Presumably A Haunted Lighthouse

 

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, built in 1871, at Newport, OR is Newport’s oldest building and second oldest standing lighthouse structure on the Oregon coast. The lighthouse was constructed of wood and framed as combination keeper’s quarters and light tower. First of four such stations built in Oregon, it is the only one of its kind remaining today, and is the only wooden lighthouse in Oregon. Its forty-foot tower rises from the Cape Cod style house, and is one of few Pacific Coast lighthouses built with light keeper’s living quarters in the same building as the tower. This lighthouse operated for only a short three years from 1871 to 1874 before it was replaced by the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

The lighthouse sat neglected for several years and officials decided to tear it down. However, in the 1940’s, concerned citizens of Lincoln County took action to save the lighthouse and initiate restoration. After restoration the lighthouse was opened as a museum.

During my tour of the museum in 1999, the guide told a story about a ghost that haunted the lighthouse. Since my visit was several years ago, I don’t remember all details of the story but will share some of my memory:  The story spotlighted a young girl who had been left in the local town by her sea faring father. He was coming back in two weeks to get her. Meanwhile, she and some of her friends visited the lighthouse and found a secret door that led to a passageway into a hidden cavern below the lighthouse. She and her friends got scared and exited the lighthouse but left the secret door open. The young girl realized she had lost her handkerchief and went back to get it. Supposedly, the group heard screams and they rushed back to the lighthouse and found the secret door closed, locked, and on the floor a small pool of blood. Later, some people reported they saw the young girl wandering the beach and thought they saw her moving at the edge of the fog.  --  Now, I don’t believe in ghosts, but listening to this story while I walked through the lighthouse did give me an uneasy feeling. -- Later, I learned this story may have grown out of a short fictional story written years prior.