Episode 65: The Wood Island Lighthouse
Thomas Orcutt, one of the famous keepers of Wood Island Light, and his dog Sailor
Wood Island Lighthouse in Saco Bay, Maine has been part of Maine’s history since it was built in 1808. It is also regarded as one of Maine’s most haunted locations, mainly due to a murder-suicide that occurred in 1896.
24-year-old Howard Hobbs and his friend William Moses had been staying in a shack on the island owned by 35-year-old Frederick Milliken, and they had not payed him rent in several months. They both were part time fishermen and made money hunting seals for bounty, and both men had a drinking problem. On June 2nd, 1896, Howard and William had come back to the island after one of their sprees of heavy drinking on the mainland when Frederick approached the men to discuss them paying rent.
The conversation quickly grew heated and Howard, still drunk, had brought a rifle but claimed it was not loaded. Frederick attempted to get the gun away from Howard but was shot in the process and passed away from his injury 45 minutes later in front of his distraught wife and three children. Howard was extremely remorseful and ran to get help from Thomas Orcutt, the lighthouse keeper at the time, but it came too late. When Thomas told Howard to turn himself in to authorities, he retreated back to the shack and shot himself.
Since the murder-suicide, there have been many unexplained instances of paranormal activity such as moans from the shack, shadow figures, and a lighthouse keeper’s wife even said that she bumped into the ghost of a man in the bedroom closet. In 2005 the New England Ghost Project, a paranormal research team, went onto the island with a medium to see what they could find and reported several run-ins with spirits. One of the spirits they were said to have found was distraught and kept saying “I didn’t mean to”, while another was severely injured and fearful.
While some believe the lighthouse is not haunted, many have claimed to have seen or heard things themselves and believe that the spirits of the victims of the murder-suicide are still on the island.
Image sources:
newenglandlighthouses.net - “History of Wood Island Lighthouse, Biddeford Pool, Maine”
thehauntedplaces.com - “History of Wood Island Lighthouse, Maine”