Ledge Lighthouse

Ledge Lighthouse, also known as the New London Lighthouse, is one of the most striking and unusual-looking lighthouses in the United States. It looks like an old colonial-style house, floating on the sea. It’s also haunted by a ghost named “Ernie”.

Coast Guard crews on duty reported frequently hearing strange noises, mysterious knocks on their bedroom doors in the middle of the night, doors opening and closing, the television being turned on and off repeatedly, and even having the covers pulled off the end of their bed.

According to the rumors, in the 1920s, Ernie the lighthouse keeper lived at New London with his wife who was very unhappy with her dismal confinement on the hunk of concrete. Bored and lonely, she began flirting with the sailors and fishermen who passed by.

When Ernie learned that his wife had run off with the captain of the Block Island Ferry, he committed suicide by jumping to his death from the roof of the lighthouse. His body was never found.

They did find a log book and the final entry read “Rock of slow torture. Ernie’s domain. Hell on earth – may New London Ledge’s light shine on forever because I’m through. I will watch it from afar while drinking a brew.”

The ghost of Ernie watches over the light for all eternity, and has also been known to sound the fog horn and untie boats to let them drift away.

Once, fishermen stopped at the lighthouse for coffee and told the new keeper they thought the ghost was a hoax. When it was time for them to leave, they found their boat had been untied and set adrift.

The ghost seems to delight in moving things around, especially in the room where he used to sleep when he was alive – Ernie’s Room.

In the 1940s, the keeper’s wife awoke during the night and saw a tall bearded man standing at the foot of their bed, dressed in a rain hat and coat. The apparition stared at her for a moment and then dissolved into nothing. Her children also said they had seen the man in thier room.

The keeper was shaving himself one morning, when he looked in the mirror and saw a man standing behind him. When he turned, there was no-one there.

Japanese Video

In the late 1990s, a TV reporter from Japan spent a night inside the lighthouse to investigate the story of Ernie, and loud whispering noises were heard through the night, and were also audible on the video.

Ghost Hunters

On an episode of the tv show Ghost Hunters, the TAPS team visited the haunted lighthouse but could find no evidence of haunting.