Souter Lighthouse
The world's first lighthouse to be powered by electricity, Souter Lighthouse was investigated by Yvette Fielding and the rest of the Most Haunted team during the first season of the programme; but how haunted is it really?
The sources I will be using
5. Co-Curate
6. Kiddle
11. The Handbook
History
First built in 1871 by Sir James Douglas, Souter Lighthouse is located along England's east coast between Marsden and Whitburn. As mentioned earlier, it is also the first lighthouse in the world purpose built to use electricity. During 1860, twenty shipwrecks occured on the rocks and reefs at Whitburn Steel, and this led to the area being known as the most dangerous coastline in the country. With an average of forty-four shipwrecks per mile of coast, it was decided a lighthouse needed to be built. The lighthouse, despite its name, stands on Lizard point which is a mile north of Souter point. It was chosen to stand on Lizard point due to the higher cliffs which offered better visibility of the lighthouse. The lighthouse itself is named Souter Lighthouse to avoid confusion with the Lizard Lighthouse which had already been built in Cornwall.
Once the lighthouse had been built, during the 1970's it was described as 'without a doubt one of the most powerful lights in the world' as it could be seen for up to 26 miles. The electric power really was an important milestone as not only did the design provide for a brighter light, but a safer one too. Before this, lighthouses were lit by gas and oil lamps. Before that, they were lit by wood or coal fires. As you can imagine, these designs allowed for quite a few easy accidents to happen.
Souter Lighthouse has a grand total of 76 steps to climb in order to reach the light, and overlooks 2 miles of beach, grasslands, and cliffs. It also stands at 75ft hight. Plus, it cost £15,148 to build, which is the equivilant to £7.5 million today. Some of the first residents were Henry Millet, who was both in charge and a qualified engineer, and four assistant light keepers. During 1881 the Millet household included his wife, eight kids, a sister, and a servant.
During 1914, the electric light was replaced with a more conventional oil lamp. This didn't last for too long though as in 1952, the light was reverted back to Once again run on mains electric power, with the actual rotation of the light being driven by clockwork until 1983. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1988 after 117 years of service due to new technology such as GPS and satellite navigation rendering the location redundant. It did find a new purpose though as it was used as a radio navigation beacon until 1999 before being retired completely.
In 1990, the lighthouse was opened to visitors, and today it is currently owned by the National Trust who do still open the lighthouse for tourists. These visitors can access the engine room, the living quarters, the light tower, and the compass room. The lighthouse, engine house, boiler house, workshops, and houses are all grade II listed buildings.
The Ghosts
It is important to note that the 1881 - 1891 census includes the Darling family. Robert Darling served as the lighthouse keeper for 24 years and Isabelle Darling, the niece of maritime hero Grace Darling, lived at the lighthouse during this time. Grace Darling is known as a maritime hero because during 1838 she rescued many survivors from the wreck of the Forfarshire, but it is neither her or Robert Darling who is said to haunt this location; it is Isabelle. There are also other spirits said to haunt the location along with poltergeist activity being reported by the staff here.
The staff have reported cold spots, along with seeing a lighthouse keeper who is said to have appeared at the end of a kitchen corridor only to then disappear, leaving behind a strong smell of tobacco. The tobacco smell has also been reported in other areas, such as around the recreated keepers cottage. A young girl has also been seen near the engine room, and is sometimes crying. Plus, a disembodied female voice calls out people's names who visit the location. Staff have also reported being grabbed. One strong instance of poltergeist activity is said to have occured in the kitchen when a soup ladle flew out from a large pot of soup which splattered soup everywhere. Other cutlery is also said to float in a similar manner.
Now, the reason I mentioned Isabelle is because of the investigation Most Haunted did. I still don't quite know where I stand on Most Haunted, I think I Trust Yvette and some members of her team, but I do not trust Derek Acorah. The team went to the lighthouse knowing the staffs tales of poltergeists, shipwrecks, and the lighthouse keeper, but they weren't told anything about Isabelle. While Derek did his walkaround, he picked up on Isabelle's presence and said she was causing the activity, not a past lighthouse keeper. This surprised certain members of the team, including their parapsychologist who says during the episode that the hauntings they were told about were not on the Internet, but that Isabelle Darling staying at the lighthouse was.
Either way, apparently you've got Isabelle there too. Derek also picked up on a John when he went into the office of the property manager, and there was a John who lived there and died in that room.
Summary of activity
1. Floating cutlery
2. Lighthouse keeper apparition
3. Young girl apparition
4. Young girl crying apparition
5. Names spoken in female voice
6. Tobacco smell
7. Being grabbed
8. Cold spots
My Thoughts
I believe the lighthouse staff, but I do not trust Derek. Looking at the reported activity, I would say the lighthouse is a 2 or 3 out of 10 for level of haunted. Either the staff wanted to bring revenue and publicity, or their claims of activity are real. I'm going to believe the staff here, but even with believing what they've said there isn't much to go on. There are two reported apparitions, and then it's the standard stuff you would expect in a haunted location regarding the cold spots and being touched. The only thing I find extreme here is the experience regarding the soup ladle, and I would love it if the staff had photos of the kitchen after the incident happened.
The Most Haunted team also said they didn't encounter much activity at this location, which further backs up my suspicions of there being only one or two spirits there. I think if another team conducted an investigation, they would struggle to find evidence of more than two spirits being present. I think the spirits can manifest as an apparition and produce some relatively extreme examples of poltergeist activity due to the amount of energy required to power the light. These are just my thoughts though, and I think the Most Haunted team's own conclusion of this location goes to boost the validity of that team, or at least certain members of it.
Personally, I would love to investigate here, or watch a live stream or pre-recorded video of another team investigating it due to my suspicions on how dull it could be to investigate. It could make for an excellent control location for testing out new equipment. Regardless, please let me know what your thoughts are on this location and let me know if I've missed anything out. If you have any experiences of your own regarding Souter Lighthouse, please let me know! And as usual:
Thank you for reading to the end of this post! I really hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments whether that be about the blog, experiences of your own, or even places you would like for me to investigate, then you can comment and follow on here, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit, and you can email thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com for a quick response to any questions.
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