| The Point Lookout Lighthouse sits on a peninsula that | | | | The trauma and death associated with the prison |
| marks the entrance to the Potomac River in | | | | camp may help explain the many strange, paranormal |
| Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. The area was known as | | | | events that have been reported by lighthouse |
| a pleasant vacation place prior to the Civil War. It | | | | keepers and visitors over the years, thus earning it |
| was originally part of St. Michael's Manor, which was | | | | the title of "America's most haunted lighthouse". |
| owned by the first governor of Maryland. The point | | | | In the years following the end of the war, the |
| had been used as a summer resort, complete with | | | | onslaught of reports of paranormal occurances in the |
| beach cottages and a wharf. The addition of the | | | | area began. There were reports of strange noises |
| lighthouse had served to add to the charm of the | | | | such as footsteps, snoring, foul odors, lights going on |
| region. | | | | and off, and disembodied voices carrying on |
| In 1825, the Federal Government determined that a | | | | conversations, laughing, singing happy tunes or even |
| light needed to be built at Point Lookout to warn | | | | calling for help. One woman was reportedly |
| ships of the shoals and to mark the entrance to the | | | | awakened in the middle of the night to someone |
| Potomac River. | | | | calling her name, but no one was there. Some of |
| The lighthouse was constructed in 1830 as a | | | | these strange sounds have actually been recorded by |
| one-and-a-half story wood and masonry building. This | | | | paranormal investigators over the years. |
| first lighthouse was of little use in navigation since the | | | | In addition to the sounds, there have also been |
| lantern stood only 24 feet off the ground. It was | | | | numerous reports of apparitions. The most popular of |
| rebuilt in 1883 as the current two-story structure and | | | | the appartions reported is that of the first lighthouse |
| the light was raised to 40 feet. | | | | keeper, Ann Davis, who has been seen standing at |
| A fog bell tower was added in 1872 and then | | | | the top of the stairs wearing a long, navy blue skirt |
| upgraded in 1889. In 1883, the second story was | | | | and white shirt, her normal daily attire. |
| added to the house to enable the dwelling to house | | | | There have also been reports of transparent figures, |
| two keepers and their families. In 1927, the house | | | | possibly in civil war uninforms, moving around in the |
| was enlarged to its present size and turned into two | | | | basement and roaming the grounds outside the |
| separate apartments, each with six rooms and a | | | | lighthouse seemingly searching for their graves that |
| bath. Electricity was also added around the same | | | | were moved more than a century ago. |
| timeframe. | | | | Paranormal investigations have been going on for |
| Civilian keepers continued to tend the light full-time | | | | years at Point Lookout. As previously mentioned, |
| until 1979, even though it had been transferred to | | | | some of the investigators have recorded audio proof |
| the Coast Guard back in 1939. In 1951, the Navy | | | | of other-worldly goings-on. Audio evidence presents |
| started buying and building up the property around | | | | twenty-four distinct voices eminating from various |
| the lighthouse. In 1965 the light was deactivated and | | | | locations in the lighthouse. The voices were of both |
| the structures completely turned over to the navy. | | | | men and women speaking and singing. One voice, |
| The Civil War completely transformed the point from | | | | believed to be that of a union guard at the prison |
| a pleasant vacation spot to a place scarred with | | | | camp, was recorded saying: "fire if they get too |
| permanent reminders of what had occured on the | | | | close to you". Another appears to be that of the |
| landscape. Hammond General Hospital was | | | | former keeper Ann Davis saying: "My house". |
| constructed in 1862 to care for wounded Union | | | | In 2002, the Navy set in motion a complete |
| soldiers. The next year, the Union began holding | | | | restoration of the lighthouse exterior. The structure |
| Confederate prisoners at the hospital. As a result, | | | | was painted in accordance with it's color scheme |
| Camp Hoffman, the civil war's largest prison camp, | | | | from 1927. The lighthouse was turned over to the |
| was constructed near the hospital. The prison camp | | | | State of Maryland in 2006. A few months later, the |
| held as many as 20,000 prisoners at one point. The | | | | Point Lookout Lighthouse Preservation Society was |
| prison grounds were filthy, very overcrowded and | | | | founded to raise funds to restore the lighthouse and |
| quickly became a breeding ground for disease. | | | | making it accessible to the public by turning it into a |
| When all was said and done, nearly 4,000 men had | | | | museum. |
| died at the camp from disease, starvation or | | | | The lighthouse remains on Navy property and is |
| exposure. Their bodies were buried in various | | | | currently fenced off and not openly accessible to the |
| locations on or near the lighthouse grounds. In later | | | | public. Around Halloween, the location is occasionally |
| years when these gravesites were threatened by | | | | open in the daytime for open houses and sometimes |
| erosion, they were relocated to a spot just north of | | | | in the evening for limited night-time paranormal |
| Point Lookout. | | | | investigations. |