The St. Augustine Lighthouse — The Keeper's Daughter — Paranormal History

Is the St. Augustine Lighthouse Haunted?

The St. Augustine Lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida, has been guiding ships since 1874. A keeper’s daughter fell to her death while playing on the lighthouse stairs. Her ghost still climbs the steps, giggling and laughing as she has done for more than a century. The lighthouse is one of the most haunted landmarks in Florida, and the spirits within it — the keeper, his daughter, the construction workers who died building it — show no sign of departing.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse stands at the north end of Anastasia Island, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the ancient city of St. Augustine — the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States. The lighthouse is an active aid to navigation, still flashing its light to guide ships along the Florida coast, and it is also a museum, a tourist attraction, and one of the most investigated haunted locations in the southeastern United States. The tower rises 165 feet above the ground, with 219 cast-iron steps spiraling to the lantern room at the top — and it is on those steps that the most famous ghost of the lighthouse makes her eternal ascent.

What makes the St. Augustine Lighthouse particularly compelling is the specificity and consistency of the paranormal reports. The ghosts here are not vague presences — they are identified, described, and located. The keeper’s daughter climbs the stairs. The keeper watches from the catwalk. The construction workers haunt the tower. And the fog bell rings in the night, though it has not been struck in decades. The lighthouse is a working building — it still serves its original purpose — and the ghosts that inhabit it seem to be working too, carrying on their duties long after death.

History

The Need for a New Lighthouse (1870s)

The St. Augustine Lighthouse was built to replace an earlier lighthouse that had been constructed in 1824 on the same site. The original lighthouse — a 73-foot tower — had been progressively undermined by coastal erosion, and by the 1870s, it was in danger of collapse. The United States Lighthouse Board authorized the construction of a new lighthouse on Anastasia Island, and construction began in 1871.

The new lighthouse was designed to be taller, more durable, and more visible than its predecessor. The tower was constructed of brick, rising 165 feet from its foundation to the lantern room at the top. The exterior was painted with a distinctive black-and-white spiral daymark — a pattern that made the lighthouse easily identifiable to mariners during daylight hours. The light itself was a first-order Fresnel lens, one of the most powerful lighthouse lenses in the world, visible for more than 20 miles at sea.

The lighthouse was completed in 1874, and the light was first illuminated on October 15 of that year. It has been in continuous operation ever since — more than 150 years of service, making it one of the oldest active lighthouses on the Florida coast.

The Construction and the Deaths

The construction of the St. Augustine Lighthouse was a dangerous undertaking. The tower was built on soft, sandy ground near the ocean, and the workers — many of whom were local laborers and immigrants — labored in extreme heat, humidity, and the constant threat of tropical storms.

During construction, two workers died when a scaffold collapsed, plunging them into the foundation of the tower. Their deaths were not unusual for the era — workplace safety regulations were minimal, and construction accidents were common — but their presence in the building’s history has contributed to the lighthouse’s haunted reputation. The ghosts of the two workers are reportedly seen and heard in the tower, particularly in the upper sections near the lantern room.

The Pittee Family and the Keeper’s Daughter

After the lighthouse was completed, it was managed by a succession of keepers employed by the United States Lighthouse Board. In the 1880s, the lighthouse was managed by Hezekiah Pittee — a government keeper who lived on the grounds with his family. The Pittee family occupied the keeper’s house, a Victorian structure adjacent to the lighthouse, and their children played on the lighthouse grounds.

Pittee’s young daughter — sometimes identified as Mary — loved the lighthouse. She played on the stairs, chased her siblings through the grounds, and treated the tower as her personal playground. One day, while playing on the lighthouse stairs, she fell from the structure to her death. The exact circumstances are disputed — some accounts say she fell from the stairs themselves, others say she fell from the catwalk — but the result was the same: a child died in or on the lighthouse, and her spirit, many believe, never left.

The story of Pittee’s daughter is the most well-known ghost story associated with the lighthouse, and it has been told by keepers, residents, and visitors for more than a century. While the historical documentation of the specific incident is limited — records from the 1880s are incomplete — the consistency of the story and the specificity of the reported phenomena make it a compelling element of the lighthouse’s haunted history.

The Lighthouse Today

The St. Augustine Lighthouse is operated by the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, a nonprofit organization that preserves the lighthouse and its associated buildings. The museum offers daily tours — including climbs to the top of the tower — and a popular nighttime ghost tour that explores the lighthouse grounds and the keeper’s house after dark.

The lighthouse remains an active aid to navigation, and its light continues to flash across the waters of the Atlantic. The museum has embraced the lighthouse’s haunted reputation, and the ghost stories are shared with visitors as part of the tour experience. The lighthouse has been featured on television programs, in newspaper articles, and in numerous books on Florida hauntings.

The Mystery / Paranormal Activity

The Keeper’s Daughter — The Staircase Ghost

The most famous ghost at the St. Augustine Lighthouse is the keeper’s daughter — the young girl who fell to her death during the lighthouse’s early years. She has been seen on the lighthouse stairs by dozens of visitors and staff members, and her appearance is remarkably consistent. She is described as a young girl, approximately six to ten years old, wearing a white dress and with her hair in braids or ribbons. She is typically seen climbing the stairs — moving upward with the energy and enthusiasm of a child at play.

The daughter has been seen at various times of day, but she is most frequently reported during the afternoon and early evening. Witnesses describe hearing her laughter — a light, musical sound — echoing through the tower before they see her. She appears to be unaware of the living visitors, and she does not interact with them. She climbs, she laughs, and she vanishes — sometimes in mid-step, sometimes around a corner, sometimes at the top of the stairs.

“I was climbing the stairs when I heard a child laughing. I looked down — a little girl was running up the stairs behind me. She was wearing a white dress. She ran right through me. I felt a cold sensation, and then she was gone.” — Visitor, St. Augustine Lighthouse, 2017

The Keeper — The Catwalk Watcher

The ghost of Hezekiah Pittee — or another keeper from the lighthouse’s early years — has been seen on the catwalk surrounding the lantern room. The figure is described as a man in period clothing, standing at the railing and looking out to sea, as keepers did during their watch. The ghost appears calm and purposeful — as if he is simply doing his job.

The catwalk ghost is seen less frequently than the keeper’s daughter, but his appearances are consistent and well-documented. He has been spotted by visitors climbing to the top of the tower and by staff members working in the lantern room. He does not speak, and he does not acknowledge the presence of the living. He watches the sea, as he has done for more than a century.

The Construction Workers

The ghosts of the two workers who died during the lighthouse’s construction are heard more often than they are seen. Their manifestations include the sound of tools — hammers, chisels, and the scraping of metal — echoing through the tower, particularly in the upper sections. The sounds are heard at various times and are not consistent with any maintenance or restoration work being performed on the building.

Some visitors have reported seeing figures in the tower that do not match the description of the keeper’s daughter or the keeper. These figures are described as male, wearing work clothing, and appearing briefly before vanishing. The construction worker ghosts are considered less active than the other spirits at the lighthouse, but their presence adds to the overall sense that the tower is populated by multiple entities.

The Fog Bell and Other Phenomena

The lighthouse’s fog bell — which was used as an additional warning signal for ships during periods of low visibility — has been heard ringing at night, even though the bell has not been in use for decades. The sound is described as a steady, rhythmic tolling that carries through the lighthouse grounds. Staff members and visitors have heard the bell on multiple occasions, and there is no mechanical or environmental explanation for the sound.

Other phenomena reported at the lighthouse include:

Cold spots — particularly on the stairs and in the keeper’s house
EVPs — voices captured on audio recordings, including what sounds like a child speaking
The smell of perfume — reported in the keeper’s house, possibly associated with a female resident of the building
Moving objects — items displaced within the keeper’s house and the lighthouse
The sensation of being touched — visitors report feeling a hand on their shoulder or back, particularly on the stairs

Evidence and Investigations

The St. Augustine Lighthouse has been investigated by several paranormal research teams, and the results have been consistently compelling.

A 2006 investigation by a Florida-based paranormal group captured EVP recordings in the lighthouse tower, including what sounded like a child’s voice saying words that were difficult to distinguish. The team also documented a significant cold spot on the stairs at approximately the midpoint of the tower — the area where the keeper’s daughter is most commonly seen.

A 2011 investigation produced photographic anomalies, including images taken in the lighthouse tower that appeared to show a translucent figure on the stairs. The figure was described as small, consistent with a child, and it was not visible to the naked eye at the time the photograph was taken.

A 2016 investigation — conducted as part of a paranormal television program — captured audio evidence of the fog bell ringing, despite the bell not being in use. The recording was analyzed and found to be consistent with the sound of a bell being struck — not wind, not structural noise, not electronic interference.

“The St. Augustine Lighthouse is one of the most genuinely haunted locations I have ever investigated. The evidence is consistent, the history is documented, and the personal experiences are vivid. The keeper’s daughter is one of the most well-documented child ghosts in the country.” — Lead investigator, Southeastern Paranormal Research Society

The lighthouse’s location — on a barrier island, surrounded by water, exposed to the elements — creates atmospheric conditions that enhance the sense of isolation and otherworldliness. The sound of the ocean, the wind on the tower, and the sweep of the light across the water create a setting that is both beautiful and eerie. The ghosts of the lighthouse seem perfectly at home in this environment — as if they belong to the sea and the light as much as they belong to the building.

What Do You Think?

The St. Augustine Lighthouse is a place where the line between the living and the dead is crossed by a child who simply wants to play. The keeper’s daughter is not a frightening ghost — she is a presence of innocence and joy, climbing the stairs with the same delight she felt in life. This quality makes the lighthouse’s haunting uniquely appealing, and it is one of the reasons the lighthouse has become a beloved landmark for both history enthusiasts and paranormal researchers.

Skeptics might argue that the ghost stories are the product of suggestion and the lighthouse’s marketing. Visitors who come on the ghost tour expect to see ghosts, and the power of suggestion could cause them to interpret ordinary sounds and shadows as paranormal. The fog bell, the footsteps, and the laughter could all be explained by the building’s age, its construction, and the natural acoustics of a tall, narrow tower.

Yet the consistency of the testimony — spanning decades, involving independent witnesses, and including physical evidence such as EVPs and photographs — suggests something more than suggestion. The keeper’s daughter has been described by people who had no knowledge of her story, and their descriptions of a small girl in a white dress climbing the stairs are remarkably uniform. Whether she is the spirit of a child who loved this place, an echo of a life cut short, or something else entirely, she continues to climb.

The lighthouse is open for tours — including nighttime ghost tours. Climb the 219 steps. And listen for the laughter.

Summary

The St. Augustine Lighthouse was built in 1874 in St. Augustine, Florida, replacing an earlier lighthouse threatened by erosion
A keeper’s daughter fell to her death while playing on the stairs — her ghost is seen climbing the steps in a white dress
The ghost of the keeper is seen on the catwalk, looking out to sea as he did in life
The fog bell has been heard ringing at night, despite not being in use for decades
Bottom line: The St. Augustine Lighthouse is one of Florida’s most haunted and most beloved landmarks, with a century of documented paranormal activity and a child ghost who continues to play