The New England Folklore blog has a ghost story for us. The author relates:
Matinicus Rock isn't very big (only about 30 acres), but there has been a lighthouse on it since 1827. For many years there were two towers with lights, one each on the north and south ends of the building. When Beck visited only the south light was in use. The north tower had been decommissioned and the door was locked tight.
As the telling goes, Horace Beck--from whose account the article was drawn--had asked about the reason the door was locked and was told that many years prior a lighthouse keeper had hung himself in the north tower and, ever since, his ghost would roam through the tower, but also broke dishes, slammed doors, and caused equipment malfunctions; and that the only way to keep the ghost under control was to keep the door shut and locked. Beck was further told that a few years earlier a Coast Guard officer inspecting the facility had ordered that the door be unlocked, and that night all the lights had failed. After that, the door remained locked at all times.
Good story.
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