PUT-IN-BAY - Ghost stories about the South Bass Island Lighthouse have been told for well over a century now, and began shortly after the red-brick lighthouse with a 60-foot tower opened in July 1897.
Some believe it’s haunted by Harry Riley, the first lighthouse keeper who reportedly went insane and died in a state hospital in 1899.
Others think it’s the spirit of Harry Anderson, who visited the lighthouse and took his own life by reportedly jumping from a dock into Lake Erie in 1898. He was being quarantined because of a smallpox outbreak.
If anyone can attest to the supposed spooky goings-on there, it’s Brian Alford. The assistant director at the island’s Stone Laboratory for Ohio State University lived in the house for three months upon getting the job in December, 2019.
“There are no ghosts in there — none at all,” Mr. Alford said with a chuckle. “I’ve heard the stories, but I’ve never had anything happen out there.
“There’s a book or two out there that talks about it, and ghost-hunting groups contact us and want to do investigations. OSU really isn’t really keen on that. I think it’s the OSU position that the ghosts don’t exist.”
The university manages the lighthouse and also has a main office, Aquatic Visitors Center, and cottages on South Bass Island.
“OSU was kind enough to let me live there until I found a house,” Mr. Alford said, “and I lived there for that winter. It was pretty nice being out there — kind of all by yourself at the end of the island, nice and calm. It’s a beautiful Queen Anne-style house with the cylindrical light tower actually built into the house. That’s one of the unique things about the lighthouse.
“The inside of the house is decorated in the style of when the last lighthouse keepers were there in the 1960s, and there’s a lot of history to it. It has a beautiful view, and you get to see several aspects of Lake Erie with the waves crashing in. When the weather’s rip-roaring, it’s really neat to see. It’s on the same island as Put-in-Bay, but away from that village on the exact opposite side of the island.”
OSU purchased the lighthouse listed in the National Register of Historic Places, its surrounding buildings, and three acres of land in 1967. That was five years after its beacon was replaced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with an automated light atop a metal tower constructed next to the lighthouse.
It uses the property with about 1,000 feet of shoreline to support academic programs at Stone Laboratory on South Bass Island, which Mr. Alford said is very involved in studying “the harmful algae bloom issue and their toxicity” in Lake Erie.
“We use it as a laboratory to house visiting researchers and guests of our program,” Mr. Alford said, noting that OSU is designated as the state’s sea grant university with island projects “partially-funded” by NOAA. “We also offer tours on specific Saturdays.”
Tours are available 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 10 and Oct. 8 for those who board a ferry or take their own pleasure craft to the island.
“They’re free when we have them,” Mr. Alford said. “We’ll take you to the top of the lighthouse, tell you the history of the lighthouse and lightkeepers. You can climb up the 42 steps to the light tower.
“It’s the second-highest structure on the island after the [352-foot] Perry’s [Victory and International Peace] Monument, which is at the opposite end of the island.” That is dedicated to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s decisive victory in the Battle of Lake Erie on Sept. 10, 1813, in the War of 1812.
“The grounds are open dawn-to-dusk every day,” he continued, “and we have historical kiosks set up that people can read to understand the history of the lighthouse.”
The 2 1/2-story Queen Anne-style structure with a slate roof houses the beacon, and was built when Congress allocated funds for construction and the purchase of the land and properties from Mary and Alfred Parker for $11,000. The area at the extremely rocky southwest tip of the island is called Parker’s Point.
“One of the main reasons the lighthouse was built was because of the historic wrecks on the west side of the island near the lighthouse,” Mr. Alford said. “There were a lot of ships coming from Toledo and Oak Harbor to carry goods across the Great Lakes.
“A lot of people scuba dive to see the wrecks of cargo ships that carried things like lumber.”
The lighthouse guided boats through islands located between Sandusky and Port Clinton with a 10-sided lantern and a fourth-order Fresnel lens. It was fueled with oil before being converted to electricity. That lens can be viewed at the Lake Erie Islands Historical Society in Put-in-Bay.
“It took a lot of hard work to operate the house,” Mr. Alford said. “They had to climb up the stairs, attach weights underneath the light to a wire cable, and these weights would slowly drop and spin the light around.
“Then, every 45 minutes to one hour, the lighthouse keeper would have to wait for the weights to come down to the bottom and run them back up the tower and set them up again so the light could keep spinning. Then there was the process of constantly going back and putting the oil in the light and the lamp.”
He said the keepers also had to row to the nearby Green Island Lighthouse, which was burned out during a 1974 fire. Only part of that limestone structure remains.
“In the winter time,” Mr. Alford added, “they would use sleds to the mainland to bring groceries and supplies.”
It was a rough and challenging life, but did it drive keepers to haunt the South Bass Island Lighthouse?
Mr. Alford says “no,” and that’s the official word.
First Published August 27, 2022, 11:00 a.m.
