Great Isaac Lighthouse

The Great Isaac Lighthouse is located on Great Isaac Cay- a small island only accessible by boat about 20 miles NNE of Bimini.  The light house was built as an exhibit for the Great London Exposition of 1852 and was originally known as Victoria Light in honor of the then reigning Queen of England.  A few years later, it was shipped in pieces and constructed at its current home in 1859.

The Great Isaac Lighthouse had its share of negative history.  Rumor claimed that the lighthouse was originally bound for Sri Lanka but the trip ended in failure though no one knows exactly what went wrong.  The bad luck continued during its construction on Great Isaac Cay and is the basis for one of the known ghosts on the island.  While the light was being built, a British supply ship wrecked while delivering parts.  Everyone on the ship survived except one person- the ship's boy- who was eaten by sharks.  People have claimed to have seen his spirit wandering the island. 

And in the late 19th Century, local lore tells of a ship wreck on the island that claimed all the lives on board except one- an infant boy.  Now on nights when the moon is full, people have seen the mother of the infant wandering the island and wailing, looking for her infant son.  The locals refer to her as the Grey Lady.

But one of the most interesting and intriguing stories about the Great Issac Lighthouse is the many attribute to the Bermuda triangle.  In the 1960's there were two lighthouse keepers on the island: Ivan Major and B. Mollings.  On August 4, 1969, the lighthouse station was discovered abandoned.  There was no sign of the keepers.  No distress calls had been made, there were no sightings and an investigation shed no light on the mystery.  To this day, no one knows what happened to the men.  Many believe it's another disappearance courtesy of the Bermuda Triangle.

Great Isaac Lighthouse now an automated light flashing every 15 seconds

The Oldest Ghost Story

Ever wonder what the first recorded ghost story was?
It happened back in the 1st century AD- Pliny the Younger wrote about a spirit in his letters.

There was a house in Athens with an unsavory reputation.  It was reported that each night, the sounds of weapons and chains could be heard first from far away and then gradually getting closer.  Eventually the ghost of an emaciated, dirty old man with a scraggly beard and hair would appear with chains on his hands and feet. 

The house fell empty because of resident being afraid of this ghost.  It was eventually sold to a philosopher named Athenodorus who purchased it despite it's history.  One evening, as he was up writing, he heard the sounds of chains growing closer and closer.  When they sounded as though they were in the room with him, he looked up and saw the spirit of the old man.  The ghost actually beckoned to Athenodorus, but he ignored the ghost and continued writing.  Then he heard the rattling chains above his head, so Athenodorus took his torch and followed the ghost to an open area.  The ghost disappeared.  The philosopher marked the area where he last saw the ghost and went to bed.

The next day, the area where the ghost disappeared was dug up and in the hole they found a skeleton with chains on its arms and legs.  The skeleton was given a proper burial and the ghost was never seen or heard from again.