comprised of 34 islands. And it also has the oldest lighthouse in the United States, which is the Boston Light on Little there it is.

Starting point is 01:24:22 Amazing. There she is. Another lighthouse. And not only is the Boston light part of the National Park Service, but it is also deemed a national historic landmark. And it was established as that in 1964 because of its history and its age. It is, like I said, the oldest lighthouse. It was built in 1716. Oh, wow.

Starting point is 01:24:46 That's so wild. That's insane. All right. So, yeah, you got us all beat. You did. Oh, yeah. You were all in the 1800s, and I'm like, 1760s. And you're like, yes.

Starting point is 01:24:57 You think you know old. I was so close. And this is the typical, like, picturesque New England lighthouse. It's on a rocky coast. It towers 60 feet high and it's made of rubble stone. This is the only lighthouse in the U.S. that is still staffed by the United States Coast Guard. Hell yeah. It's not automatic.

Starting point is 01:25:21 There's still someone sitting in there right now. Oh, that light keeper is probably so awesome. So awesome. Shout out to you. Shout out to that keeper. Shout out to her. It's a woman. Shout out to her.

Starting point is 01:25:34 And I hope that she's having a better time than the stories I'm about to tell. Oh, no. You know what? I don't even know the stories and I hope you're having a better time. Same. So this lighthouse has seen a ton of history and it's also seen a ton of tragedy and it's also said to be. cursed. Oh, two cursed ones. Look at you guys. We're getting all the crazy stuff going on in these lighthouses. I love it. So it started, it was built in 1716, but a man by the name of John George,

Starting point is 01:26:09 who was a prominent merchant in Boston, he originally petitioned for the Massachusetts General Court in January of 1713 for the lighthouse to be built. And he stated that it was necessary. The coast was too dangerous, the ships needed a lighthouse to come in, and the petition was granted, and it was set to be built. But before construction could even start, John unexpectedly died from unknown causes. Oh, man. Poor John. From a curse. From a curse. Strike one curse is here. Eventually, even though he died, the lighthouse was built, but right after followed more tragedy. So a man by the name of George Worthy Lake was given the job as keeper of Boston Light in 1716, and his job consisted of maintaining the light at the top of the tower and also guiding ships into the harbor.

Starting point is 01:27:04 It was also said that it was possibly his duty to determine if ships arriving in were carrying passengers with communicable diseases, and if they needed to be quarantined before they entered. That's a delightful job. Yeah. Sounds fun. Like a great time. Yeah. He's walking onto these ships and everyone has scurvy and he's like, oh. And he's like, ooh, okay. He's like six feet apart, everybody. Stay over there. And tragedy struck for him on November 3rd, 1718. So he had been there for two years when he decided to leave the Little Island to attend a church service in Boston. So he left the boat that day with his wife, Anne, their daughter Ruth.

Starting point is 01:27:52 They had a servant named George Cutler, and they also had a man who was enslaved by a George Worthy Lake who is called Shadwell. And they also had a friend on the ship named John Edge. So they had a bunch of people going that day. Now, this next part's a little bit unclear if whether they were leaving the church service or they were trying to arrive. But to get onto shore, they had to leave the big ship that they were in to go into a small. smaller canoe. And because they had so many people with them, the little canoe capsized. And with the rough waters that were there, all of them drowned. Oh. Curse number two. And all of their bodies were later recovered and buried except for their servant, George Cutler. Oh, that's awful.

Starting point is 01:28:42 awful and just this place is cursed I was going to say that's bad energy man I wish I could say that end that was it that was it continues oh no three days after their deaths a man by the name of Robert Saunders was asked to go to the Boston Light to maintain it until they could find a new keeper

Starting point is 01:29:05 and he agreed but two weeks later Robert Saunders and another man who is with him drowned at the Boston I'm like, stop. Were they just like on their way there? It didn't describe exactly. It sounds like they were just a storm hit or something and they were thrown into the water. Oh, man.

Starting point is 01:29:25 Damn. Yeah. So two keepers like boom boom. And we're still like first year. Is that true? First two years. Fresh out of the gate here. Fresh out of the gate here.

Starting point is 01:29:38 And we have three, well, three like major incidents with deaths so far. Wow. Yep. Whoa. Now following these deaths, a 12-year-old whose name you might just recognize like George Washington's, his name is Ben Franklin. No, I've never heard that one. Ben Franklin, I don't know her. Ben Franklin was never 12.

Starting point is 01:30:02 So let's get that straight. I was thinking that I was like, what did Ben Franklin look like at 12? Like, how do I picture this man's? He still had like the outfit on. always the gray hair. The receding hair line, always. Well, Ben Franklin, after these tragedies, he was inspired to write a poem. So before he was creating electricity, he was a poet.

Starting point is 01:30:28 And he wrote a poem that was titled The Lighthouse Tragedy. And he actually wrote this on small pieces of paper and sold it all around the Boston area. I love that for him. Yeah, he made a bunch of money. Yeah, he's an artist. He is. But his father was not into it, and he was like, no, you're not a poet. Find a different career path.

Starting point is 01:30:52 Invent electricity, okay? Yeah, like, this isn't going anywhere. So the next light keeper at Boston Light was named John Hayes, and while he did not die during his time at the lighthouse, he did experience some significantly bad luck. While he was there, a large fire broke out in the lighthouse, which didn't cause too much damage, but there was enough damage that it launched an investigation into John. And they believe that his negligence caused the fire. And they withheld his pay until they could prove otherwise.

Starting point is 01:31:29 Oh, damn. That's pretty severe. I know. That's a lot. He's like, I didn't even do anything. Right. Like, I need some money. Right.

Starting point is 01:31:37 You're going to work here and we're not going to pay you. and we're going to investigate. Wow. Sound good. Sound good. I feel like everyone. Everyone was named John then, too, I feel. So, like, I think they were just like, it probably is a John.

Starting point is 01:31:51 So we're just going to hold you. Whether it's this one or another one doesn't matter. After this fire, several years later in 1751, the lighthouse caught fire again. And this time, it was almost completely destroyed. but later they were able to repair it. Okay, wait, so did John do it? No, John did not do it. Okay.

Starting point is 01:32:17 It was just like random. Because I was still suspicious over here. I was like, I don't know about John. They were eventually like, oh, no, you didn't. That's cool. We're still not paying. I'm like, sorry. Get back in the lights.

Starting point is 01:32:30 And weirdly enough during this time period, so there's fires, there's deaths, there's, all this stuff. Also, during this, this lighthouse was very, weirdly being struck by lightning, like, all the time. Which is, like, very rare. Yeah. Wow. It happened so many times that it was proposed that they needed to have a lightning rod. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:32:52 That was actually on the lighthouse. And which also, fun fact, Ben Franklin invented in 1750. I love it. So connected to this lighthouse. Yeah. He's like, this is my lighthouse. But with everyone was like, we need a lightning rod. this place is getting struck all the time.

Starting point is 01:33:11 But the religious Puritans in Boston area, they believed that the lightning strikes were actually a stroke from heaven. So they didn't want to interrupt with it. But after this is happening, like, all the time, they said, let's build, let's put a lightning rod on this. I was going to say, you know what? I propose a lightning rod. That's just heaven saying, hey, hey, what's that? Like, I don't know if that's how heaven says hello.

Starting point is 01:33:41 I don't really know. I don't know. Like, we're going to strike you down and let fire. I'm going to send a jolt of fire into your structure. Just a friendly hello. And potentially the lightkeeper is staying in it. But no worries. Maybe that's what caused the fire.

Starting point is 01:33:57 Lightning. Yeah. They're like, no, that's heaven. It was John. Yeah, that can't be it. It was John. Blame John, who didn't get paid. He's like, I'm not even getting paid for this

Starting point is 01:34:09 I'm blamed. This volunteer John was in here. So they did install the lightning rod and that solved that problem. And after John Hayes left as lightkeeper, a man by the name of Robert Ball took over. And he actually lived out his life there as lightkeeper for over 40 years. Wow, get it. Really? Yeah.

Starting point is 01:34:33 Yeah. He's not a one year. Yeah. Now, one year after his death in 1775, the American Revolution happened, and that's where the British military sees Boston and they seized the Boston light. I forgot we're still way back here. I know. When you said that, I was like, the what happened? The American Revolution. I thought it was the 80s by now. I was like, wow. There were lighthouses? Yeah. Man. So it's one year after his death, 1775, and they, seized the Boston light and they blocked it. So there was no access to it. And now three days after the Battle of Bunker Hill, American troops came in and they actually set the lighthouse on fire. Oh, man.

Starting point is 01:35:17 Rude. The British thought it was rude and they ended up preparing the damages a month later. They're like, this is my lighthouse. This is ours now. But one of the very last things that the British did before completely leaving Boston, because historically we know that they did end up leaving was on June 13th, 1776. And one of their very last vessels that they had in the harbor

Starting point is 01:35:44 that day, the Americans had opened fire on them on June 13, 1776, and they took that vessel and they went over to the Boston light and they blew it up. Oh, whoa. So much fire. That escalated like so quickly. Like we're just absolutely destroying this. Wow. You know what?

Starting point is 01:36:05 Before we leave. We are done here. It's like those movies where you're walking away and there's an explosion coming to. That's the British. Or like I picture like the little girl with like the house on fire in the back. That's the British. She's like smirking. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:36:21 They're just like, I know what happened here. Bye Boston. I see you later. Bye, that's. So the one that is standing there today is obviously not the original Boston Light as it was blown up. Several times. Several times. But another one was built in 1783.

Starting point is 01:36:44 We'll accept that. Not bad. Yeah, I was going to say it. It's not pretty old. It's now I think it's the second old. It's technically the second oldest lighthouse because the first one blew up. Right. You know, there's that whole thing.

Starting point is 01:36:56 Yeah. Now with all this tragedy that has occurred here, there of course are. are some stories of paranormal happenings. There have been voices that have been reported here, specifically the sounds of a little girl sobbing and calling out the name of the enslaved man who died there. Shadwell. Shadwell. That's so sad.

Starting point is 01:37:17 My entire body just went into chills. I was like that. Look at my sense. Yes. It was literally like all over. Because you know they had a bond too. That's horrible. And now somehow they're together in the afterlife.

Starting point is 01:37:31 or she's calling to him. Oh, my God. And I did read that Shadwell played a huge part in trying to save all of them, too, when they capsized. Oh, that kills me. It was her last calls. Oh, my goodness. Cassie, come on. For real.

Starting point is 01:37:50 Ouch. We're just like, oh. My heart. So still today, the Coast Guard reports seeing figures that. are standing on top of the lighthouse and then they disappear. And many people believe that these are the ghosts of George and his family. Aw, they're just hanging out in the lighthouse. Biven.

Starting point is 01:38:12 Everyone stays there forever. Everyone, you don't get to leave. Don't get a lighthouse job unless you want to stay there for all eternity. For real. And lastly, there is also a paranormal phenomenon that occurs at the Boston Light. This phenomenon has been nicknamed the ghost. walk because six miles to the left of the lighthouse for reason it's unknown it is said that there is no sound that penetrates this area at all that sounds horrible i don't like which also means that

Starting point is 01:38:46 any warning bells from the boston light can't be heard from any incoming ships oh that's weird some bad shit happened there oh yeah that's real bad you too yeah i don't like it oh man oh that's spooky no No. So spooky. And like I said at the beginning, currently the lighthouse is still occupied by a keeper. Her name is Sally Snowman. And she is the very first woman lighthouse keeper of the Boston Light. And I really hope that she's having a little bit of a better time than all these other. Sally, I hope you are like just like risky business like sliding across the floor in your bottom of shirt. Like I hope you're having a great time. What a cute name. You said her name is Sally Snowman. That is an adorable name. Stop. I love her. Never change your name. Never. Never change. And she's the first woman, too. That's cool. Yeah, what a badass. Go Sally. It's your birthday. Maybe the light house just needed a woman. I think it did. Yeah, some maternal energy. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:39:52 Wow. I'm really glad that you just snuck Sentinel into the middle of all of that. Right. It needed it. Because we needed that. needed sentinels presence. Sentinel's a pallet cleanser from beyond. These were so good. I know. This was so fun. I loved this.

Starting point is 01:40:11 Yeah. We had a great time. I loved looking into, I knew Terrible Tilly was calling me as soon as, I was looking into Acadia, and I was like, God, I feel like I should do it because it's like, you know, homegrown, like,

Starting point is 01:40:22 I feel like I need to pay some homage to New England. But when Cassie was like, oh, I got, I'm like, all right. Like, I'm out. Tilly. halls. Yeah, I'm out. Those were awesome. Thank you guys so much for coming on. This was a blast. We have to do this again. 100%. Yeah. This was like a fun like campfire story time. It was awesome.

Starting point is 01:40:43 We would love to bring you out into nature again if only through Zoom. Amazing. Let's do it. Let's go. Or if you want to go to a lighthouse, we are. Let's go to a lighthouse. Yes. Let's do all of the above. I am down. Let's record inside of a lighthouse with moving furniture. Oh, hell yes. We got to find one and we got to do it. We got to keep it that weird. We do.

Starting point is 01:41:07 Yes. Well, guys, thank you so much. This was amazing. We are definitely going to do it again. Yes. Tell our listeners where they can find you. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 01:41:19 You can find us on. Yeah, that's a great idea. Oh, yeah, us. You can find us on Instagram at National Park After dark. We have a website, npadepodcast.com. You can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to your podcast. Amazing. And we'll link it all in the show notes, so it'll be easy to find. For sure. Cool. Awesome. Awesome. But thank you guys. So much for having us. I mean, we've been huge fans with you guys for a long time. So we're so excited and it was really

Starting point is 01:41:50 fun to come on here with you. Well, thank you so much. We're so happy to have you. And we're so excited to maybe join you on your show in the future. Yes, please. Oh, I'm giving you that come little children. It's coming. I love it. Well, guys, thank you for listening. And as always, we hope you keep listening.

Starting point is 01:42:08 And we hope you keep it weird. But that's aware that you don't go listen to National Parks After Dark because their podcast is really fucking cool. That. That. There we go. Oh.

Morbid - The Unsolved Murder of Kristin O’Connell

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