Maine Minutiae: A Haunted Lighthouse

Haunted? Wood Island Lighthouse c.1858*

With Halloween only days away, I thought I'd get to posting some spooky stuff. Like they say, the early bat gets the blood. Or something like that. A ghostly story that has been around for more than a century continues to haunt the residents of Wood Island , Maine. This tale begins in 1896 with a murder-suicide near the lighthouse at Wood Island where a drunk lobster fisherman (imagine that! a drunk fisherman!) , Howard Hobbs, and a buddy (also a drunk) were renting a chicken coop from one Frederick Milliken, who just happened to be a part-time Sheriff at Wood Island. After a night on the mainland getting FUBAR'ed Milliken invited the two drunks to his home to discuss some overdue rent on the chicken coop. Hobbs took a rifle to the meeting and you can guess, nothing good was gonna come from that. Hobbs shot and killed Milliken and then ran to the nearby lighthouse where he proceeded to blow his own brians out. But! The story does not end there. It is said that ghosts, presumably Milliken and Hobbs, haunt the lighthouse to this very day. As a matter of fact, one lighthouse keeper was so distraught by the hauntings, that he, too, commited hari kari. nelights.com has the story in great detail. It's pretty spooky and just in time for Halloween.

 **Photo courtesy of StrangeMaine.com**