FAIRPORT HARBOR, Ohio, 8:35 a.m. EDT May 29, 2001 -- -- Critics used to dismiss the ghost stories that came from the Fairport Harbor lighthouse. That is until this winter.

Workers installing air conditioning vents discovered the mummified remains of a gray cat in a crawl space.

Museum curator Pamela Brent swears she used to see the wispy gray spirit of a cat and volunteers also spoke of an eerie presence.

Historians have learned that a wife of one lighthouse tender kept several cats.

The cat's remains are now kept in a cardboard box. They have become a favorite of schoolchildren touring the museum.

 

Brent says that it is not the only lighthouse that provides a haven for spirits. She says lighthouses are magnets for ghosts.

The original Fairport Harbor lighthouse was completed in 1825. The tower stood 30 feet high, capped with an octagonal-shaped iron lantern. The lighthouse was accompanied by a two-story keeper's house.

Due to deterioration, the tower and keeper's house had to be replaced. Rebuilt in 1871, the tower now stands 60 feet high and has a spiral staircase of 69 steps which leads to an observation platform.

 

In 1925 the light in the tower was discontinued. It was replaced by a combination light and foghorn station that was built on the west breakwater pierhead.