This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

In Montauk, Fright Near the Light

Hair-raising aura at old Air Force base.

The ghouls trick-or-treating at Montauk's Camp Hero today will be thinking about Silly String and shaving cream, not mind control and time travel, but they'd best keep an eye on their electromagnetic fields. Paranormal activity seems to spike at the far-eastern tip of Long Island, whether it's due to the sweeping beams of the Montauk Light or conspiratorial activity at the old Air Force radar dish.

"The most famous account of Camp Hero is the Montauk project," says the Long Island Paranormal Investigators website. "It was said that two boys were kidnapped and put in a special training facility on the camp. They were being experimented on to see if they could be used for remote viewing or bringing in objects from another dimension with the use of the Montauk Chair."

"It is claimed that in one experiment with the Montauk Chair a boy accidentally opened a door that released a fourth dimensional creature they refer to as 'Junior.' It is said that the creature was captured underneath the grounds and that it was closed off."

Find out what's happening in East Hamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A mile to the east, strange events are said to occur routinely at the remote and rather desolate Montauk Lighthouse."The staff talks about pictures being taken of walls, chairs moving, and other stange overnight happenings," according to Barbara Borsack. "The staff told me about all these odd happenings because my great-great grandparents lost two children when they lived at the lighthouse and they think it might be one of them! Perhaps the 12 year old that drowned - the perfect age for wanting to fool around with people," she said, jokingly. She doesn't buy the story. 

Brian Pope, the assistant site manager, said other staff members with more longevity, who were not avalable for an interview, would have better stories than his to tell, but that in his four years at the light, "there were two occasions where something was very weird" that he witnessed personally.

Find out what's happening in East Hamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Last winter, as he was leaving work at about 10 after 5, he said, "I went to make sure that the door to the tower was closed." It was, but "I swear to God I heard somebody walking on the steps."

Two years ago, in the afternoon, "I was sitting at my desk doing some work," when what felt "like a wind, a breeze, went by."

"I didn't see anything, but it felt like someone was walking by," he said.

Another mile and a half east, past the Montauk Lighthouse, is Great Eastern Rock, a fishing spot named for a humongous steamship gashed on that rock in 1862. Rumor has it that the Great Eastern was haunted by riveters who were trapped within its double hull as it was being built. The space inside was so small, according to scaryforkids.com, that small young "bash boys" would be sent to work inside, where they had to endure the sound of hammering all along the hull.

"The men who worked aboard the steamer complained of an eerie hammering noise constantly heard from far below decks. They said it often woke them from their sleep, and was loud enough to be heard during storms. It was said to be made by the ghost of one of the souls left trapped between the hulls during construction."

The double hull saved the Great Eastern when it hit the rock off Montauk; the gash had been over 80 feet long. Some maintain today that, when the Great Eastern was finally retired and broken apart, the skeletons of a riveter and his little bash boy were discovered inside the hull.

Just a little something for the little spooks to chew on, as, in search of sweets, they walk down the streets in Camp Hero.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?