Skywatch Friday: Hauntingly Beautiful

 

Not a great photo, to be sure.  But the contrast between the dark sky and the sunlight slipping under the blanket of clouds and setting everything on fire was irresistable to me last weekend when we were at Ocean Beach Park and in view of the Ledge Lighthouse in Groton, Connecticut.

 

I didn't notice to low-flyer in the foreground until I uploaded the photo to Picasa. He must have been in hot pursuit of an abandoned fry.In 1987, New London Ledge Light became the last lighthouse on Long Island Sound to be automated. On the last day before automation, a Coast Guardsman entered in the log:

Rock of slow torture. Ernie's domain. Hell on earth -- may New London Ledge's light shine on forever because I'm through. I will watch it from afar while drinking a brew.

So not everybody loved the place, according to the Web site of this land (water?) mark, which also reports:

Probably the best-known part of this station's history and lore is the lighthouse's infamous ghost, "Ernie." It's been claimed that in the 1920s or '30s, a keeper learned that his wife had run off with the captain of the Block Island ferry. Distraught, the keeper jumped -- or fell -- from the roof of the lighthouse to his death, the story goes. Some versions of this story say that Ernie's real name may have been John Randolf or Randolph. If there's any truth behind the legend, it's elusive.

New England Ghost Project produced the alternate theory that "Ernie" is actually the spirit of a man who was part of a construction crew working at the lighthouse and fell from the roof to his death.

If you're into the ghost hunter stuff or you just want to see how Connecticut gets herself some attention, have a look at this video.

　
Skywatch Friday