{"id":100917,"date":"2024-11-01T10:29:05","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T14:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=100917"},"modified":"2024-11-01T10:29:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T14:29:30","slug":"george-worthylake-still-making-waves-with-boston-lighthouse-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/george-worthylake-still-making-waves-with-boston-lighthouse-part-3.html","title":{"rendered":"George Worthylake Still Making Waves with Boston Lighthouse (part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, still in the spirit of Halloween, Melissa Davenport Berry concludes her story about a haunted lighthouse in Boston Harbor. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today is the conclusion of the George Worthylake Boston Light series.<\/p>\n

To recap: My last two stories featured the history of George Worthylake and the Boston Light (the first lighthouse in what is now the U.S.). (You can catch up by reading Part I<\/a> and Part II<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Life at the lighthouse became eerie after George, his wife, and a daughter died in a tragic accident. Here are stories from past keepers who reported haunted happenings at the Boston Light.<\/p>\n

Ghost of George Worthylake<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Boston Herald<\/em> article is about Boston Light\u2019s history and its ghost.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 1 December 1999, page 32<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

Every now and then when a thick fog rolls in and waves are crashing on the rocks of Little Brewster Island, Coast Guard Petty Officer Gary Fleming says he can hear the ghost of Boston Light tromping around inside the historic building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really does get spooky. You have plenty of time here and if you let your mind go, you can freak yourself out,\u201d said Fleming, who definitely believes in spirits.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike last night, Sam (the light\u2019s mascot black Labrador) was acting real weird. He would stand up, run out of the room for no reason and was shaking all over,\u201d Fleming said.<\/p>\n

The ghost is supposed to be George Worthylake, the first keeper of Boston Light, the oldest lighthouse in the country and one of the few manned lighthouses worldwide.<\/p>\n

In 1718, Worthylake and his family drowned when the canoe they were riding back to the lighthouse was swamped in a sudden gale.<\/p>\n

Young Benjamin Franklin, then a printer in Boston, wrote a ballad about the incident entitled \u201cThe Lighthouse Tragedy\u201d and sold it on the streets of the young city.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just part of the history of Boston Light, which opened Sept. 14, 1716, and has stood guard at the entrance to Boston Harbor ever since, through blizzards, hurricanes, and violent storms.<\/p>\n

The Lighthouse\u2019s worst days came during the Revolutionary War when the British captured it, then blew it up when they left Boston in 1776.<\/p>\n

Very little was left of the building. The top of it was used to supply ladles for American cannons during the rest of the war.<\/p>\n

Boston Light was rebuilt in 1783 and an addition was added in 1856, Fleming said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: Boston Light c. early 1780s. Artist: Capt. Matthew Parke. Depicts the original tower before its 1776 destruction. Credit: Jeremy D’Entremont; United State Lighthouse Society Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ghost Likes Classical Music<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are also lots of Ghost George \u201cspottings\u201d mentioned in Sam Baltrusis\u2019 book, Haunted Boston Harbor<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One came from Keeper Dennis Dever in the 1980s who told Baltrusis that one day he was in the kitchen of the keeper\u2019s house looking out the window at the tower, and he clearly saw a man in the lantern room. This was quite alarming, as the only other person on the island was his assistant in the next room.<\/p>\n

From a distance it appeared that the figure at the top of the tower was wearing an old-fashioned keeper\u2019s uniform. Dever rushed to the tower and went up the stairs, finding the lantern room empty.<\/p>\n

Keeper Dever also noted to Baltrusis that on several occasions working in the station\u2019s boathouse he would be listening to his favorite rock station. With nobody else in the boathouse, the station would change itself to a classical station. Dever said he and other Coast Guard crew attributed events like this to \u201cOld George\u201d Worthylake.<\/p>\n

In 1989 Dever was featured in several newspapers, including the Watertown Daily Times<\/em>, because of the impending automation of Boston Light. The automation did happen \u2013 but the tradition of keeping a keeper at the lighthouse was maintained.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, New York), 30 September 1989, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article quotes Dever:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a lot of ingenuity out here. We do pretty much the same things they did in the 1700s, except we have electricity and motorized lawn mowers. In the winter, the wind blows all the time. You can get an eerie feeling when it\u2019s foggy and a door\u2019s banging in the wind.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is another version of one of the photographs that appears in the article.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Dennis Dever carving his name and the date 1989 into a rock at Boston Light, carrying on a long tradition of keepers who left their mark \u2013 the oldest being Robert Ball in 1768. Credit: Jeremy D\u2019Entremont; United State Lighthouse Society Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Witching Hour<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOld George\u201d is not the only spook known to haunt the island. Reports through the years include paranormal activities accredited to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome strange things do happen out here,\u201d Keeper Sally Snowman<\/a> told the Boston Globe<\/em> in 2003, \u201clike the fog signal which works on reading moisture in the air going off at 3 AM [witching hour] on a star-filled night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Boston Light Keeper Sally Snowman. Credit: United State Lighthouse Society Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Snowman also noted her mascot black lab gets pretty riled up when the sun sets and calls it \u201cShadwell\u2019s hour,\u201d named for George Worthylake\u2019s servant who drowned that tragic night in 1718.<\/p>\n

In 1991 Keeper Scott Gamble named his island mascot, a handsome German Shepherd, Shadwell.<\/p>\n

Keeper Tells Yankee Magazine<\/em> about Strange Happenings<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1947 Mazie B. Anderson, along with her husband Boston Light Keeper Russell Anderson and their children, were caretakers living on the island.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Boston Light in 1947. Credit: United State Lighthouse Society Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Several years after the Andersons left their post Mazie was featured in Yankee Magazine<\/em> (1998) relating her haunting encounters.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Anderson, Mazie B., \u201cThe Ghost of Boston Light,\u201d Yankee Magazine, October 1998. Credit: United State Lighthouse Society Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mazie said that while her family was taking care of Boston Light, she frequently heard footsteps, but no one was there. One night as she tried to sleep, she felt a presence in the room and later \u201chorrible maniacal laughter\u201d echoing from the boathouse.<\/p>\n

On one occasion the fog signal engines started and the light mysteriously went on by itself. Mazie saw a mysterious figure of a man who was laughing.<\/p>\n

Another night she heard a little girl\u2019s sobbing voice calling \u201cShaaaadwell!\u201d over and over.<\/p>\n

Later Mazie found out that Shadwell died while valiantly trying to save the others, including the Worthylakes\u2019 daughter Ruth, during the tragic drowning in 1718.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: Shadwell\u2019s ghost and Boston Light. Credit: Melissa Davenport Berry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Check out more intel on the site at New England Lighthouses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> Boston Light, Little Brewster Island, Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Credit: Melissa Davenport Berry.<\/p>\n

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