I Think I Saw a Ghost…

Summary

The author recounts a potentially supernatural experience at Smoky Cape Lighthouse Keeper's cottage, where they saw an apparition on their last night of a week-long stay in cottage number one.

Abstract

The Smoky Cape Lighthouse Keeper's cottage, located halfway between Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie on the east coast of Australia, offers a unique stay in heritage-listed buildings. The author, who has always been fascinated with lighthouses, booked a stay in cottage number one, enjoying activities like whale watching, visiting historical sites, and relaxing. Despite a week of peaceful bliss, the author's experience took an eerie turn on the last night when they saw a figure in a long dress outside, leading them to read about similar strange occurrences in the guest book the next day. The caretaker's reluctance to clean the cottage alone further solidified the unsettling atmosphere. Subsequent visits were made to the lighter and airier cottage number two, where no such experiences occurred, and cottage number one was never visited again.

Opinions

The author has a fondness for lighthouses and was excited to stay in a lighthouse keeper's cottage.
The experience at the cottage was generally positive, filled with family activities and relaxation, until the last night.
The author initially dismissed the apparition as a trick of the light or overactive imagination, possibly influenced by their husband's jokes about ghosts.
After reading the guest book and speaking with the caretaker, the author considered the possibility of the cottage being haunted.
Despite the unsettling experience, the author returned to the Smoky Cape Cottages but chose to stay in a different cottage that did not evoke the same feelings of unease.

at Smoky Cape Lighthouse Keeper’s cottage.

Smoky Cape is situated on the east coast of Australia about halfway between Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie, almost a 5-hour drive from our home in Brisbane. The little coastal town of South West Rocks is a ten-minute drive along Lighthouse Road. Yes, there’s a lighthouse atop the headland that is Smoky Cape.

Apart from the lighthouse itself, there are a B&B and two self-contained cottages. The B&B was originally the head lighthouse keeper’s cottage and the two cottages were for the assistant lighthouse keepers. Built in 1891, the cottages and lighthouse are heritage listed. The lighthouse became automated in 1988. I’ve always wanted to live in a lighthouse and when I was younger, there were still several lighthouses that needed a real lighthouse keeper on site. No special qualifications were necessary.

So when I found you could book to stay in one of these cottages, I jumped at the chance. The first time we visited we stayed for a week in cottage number one. It was attached to cottage number two but there was a thick stone wall between them — at least 12 inches thick. Actually, all of the walls were built of stone even the internal ones. They weren’t going to blow down any time soon.

At night the lighthouse light swung round in a circle catching the mountain behind the cottage. My husband would joke with the kids and say it was a ghost because it appeared so regularly. I don’t think any of them believed him. It was all just fun. We spent the whole week there and had a wonderful time. We walked up to the lighthouse every day and watched for whales and dolphins.

We visited the ruins of Trial Bay Gaol at South West Rocks. I loved the history of this convict gaol used as an internment camp for Australians who were related to Germans during the First World War. Very sad! The miniseries, Always Afternoon told the fictional story of some of those internees.

We went four-wheel-driving on the beach. We sat around and played board games, read, fed the kookaburras, and had cheese platters with wine every afternoon. It was heaven to get away from our business (and the phone) for a few days. It was pure bliss uninterrupted by any strange happenings.

On our last night there, I was washing up in the kitchen when I glanced out the window and saw a woman flit past wearing a long dress or maybe a nightie. There was no one in the adjoining cottage. I thought it was probably my husband playing a practical joke so I wiped my hands and went out the back door into the courtyard. I checked the gate. It was still locked. I thought “that’s weird”. The gate was the only way in and out of the courtyard but didn’t think anything more of it. Probably my tired eyes playing tricks on me — or too many glasses of wine.

As we were leaving the next morning, I picked up the guest book to write my review and read a few of the previous entries mentioning weird things happening. I started to think about the previous night. That could definitely be classed as a weird happening, but it wasn’t until the caretaker came to bid us goodbye that I mentioned it. She then proceeded to tell me she refuses to clean this cottage by herself — she always has her husband accompany her. She hasn’t seen anything. She just doesn’t like the feeling that this cottage gives her when she’s here alone.

You must remember when I saw the apparition the previous night, I knew nothing of what other people had written or what the cleaning lady had just told me. If I had, I would understand that it could have just been my overactive imagination.

We returned to stay at Smoky Cape Cottages many more times after that but always chose to stay in cottage number two which faced south and was much lighter and airier. None of us ever saw or felt anything at all in this cottage.

We never stayed in cottage number one again.