Haunted lighthouse focus of legends

Towering high above the water at 66 feet, a powerful automated revolving light flashes above a black and white striped pyramidal tower that contains a one-and-ahalf-storey dwelling below.

Since 1876 - and manned until 1963, when the second lighthouse keeper retired - West Point lighthouse has been guiding vessels across the treacherous, foam-crested waves of the Northumberland Strait that had caused many a past shipwreck.

But one vessel that's pulled to the landmark’s golden glow at night, and iconic visible painted stripes during the day, can send shivers up spines when sighted, warns Carol Livingstone, the greatgranddaughter of the first lighthouse keeper William MacDonald (1875 to 1925).

“My father was a First World War veteran, and my sister Elizabeth and I were driving to an evening function at the local legion that had him presenting a picture," she explains. "We were on Shore Road, around seven o’clock, when we saw flickering lights out at sea. It was unusual, so we pulled over on the side of the road to get a closer look.”

To their shock, flames were engulfing the masts of a vessel. So far from help and fearing for the sailors, seconds felt like minutes before what they were seeing began to unfold.

“I had heard the legend of a ‘phantom ship’ growing up in West Point, but I never imagined I would see it, and as vivid as you or I. No fog. No mist. We had not had a sip of alcohol to drink,” she said.

“Our sighting was in the late 1970s or early 80s, so keeping that in mind, I pulled out the new film-reel camera that I was bringing to take pictures of the event at the legion. Then, excitedly, I took pictures of the boat.”

The sisters watched for a few minutes before rushing back to their vehicle, fearing they would be late for the legion event. But further down the road, they pulled off for a final glance.

The ship had vanished.

“It sent a shiver down my spine, but I thought, well, this is wonderful. At least I will have a picture.”

When Livingstone went to get the camera film developed, fumbling, she says, the images were accidentally exposed to the light.

“While it is unfortunate about the pictures, it brings me comfort in knowing many people over the years have seen the ‘phantom ship’ to support our claim,” she says.

There has been much speculation of where this supernatural ship originates. Some say it was a pirate vessel that met an untimely end; others, a boat carrying immigrants.

But one thing is for sure:

the ship is unique to the Northumberland Strait.

GHOST KEEPERS AND BURIED TREASURE

Canada’s first active lighthouse inn continues to attract – not just visitors or guests – but the unexplained.

Jimmy Stewart, general manager of the West Point

Development Corporation, has heard many stories that include ghostly encounters with the original keeper, nicknamed “Lighthouse Willie,” roaming the halls of the inn; a sea serpent; and buried pirate treasure.

“If you look up the shore northward from the lighthouse, about a quarter-mile up the beach, you will see an

orange triangle that looks like what you would see on a slow-moving vehicle,” he says, describing where ‘X’ marks the spot for hidden treasure near the lighthouse.

“When I was a lot younger, say 50 years ago, there was a road that ran up between the two rows of dunes, and to the left-hand side of the orange sign is meant to be buried ‘Captain’ William Kidds treasure.”

There have been several attempts to dig up the treasure, he says. But no chest or riches have been discovered, except timbers used to build local horse stalls in the community.

FAIRIES AND SEA SERPENTS

Early Scottish and Irish settlers carried beliefs and superstitions over the Atlantic to West Point, with strong opinions in witches, fairies, and forerunners, says Livingstone.

“They could not understand why there were natural pathways through the wooded dunes behind the lighthouse, so they concluded that fairies had made the paths and kept them swept clean for walking," she says.

Visitors to the lighthouse can still walk these fairy trails, woven between vegetation and trees.

Many stories encapsulate Canada’s most haunted and – arguably – most picturesque lighthouse. Stewart adds one report of a sea serpent, which has troubled local anglers over the years.

“My father fished here for 48 years and was never known to tell a lie. He would swear that he saw the sea serpent, and again there are lots of people that say the same.”

He described the sea serpent as 60 to 70 feet long, black, with a head the size of a horse that points downwards.

There have been numerous sightings of this mythical creature, according to Stewart. Some fishermen have even tried to shoot it, with bullets pinging off its skin and causing the beast to rise from the water with its body snaking and head rocking back and forth.

The Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in Grand Prairie, Alberta, houses several reconstructed fossils, and one resembles the sea serpent that swims near West Point Lighthouse.

“West Point has such a rich history,” he adds.

“George Sutherland Currie – nicknamed “Flat-Nose” – was born in this area in 1871. He was a member of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, robbing banks in the American Old West,” recounts Stewart, while acknowledging Currie died by a gunshot wound.

West Point is well worth a visit, if not a stay, Livingstone convinces.

The lighthouse museum shares numerous stories of interest, one of how a small group of determined volunteers took a dilapidated building and transformed it into today’s nationally recognized historical icon.

It goes to show, there is something undeniably captivating about this lonely coastal landmark that beacons those near, far, and even the unexplained.

Just don’t turn off the light