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Episode 20: Benny Evangelista & St. Augustine Lighthouse
98 Plays1 year ago
Happy Monday Guys, and Happy 20th Episode!!
We got a twofer for you guys today,
Today Lana tells story of the unsolved murder of Benny Evangelista. It is a crazy case with even crazier theories.
And then Ellie talks about the history and the spooky-okky within St. Augustine's Lighthouse
Sponsors:
Liquid I.V. - Faster Hydration Than Water Alone (liquid-iv.com) Organic, Plant-Based, Zero Waste Health Foods – Sun & Swell Foods (sunandswellfoods.com)
Sources:
Benny Evangelista https://www.historicmysteries.com/evangelista-murder/
St. Augustine Lighthouse
https://thelittlehouseofhorrors.com/st-augustine-lighthouse/
https://www.staugustinelighthouse.org/get-involved/about-mission-uvp/history/
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scared-but-curious/support
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Transcript
Introduction to Scared But Curious
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey guys, I'm Lana. And I'm Ellie. And welcome to Scared But Curious.
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Weekend Stories and Cat Interruption
00:01:55
Speaker
Happy Monday. Happy Monday. I forgot that my microphone's way up there. Okay. Happy Monday. How has your week been? Weekend been? Pretty good. Honestly, yeah, it's been pretty good. Oh, goodness.
00:02:18
Speaker
Yeah, we have a me now. For those of you who obviously can't see, the cat launched himself directly in front of her. Just full me now. Just full me now, but let's go. Go play with your brother. Thank you. Kids, you know? Or do I love them to death? And would I die for them? Yes, of course.
Unsolved Case of Benny Evangelista
00:02:43
Speaker
Well, I know that you have a story to tell me today. What do you got for me? Oh yes. This is a, I know every, every episode I say this is a crazy story, but I just want you guys to know that I only look up crazy stories. So I'm not wrong. That's true. I go, what is the craziest story I can find? Okay. This one is a little bit different than what we normally do. Um, okay. Because it's unsolved. So,
00:03:13
Speaker
But there is so many twists and turns in this case that I need to get your opinion on it for one. And two, I also want to get everybody else's opinion on it because I don't know what to think. So I think we actually should have done this one in October. That's how weird this case is. Okay.
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah. All right. I'll get situated. I'm ready for it. Okay. So today we're going to talk about the case of Benny Evangelista, which that is a- That rolls off the tongue. Yeah. Yeah. So Benny's real name is Benjimino Evangelista. That's a real name. Can you tell he's Italian? Yeah.
00:04:03
Speaker
So Benny and his older brother Antonio immigrated to America from Naples, Italy in 1904. I mean, if you're going to give me an unsolved one, at least don't do a recent one. It better be an old ass unsolved one because I hate unsolved. I want a conclusion, damn it. Yeah.
00:04:23
Speaker
So I'm going to preface this whole case, I forgot to earlier. We're going to preface this case with a trigger warning. There's going to be a lot of gore, I guess, because what happens to him is not pretty. And there is also children involved in this case.
00:04:43
Speaker
Gore and children. Yeah. I just finished the Moore's murder case and that really messed me up. We need to take a break. Sorry. Oh man. Okay. So like I said, Benny and Antonio immigrated to America from Naples. And when the brothers arrived in America, like many immigrants,
00:05:04
Speaker
Benjamino Americanized his name to just Benny. So then he also shortened his name, his last name even more to Evangelist. It changes it from being Italian to American. Yeah, apparently. So the brothers moved to Philadelphia and they lived together for a while and the brothers were devout, devout Roman Catholics.
00:05:34
Speaker
like everyone during that time religion was a huge part of their lives and they're also Italian so in the early 1900s so like they are devout Catholics but while in Philadelphia Benny started apparently having visions and started to be very interested in the occult uh just like out of nowhere like you just
00:06:02
Speaker
apparently that's all i can find on it okay like could you just imagine walking down the street and then all of a sudden going whoa what am i what am i think seeing like what do you how do you how does it work do you just like look in front of you and you see like a little window or is it just like a thought like how does that if you anyone who is a medium let me know
00:06:24
Speaker
So, Benny would tell his brother Antonio that he was having visions, but he said that they were from God. But his brother Antonio wasn't having any of it, and so they had a falling out. Benny moved to York, Pennsylvania,
00:06:41
Speaker
And there he met another man from Naples named, are you ready for this? Aurelius Angelino. Oh, Aurelius. Okay. I'm sure it sounds way cooler in an Italian accent. Probably. And they were both, they found out that each other were into the occult and mysticism.
00:07:04
Speaker
With a name, Aurelius, you have to be into the occult and mysticism. It sounds like you should be.
00:07:18
Speaker
They became the best of friends, you know, doing occult shit, mysticism shit, best of friends. But then, in 1919, Aurelius was sent to Fairview Medical Hospital for the criminally insane because he killed his two twin boys with an axe. What? For why?
00:07:43
Speaker
Nobody knows. Literally nobody knows. So he just wouldn't answer or did no one ask? Like I don't know. I don't know. Literally don't know. That's all I could find. I was like, wait, what? I feel like there's another story here. I feel like what? Like there's like a taken out paragraph that was key. It was a very key component to this story. Yes. And it's gone. Yeah.
00:08:10
Speaker
But we are going to talk about this murder later because it comes back up. Sorry that I just like smacked my mouth. Ew, I hate when I do that. But yeah, we're gonna, we'll talk about that later. So after his best friend was sent to an insane asylum for killing his kids,
00:08:31
Speaker
Benny kind of freaked out, of course, and he wanted to distance himself from everything that happened, be like, oh, let's start a new life. So he packed up, and he moved to Detroit. So in Detroit, Benny actually became very
Theories on Evangelista Family Murders
00:08:52
Speaker
successful. He found work as a carpenter.
00:08:55
Speaker
and also later as a realtor and a landlord. So he was all three of those things at once. During that time- So he didn't only build the house. He also sold it and managed it. Yeah, apparently. Wow. Okay. So during this time, he married. I could not find his wife's name. I don't know why, but again, it's from 1904. So I don't know. Every news source would just say his wife, but he had four kids
00:09:24
Speaker
There was Angelina, Margaret,
00:09:27
Speaker
Genie and Mario. And because he wasn't busy enough with, you know, building the house, selling the house and managing the house, he also started dabbling in the occult again. But this time, he went way bigger and decided to become a mystical healer. And after that, he got such a following that he became a spiritual leader, like pretty much a cult leader.
00:09:56
Speaker
So how do you go from carpenter... Well I guess that's what Jesus did, huh? Oh my god! Oh my god, we're going to hell! So...
00:10:16
Speaker
He was very well known for selling herbs and hexes and spiritual remedies, which would include performing spells on other people, chants, and even animal sacrifices. No, I'm getting into that. And he would charge about $10 for his services, which back then was about two days pay for a normal person.
00:10:45
Speaker
which that's actually a lot of fucking money. Just to be like here, have some herbs. That's so much. Kinda crazy to think herbs is.
00:10:57
Speaker
Two days pay. Yeah. I mean, right now it feels like it. So because he was this like spiritual leader now and this like cult leader now, pretty much. He turned the basement in his home into a ritual space with an altar and he would charge a nickel to anyone who wanted to enter the basement. And he had these like,
00:11:24
Speaker
pretty much paper mache depictions of these gods that he would worship and that this religion that he created worship. Wait, so like he made up his own gods? I'm thinking so. At least if he didn't make up his own gods, he definitely just made up this religion for the gods. And many people in the neighborhood and the Italian immigrant community
00:11:54
Speaker
came to Benny for cures and answers. He was very well known in the community. Like if you had any problems, you'd go to Benny. But despite him being very well known, some customers felt disappointed at the lack of effects of his cures. And some people felt that they had been scammed. So we're gonna skip now to July 3rd,
00:12:22
Speaker
1929. And on this day, Vincent Elias, a client of Benny's, he visited the home to close a real estate deal with Benny. But Vincent knocked on the door. But there was no answer. And the house was completely silent, even though there were four kids in the house. So imagine trying to get four kids quiet. No, Vincent went down to the basement entrance. And
00:12:52
Speaker
thought maybe Benny was down there and just hadn't heard Vincent knocking. Benny was in the basement, but he wasn't worshiping or working. Benny Evangelista was seated at his desk, hands folded as if he was praying, but Benny didn't have a head. Oh, okay. Yeah, Benny's head was lying on the floor
00:13:22
Speaker
near his feet, having been chopped off by an axe, and it was surrounded by three framed photos of a child in a coffin. Yeah, it was later discovered that the child in the coffin in the photos was actually a child of his that had actually died years ago.
00:13:45
Speaker
And to this day, there has never been an explanation for these photos. There's never been an explanation why they put the photos around the head or anything like that. So after finding Benny's body, Vincent ran and got the police. And when the police got there, they searched the rest of the home and found the rest of the family. But why wouldn't he go to Benny?
00:14:09
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Benny has all the answers. He fixes it all. Yeah. Exactly. I'm sorry, I'm not responding as much as usual. My dog is going apeshit. So I have to keep myself muted so that you can actually tell your story. That's okay, that's okay. But I'm here. Yep, I can see I see the thing is, is that I can see her face. And so when I'm saying stuff, I just see her face like, yeah,
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00:14:38
Speaker
fuck.
00:14:39
Speaker
And so, like I said, when the police got there, they searched the rest of the house and they found the rest of the family. And this is where I'm going to put the trigger warning because this is where more of the kids
00:14:53
Speaker
come into play. Um, so Benny's wife was found in bed with their youngest child, Mario. She also was almost decapitated with an axe and Mario's little skull had been crushed and he was only 18 months old.
00:15:15
Speaker
So, yeah. The other three children, Angelina, seven, Margaret, five, and Jeannie, four, were found in their beds across the hall from their mom and brother. And like Mario, the girls' skulls had also been crushed.
00:15:38
Speaker
But one of the girls had their arm partially amputated at the shoulder, again, also with the axe. So with this gruesome, gruesome crime scene, the police ruled out robbery and the only evidence collected from the scene was bloody footprints leading away from Benny and a single bloody fingerprint on the doorknob.
00:16:06
Speaker
And it's 1929, so nothing came of it. They don't have the technology that we do now. They don't even know. They don't even know what DNA is. Exactly. Exactly. And like I said at the beginning, to this day, this case remains unsolved. And pretty sure it will always be unsolved since it's almost been 100 years
00:16:34
Speaker
and the police and anyone that knew anything, they're all long gone. But that doesn't stop people from having theories.
00:16:45
Speaker
Ooh, now I'm excited for all the crazy theories. And this is where I'm like, it's one of those, the theories are one of those where like, oh yeah, that makes sense, wait. And then you read the second one, you're like, oh, that one makes sense, wait. And then you read the third one and you're like, okay, but that one also makes sense. So this is why I wanna hear your guys' opinions on which one you think is the most likely.
00:17:12
Speaker
So the first theory, you got this, you ready for this? Okay, I'm stretching out, we're good, here we go. Okay, so the first theory is that the family had been killed by the criminal society known as the Black Hand. And for those of you guys who don't know what the Black Hand is, the Black Hand was an Italian organized crime enterprise. It wasn't even like a family or anything, it was just like a huge organization.
00:17:42
Speaker
And there was actually notes found at the house that were threatening Benny from the Black Hand organization. And Benny was believed to have received extortion letters from someone pretending to be part of the Black Hand. But there did not seem to be a genuine link
00:18:10
Speaker
to organized crime with Benny. But this theory was quickly kind of pushed to the side because if it was a hit, if it was a mob hit, they wouldn't have arranged the bodies in such an occult-like manner with his head
00:18:31
Speaker
in B2 like they just wouldn't have done like with him playing and then with like the head with the pictures around it they wouldn't have done that and also um it's kind of like a creed a code that if you have a problem with the husband you don't kill the mother and kids like you you only kill who you have a problem with
00:18:57
Speaker
You don't kill an entire family. Yeah, it isn't like the Italian mob. Isn't that like a big thing? That's a big thing in the Italian mob. You take care of who you need to. Because you know me. All of that mob experience. So they kind of quickly push that one to the side because
00:19:22
Speaker
It just kind of didn't fit. The second theory is that a man who had done business with Benny killed the family. I don't know his name, but when the suspect was pressed by police, he did confirm that he went to Benny's home the night before the murders.
00:19:47
Speaker
So is he trying to incriminate himself or? Yeah, right. But according to his... Was that like an innocent thing? Yeah, right. So according to his testimony, nothing happened between him and the Evangelista family. He said, well, I mean, which is what a... That means nothing to me. I can sit there and tell you the sky is purple, but it's not.
00:20:14
Speaker
Oh, but believe me. So this suspect said that he had left the house that night and that he went to go get drinks with another friend. Like that was his alibi, apparently. But like, it's not like he you could still kill the family and then go get drinks afterwards. That's just weird. So I mean, it's fucked up, but you could do it. Yeah, you could. Yeah. And this man had been on the police's radar
00:20:44
Speaker
because only three months earlier, he killed his brother-in-law with a knife. Okay. All right. So he was found to have acted in self-defense in that case. Yeah, so that's why he was still out, apparently. All righty.
00:21:08
Speaker
And so with no evidence and no confession or anything, this guy in the Benny case, this guy was removed as a suspect because they just didn't have anything on him, even though it's super suspicious that he was there literally the night of the murders or like the night before the murders. And then they end up dead.
00:21:38
Speaker
The math is not mathing. Uh-huh. Exactly. Exactly. So the third and final theory, this one is weird. This one is so weird. And I have to look into it more because what? So the third theory is that Benny's friend, Aurelius Angelino, killed him. But isn't he in a psychiatric hospital?
00:22:07
Speaker
So six years earlier in 1923, Angelino escaped from prison and was never seen again. Never seen again. But what's weird is that the murder that Angelino did where he murdered his kids was very similar to the scene in the Evangelista home.
00:22:38
Speaker
Wait, so like it's like a culty looking? I, maybe that are just the acts for like, just the fact that they he used an axe. I don't know. But this theory came about because when the police went to a Rulius's house after he killed his kids in 1919, there were bloody fingerprints discovered.
00:23:07
Speaker
in the Angelenos home were found to belong to Benny. What? Yeah. Oh. Oh. What? And so. So wait, this doesn't seem like much of a theory. It seems like it's if his fingerprints were on the axe. Well, no, it was just bloody fingerprints at the scene of the Angelenos murder.
00:23:35
Speaker
Benny's fingerprints were found at the Angelino's home during the murder. So they're like,
00:23:40
Speaker
What? So, and that was never that the thing is that that was never discussed. Like, so did Benny just leave? Because he committed the murders? Is that why he left all of a sudden where he was like, Oh, I don't want to I don't I want to be as far away from this as possible? Like, maybe. What? What? What? And I was like, prepared to like give you an answer of like what I think happened at the end of the story. And now I don't
00:24:08
Speaker
I don't know. It's like, did the one guy kill him? Did the guy that was there the night before kill him? Did this weirdo, Angelino, Aurelius guy kill him? Did he kill his family? What? Or did Benny set him up? And that's why that's so that's the other thing. That's what people really escaped and disappeared. That's what they're thinking is like, did Benny actually kill the family and then and then frame
00:24:36
Speaker
Oh, really? What the heck were they messing with? Yeah, in the occult side that like, this would have happened. Like, I mean, like did maybe sacrificial like, that's what I'm saying. If someone killed my family, I dip out disappear and then watch out. That's what I'm saying. I was thinking John Wick the whole time too.
00:25:02
Speaker
So this case, like I said, is just wild. Because what happened? What happened? We don't know. And we'll never know. Like I said, because everybody's dead. You know, this happened almost 100 years ago. Yeah, who are we gonna ask? I just, I don't know. I want to know what you guys think because I don't know. I don't know what to think. I have honestly no idea. Can you hear Pooka?
00:25:29
Speaker
No. Okay, she's not anymore, but she was just licking my face and I was just trying to get away, but she wouldn't let me. So I'm like, I'm sorry if you guys hear like licking or some sort of smacking in the background. It's my cat obsessively licking my face.
00:25:45
Speaker
I need to know more about the crime scene in 1919. I need to know what was actually found. Did Benny actually kill this guy's family and then stage him? If that happened, Benny's a dick. What? Right? No, I honestly think that I feel like he was framed. Yeah. That's what it's given me.
00:26:11
Speaker
the fact that they found or or did because we don't know about we just know that he killed his kids or you know kids died we that's all we know so like did he call Benny afterwards and was like dude what did I just do and Benny accidentally was like oh no and then accidentally got blood on his hand and then whatever or did he kill them
00:26:34
Speaker
Or, I just, I need to know more. Like, maybe did he help? Maybe he helped it happen. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I hate unsolved cases. Exactly, exactly. Damn, I don't even know. But, oh, God, that's just so morbid. Oh, I'm just still stuck on the axe part and the shoulder and like, geez. Especially with kids. Like, it's awful.
00:27:03
Speaker
Really, dude, really, that no matter who it is, that is just not okay. I mean, if they're dabbling in the occult, I wonder if they like, that's what there was a curse or something. Like, yeah, there was articles I was reading that were like, did something happen?
00:27:28
Speaker
like did. Yeah. Did he invite like a demon into his life and it took over? Yeah. Yeah. And just so weird, like the way that Benny was positioned is also weird because it wasn't just a normal murder, like a normal, a normal murder, a normal axe murder where, you know, they're just like found that, you know, they're just found all willy nilly. It's like he was legit posed. His head was posed. Yeah. So that is just
00:27:56
Speaker
And that also is what leads me to like, but also then was it somebody who was unhappy with the stuff they got? Like, was it a scorn person who felt scammed? And they're like, Oh, well, you know, I don't know. Like we're gonna mimic it and make it seem like it's the occult because he fucked me over. Yeah. So yeah, that's all I got. And I hate it. Wow. Thank you. You too. That was an awful case. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome.
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Speaker
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History of St. Augustine Lighthouse
00:30:00
Speaker
And now, I'm gonna tell you about St. Augustine Lighthouse in, can you guess, St. Augustine, Florida. What was the episode where I was like, you're like, oh, it's the Twin Bridges. Like, can you figure out where it is? And I was like, Missoula? Missoula? No. Like, no. So don't ask me to guess where these stuff are anymore, because I don't know.
00:30:27
Speaker
who wear these stuff are. It goes with my, we're going to do a great time. That's funny. Okay. All right. So I don't know. Do you know anything about the St. Augustine lighthouse? Not really. I've heard one ghost story from there, but that's really it. I don't know why I sounded like a fire. That's it. That's it. That's all I got. That's all I got. Sorry.
00:30:56
Speaker
This shit has origins as far back as 1589. Like, this is old. Dang. I know, right? An Italian cartographer named Giovanni Bastizzo Boazzio. Okay, yeah.
00:31:13
Speaker
Yep. He published a map of the raid of Sir Francis Drake on St. Augustine three years prior. Mr. Giovanni's map was the first map record of a wooden watchtower at the end of Anastasia Island. So the watchtower was put in place by the Spanish crown. They had built it when they were building the Castillo de San Marcos to essentially claim the land so that no one else came and was like, ah, this is mine now.
00:31:41
Speaker
because you know they essentially did to someone else yeah this watchtower was at the north end of the island and the watchtower would essentially become what we know now as the st augustine lighthouse the south end of the island became fort montanza national monument but we're not going to go into that one
00:32:05
Speaker
So, we're now going to talk about the changes this lighthouse has really gone through. By 1737, the Spanish replaced the older wooden structure with a new 30-foot watchtower that was made of conque- conquina. Coquina. There we go. I thought you were trying to say- I thought you were trying to say concrete, but you're like conqueet.
00:32:30
Speaker
No, Kokina is a shell rock. Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Um, they also would use wood. So it wasn't just like rock, but anyway, a canoe was kept at the Sentinel to help those stationed. Um, in case a war vessel were to approach a spar, which is like this giant pole on the mast of the boat. So.
00:32:54
Speaker
Yeah, okay. A pole on a pole. Anyway, this was used to raise a signal, and whichever way that this signal was raised, the direction that it was facing is where the ship was coming in. Now, if it was facing north, that could also mean that the enemy is already there. So, it's a gamble if they're coming from north. So like, you can hear SOL at that point.
00:33:18
Speaker
The moral of the story approached north all times. They'll never really know. Exactly. So as you probably know, Great Britain and Spain were kind of beefing back then, like most of the time. They were all like wars claiming of other people's lands, just all of that. In 1739, Fort Mose was established north of St. Augustine, and it attracted a lot of runaway slaves to Florida. Many traveled via the local waterways across the border, which
00:33:45
Speaker
all really pissed the British planters off. They're like, wait, how am I going to run this farm and plant these plants if I don't have slaves? What is this? So British forces occupied Mo's during the General James, oh god, this name, Oglethorpe's 1740, 1714? No, 1740 siege of St. Augustine.
00:34:11
Speaker
which destroyed the fort. However, the Spanish rebuilt the fort and free people lived there until the British occupied East Florida in 1763. We love that. Shit was wild and like literally it was just straight up wild and back then. But Fort Mo's was the first free African-American community in the United States, which I really thought was cool when I was doing the research. Yeah, that's super cool.
00:34:38
Speaker
Now, if I'm completely honest with you, there is so much freaking information on this place. Obviously, it dates back to the 1500s, so there's a lot of history. I didn't want this to be a five-hour episode, so I kind of focused from 1824 and on.
00:35:04
Speaker
In 1824, the lighthouse that is there ran off of oil and the lighthouse keeper kind of had an uphill battle with keeping the light lit because it's like a giant tower on a peninsula with wind and it's fire. I have to say, imagine keeping a candle lit.
00:35:25
Speaker
A giant one. Yeah. I can only imagine, honestly, what they had to do. Like, what type of maneuvers. Oh, anyway. So, in 1855, this lighthouse was replaced. They said that, nah, this oil thing is so yesterday, it's a thing of the past.
00:35:47
Speaker
The new lighthouse, this is huge, huge silver reflective shields that would kind of, I guess, allow the light to project further. Okay.
00:35:59
Speaker
And this is closer to what we more recognize, I guess. Now I found this interesting. During the American Civil War, which is 1861 to 1865, the harbor master and the keeper of the lighthouse hid the lens of the lighthouse, which in result, like there was a shipping route for Union soldiers that were used for the North.
00:36:23
Speaker
Their shipping route was kind of stopped because no one could see where the peninsula was, they didn't know where land was, they just kind of stopped. But don't worry, they were discovered when the harbor master was taken hostage and he was forced to reveal the hiding spots. He's like, no, I know there's a lighthouse here. Where is it? Turn it on, damn it.
00:36:47
Speaker
But without the lens, it's just like nothing. It's just like a little flame. It's holding a flashlight up in the air. So we're now in 1870 and that lighthouse that was built, you know, back in 1855 was on the verge of collapsing because saltwater, weather, erosion, you know, nature. And if they didn't react fast, it was going to slide into the sea. Oh, good.
00:37:13
Speaker
um so by 1880 the lighthouse did because they didn't do anything fast enough i was like okay okay they'll fix you what no no but don't worry they had already built another lighthouse um the collapse of the light i know it gets really fucking weird when i was reading about this i was like okay what i don't like it might collapse so i'll build another one not fix this one but we'll just build another one what
00:37:43
Speaker
Exactly. And it's not too far. It's like more inland than where the old one was. You can actually see the collapsed lighthouse remains in the ocean when the tide's low enough. But it also holds really high archaeological value. So
00:38:04
Speaker
Oh man. So we can't go? Don't. I mean, I'm not sure if there's restrictions. I didn't look into it. Just, but just be careful. Don't, don't fuck with it too much. You know, but I want to go see it. We can still see it, but we just like climb on it. Damn it. Yeah.
00:38:25
Speaker
I mean, it's like shell rock. So I'm not sure how long it lasts. I'm also like, it's probably sharp and shit like that from having the like water. Oh, yeah, it's just like a bunch of shells clinging to itself. Yeah, ow. So this new lighthouse, which they had built actually in 1874, was equipped with a hyper modern lens. So
00:38:50
Speaker
before the other one was able to collapse. They're like, all right, let's do this. Now, why is that though? Because we'll find out, don't worry. Anyway. Are you good? Why did they do that? We'll find out, don't worry. Why didn't they fix this shit? Well, the OG lighthouse owner didn't think that it was actually going to happen. Oh, what?
00:39:19
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And we'll talk more about that in a second. I'm going to go back to where we were. Okay. So we're going back to the hyper-modern lens new tower 1874.
Ghost Stories at the Lighthouse
00:39:35
Speaker
Okay. So there's a new keeper.
00:39:37
Speaker
William A. Harn. And oddly enough, he's also a union war hero. Because the old keeper was trying to sabotage him. So the head of his own company during the Battle of Gettysburg, he was a very respected member of the community. He was someone that was recognized. And he was a keeper for 20 years. He moved into the cottage next to the lighthouse with his wife and six daughters. And they would even... I know that's a lot of daughters.
00:40:07
Speaker
Just leave the island for a while. Just go just stay in the lighthouse. Don't don't even
00:40:18
Speaker
The family's also known to be handing out lemonade regularly to those that pass the lighthouse. It's really wholesome. They're just like... There's this island, there's this lighthouse, right? And then just the ocean right there and they like make the ship stop just so they can get them lemonades. No, no.
00:40:37
Speaker
no no no people people on the island that walked by they would hand lemonade to them goodness gracious during world war two though the lighthouse was used as a watchtower to spot enemy ships that oh and submarines so i guess it's which how do you spot a submarine i always wonder if it's underwater how do you spot it uh maybe if they come up
00:41:06
Speaker
or like maybe there's a telltale sign that you see like maybe the waves are a little bit different or like there's something in the water maybe like a change of current or something maybe yeah something like that well it seems though throughout history no matter what it was it has been something whether it was a watchtower or a lighthouse or even something used just for its visibility for war
00:41:32
Speaker
Lots of freaking history, like I was saying. But we're going to shift gears. We are now going to focus on the spooky ooky. All right. And you know how I mentioned that the OG lighthouse owner was like, nah, this lighthouse is not going to fall. And it did. Yeah. Well, this man was Dr. Alan Ballard and he was in denial about its collapse. He refused to believe that it was happening.
00:41:56
Speaker
Which I'm like, how do you, how do you like refuse to acknowledge, like what do you just not go and look like? Do you not notice it leaning? I'm just... I was gonna say, yeah, it's like, like there's like rocks falling off and he's like, it's fine! He's like, what if those land roars? Yeah, just put some duct tape on it. Just paint over it, you're fine.
00:42:20
Speaker
Well, his refusal of the fate of this lighthouse, he said no thanks to the state's financial offers to leave. They're like, hey, get out this lighthouse. It's going to collapse. And we're going to give you some financial offers so that we could replenish it.
00:42:38
Speaker
Yeah. He said no, because it's fine, right? As it gets closer to collapsing, and eventually it does, the offer becomes less and less, right? Yeah. And Ballard swore that he loved this place and he was not going anywhere, which it reminded me a lot of that old man that was in Mount St. Helens.
00:43:04
Speaker
Yeah! Who refused to leave? Who refused to leave? Yeah. Yeah. But now it's said that- I don't think he was in denial though. I don't think he was in denial that the thing was blowing up.
00:43:18
Speaker
Yeah, no, he was very. Oh, maybe I actually don't know. We should probably look into that one anyway. He kept his word, though, that he was never going to leave this place because now he's haunted. It's haunting this location. Wow. And it's kind of around the location where the original lighthouse was, not the lighthouse that we know. So he's just kind of like hanging out by the ocean. That's cool. I do that.
00:43:43
Speaker
I know, right? I mean, I wonder what I mean, it makes me think it's residual, right? If it's like... Yeah, that it's not the new lighthouse. Or he just, again, loved that old lighthouse so much that he's like, no, no. That's not that's the new lighthouse. These ruins. I don't care. I don't care. I feel like I get cold or anything. True. I don't drown. Yeah.
00:44:06
Speaker
There are claims of cigar smoke throughout the cottage that's located behind the lighthouse. Or not behind, beside the lighthouse. I mean, I guess it could be behind depending on how you look at it. That's true.
00:44:18
Speaker
Now we were actually not a hundred percent sure which spirit is, uh, producing the smell of cigar smoke. Yeah. Cause it's actually forbidden for, I guess the living to do it, but there's an old keeper. Look what I can fucking do. Yeah. Tell me shit. Oh, there's an old keeper that's called, uh, Peter Rasmussen.
00:44:50
Speaker
You could sing his name with that, yeah. He loved cigars. Oh. And he was very good at his job. So it's very possible that he is just enjoying cigars in the afterlife at a place he loved. The other spirit could be a man by the name of Joseph Ardrew. I'm not sure.
00:45:12
Speaker
That's a name. That's a name.
00:45:18
Speaker
Anyway, he was a keeper, Joseph here. He was a keeper that fell to his death in 1850 because he was painting the exterior of the lighthouse. Geez. Yeah. And because, you know, smoking is prohibited, you know, you think it'd make it easier to figure out the source of the smoke. Yeah. But it's not because it's disembodied. It's a bummer. I wonder if they set off fire alarms too, if it's like... Oh, weird.
00:45:48
Speaker
I have no idea. I don't know the logistics of ghost smoke. Now there are some heartbreaking ghosts of the St. Augustine Lighthouse, which I'm sure are the ones that you know. And it is two girls by the name of Eliza and Mary. Eliza was 13 and Mary was 15. Oh. They were the daughters of. 13 plus 15 is 28. This is bitch.
00:46:18
Speaker
god is that you god was a woman oh goodness okay the daughters of hezekiah that is a name hezekiah yeah and hezekiah was his last name was pity but his first name
00:46:42
Speaker
I was saying pity about his name. Nope, his last name was pity. Oh goodness. Hezekiah was hired to help with the construction of the new lighthouse. And in 1873, Eliza and Mary were playing on a cart that's used to transport materials.
00:47:02
Speaker
and suddenly the cart had broke free from what was holding it in place and this caused it to fall off the cliff dragging the girls along with it and to the sea below oh geez yeah they drowned but people can still hear their laughter so if they are still there they're having a good time okay also yeah when i had a little creepy but
00:47:29
Speaker
When I heard about it, I thought they were way younger than that. I thought they were like, eight and nine. I didn't realize they were so quote unquote, old. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. Like, I didn't realize they were like, full teenagers. Yeah, I thought they were like, little, little. So that's crazy. So sad. That's so sad. The oldest of the girls, she's actually seen most often she wears a blue velvet dress and a matching ribbon is in her hair.
00:47:54
Speaker
Aww. They're very well known for playing tricks on people, which makes me think that they're intelligent. Yeah, which also makes me sad too, though. I wonder if you could have intelligent and, um... It could be both, yeah. Yeah, I was thinking about that. I was like, I wonder if you could have intelligent and residual spirit, like of the same person. I guess possible. Yeah, it would just be kind of weird. I really don't have the answer. Dang it. Dang it, Ellie. You should know everything.
00:48:24
Speaker
I wish I did, honestly. But I do know that on the stairwell, people get their hair pulled and they get pushed back. Oh, back up the stairs. So this unfortunately causes people to fall. So be careful on the staircase. Yeah. But also you get like these glow sticks during these ghost tours. Uh huh. And they're said to play with those too. Oh.
00:48:55
Speaker
So I'm not sure exactly what that means, like a random floating glow stick or... Also, I just pictured someone being like... Right? Raving with the glow sticks? But they're dead. Yeah, I would love that. Yeah, exactly. Knowing our ass, we'd go there and then it would start playing with it and we'd be like... Oh yeah, anyway, back up. Go. Yes. There are also claims of a woman dressed in all white with the company of a small girl that is seen at the very top of the lighthouse.
00:49:24
Speaker
Little creepy. Yeah. Volunteers often also find doors open, but there's also alarms on all the doors and there's no signaled alarm. So they don't know how the doors are open without the alarm going off. Weird. Spooky. Also unsettling. I don't know why, but the way you said that reminded me of, and the walls will ooze green slime.
00:49:54
Speaker
The woman who sells tickets at the lighthouse says that the most haunted location is the cottage. And these spirits have even scared off other keepers in the past. With like voices, footsteps.
00:50:06
Speaker
lights going on and off imagine you're just like trying to do your fucking job and you're like yo i took your job yeah you don't need to work anymore you're fine i have your job now and he's like nah nah nah you don't do it as well as me thanks bitch you don't pass the vibe check i'm sorry we're gonna have to scare you off we're gonna have to we're gonna have to let you go
00:50:31
Speaker
A father and child are also seen often on the stairs of the lighthouse. So I don't know what stair or if it's all over the stairs. Not sure. But we heard it's all over the stairs. They're just laying all over the place. Just sprawled on the stairs. Oh, to be really sad.
00:50:52
Speaker
Oh God, we shouldn't be laughing, but there's also a man who hung himself on the porch that still haunts the area. There's a negative presence that's also sensed here. Sometimes people feel very oppressed in the basement, like something smothering them, but there's nothing there. A man is often seen and he passes by visitors.
00:51:16
Speaker
but like doesn't even glance or acknowledge them like he just but he looks like a person like an actual weird yeah
00:51:25
Speaker
Oh, don't like that. So there's a lot of different ghost stories here. I just kind of listed through those, right? Yeah. Sometimes there are sounds of buckets being picked up and placed back down, but there's no buckets. It's a weird residual. Moaning and creepy shadow figures are seen in the cottage as well.
00:51:49
Speaker
There's even a class A EVP of a woman screaming, help me. And I don't know what to do with that information. If I know. There's obviously a lot of spirits that either have had a lot of history at this place and it's like residual or if it's intelligent, something's going on there. Like this is a very interesting location. Would you go here? Actually, I think I would. Yeah, I think I would, too.
00:52:18
Speaker
I'm very curious about it. I mean, the lighthouse sees 190. I am. I am. But this museum sees 190,000 people a year and 54,000 of them are students. So it makes me feel a little bit better about going to this place. And they go through like all the archaeological finds, just everything throughout history. That's all the stuff that I didn't talk about. You can go there and they will tell you all about it.
00:52:48
Speaker
But that's my story on St. Augustine and the craziness that's going on there, honestly. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff there. Yeah, I only knew about the one story. So that's crazy. The EVP makes me think that, because didn't you say that there was like a little girl and a woman?
00:53:10
Speaker
I wonder if that's like the same woman. I don't know. That's weird. I don't know. I mean, but there's also claims of people feeling oppressed in the basement and there being a negative presence. So it's like so weird. There's something that's like trapping. I don't know. Yeah. Or like I wonder even I mean, if you think about it, there could even be like a like something that wasn't because all of this land is like native land.
00:53:38
Speaker
you know, and it could be something from that time that is like you took my land so now or there could already you know, there could have already been something there when they decided to build that lighthouse there. That is absolutely like trapped. I mean, it could be much later than the 1500s like yeah, because yeah, I never had even heard of the 1500s part of it.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:54:04
Speaker
But yeah, so
00:54:05
Speaker
Thank you so much for that story. Absolutely. And I guess there's only one thing left to really say. Yeah, SBC out. Yeah, SBC out.
00:54:27
Speaker
All right. Thank you so much for listening. And remember to follow us on Instagram at Scared But Curious Pod. And we have a Twitter. Follow us at Scared Curious on Twitter X and join our Scared But Curious Facebook group. And if you're listening on Spotify, please write us. Five stars, please. And if there are any stories or cases you would love to hear us cover or anything you don't hear enough about, please don't hesitate. Email us at Scared But Curious Pod at gmail.com.