St. Augustine Lighthouse

A 165-foot lighthouse with 219 steps, built in 1874 to replace a crumbling Spanish watchtower. USA Today readers voted it one of the top 10 best haunted destinations in the United States. Featured on Ghost Hunters, CNN, and the Weather Channel.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse stands 165 feet tall at the edge of Anastasia Island, casting its beam across the Atlantic since 1874. Its reputation as one of America's most haunted lighthouses stems from a tragedy that occurred during construction on July 10, 1873.

Hezekiah Pittee, the lighthouse superintendent, had relocated from Cape Elizabeth, Maine with his family to oversee the project. His children—Mary Adelaide (15), Eliza (13), Carrie (4), and Edward—lived on site with their parents. The workers had built a rail cart system to haul supplies from the water, and the Pittee children treated it as a Victorian-era rollercoaster, riding the cart down to the shoreline for fun.

On that fateful July day, Mary, Eliza, Carrie, and an unnamed African-American girl (whose father likely worked on site) climbed into the cart. Someone had removed the wooden board that normally stopped the cart at the water's edge. The cart flipped into the water, trapping the girls underneath. Dan Sessions, a young African-American worker who witnessed the accident, raced to lift the cart, but three of the four girls had already drowned. Only four-year-old Carrie survived.

Since then, visitors and staff have reported seeing two girls in 19th-century clothing playing in the woods near the lighthouse. Their laughter echoes along the nature trail, and wet footprints mysteriously appear on the floor of the Keeper's House—three sets, belonging to children. The Pittee sisters are said to play pranks on visitors, coaxing them up and down the 219-step tower with giggling and footsteps, and reportedly tying shoelaces to the iron steps.

The basement of the Keeper's House has become the most active location for paranormal activity. SyFy's Ghost Hunters has investigated multiple times, with A&E noting that the lighthouse produced "some of the most compelling paranormal evidence ever captured in Ghost Hunters history." The St. Augustine Lighthouse offers its own "Dark of the Moon" paranormal tours, inviting guests to experience the phenomena firsthand.