The Woman on the Beach

The Bahamas, islands off the southeast coast of the United States, have often been ripped by great storms. In the days of sailing ships there was a tremendous number of wrecks off the shores of these islands, and a shipwreck often results in a ghost story. Great Isaac Cay, a small island of the group, is the scene of one such story.

In 1810, long before a lighthouse had been built on Great Isaac Cay, a hurricane struck the area, and several ships were wrecked. Pieces of ships and bodies of victims washed ashore for days. One of the bodies was that of a woman clutching an infant in her arms. Miraculously the baby was still alive, though barely. The people of the island nursed the child back to health, but what happened to her after that is unknown.

Though the story was widely repeated throughout the islands, there were no ghostly visitations until many years later when workmen began to build a lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay. While walking down the beach one night, a workman saw the hooded figure of a woman coming toward him. Her arms were outstretched, and she was crying, "My baby, my baby!" over and over again. At first the workman wanted to go and help her, but he changed his mind when he saw that the figure was semi-transparent and that he could see the rising moon right through her.

When he recounted the story of his meeting to his fellow workmen, they all laughed at him, but not for long. One by one all the others encountered the same figure on the beach, and though no one had been harmed or threatened by the ghost, they were all heartily glad when the job of building the lighthouse was finished. In August 1859 the lighthouse keeper arrived at the new structure. The departing workmen warned him of what they had seen. He didn't believe them at first. But every time there was a hurricane or a severe storm in the area, the woman was seen walking the beach crying, "My baby, my baby!"

A series of lighthouse keepers were frightened by the specter, but after a while they got used to it. Then, during a storm in 1913, the ghost became bolder. She attempted to climb the spiral staircase of the lighthouse itself. The lighthouse keeper happened to be on his way down the stairs at the time and met the ghost face to face. This threw him into a panic. He raced back up the stairs and slammed the door behind him. He then blocked the door with a heavy crate.

In theory, at least, a ghost should be able to walk right through a door and a crate. But in this case, the ghost didn't. The terrified lighthouse keeper huddled in his room until the sun came up the next morning. Then, ever so carefully, he made his way down the stairs, expecting to meet the ghost at every turn. That very day he applied for a transfer. It was a year before anyone new could be found to take over this particular lighthouse because it had acquired such a bad reputation.

The new lighthouse keeper was a more determined person. It wasn't that he didn't believe in ghosts; he most certainly did. But he also believed that ghosts could be laid to rest if treated properly.

He gathered together a number of the local people and held a solemn funeral service at the spot where the mother and child had been found. This apparently was what the ghost had wanted, for she was never seen on Great Isaac Cay again.