Haunting Lighthouses

by special guest Pam Ripling

I do. I not only love lighthouses, collect them, and visit them, I haunt them as well. I guess you could place multiple meanings on “haunting” – I could be a spirit, looking for my lost love, my drowned sea captain, my missing child. But since I am not yet dead, that’s not the likely meaning.

It could be that I lurk in the world of lighthouses, traveling here and there to “haunt” their staircases, roam their keepers’ quarters, snapping my camera and taking notes. Living people do have their favorite “haunts,” as it were. Lighthouses surely are some of mine.

But actually, my form of haunting lighthouses has to do with creating tales of the supernatural and placing them there. (Aha! So that’s where she’s going!)

It’s common knowledge among lighthouse enthusiasts that these ancient, lonely beacons are often thought to be inhabited by spirits. The very nature of their purpose brings with it danger, isolation and hardship. Tragedy exists in the history of nearly every light station, histories fraught with violent storms, pirates, and madness. What better fodder for a good ghost story?

My latest novel, POINT SURRENDER, takes place in a fictional California lighthouse that’s been abandoned for many years. Its last keeper has been dead for more than 25 years, and left behind a journal found by those who are now restoring the ancient, decaying tower. The journal tells a sad tale, and hints at why the keeper died there—but not a word about his missing family. Is the ghost that appears from time to time the keeper, or someone else?

Of course there’s romance and mystery—a hero and heroine, both with emotional baggage—and a cast of supporting characters that complicate their journey. The lighthouse itself is the best character, brooding, sad, filled with remorse. For hasn’t the lighthouse seen it all unfold?

My upcoming release, CAPE SEDUCTION, is set in an off-shore lighthouse perched on a deadly reef near the extreme northern California coast. The story takes us back to 1948, when a popular Hollywood starlet goes missing after the filming of a blockbuster movie set in the land-locked beacon. In 2008, the lighthouse begins to cause trouble for its present day owners, and the spirit of a young woman makes her presence known to many. Look for CAPE SEDUCTION this winter from Echelon Press.

It doesn’t hurt to research those U.S. lighthouses “known” to be haunted. The house at Heceta Head Lighthouse in Oregon (shown on the cover of POINT SURRENDER) is said to be haunted by a young keeper’s wife. “Rue” seems to be mourning for a lost child, perhaps seeking her unmarked gravesite on the grounds of the keeper’s house.

I’ve been asked: do they scare me? Thinking about them, writing about them, walking among them? No. There is no record of any lighthouse ghost inflicting harm upon any guest. Do I believe in them? I think I would be some kind of fraud if I didn’t; I am, after all, a writer of paranormal lighthouse fiction!

Pam Ripling, who also writes as Anne Carter, is the author of paranormal romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER, from Echelon Press, Amazon, and for your Kindle, iPhone or other e-formats, Fictionwise. Visit Anne at BeaconStreetBooks.com.