LIFE LIST UPDATE – No. 128: Climb to the top of the Pensacola Lighthouse

Pensacola Lighthouse and Museum

In November 2009, one of my favorite TV shows, “Ghost Hunters,” featured an episode in which The Atlantic Paranormal Society investigated claims of paranormal activity at the Pensacola Lighthouse and Museum in Pensacola, Fla. I’ve wanted to visit this old lighthouse ever since, and I officially placed it on my “life list” a couple of years ago. On Friday, my son and I took a quick field trip to the lighthouse and even climbed all the way to the top of the lighthouse tower.

Built in 1858 on a bluff on the north side of the entrance to Pensacola Bay, the lighthouse tower is 150 feet tall and is 190 feet above sea level. The lighthouse began operation on New Year’s Day 1859 and is still in use today. Built on a granite base and constructed of brick, the powerful light at the top of the tower flashes ever 20 seconds and has a range of 27 nautical miles.

As mentioned, I’ve wanted to visit the Pensacola Lighthouse ever since Season Five of “Ghost Hunters.” The lighthouse, which has seen several deaths and at least one murder, is supposedly haunted and people have reported hearing footsteps and their names being called from throughout the building. Others have reported seeing ghosts, including the ghosts of a slave and a woman who died during childbirth.

Those of you who saw this episode will remember that the paranormal investigators on the show declared that there was paranormal activity going on inside the lighthouse. During their investigation, their K2 meters went wild, and they heard whispers, footsteps, a chair sliding across the floor and the hatch door slamming shut at the top of the lighthouse tower. Another investigator felt something touch her hair and another reported feeling an unusual breeze as if something unseen had walked by her.

Others reported hearing what might have been the voice of a child and shuffling footsteps. Later, in one of the show’s most dramatic moments, a camera switches on and off by itself and while it’s off investigators think they hear someone walk by and open the front door.

My son and I visited the lighthouse on Friday morning and, for the day after Thanksgiving, the crowd was relatively light. The highlight of the trip was getting to climb all the way to the top of the lighthouse tower. It’s 177 steps from top to bottom and the view from the top is quite impressive. When you get back to the bottom, the lighthouse workers will stamp your hand as proof that you’ve been to the top and back, and this stamp allows you to get a certificate in the gift shop that says you have “conquered the 177 stairs of the Pensacola Lighthouse.”

The Pensacola Lighthouse Association currently maintains the property and is in charge of all the tours there, even occasional “ghost tours.” If you’d like to visit the lighthouse for yourself, it’s located on the grounds of the Pensacola Naval Air Station at 2081 Radford Blvd. in Pensacola, and it’s open seven days a week. Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under. For more information, visit www.pensacolalighthouse.org.

In the end, how many of you have ever been to the Pensacola Lighthouse? What did you think about it? Let us know in the comments section below.