Why Did So Many Lighthouse Keepers "Go Mad"?
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NOTE: Correction!! I meant to say JOHN Brown, not James Brown. So sorry about that.
We commonly imagine lighthouses three ways: cold, scary, and definitely haunted. But where did that image come from, and why did so many lighthouse keepers "go mad" in the first place? Come learn with me!
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SOURCES:
Lightships and lighthouses, by Frederick A. Talbot.
A Short Bright Flash by Theresa Levitt
California Lighthouse Life in the 1920s and 1930s by Wayne C. Wheeler
Lighthouse Beginnings and Man’s Need For Them by Trudy Dootson, Palos Verdes Interpretive Center Docent Research Paper #43
Los Angeles Harbor (Angel's Gate) Lighthouse by Lighthouse Friends www.lighthousefriends.com/lig...
Keepers of the Lights by Hans Christian Adamson
Sentinels of the North Pacific by James A. Gibbs, Jr.
The Ending of ‘The Lighthouse’ Explained by Kieran Fisher filmschoolrejects.com/the-lig...
A Rock and a Hard Place: Storms, Death and Madness at the Smalls Lighthouse by Trinity House History trinityhousehistory.wordpress...
Human toxicology of Mercury by Thomas W. Clarkson
LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER’S MADNESS: FOLK LEGEND OR SOMETHING MORE TOXIC? By Michaela Walter, University of Calgary
The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead By Joe Nickell
Lighthouse Keepers by the National Park Service www.nps.gov/articles/lighthou...
Black History Month: Honoring the service of African American Guardians by William H. Thiesen web.archive.org/web/202006142...
Instructions to the Employees of the United States Lighthouse Service 1927 uslhs.org/sites/default/files...
Black Lighthouse Keepers by Thomas Tag uslhs.org/black-lighthouse-ke...
Historians shed light on first African American lighthouse keeper for Cape Henry: prominent abolitionist Willis Augustus Hodges www.wavy.com/news/local-news/...
He Died On His Knees: The Amazing Story of Lighthouse Keeper William M. Parker By Timothy Harrison and Myrna J. Cherrix www.lighthousedigest.com/Diges...
Images and Video:
The Thirteenth Year, 1999
The Lighthouse, 2019
The Mermaid, 1904
Point Fermin Lighthouse Society
Diver Kevin
United States Lighthouse Society
Lighthouse Friends
The Banning Museum
Jersey Heritage Trust
Los Angeles Times
a t-shirt that says "I became a lighthouse keeper for romance and adventure and all I got is this lousy mercury poisoning"
OMG......
@@KazRowe Sounds like a merch idea?👀
So good.. would definitely buy one
Please, yes please
I love your Eddie Munster t shirt.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻💚
In addition to poisoning, I feel like people underestimate how much that isolation wears on the human psyche. Even for introverted people. Before phones and before the internet, you might be completely alone, excepting the rare occasion someone came by to drop off supplies.
Yea the lockdowns are good example of people going mad from being isolated
I'd go nuts writing thousands of pages of hand written cryptographic algorithms. I do this now but I only have a couple hundred thus far.
Yes and of course all the wandering lost souls who died at sea would naturally hover towards the light and might accidentally give the lighthouse keeper a scare
I could do it. I was in the minority that loved Covid isolation --- except when they closed the parks down for a so many months. I even looked into being a Fire Watcher in a tower. There are still a few around.
BUT let me add, that when that rare occasion of someone coming by to drop off supplies ... well I'd be bending their ear for sure.
My dad was a lighthouse keeper on the small isle of Copinsay in the Orkneys during the 1950's. There were 4 guys who shared the duties in shifts, 3 on the island, the other 1 on the main island called the Mainland. To while away the boredom of the light duty he made toys for the children and later made and learned to play guitar. The family lived on the mainland of Orkney and my mother would regularly go down to the radio shack to communicate with dad. The keepers would be on the 'rock' about 4 weeks, and then go ashore for about 2 weeks. My dad was a very reliable and laid back person - he'd been a bomber pilot in WWII so there wasn't the remotest chance of him going mad. He once brought me a kitten; the mother was the lighthouse cat and the father a wild cat. He was called Sam and was an amazing and agile animal. He was killed accidentally by a combine harvester. To this day and I'm now 80, I cry about that cat. BTW I've written a soon to be published book illustrated by Steve Meyers a Canadian artist - described by the publishers as ''A gloriously irreverent look at life on an isolated RAF base during the 1960's.'' It is called Sweating On My Chitty Box.
the kitten😭
Two questions, what is a chitty box? And where will the book be sold once it’s published? Thanks 😁
@@mack7207 The answer to the question is explained in the last chapter of the book - it is a box to send your personal belongings home in; but the title has more meaning than that. The book will be sold in the UK at any retail outlets which accept it for sale. It is currently awaiting printing and I will get more information after that.
@@2011littlejohn1 hopes that you can get it out soon :) I’d love to read it
@@2011littlejohn1 Very interesting, thank you for replying. If you let me know or I see it, i'll be sure to pick up a copy as I live in the UK too, thanks.
My grandfather was a light keeper his whole life and so was his father, my dad grew up on the lighthouse. I find it so weird that keepers went mad, my whole family just sees lighthouses as home, and nothing puts me to sleep faster than a fog horn
It's amazing how different experiences can shape our perceptions of things. To your family, lighthouses are a comforting and familiar environment, whereas to others, the isolation and constant vigilance required to keep the light burning can drive them to madness. It's a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the human spirit. There's something truly special about carrying on a family tradition and finding peace and comfort in the familiar sights and sounds of your upbringing.
Light house pay good salary?
@@goldenshots1988While they still exist in BC Canada, Greece, Portugal, one in the Bahamas, two in Ireland most lighthouses are de manned but most have an attending keeper who lives nearby. The Bailey which was automated in 1997 was the last to be so in Ireland but still has a keeper on sight.
my grandmother thinks her lighthouse keeper father lost his mind from gradual lead poisoning. He conserved the exterior paint job, and also painted lighthouse-heavy scenes on the inside of atlantic sea clam shells. I mean, he was also an alcoholic with hella unresolved abandonment issues, but whose to say???
oh, at age 7 during first time visiting the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove I was playing among the slippery rocks and seaweed and I noticed something shiny caught the light. It was a gold tooth! a molar with a gold crown, actually. I was thrilled! it wasn't until adulthood that I realised it probably belonged to one of the 229 people who died there the year before when their plane, Swissair Flight 111, crashed into the ocean. eerie! 300 million in jewels and a Picasso were never found.
I have heard that there was a high correlation between painters, both the artistic and the purely functional kind, have a high rate of alcoholism. Some people have speculated that it had something to do with the paint.
There's a light house near me it's local legend haunted apparently
@@rickyspeople Eyy Peggy's Cove! Been there many times, since it is within driving distance of me.
@@milascave2 People got arsenic poisoning from green paint in their houses in the Victorian era. Also green dye, but that's a different story...
I have the headcanon that the supposed unimaginable truth that dooms Young Thomas is the simple fact that the light is just a light. That all of the pain and madness endured on the lighthouse was all for nothing but a light.
Same!
I really like this take on the story!
Someone said: “He either saw something in that light or he saw nothing. Both opportunities are equally terrifying.”
Wow!
Every time I see the word "head cannon" I then imagine David Lynch saying the word "No." Lol
this is only tangentially related, but i'm reminded of how a lot of hauntings are chalked up to gas leaks. the one and only time i've ever been exposed to a gas leak, i could only smell it faintly, but what really tipped me off was this feeling that my body was telling me to get out, to RUN, that something was very wrong and something very bad would happen the longer i stayed, though i still finished my load of laundry before i did anything lol. i really don't know why i knew that was a response to a gas leak (i guess because i interpreted it as my body telling me something, as opposed to an external force acting on me), but i could totally see someone who believes in the supernatural immediately thinking "oh, this place is haunted and a ghost is telling me to get out."
It's interesting how our instincts can sometimes manifest in ways that we may not immediately recognize. In the case of a gas leak, our bodies may be picking up on subtle cues that something is not right, even before we consciously register the smell or other physical symptoms. It's possible that in a haunted location, where people may already be on edge or experiencing heightened emotions, these instincts could be easily misinterpreted as supernatural forces at play. It's a fascinating intersection of psychology and the paranormal.
My dad has been listening to the song “The Lighthouse’s Tale” by Nickel Creek since I was a baby, so I feel a sort of connection to anything to do with lighthouses. It’s a sad song about a lighthouse keeper who marries and then loses his wife to a storm, and commits suicide off the top of the lighthouse in grief. The song is sung from the perspective of the lighthouse itself. The opening lyrics are “I am a lighthouse, worn by the weather and the waves. I keep my lamp lit, to warn the sailors on their way”. It also hits home because I live in Michigan, the state with the most lighthouses in the US, due to the Great Lakes
"Birdhouse in Your Soul" is also about a lighthouse. Sort of.
😎
lame
Just listened to the song for the first time. Looove the guitar licks.
@@cheyennekoth4833 It’s really good
Now this is the kinda Lighthouse niche content we all need. God, Willem Dafoe deserved an oscar.
Lol they keep snubbing him and rob. The only oscar it was up for was cinematography i think but they didn't get it
Pretty sure they lost it to roger deakins but he deserved it if we're honest
YE LIKED ME LOBSTER, DIDN'T YE??
The great thing is that now the KZhead algorithm thinks I'm obsessed with lighthouses.
STILL pissed abt it. The academy nowadays just likes to give it to people who do something drastic, like when Leo slept inside a real bear skin or when Anne chopped off all her hair 😤
Me, a person living thousands of miles from any ocean, staring at the Missouri River: I’ll build my own damn lighthouse to haunt.
Lol same. The Missouri river 100% could use a lighthouse.
If you can't craft your own incidental death from gradual mercury poisoning due to lack of scientific research, store bought is fine. ;)
...with blackjack! and hookers!
Fine. I’ll do it myself.
Hauting 😉
The province in Canada, where I live, has many interesting lighthouse stories. Not far from where I lay my head, a lighthouse keeper axed his family, leaving his middle child, a son to live. Twenty years later the son became a lighthouse keeper in that very same lighthouse his father killed his mother and three sisters at. After three years in October he killed his wife and newborn. Hanging himself from the inner stairwell. The following day nearby communities noticed the light still on during the day hours. Upon checking up on the lighthouse keeper, the townsmen found all dead. Oddly, his family spent three years on the island and in that same month of October his father carried out his evil acts. To this day people see bright white and orange orbs on the island. As a child, I would see them several X a month, my grandmother would say, it was nothing more then the ghost of children playing on the island. I come from a family of over 200 years of fishermen. My family has many odd stories. Family states the stories are all true. Local historical societies states the lighthouse land was cursed, as pirates would be hung off the cliffs in cages, warning all that piracy would not be tolerated.
Cages were gibbets
fishermen never disappoint with their fishermen tales yarr!
Yeah no that place is DEFINITELY cursed
Despite the dark history of the lighthouse, it continues to be a beacon of light for ships passing by, guiding them safely through the treacherous waters. The stories of the lighthouse keeper and his family may never be fully understood, but they serve as a reminder of the mysteries and tragedies that lurk in the shadows of our past.
My God!!
21:12 mentioning the Mad Hatter thing, that is also a very interesting subject that I could definitely watch a whole video about. The whole origin of idea of the "Mad Hatter" and actual hat makers that went mad because of substances they used at work at the time
Abby Cox at least mentioned this in a video called something like "the disappointing truth on why we don't wear hats anymore"
Oh my goodness is that why people stopped…😢
mercury cause mad hatter disease
Also parallels with the history of mirror-making !!! Read “The Ugly History of Beautiful Things”
Maybe because I am a Brazilian, but when I think "lighthouse horror" I think less "Mercury poisoning and madness" and more "That one time when the lighthouse keeper and his whole family got murdered by snakes in "Ilha da Queimada Grande" when they managed to get through the high walls..." That's an ex-pirate haven that is better known as "Snake Island" (even got its actual name, rhoughly translated to "big burning", from the fact pirates would set it on fire before landing to keep the snakes away), where snakes were allowed to multiply with no predador so they created a whole new species with a really powerful venom in them... One that works better in birds because, obviously, there are not many other non-snake species in the island...
melhor lugar do brasil possivelmente kkkk
That’s badass
@@elliejelly8815 Its a crazy story and I kinda love it! And to be fair, there is a ghost aspect to it, because people who visit the island talk about hearing the sounds of children in the forest... In an aside, visiting isn't allowed without a pass from the environmental authorities in the Brazilian gov and a guide, but a lot of people try to do ilegaly anyway because of legends of pirate gold buried in it, which doesn't even sound unreasonable because, hardly anywhere safer than the island full of really venomous snakes...
@@thayna7959 Tem menos cobra do que Brasilia... *BADUMTSSSS* xD
That is terrifying and also really metal
Oh to be working in a lighthouse, have a sort of gay relationship with your coworker, and slowly go crazy
Livin the dream
Why say that, when you could be in a lighthouse throwing bomb ass parties with your spouse instead?
Don’t forget to invite the mermaids 🧜♀️ 👀
Honestly.. goals 👏🏻
AND have sex with a creepy mermaid! That's a side benefit you don't get working office.
I got caught in undertow and dragged out to a sandbar in Lake Michigan when I was young. It's been nearly 17 years and I'd still rank that as the single most terrifying experience of my life up until the moment I just gave up and accepted that I was probably dead. Thankfully I got washed up on the sandbar I had been heading for in the first place, where I waited for the tide to go down before crossing back to shore at a shallower point.
How long did you have to wait for the lake Michigan tides to go out?
@@BoycottChinaa I honestly couldn't say for sure. I remember being very disoriented for a bit, and not really having a solid perception of time dude to being so shaken up. If I had to guess, probably 20-30 minutes. I know it wasn't long enough to get sunburned, but it felt like a while.
I'm sorry you had to go through that, having to wait that long too, that's awful, I'm glad you're good
Oh my God
The Great lakes are nothing to mess with😮😮 I live in Michigan.. 20 minutes grin Lake Huron extremely unforgiving waters
The Lighthouse is the best film of 2019. Deserved a lot of recognition at the big award shows, but was only acknowledged for Cinematography. It’s a shame it wasn’t up for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Actor for Pattinson, Supporting Actor for Defoe, Score, Production Design, Costume Design and Editing are some of the awards it could have been up for along with Cinematography. I love the Prometheus and Proteus Greek Mythology influences and how one can interpret it one way and you’re not able to be wrong as Robert Eggers intended for that to be the case as he wanted everyone who walked out of that film wondering “What the Hell did I just watch?” that way the audience walks away with something different. Truly a modern masterpiece. And the real life inspiration for the film is truly fascinating and just shows how mad two people can go when just being alone to work on and keep a lighthouse going. And the history you have as to some of the real life insistence that show how taxing manning and working a lighthouse is very grueling and not the best environment to work in and on top of that there’s the mercury poisoning to boot. It’s no wonder people can go insane and after the Smalls Lighthouse incident, it’s a good thing they had one other person to help maintain things. Great video!
Gross movie.
I always forget how much of a baby the US is, the oldest lighthouse in LA is actually, pretty recent. Living in England, I regularly pass buildings still in use that are older than the USA as a whole.
But they think they are the center of the universe still
@@joywebster2678 As an American, I can, unfortunately, confirm that most of us do think this.
All babies think they are the most important being in the world. 😜 Yes I am an American 3rd generation. lol
LA, and the west coat in general, was some of the lastly settled parts of the US
@@joywebster2678 World Superpower babey- it’s not just propping ourselves up, it’s everybody else thinking we’re important too
Not lighthouse related, but my grandpa used to rust. Especially in the summer. My mom wrote of it, "In the heat of the machine shop, his pores would open wide and drink in the microfine shavings that would later reemerge in an orange stain that he would sweat out while sitting in his car or lying on his pillow. Not to worry, though, because he had a protective cover for his seat and a special pillowcase for his pillow, because it's important to "take care of what you have!" He also had one suit, that he said was for "hatchings, matchings and dispatchings.""
Your mum suld have been a writer that is great prose
That is wild!!
Using “hatching, matching, and dispatching” from now on
I bet he machinef cast iron then. Only metal that just turns to powder like that. I've spent 12 hour days, weeks on end, just machining cast iron in a hot shop. I never stained things orange like your grandpa, but different people's sweat reacts differently to steel and iron. When iron particles were on me, they tended to stain things black. I only owned black clothes then, and black sheets and pillowcases, over rubber versions of the same. The driver seat of my car is still a darker shade than the other ones.
Marryin and buryin’ !!
Imagine being in a lighthouse, for a long period of time, with no contact, no phone, and the anxiety thinking that you hope they don't forget about you and bring supplies on time lol
A well known story in my country (Malta) is when two men were stuck for two days in a lighthouse cut off from the mainland. The lighthouse was at the tip of a breakwater and the waves made it impossible to walk back. They eventually braved the waves after finding their pattern and made it across but were hospitalized shortly after being saved. They weren't really far away from cities but the waves just made it close to impossible for them. Felt like sharing since you're on the topic 😊
Malta is one of my favorite places. Lucky you!
"Why did the lighthouse keepers go mad?" Mercury. Loneliness and lots and lots of mercury.
Loneliness only kills the weak minded!
I always find it weird that american lighthouses are spooky and ghostly and german lighthouses are just like Leuchturm my beloved
Yeah, in Germany they're mostly really big traffic lights, same level of excitement. But they do look cool at night
This is glorious stuff! Living in lighthouses is the ultimate for those of us who love both writing and solitude. Hatmakers used to go mad from the glue fumes, and even today, people in many professions suffer terrible illnesses from inhaling granite dust (while cutting kitchen benchtops) or asbestos (home insulation). So many toxins all around us... This is a wonderful channel, shall explore it further. Cheerio!
It would be so cool to meet people like her and talk about the obscure and fascinating parts of history. I would have loved an elective that would have us write essays about such topics in high school
I once saw a documentary that featured one of the last lighthouse keepers in Norway. He talked about sometimes hearing voices in the walls as something he had just gotten used to.
Do you happen to know where to find the documentary?
what’s the name?
@@positivevibesveda It was one of those things you randomly see on tv. And never see again.
Theodor Kittelsen?
@@vladtimofte6511 i think thats a Norwegian artist
There is a light house on an island near me, built in the late 1800s. Its no longer used anymore, but you can visit it, and it still has keepers who live in a house next to the lighthouse and take care of it and the nature reserve around it. Its such an incredibly beautiful place. They're really a piece of a gothic novel in our own world.
Where please?
omgg where
The lighthouse is no longer in use but has keepers? If it's just to keep it open for public viewing that's so cool!
@@withelisa yep. Cape Bruny Light House in Tasmania, Australia.
There have been times in my life when I so wanted to be left alone, that being a lighthouse keeper looked like a great refuge. I'm an introvert who was an only child and I wonder if those factors would help cope with the solitude.
I know the feeling and still I do not feel I could stand it.
At the end of my primary school me and my parents decided to move me to home school. At first I felt great, I was bullied before so this felt like fresh air, I felt free, like I didn’t need anyone. Unfortunately right now in high school couple years later I’m slowly going mad. Severe social anxiety keeps me inside my shell. All that pain does inspire my art tho. But now I feel like I couldn’t be more lonely
@@bartekdabrowski4007chin up pal, this too shall pass 💪❤️
Hello Kaz, it's a pleasure to run into your channel, love the history and tales of times gone by. I look forward to seeing more of your content.
“Stay tuned to the end for a very exciting announcement” oh my god they’ve finally done it. they’ve bought a lighthouse
One of the proposals to get people interested in going to--and possibly colonizing--Mars that I heard was to raise enough private money to send a mission with one person, and then allow the public's desire for them to not die cause enough of an outcry to send regular missions of supplies. And, as long as supplies are being sent, you may even convince people to send more probes and possibly even construction equipment and more people. It's a pretty stupid idea, imo, but this video reminded me of it because being that alone with a whole planet would be a futuristic equivalent of the lighthouse operator alone with the sea.
Intriguing. On the show "Umbrella Academy," one character is alone on the moon for I think a year. The isolation must be oppressive.
I've spent a bunch of time alone and after about a week you start thinking diagonally. I can only imagine what a year would do to you!
I think people in charge of things like this are underestimating just how many people would willingly go to Mars. There are millions of people that would go, but I have a feeling that a lot of people are being excluded to make way for the rich.
@@yt45204 Yarrrrr!!! And then he could also be the greatest botanist on the planet!!
I'd volunteer for a mission like that. I REALLY get stressed out by being around other people, though I bear them no ill will. Short of that, I wouldn't mind being a lighthouse operator. Capricious and dangerous as the sea is at all times and in all weathers, it's still less terrifying to me than the average interstate highway...
Weirdly enough I've never connected lighthouses to ghost stories despite hearing many of them - I think this is because it's ingrained in my family history. In the early 1900s in Atlantic Canada a lighthouse was built between the two family farms, and was kept by family members until it became obsolete in the 70s. The grandson of the original keeper(a cousin of my dad) fought to keep it from being destroyed and eventually moved it to a new location and converted it into a cottage. I spent a lot of summers growing up there and feel deeply connected to the history(which seems to have not been as tragic as many of the large American lighthouses). It's unfortunate most keepers seem to have had a much worse experience than my family did. Just found your channel and can't wait to watch more!
I’ve been sailing out of San Pedro since I was 13 and never have I heard anything about the old lighthouse, it’s genuinely so cool to know more about a piece of local history that I’m so familiar with
Kaz: I’ve always been fascinated with lighthouses Me: Me too! Kaz: I have favorite lighthouses and I know their location and whether or not they’ve been featured in a film. Me: . . . Wow you REALLY love lighthouses.
She fucks the lighthouses don't she
@@yaboistryker3750 male
@@mikamikan1079 and?
@@mikamikan1079 femme ?
I feel like those are all pretty normal things to know about something that “fascinates” you
“The Lighthouse’s first keepers were unusual for the time, two women”: 😍 “the sisters”: 😔
"And they were sisters! "
@@thecreaterXY omg they were sisters
@@Lucinoxe_Halliday sisters?!
@@Summonization “we’re close”
I know right I was like "lesbian lighthouse :0"
Whoa - I never knew about the mercury poisoning! I can imagine the "needing to be constantly vigilant" stoking an already horrific combination. Thank you for the video!
This was my first time watching your channel, and I gotta say this was a really interesting and informative video!! I never considered that the conditions lighthouse keepers were under would be such a big part on why a lot of them ‘go mad.’ At the same time though, I’ve loved lighthouses since I was a little kid, I definitely got this from my mother who’s an avid lighthouse fan. It’s been our goal to visit every lighthouse in Maine! The beauty and solitude of being at a lighthouse is honestly one of my favorite things, so I can definitely understand why people back then would romanticize this job, even if sometimes it ended up making their lives much worse. Anyway, great video and I can’t wait for the graphic novel next year!
My great grandma once referred to herself, after she fell and bruised her face, as “the wreck of the Hesperus”. Immediately I thought of that when you started talking about ship wrecks!
That's a song by Gordon Lightfoot. Likely that is what your grandma is referring to
@@joywebster2678 Fun fact: "The Wreck fo the Edmund Fitzgerald" is not Gordon Lightfoot's only song about ships in peril on the water. "The Ballad of Yarmouth Castle" tells the true story of a cruise ship that caught fire on November 13, 1965; "Ghosts of Cape Horn" was written as the title theme for a documentary about shipwrecks off the southern tip of South America; And there's even one that features a lighthouse: "'Have you seen the lighthouse shining from the rock For the ship Marie Christine and all her gallant lot? Have you seen the lighthouse, oh we are close to land!' Cried the brave young captain to his wretched band" -- Marie Christine.
My grandmother uses that expression for when her perm has gone flat
@@victoriadiesattheend.8478 No, that's "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald." "The Wreck Of The Hesperus" is a poem by Longfellow. My mother also uses that to describe a mess or a disaster.
Theatre person here! Fresnel lenses are still used today in theaters as well as in certain lighting situations in film for the crisp, highly directional quality of the lamps. (Side note: in theatre terms, the "light" is the light that is produced by the "lamp," the thing that creates the light including the bulb, lense, etc.) This is because they go from spotlight to floodlight so easily (lighting a small spot to a much larger one), and because they use less power and heat up more slowly than the typical LED. Fresnel lights are those ones you see at movie premieres that they shine into the sky as well as the one Commissioner Gordon uses to summon the Batman. haha :)
@@averywealthyman4194 is everything okay
@@averywealthyman4194 you sound like a dick, no matter the year.
They're also used in VR headsets to focus the light from the screen!
That's why Pattinson is batman now
They are also used in DSLR cameras for focusing screens and in some projectors. And they're also often sold as reading aids for the elderly.
oh my goodness i can’t wait to pick up your book kaz!!! your art looks so amazing!!
ok so i literally just found this channel today and i can already say that this is one of my favorites
I live near the oldest intact lighthouse in England (possibly the world). "St Catherine's Oratory" on the Isle of Wight. Built in 1313. It's the last standing lighthouse of the era, because it was never lit. It was built at the expense of the local landowner, as a punishment for his suspected part in wrecking ships off the coast, and in particular the theft of a shipment of wine intended for the pope. It was never lit, because said landowner and locals were thoroughly guilty as charged, and had no intention of making the coastline safer for cargo-laden ships worth looting. For extra trivia, it directly overlooks Blackgang Chine, which is the world's first and oldest theme park, the original one, still open for business. It's one of three lighthouses on the same coastline. The nearest was never finished and is just a ring of brickwork a few feet high. St Catherine's Lighthouse, nearby, is still in use and inhabited to this day.
Oldest intact lighthouse is in Egypte and the tallest intact lighthouse is in The Netherlands
Great stories, thanks for the local insight.
I live very near there too! :-)
@Peter Ang the one in egypt is the first known, but it is no longer intact. The oldest intact is in Spain.
Thanks for the hint from Tory sunny uplands best to avoid
You know what, I've never even once heard of a black lighthouse keeper, let alone a full crew of keepers for 70 years! This really was a treat to learn during black history month 💕
yeah same, I had no idea about that, or that Chinese workers also worked around lighthouses
All the way up to I think WW2, the general consensus was that black people had poor night vision. I am assuming that is why.
@@jcfra420 interesting, I've never once heard that before.
@@MissSimone02 It was in a WW2 documentary, I think with the Tuskegee Airmen is where I heard of it.
@@jcfra420 I'll have to look into that because the Tuskegee Airmen were nothing but praised as far as I can remember when I comes to conversation about black ww2 vets.
Incredibly informative and so easy to be sucked in. You have the perfect voice tone and speed in which you keep things moving is really nice
I continue to be drawn to your content in an almost visceral way. Thank you Kaz for your hard work.
I always make it a point to light a candle, grab a warm blanky and a cup of tea before watching one of Kaz' vids. I can't be the only one, lol.
Same.
I have a routine before I watch Kaz' videos too! Tea, snack, and a bit of ouid 😅
I would snuggle up in a blanky but unfortunately in a location that has no blankys and it would be odd to have one at hand
I just do the tea, I need to start doing the rest because that sounds kickass cosy
Same lmao
There's also a long history of female lighthouse keepers on the Great Lakes and the book "Ladies of the Lights: Michigan Women in the US Lighthouse Service" by Patricia Majher has a great account of historical women who kept lights, generations of keepers, duties, hardships, and an interview with the last woman who kept a light in Whitehall, MI. This lighthouse is said to be haunted by its first keeper who advocated for it to be built and before it was finished lit huge bonfires on the shore to help ships to harbor safely pre-lighthouse. They both clearly loved the profession and I agree most stories of hauntings are probably keepers who loved what they did. There was also a woman who kept a light that she lived with her two poodles in and threw dinner parties in the house who I think of as a social-lighthouse keeper.
I live in Ashland WI and met a few former lighthouse keepers on Apostle Islands.
So what? Equal opportunity Only men have made it to the moon Lmao my gender is better than yours Reeeeeeeeeeee
Great job for nuns.
Never knew much about how these lighthouses operated before watching this video. This has been a very informative production. Few years ago I read somewhere that lighthouses are going out of commission as the ships/boats are equipped with GPS technology making the lighthouses obsolete.
Living up in Maine for a few years I always found Boon Island Light to be the creepiest and the most fascinating. It's an 133 foot stone spire on a shoal of jagged rocks 6 miles out to sea, hovering in space on the horizon, barely above water. Its been rebuilt twice and still battered to hell. It was commissioned after a shipwreck where the crew unfortunately resorted to cannibalism.
My great grandfather was a lighthouse keeper on Staten Island in the mid 1800’s. I never knew until I moved to NYC and learned a little more of the Carter family history. He never went mad , thankfully.
Lucky guy. I live on Staten Island and I went mad ages ago
Was it the lighthouse at south shore of STATEN ISLAND NY. There is a little lighthouse off the shore of TOTTENVILLE STATEN ISLAND
The light house community just had a big win with this one.
I cant sleep when a little ambient light peaks in through the windows at night. Can you imagine what they went through? 😌😳😌😳😌😳☀️😵💫
I'm truly happy to have had yo recommended in my feed. I really enjoy your videos, well researched and delivered wonderfully. You're wonderful! Thank you!
I recently visited a lighthouse in Florida and a historic black church was by. It made me wonder if black people were involved in the upkeep of some lighthouses. Out of the southern lighthouses I’ve visited, I’ve never heard of any black involvement. Thanks for including Chinese and Black lighthouse history!
I did a presentation for a North Korean culture class when I was abroad on the 1983 propaganda film 등대/Lighthouse. It was a fascinating dive into the preaching of devotion to Kim Il Sung and how that devotion can take many forms, including being an outcast as a lighthouse keeper like the main character. The film told a story of a man who was originally brought to the lighthouse under Japanese occupation and who stayed behind after they were freed from Japanese rule. He did this out of a sense of patriotism and devotion to the soldiers who needed the lighthouse to be functioning. The main character met a woman on the main land that he wanted to marry and there was the classic theme in a lot of these propaganda films of self-criticism when the woman's family urged him to leave her alone and not to subject her to a life of solitude with him on the lighthouse's island. They were made to realize the importance of his work after a public statement from "the great leader" thanked his lighthouse specifically for welcoming him and his troops home. The man and the woman had generations of family in the lighthouse and at the end of the movie, Kim Il Sung himself sends a helicopter to rescue the main character after he had an accident during a storm in his old age. Dude basically died but was magically revived at the hospital thanks to the great leader. It was a trip of a film but the music and scenery was uniquely sentimental for it's time compared to other North Korean films. I think the whole thing is available on KZhead if anyone's interested to watch it for themselves.
thanks, that sounds really interesting
After nearly 14 minutes and still no word about lighthouse keepers going mad, I got even madder and stop listening! you've been warned, peace.
short attention span much
Lighthouses have always been deep in my heart, ever since I was a child. I used to watch this one documentary I had on VHS about different lighthouses in New Jersey, and I am still amazed it survived and didn't wear out because of how much I would watch that tape. Now my interest lies especially in Ireland because of my focus in the history field being on Irish history and mythology. Fasnet Light, the Skellig Lights, and Eagle Island Light are probably my favourites. Fasnet is an engineering marvel, being built to withstand waves 200+ feet in height and standing on a rock just about as big as the light's circumference. It's amazing. Skellig's light is also fascinating because of where it is built, situated on Skellig Michael (I think Greater Skellig, but I could be wrong) sort of nestled into the cliffside. And finally, Eagle Island in Mayo is my favourite of my favourites because of its history. It was once a dual station light, with an Eastern and Western light. In December 1894, a massive storm hit. This wasn't uncommon, but this storm grew in strength and first destroyed the wall protecting the residence building. The people fled into the light itself as the residence too was destroyed, and soon the storm took the light down around them. They were rescued by those at the nearby Western station the following morning and miraculously, there were no casualties. This was all recorded in a series of letters sent by the Eastern Station's housekeeper, a teen girl, to her mother and brother. The station was decommissioned and never rebuilt, with all efforts eventually being put to improving on the Western station and making it the sole and primary light. There's my little lighthouse history contribution. Honestly I'd love to make a film or something about the Eagle Island lighthouse someday, or have someone make it.
I grew up right near a few haunted lighthouses in Florida! The closest was the Jupiter inlet lighthouse. Apparently shortly after the lighthouse opened in 1860 the shitty confederate keeper Augustus Lang removed the lenses to keep the north from taking over the light. The lenses stayed buried for the rest of the war and when they were dug up one of the lenses had cracked. The new keepers created a lead framework for the broken lens and it was still in use when I was a kid.
I love Jupiter Inlet/light and had no idea it is haunted.
This just popped up in my recommended, love lighthouses and the history. This is by far the best video on them 👏 glad I found the channel
I love and appreciate the info, education and attention to the “forgotten” folks, the immigrant and slaves that did SO much work and were treated so poorly. Absolutely integral to the history.
Interesting to compare this with the "mad hatter", which apparently was also down to milliners' use of mercury. Also the graphic novel sounds really interesting.
You might be referring to the lead brim on his hat that caused mad hatters disease back in the day.
I was so delighted to see this pop up! I started my career as a historian at a Florida lighthouse this year and we have a first-order Fresnel lens still in operation. I sometimes climb and sit at the top to cover for our volunteer staff and my favorite part about the lens itself is how the sunlight refracts through the lens and the rainbows dance around in the room under the lens. I have not experienced it during the nighttime and it might be maddening but I personally think the worst part of the job would have been the isolation and those climbing taller lighthouses constantly. Our lens was stolen during the civil war by confederates and they also stole the library collection from a nearby barracks, both the lens and books were found in Alabama and returned. We also had wives of keepers be assistant keepers and even take over as keeper after their husbands deaths. Another interesting story of one of our keepers was a Jamaican immigrant who started working at the lighthouse immediately after the civil war and worked up to be head keeper for a year before leaving and starting many businesses with his family including a funeral home which is still in operation. I love that I get to share all this on a video that informed me on similar information on other lighthouses! This video is amazing!
What part of Florida, if you don’t mind me asking! In Sarasota and been wanting to travel to one of the lighthouses on the east coast for quite some time! Cheers. 👍
Which lighthouse? I’ve visited several on Florida coast.
I just stumbled on your channel and I haven't watched something this interesting on youtube for almost four years now. Your channel is a gem 💞
Memory of the thirteenth year has been dormant for ten years. Thanks for awakening I’m forever grateful
you're such a king for always giving us these niche history lessons
Kaz uses he / him pronouns ?
@@lightasmr6623 i think they use they them lol but king isn't a pronoun and doesn't automatically mean he/him (i don't think?) kinda how ppl use queen as gender neutral i think calling them lord is cooler tho its more neutral
@@childofgod759 I use king kinda neutrally its not really intended as gendered when i say it. Though of course if it makes someone uncomfy I'd recant, and lord definitely is superior
@@childofgod759 Lord is perceived as masculine most of the time and is of lower rank than king. Monarch would be neutral and on the same level as king or queen.
@@AtlasNL now this is the good discourse that i enjoy
I‘m always fascinated by your captivating , informative yet entertaining story telling. Also that this vast array of video topics speaks to so many people again and again. I would have never guessed that this many people had all these specific interest just like me.
I've had a lifelong love of lighthouses myself. And it started, strangely enough, with a movie I saw as a child as well. Mine was a Disney film..."The Mystery in Dracula's Castle". The setting was so wonderful and the film really struck a cord with me. As luck would have it Dad bought a cabin on the shore of Lake Superior one year later. No light house in site...but the environment was exactly the same. I often imagined a lonely becon across the bay from us. Thanks for bringing back such a treasured memory for me...one I haven't entertained in many years. Liked and subscribed.
That's a beautiful story! It's amazing how certain things from our childhood can stay with us and bring us so much joy. I'm glad my post brought back some happy memories for you. Lighthouses have a way of capturing our imagination and stirring our sense of adventure. Thank you for sharing your own lighthouse love story with me. It's always nice to connect with fellow lighthouse enthusiasts. I hope you continue to find joy and inspiration in your love of lighthouses. And thank you for liking and subscribing, I truly appreciate your support.
The answer they didn't, especially after the 3 people in a lighthouse rule, just a few of many light keepers went "mad" and even then in the most famous cases it wasn't considered asylum worthy in victorian times.
KAZZZ now that I know you like merfolk: YOU SHOULD MAKE A MERFOLK RELATED VIDEO! Maybe where the idea of mermaids originated? And how they went from feared sirens to magical Disney princesses? Lol
Just a quick note, in the closed captions at 7:00 , what I am pretty sure is supposed to be "French ships" is render "friendships". Great video, as always!
Friends are just the ships we met along the way. 👍
You're such a talented storyteller! Tell us about fire-watch towers next. Thank you for this, ever a delight.
Certainly puts a new “light” on all those super pretty and romantic Thomas Kinkade lighthouse paintings 😉
So true 😂 I love those paintings though haha
When I was little, I was watching an episode of The Haunted, a show on Animal Planet about people’s paranormal experiences. In between the episode’s two main segments was a small factoid bit about a paranormal lighthouse story. What shocked me even more was learning that this was a true story after all. In the 1870s to 1880s, the owner of the Fairport Harbor Lighthouse bought his sick wife a group of pet cats to keep her company. When she died, all of them disappeared… except for one. Many years after, a curator who turned the lighthouse into a museum claimed to see a catlike ghost while living there. It wasn’t until even longer after that a Trustees HVAC team unearthed something from inside the lighthouse basement that horrified them beyond belief: The mummified body of a dead cat.
This makes me sad. I’d leave my husband before I’d leave any of my cats.
@@chassinoir Better not leave anyone bcs human also important especially your love ones not just cat.
poor kitty :(
I REMEMBER THAT EPISODE!!!! IT SCARED THE LIVING SHIT OUTTA ME WHEN I WAS LIKE 4 AND MOM DIDNT WATCH THAT SHOW AROUND ME AGAIN AFTER THAT
@@chassinoir lol, what husband
My great grandparents were lighthouse keepers. She took over the Turkey Point Lighthouse in Maryland USA when he died during duty in 1925 and kept it until it was made automatic in 1947. She passed away in 1966, I was about to turn eleven and remember her well. She was my “Nana.” Three other women kept that light in it’s history (built in 1833) and together kept it longer than the men, making Turkey Point a lady’s light. Today the light is now part of the Elk Neck State Park and is open to the public via a non profit volunteer group of which I am a member. The tower is small, 35 feet, but stands on a 100 foot tall cliff overlooking a spectacular view of the upper Chesapeake Bay.
I haven't known anyone who worked in one, but one of my favorite things to do every summer when I was younger was visiting the lighthouse in Crescent City, CA. When the tide is low, you can walk out to it, and go up the stairs with a tour guide, or just see the living quarters, and the little island. It's beautiful.
I went to a lighthouse once as a child and it was very hauntingly beautiful, even before I heard this history of them. I don’t believe the lighthouse /itself/ was available for tourists to go up, but we toured the rest of the buildings and grounds. It was gorgeous scenery and honestly kind of eerie. The fog and quietness was beautiful but just slightly unsettling. If I had to live there forever, I can definitely understand the way people seem to discontinue while caring for them.
Just got back from visiting a victorian town in the Pacific Northwest that has a wonderful lighthouse. Hell yeah!
What was the name of the town?
Astoria? The "downtown" area is really charming! Also if you get chance, see Sauvie Island off of Portland. If you hike all the way to the point, you get a nice view of a really tiny lighthouse. Its a beautiful hike in the late spring-early fall and the lighthouse is very cute and petite.
What makes Astoria a "Victorian town"? I'm unfamiliar with the definition but am curious as a frequent traveler of the Oregon coast.
We also have to point out that howell therefore had to work 24 hours a day for weeks and is unfortunately one of the reasons they never sent a rescue party because although they should have been taken off earlier the light was fully functional, so they presumed they were a least okay. After this event you were no longer allowed to have 2 lighthouse keepers, to avoid one going mad while alone.
I was meant to find your channel. You are fascinating, and I super enjoyed your in-depth coverage of many angels on the lighthouse I never saw growing up in L.A. Thank you so much.
There was an Australian supernatural comedy series in the 90's called 'Round The Twist' and the reason that they lived in a lighthouse now makes so much sense! Thank you for such a great video!
That show was wild lol
I watched this show in the U.S. as a kid and have spent years trying to remember the name of the show. I had no idea it was Australian. Thanks for solving a mystery!
I’m honestly a bit surprised to hear that there’s such a strong idea of lighthouses being haunted and lighthouse-keepers being mad. I had a series of books about a lighthouse keeper growing up, the one I remember most was called the lighthouse keeper's lunch, and I guess they just gave me an idea of lighthouse keepers as quite jovial
I had that book!! I forgot it existed but I remember loving it so much
What did they have for lunch, mercury?
There is a great song about this: "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" by Van Der Graaf Generator. I describes the descent into madness of a lighthouse keeper.
I was looking for this comment!
I really appreciated your intersectional approach to this!
I live in Michigan, the US state with the most lighthouses. A book recently came out called "Haunted Michigan Lighthouses" by Dianna Higgs Stampfler. There are some fascinating stories. Many of our lighthouse keepers were disabled Civil War veterans, and there were several women who took over the job after their husbands died.
How the heck are they so knowledgeable on literally everything I'm interested in?!?!? Love you!!!
I think their pronouns are they them
O my gosh, I didn't even use my Brian!!! Thank you!❤️❤️❤️
I always do my best to focus on the topic at hand and base my opinions on that, I try not to focus on things like decorations or fashion. But that enormous blue collar gives me LIFE. Thank you
First time seeing your videos. I love your way of story telling! The way you write is poetic and your delivery is full of emotion. 10/10 instant sub ❤
a moment to appreciate that thumbnail with the blue tinted paintings in the background intended to imitate the waves of the sea! really lovely :)
The painting in the background is called "The Raft of the Medusa"!! It's from the romantic era and depicts a story about a shipwreck
I dont live near a lighthouse however I did grow up watching a great Australian kids supernatural comedy show in the 90s the called 'Round the Twist'. Not sure if the US got syndication or not. But anyway it was about a family in Australia who move into a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere and they find some strange goings on every episode. It was kinda like Eerie Indiana but without the detective work. I would recommend everyone watch it!
I love that show
Thank you for including the film in this as a reference point. I finally watched it awhile back and it was....a time lol. Learning more about the creator's inspirations as well as common issues with lighthouses (the mercury) have helped me untangle the plot a bit, which is much appreciated as the last half of that film was beyond my understanding.
Hey great video! I just found your channel and i must say I’m hooked! You are so well spoken and You have such a wonderful way with words, the way you explain your subject for the video is just great! You seem like such a chill person, definitely someone I’d be friends with lol Keep it up!!
Weird I find this video right now. It's oddly nostalgic to me. In elementary school I had a music teacher who loved light house stories and she would tell us spooky lighthouse stories at Halloween time. I don't really remember the specific stories anymore but I do still remember her huge lighthouse magnet collection. Thank for this video something I didn't think I would find joy in.
I remember visiting the Point Bonita lighthouse in the 6th grade for a field trip. That trail was scary as hell even with the tunnel through the rock and on a clear sunny day. I can't imagine what it's like on a dark and stormy night. The view from the lighthouse is absolutely breathtaking though, you can see so far you can actually see the curvature of the planet. Even 12 year old me had an existential epiphany looking into the sea, watching the water flow off what seemed to be the edge of the earth into the abyss.
OMGGGG!!!! It's just dawned on me that one of my favourite tangos, "Volvió la Princesita", talks about an old lighthouse keeper who falls ill O.O Noooow it makes a lot more sense...
thank you so much for mentioning the history of the chinese-american workers. too many schools and references fail us by ignoring this part of american history so i am very grateful
The idea of light houses and madness always intrigued me. But, I only really started to actually look into it after reading Uzumaki by Junji Ito, where there is a chapter that describes a light house that burns anyone who goes inside of it. Very interesting video.
Omg I was so glad Whiteside & crew survived That letter was so depressing! When u said they were ok after I actually felt relieved! Ur content is so great Plz keep it up 👍
Wow. I learned way more than i expected. Great work!
Just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU for listing your sources!!! I read through some from your other videos and they’re helping me so much with my sociology modules at university ❤️
Congratulations Kaz on the new graphic novel! I can't imagine how fun it must have been to create a book about Claude Cahun! And to partner with the Getty on creating it sounds very prestigious! You should be proud.
Hi! It's the third video I watched of you, and I love your channel! They're long, very interesting, your voice is nice, I like listening to them !