{"id":2280,"slug":"boon-island-lighthouse-kittery-maine","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Boon Island Lighthouse stands on the most barren ledge off Maine — the 1855 tower replacing an 1811 original the storms destroyed, the island being a rock where the keepers lived in an isolation that broke the people the service sent there.","The file's documented spine is the ledge's hostility: a lighthouse on a barren rock where storms killed the first tower and the solitude killed the keepers' peace, the light being the service's most isolating post."]},{"heading":"The keeper's wife","paragraphs":["The lore describes a keeper's wife broken by the island's isolation — the file's ghost being the woman the solitude took: a keeper's wife reportedly driven mad by the ledge's emptiness, her figure the rock's most reported resident.","The keeper's wife is the file's signature — a woman the island broke reportedly still on the rock that broke her, the ledge keeping the ghost its isolation made."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Boon Island is the archive's isolation file — a lighthouse on a barren ledge, keeping a keeper's wife reportedly still there. The documented storms and solitude are the record; the broken woman is the lore of the loneliest posting in the service.","A rock that broke a keeper's wife keeps her — the file's suggestion being that the ledge's most isolated resident never got off the island that took her mind."]}],"name":"Boon Island Lighthouse","aliases":[],"type":"LIGHTHOUSE","type_label":"Lighthouse","cats":["LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HISTORIC_SITE","HAUNTED_LIGHTHOUSE"],"groups":["legends","maritime"],"desc":"The bare ledge where a keeper’s wife reportedly went mad.","full_desc":"Boon Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Kittery, Maine, built in 1855. The bare ledge where a keeper’s wife reportedly went mad. Its signature presence is Keeper's wife — the figure the file’s accounts keep returning to. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend, 1 documented fact and 1 named or described presence — documented record and retelling kept side by side. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Kittery","county":null,"state":"Maine","postal":null,"region":"Northeast","lat":43.089985,"lon":-70.738321,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":1855,"year_opened":1855,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Haunted lighthouse batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":1670,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"Lore describes a keeper’s wife broken by the island’s isolation. The figure answers to Keeper's wife in the retellings. A vessel with Boon Island Lighthouse's service record gives the reports an unusually crowded roster to draw on. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. The account appears in 'Boon Island Light'. A ghost with a name outlasts a ghost without one; the reports keep it employed.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"Keeper's wife","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Boon Island Light","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boon_Island_Light","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":1671,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported a woman’s figure on the ledge. Crews leave marks on vessels long after they muster out, and Boon Island Lighthouse in Kittery, Maine had crews enough. The file holds testimony rather than proof; the claim remains anecdotal. The apparition is the file's anchor — every other report orbits it.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Boon Island Light","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boon_Island_Light","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The 1855 tower replaced an 1811 original destroyed by storms; the ledge is uninhabited. Boon Island Lighthouse's history is documented — launches, crews, and losses all on record before the lore begins. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. The record appears in 'Boon Island Light'. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1855","date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Boon Island Light","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boon_Island_Light","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"Lore describes a keeper’s wife broken by the island’s isolation. The vessel's reports concentrate where the work was hardest — ships and lights keep their own roll call. 'Boon Island Light' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. The report is preserved in sources like 'Boon Island Light'. Legends accrue where records go silent; this one filled the gap and stayed.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Boon Island Light","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boon_Island_Light","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"Keeper's wife","claimed_identity":"Keeper's wife","verified":null,"summary":"Lore describes a keeper’s wife broken by the island’s isolation. Keeper's wife is what the reports name it. A vessel with Boon Island Lighthouse's service record gives the reports an unusually crowded roster to draw on. 'Boon Island Light' carries the account. The lore has a face now: Keeper's wife.","behavior":"Lore describes a keeper’s wife broken by the island’s isolation.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Boon Island Light","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boon_Island_Light","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Lighthouse site; tower climbs, if offered, are usually seasonal and may require tickets.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Boon Island Light","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boon_Island_Light","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":{"title":"Boon Island Light","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boon_Island_Light","desc":"Lighthouse in Maine, United States","extract":"Boon Island Light is located on the 300-by-700-foot (91 m × 213 m) Boon Island off the southern coast of Maine, United States, near Cape Neddick. Boon Island Light has the distinction of being the tallest lighthouse in both Maine and New England at 133 feet (41 m). The lighthouse has a focal plane at 137 feet (42 m) above mean high water. The light's beacon flashes white every 5 seconds.\n\n","img":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Boon_Island_Lighthouse.jpg/960px-Boon_Island_Lighthouse.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail","score":71,"lat":43.12144944,"lon":-70.47642194},"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}