0633 Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, Toronto Island, ON, Canada
The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario. Completed in 1808, it is the oldest existing lighthouse on the Great Lakes. Construction was started in 1803 and it started operating in 1808. It was built to a height of 52 feet and extended to 82 feet in 1832.
It once stood on the shore but over time sand has built up in front of it so that it now stands about 100 m inland. It is currently unused and shut. It stands as a testament to Toronto's history as a Great Lakes port. Local legend purports the lighthouse tower to be haunted. On January 2, 1815 the first keeper, John Paul Radelmüller was murdered. It was thought to have been drunken soldiers from Fort York who were looking for bootlegged beer. They chased him up the stairs and knocked him unconscious. They chopped up the body and buried him. Two soldiers, John Henry and John Blowman, were charged with his murder but later acquitted. In 1893, George Durnan found a coffin buried in the sand nearby that contained a jawbone. It wasn't clear whether this belonged to Radelmüller. Some claim that the sound of moaning can be heard on misty nights and that it is possible to see an apparition wandering the grounds that is believed to be Radelmüller.
0633 Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, Toronto Island, ON, Canada
The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario. Completed in 1808, it is the oldest existing lighthouse on the Great Lakes. Construction was started in 1803 and it started operating in 1808. It was built to a height of 52 feet and extended to 82 feet in 1832.
It once stood on the shore but over time sand has built up in front of it so that it now stands about 100 m inland. It is currently unused and shut. It stands as a testament to Toronto's history as a Great Lakes port. Local legend purports the lighthouse tower to be haunted. On January 2, 1815 the first keeper, John Paul Radelmüller was murdered. It was thought to have been drunken soldiers from Fort York who were looking for bootlegged beer. They chased him up the stairs and knocked him unconscious. They chopped up the body and buried him. Two soldiers, John Henry and John Blowman, were charged with his murder but later acquitted. In 1893, George Durnan found a coffin buried in the sand nearby that contained a jawbone. It wasn't clear whether this belonged to Radelmüller. Some claim that the sound of moaning can be heard on misty nights and that it is possible to see an apparition wandering the grounds that is believed to be Radelmüller.