Legendary four-legged ghost at Outer Banks lighthouse rubs against visitors, rumors say
The remote Outer Banks of North Carolina are prime real estate for scary legends, with the barrier islands linked to everything from a notorious lost colony to a ghost ship that ran aground with no crew.
However, the strangest among the stories may be a large ghost cat that is rumored to haunt the 154-year-old Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
“This black and white kitty has been seen off an on for the past 150 plus years,” the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum reports. “It even stayed with the lighthouse when it was moved. ... It’s been known to rub up against legs, but when you try to pick it up, it disappears.”
The cat’s endless patrol of the 269 steps to the top is a matter of loyalty. It belonged to a lighthouse keeper and stayed to protect the tower from something threatening that folklore has not clearly defined.
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The National Park Service, which owns the 198-foot-tall lighthouse, is not a believer in the tale. Cape Hatteras National Seashore reports there is nothing in its files about a ghost cat.
“I spoke with an educational ranger who has worked at the lighthouse for 14 years and he reports that he has never experienced what might be considered paranormal activity outside or inside the lighthouse,” park spokesman Mike Barber told McClatchy News.
That’s not to say cats haven’t been documented in strange occurrences at the park. The most famous is the demise of the schooner Carroll A. Deering, which ran aground in 1921 carrying three cats and no crew, the U.S. Coast Guard reports.
“Three deserted cats alone knew what happened to the crew of the mystery ship,” the Coast Guard says.
The Dead History blog, which explores the history behind hauntings, says Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is one of more than 20 sites across the country that have a purported feline phantom. Among them is the 129-year-old Biltmore Estate in Asheville.
If anything separates the Cape Hatteras cat from the others, it’s a reputation for being terrifyingly large: nearly 30 pounds, by some accounts.
That makes it “America’s largest ghost cat,” according to Haunted US.
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 7:42 AM with the headline "Legendary four-legged ghost at Outer Banks lighthouse rubs against visitors, rumors say."