Seal rock

Finally the time had come, summer holiday time. A whole 14 days without work. I had been counting the days for many months, work wasn't going well so the break was needed. A long drive to the coast but always worth the effort. The worst part was the going home.

We went to a different town to usual and had a look for what it offered. Psychotic seagulls that wanted your food from you. It didn't matter if you were eating, they would still dive bomb you. The shops even sold items with the birds on them. After a very carefully eaten lunch we decided to explore some more. We were attracted to a man offering boat trips to "seal island"

we were told it would be a 3 mile boat trip and then time by seal island to take pictures. After bouncing through the waves the island came into view. It had an abandoned light house in the middle and a hut next to it. On the rocks by the sea were indeed some seals basking in the sun. My wife and I did our best to take as many photos as we could. With the boat bouncing it was difficult but not impossible .

The joy of digital photos was you could take them, adjust them or throw them away. As the boat bounced I zoomed in on the seals and tried to judge the bounce rather then move the camera around. We couldn't get too close , therefore we had to zoom in. I also took pictures of the light house, as it was one of the last to be manned. As the captain of the boat pointed out it was now automatic.

He told us that the only time anybody went on the island was if the automatic system failed or the bulb stopped working. With the new equipment failures were rare. As I zoomed in on the lighthouse I could have sworn I saw a face in the top of the lighthouse. The new light was on a separate tower so the lighthouse building wasn't used.

I was about to ask my wife if she had seen anyone when the captain moved the boat to get a different view of the seals. As there was no way of seeing the lighthouse from our new location I dismissed it as a trick of the light. We moved again before turning to head back to land. We passed the lighthouse once more and I looked at the top of the lighthouse, I couldn't make out anything. I zoomed in and tried to take as many photos as I could in order to look at them later.

Once back on dry land we headed home. As soon as I could I downloaded the photos to the computer and got ready to find a face. I had many photos , from many angles , of the islands. I didn't mention anything to my wife, not until I found anything. All the lighthouse shots included the glass covered top of the building. The lamp was still in place, although not used for many years.

Then I saw the face again. To make it even more bizarre shots taken together didn't all have the person in it. We had circled the island and had seen no boats, the captain had said the new lights were solar powered as there was no power. It even looked like the door to the lighthouse had been kept shut by planks of wood , nailed across it.

I decided to risk telling my wife, even showing her the evidence. She didn't appear overly impressed, dismissing it as a reflection from the sun. I agreed , as didn't have a reason why anybody would be in an abandoned light house, a mile out to sea.

I decided to some research on the lighthouse, just to learn a bit more about it. I found out about the boats both saved and lost in the area. In fact the lighthouse was built after many lives had been lost to the rocks around the lighthouse. I also discovered it was actually the last lighthouse to have been manned. The last human left twenty years ago after his last shift.

So, the face I saw became even more unlikely. There was no one there, no boat and no reason for anyone to visit as the new light was working. After following another link I found another story, a tale I would usually dismiss. Today it sounded a little more plausible .

It said that there had been a gap between the old lighthouse being shut down and the new light going on. A light had been put in for temporary usage. The temporary light wasn't as bright as it possibly should be and it wasn't seen by a small fishing boat. The story went that a boat was caught in a sudden blanket of fog, the fisherman tried to find his way out and was hoping for help from the lighthouse.

He knew if he saw the light he could aim to a route avoiding the rocks. The light unfortunately didn't pierce the thick fog and the boat struck rocks. It sunk and it was believed the fisherman drowned. When he didn't return as planned a search began. The remains of the boat was found but not its captain. The theory was that the body was either stuck under rocks or had floated away with the strong currents.

The next part of the story was the bit I would have usually ignored. It said the sailor had made it to the rocks surrounding the island and had clambered to the lighthouse. There he had been for around twenty years, occasionally spotted by passing boats. The controversial bit was that he had drowned before getting to land and was now haunting the lighthouse. Maybe as a ghostly complaint over the lack of a decent warning light.

At the beginning of that day I firmly didn't believe in ghosts, now maybe just a little bit. It was possible there was a mechanical mask, that popped up randomly. Maybe it was a maintaince man getting a view of their surroundings, but how did he get there without a boat.

Maybe ghosts were real.