Point Lookout Lighthouse
In honor of Halloween, it seems appropriate to post about the Point Lookout Lighthouse of St. Mary’s County, Md., at the junction of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay, which is said to be the most haunted lighthouse in the United States. The lighthouse was built in 1830 and the area surrounding it was initially a summer resort.
All that changed with the Civil War, when the largest camp for Confederate prisoners was built just North of the lighthouse. Between 1863 and 1865, 52,000 prisoners were held in the camp and 4,000 reportedly died. The lighthouse was closest to the camp hospital building and parts of the lighthouse may have been commandeered by the Union troops. In addition to ghosts of lighthouse keepers and of Civil War soldiers, there have been reports of ghosts from several shipwrecks just offshore. For photographs and recording of ghostly appearances and voices check out Paranormal Happenings at Point Lookout Lighthouse. The lighthouse has made its way into popular culture, appearing in the action, rollplay video game, Fallout 3.
Ghosts of Point Lookout Maryland and the Most Haunted Lighthouse in the USA
The ghost of a Confederate soldier runs across the road at dusk. The ghost of an old woman searches for her own grave. And a long dead lighthouse keeper still sings at night. This is Point Lookout.
Point Lookout in Scotland, Saint Mary’s County, Maryland is probably the most haunted area in the state. The Point Lookout Lighthouse has been called the most haunted lighthouse in the United States.
Located on a point of land where the wide Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, Point Lookout was a place of numerous disasters and tragedies. It was once the site of a Civil War era hospital; a prisoner of war camp; a refugee camp for runaway and freed slaves; shipwrecks; and a hotel that burned to the ground.
The Point Lookout Lighthouse at the southern tip is often visited by investigators into paranormal activities. Casual visitors as well as state employees and park rangers have claimed to see, hear, and even meet ghosts.
It is easy to see why Point Lookout has the reputation of hauntings. The southernmost tip of Maryland, a bleak and lonely spit of sand torn by storms and shifting currents is, at times, mist enshrouded; at other times wind whipped and wild. The eerie cry of whistling ducks undulating over the fog enveloped Bay; the lonely scream of an eagle, and the shifting shadows in the woods all contribute to suggest the presence of spirits and paranormal occurrences.