The Hauntings of St. Augustine Lighthouse, Florida

 Author: Solace Steele

 

Imagine catching what appears to be a silhouette of
someone peering down from two staircases above. 

This sighting has become more common than
others when touring the lighthouse.

Spooky Season has arrived at long last, and Halloween is just around the corner. It’s the perfect
time to indulge in candy and other traditions that accompany this holiday, and those who are
interested in everything paranormal are in for a treat if they’re willing to take their chance and
explore. The St. Augustine Lighthouse in Florida is one of the oldest points of navigation in U.S.
history. The lighthouse that stands today is the second one and was constructed in the late 1700s when the first collapsed due to erosion. It has also stood tall and proud through many battles during its time. Still, there is more to this lighthouse than what initially meets the eye. Its history is tainted with death, and to this day spirits remain tethered to it, having been unable to move on for centuries. One of St. Augustine’s most famous ghost stories begins with Hezekiah Pittee, who was the superintendent of the second lighthouse construction. Kelcie Lloyd, the Special Programs Manager at St. Augustine Lighthouse, explains this tragic tale in her article titled Ghost Stories: The Pittee Girls. He had four children named Mary, Eliza, Edward, and Carrie. They utilized the construction site as one giant playground and favored a supply cart that ran from the site to the dock where supply ships would wait. Little did they know that supply cart would carry them to a watery grave. The only thing preventing them from tumbling into the water at the time was a wooden board. On the day of July 28, 1873, the Pittee siblings and an unidentified African American girl were on their makeshift rollercoaster, and as it turns out, that wooden board was no longer secured in place to stop the cart. So, it tipped over and into the water. The girls were trapped beneath it, and by the time a worker raced to remove it, three of the four girls had drowned. Carrie, the youngest, was the only survivor. 

The Pittee family, originally from Maine, moved back to their home to bury their loved ones there,
and the resting place of the unidentified African American girl has yet to be discovered. 

 

 This video follows Buzzfeed Unsolved co-hosts 

Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara as they visit

 the St. Augustine Lighthouse after hours to 

provide viewers a ghostly experience

Many years have passed since this tragic incident, but that was not the last the world would ever
see of these children. Not to mention, there were more who had died here. Some of these
individuals include William Harn, Peter Rasmussen, and Joseph Andreu, who have supposedly
been sighted around the lighthouse and the keeper’s house below it. Rasmussen’s spirit is easily
identified through reports of the scent of cigar smoke. Andreu met his end after falling off the
lighthouse when painting it during its construction. Harn was one of the first keepers of the
lighthouse, and unfortunately the first to die in it after a long battle with malaria and tuberculosis.
Many strange occurrences have happened since then, with staff members and tourists reporting
ghostly encounters. There have been reports of footsteps being heard upstairs, with no one present upon investigation, as well as sightings of little girls standing and disappearing not a second later. Staff and tourists have also noted the smell of cigar smoke, doors being left wide open despite having been locked the night before, EMF readings, the sound of music boxes playing, and more. The St. Augustine Lighthouse is a favorite among tourists intrigued by the unexplainable and has even been featured on an episode of SyFy’s own Ghost Hunters. It seems safe to say that human beings absolutely must have an explanation for things, and the paranormal refuses to provide one, which surely contributes to the lack of belief in them. However, some answers must be sought after, and perhaps a ghost tour of the lighthouse would be a good place to start. 

Works Cited
A&E. “Ghost Hunters: Return to Haunted St. Augustine.” YouTube, 13 May 2020,
https://youtu.be/Pa5-O0nnshU

Anya016. “St. Augustine Lighthouse – Florida.” Random Times, 21 April 2020, https://random-
times.com/2020/04/21/st-agustine-lighthouse-florida/

Buzzfeed Unsolved Network. “The Haunted Shadows Of The St. Augustine Lighthouse.”
YouTube, 27 Sept. 2019, https://youtu.be/fU-8Rg4CgeI.

Ghostsandgravestones.com. “Haunted Guide to the St. Augustine Lighthouse.”
https://www.ghostsandgravestones.com/st-augustine/lighthouse-haunted

Lemmon, Kathryn. “The Haunted Side of St. Augustine, Fla.” Nexis Uni, 5 October 2012,
https://advance-lexis-com.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/document/?
pdmfid=1516831&crid=5cda0547-d12b-425a-9140-557a795b8445&pddocfullpath=
%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fnews%2Furn%3AcontentItem%3A56RN-KHT1-JC8H-
N2CD-00000-
00&pdcontentcomponentid=157000&pdteaserkey=sr0&pditab=allpods&ecomp=xzvnk&e
arg=sr0&prid=b5d2c776-f0df-4118-84b1-55a172717caa

Lloyd, Kelcie. “Ghost Stories: The Pittee Girls.” St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum.
2 March 2020,
https://www.staugustinelighthouse.org/2020/03/02/ghost-stories-the-pittee-girls/

Links for further research
1. The Ghosts of the St. Augustine Lighthouse
https://ghostcitytours.com/st-augustine/haunted-places/st-augustine-lighthouse/
An article providing an overview of the ghosts that inhabit the St. Augustine Lgihthouse
2. The St. Augustine Light
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine_Light
A Wikipedia article that provides the history of the entire lighthouse as well as more
resources for further research.
3. staugustinelighthouse.org home page
https://www.staugustinelighthouse.org/
The official lighthouse webpage itself. It offers information on the lighthouse and its
history, as well as how to set up tours.

Dancing Mania

 Author: Trenadee

In the 7th century the first earliest outbreak of the Dancing Mania occurred. The Dancing Mania occurred from the 7th century to the 17th century. The first outbreak happened in the city of Strasbourg. This all started due to a group of citizens in the German city of Aachen began to come out of their houses and started dancing in the streets. All of this happened over six hundred and forty-two years ago or more from today. It began to spread all over Europe between the 14th and17th centuries. The mania was not just targeted at certain people, the dancing mania affected adult sand children. It made them dance until they collapsed from exhaustion and injuries(Smithsonian MAGAZINE).

 

 

 

In July 15, a women named Frau Mrs. Troffea just began to dance in the middle of the street and
was not able to stop herself from dancing. After being able to stop the same thing continues to
happen for days. A week later more people began to catch it and started breaking out in the streets
dancing. The dancing mania included demonic possession and overheated blood. They said about
four hundred people died from the dancing mania. I also find out that some people died from
strokes and heart attacks when they went through the dancing mania.

 

 

Some of the symptoms of the dancing mania were chest pains, convulsions, hallucinations,
hyperventilation, epileptic fits, and visions. Many people think that the dancing mania was fake,
but it really did happen. I just can’t believe that something with the name Dancing Mania could kill
people them dancing and then not being able to stop. It really does not sound real, but it is. I just
found it weird how people were really dying from not being able to stop dancing.

The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic of 1962 was about a group of ninety-five college students at a
girls’ school catching the dancing mania. After they caught it, the whole school was shut down for
two months. This school was in Tanganyika, but after the ninety-five students caught it, the other
kids did not think it was funny anymore. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/13097/5-historical-
manias-gripped-societies-then-disappeared
 

On Christmas Eve in 1021, 18 people gathered outside a church in the German town of Kölbigk
and danced with wild abandon. Shortly afterwards 200 hundred people started dancing out of
control. It was just sad how they people really could not stop themselves from dancing.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014067360960386X?via%3Dihub

WORKS CITED

“SMITHSONIANMAGAZINE”https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/bxbePwxcO-2CG-
o2Nc14CPVJtrM=/1000x750/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-
media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/e3/f0/e3f0bf51-87ec-4bfb-a09b-05fe79789f02/
dance_at_molenbeek.jpg
“History” https://www.history.com/news/what-was-the-dancing-plague-of-1518
“wikipedia” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania
“5 Historical Manias That Gripped Societies, Then Disappeared”
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/13097/5-historical-manias-gripped-societies-then-
disappeared
“A forgotten plague: making sense of dancing mania”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014067360960386X?via%3Dihub

Flannan Isles Lighthouse Missing Case

 Author: Raymond Moton

The Flannan Isles Lighthouse  is a 75 feet lighthouse that was designed by David Alan Stevenson for the Northern Lighthouse Board. The island is part of the Flannan Isles in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of mainland Scotland. The lighthouse is on the highest point top of the island, Eilean Mor.
The area is best known for the mysterious disappearance of the light keepers in 1900. According
to an article published on ASPire, entitled “When Three Isn’t a Crowd: The Mystery of Eilean
Mor” the origins of the lighthouse of Flannan Isles holds a supernatural present. The supranatural
element is seen in the island bad reputation for many centuries. The Flannan Isles Lighthouse has
been permanently deserted for over a thousand years, since the time of St Flannan and his Celtic
flock first owed the place. The original habitants of the island, the shepherds, sometimes brought
their sheep across to graze on the island for that day. The shepherds would never stay the night
as they feared “the spirits they believed lived on the island.” The strong supernatural history of
the island let to more of a connection to theories and conspiracies of the mysterious
disappearance of the light keepers than a usual mystery. 

                                            St. Flannan’s Cell and Flannan Isles Lighthouse

The first record that something was abnormal on the Flannan Isles was on December 15,
1900. The steamer Archtor, on a passage from Philadelphia to Leith, is directed to the Flannan
Isles due to the poor weather conditions in the area. There were no lights from the lighthouse that
help lead the boat to the island. When the Archtor docked in Leith on December 18, 1900. The
crew reported the strange incident to the Northern Lighthouse Board. The lighthouse was
manned by three men: James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald McArthur, with a rotating
fourth man (Joseph Moore) spending time on shore.

Flannan Isles lighthouse keepers: James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald
McArthur, with a rotating fourth man (Joseph Moore) spending time on shore.

The sighting of the Archtor was passed onto the Northern Lighthouse Board to
investigative the situation. The relief vessel, the lighthouse tender Hesperus, was send to the
Flannan Isles Lighthouse to investigative the three lightkeepers disappearance. The relief vessel
was unable to sail from Breasclete to Lewis, as planned on December 20, 1900 due to poor
weather in the area. Jim Harvie, the captain of Hesperus, attempted to reach the lighthouse
keepers by blowing the ship's whistle and firing a flare, but was unsuccessful. The Hesperus
didn’t reach the island until December 26, 1990. The arrival of the ship shows no signs of the
lightkeepers to be found. When the crew reached the shore, all that could be found of the three
lightkeepers were evidence of the thunderstorm. According to a website posted on Northern
Lighthouse Board, entitled “Flannan Isles” the evidence of the thunderstorm is found on the
West side of the island where a broken box at 108 feet above sea level that had its contents
spread out. The contents spread out include “West landing mooring ropes and tackle...ropes it
appears, got washed out of it, they lie strewn on the rocks near the crane”. The other evidence of
the thunderstorm comes from the iron railings bent over, the iron railway by the path was
wrenched out of its concrete, and a rock weighing more than a ton had been displaced. This
information further put into question how the evidence relates to the three lighthouse keepers'
disappearance.

Joseph Moore (lighthouse keeper) is another witness in finding evidence of the Flannan
Isles Lighthouse disappearance. Joseph Moore found out that the three lighthouse keepers were
gone mysteriously from their positions of the lighthouse. He met with the Hesperus crew to find
the missing three lighthouse keepers. The website posted on Northern Lighthouse Board, entitled
“Flannan Isles” found further information of the disappearance of the three lighthouse keepers.
Joseph Moore found the “entrance door and gate closed, but the kitchen door opened”. Next,
Joseph Moore entered the kichen to found “the fireplace and saw that the fire had not lit for some
days.” Then, Joseph Moore entered the rooms to found “the beds empty just as they left them in
the early morning”. The last place he entered himself is the lightroom where everything was in
proper order “the lamp was cleaned... the fountain is full...blinds on the windows.” Joseph Moore
met with the Hesperus crew to find the same mess on the West side of the island.

Robert Muirhead (Northern Lighthouse Board superintendent) was sent to conduct the
official investigation into the case of the missing three lighthouse keepers. He took the reports
from the Hesperus crew and Joseph Moore into consideration when going into the investigation.
He didn’t find anything beyond the information already reported until he found the lighthouse’s
logs of the three lighthouse keepers. Robert Muirhead immediately noticed that the last few days
of entries of the lighthouse logs were unusual. According to an article published on Historic UK,
entitled “The Mysterious Disappearance of the Eilean Mor Lighthouse Keepers” the log on the
December 12th shows Thomas Marshall, the second assistant, wrote of “severe winds the likes of
which I have never seen before in twenty years”. The log also noticed that James Ducat, the
Principal Keeper, had been “very quiet” and that the third assistant, William McArthur, had been
“crying”. Robert Muirhead found these details unusual because these lighthouse keepers was
known as experienced season mariners, and rough weather conditions shouldn’t be unusual for
them. The log entries on the December 13th-17th sees the three lighthouse keepers praying that
the storm is over. The final log entry states, “Storm ended, sea calm. God is over all.” Robert
Muirhead found these details unusual because there were no reported storms on the island on the
12th, 13th and 14th of December. In fact, the weather was calm, and the storms that harm the
island didn’t hit until December 17th. The evidence that Robert Muirhead reported to the
Northern Lighthouse Board was seen as unconvincing to some people who saw his explanation.
Despite numerous amount of evidence that come out of the disappearance of the three
lighthouse keepers. No one really have an exact answer to what happened to the three lighthouse
keepers. A lack of a distinct answer to the mystery lead to many theories and speculation of the
disappearance from Flannan Isles Lighthouse that range from foreign invaders capturing the men
to alien abductions. While the mystery is still unsolved, the disappearance of the three
lightkeepers help influence the curiosity of human nature to find out what happen to the three
lighthouse keepers.

Works cited:

Ben Johnson. “The Mysterious Disappearance of the Eilean Mor Lighthouse Keepers.” Historic
UK, 21 Apr. 2021, www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/The-Eilean-Mor-
Lighthouse-Mystery. Accessed 23 Oct. 2021.

Envirozentinel63. “When Three Isn’t a Crowd: The Mystery of Eilean Mor.” ASPire, 6 Feb.
2018, sentinel63.wordpress.com/2016/06/10/when-three-isnt-a-crowd-the-mystery-of-
eilean-mor. Accessed 22 Oct. 2021.

"Flannan Isles Lighthouse - The Unsolved Mystery Of The Disappearance Of Three Keepers
Working There." 8 Sept. 2020, Amazing World Reality, www.amazingworldreality.com/2020/09/
lannan-isles-lighthouse-unsolved.html. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

“Flannan Isles.” Northern Lighthouse Board, 30 June. 2021, www.nlb.org.uk/history/flannanisles. Accessed 20 Oct. 2021.

Mike Merritt. "Has Mystery of Flannan Isles Finally Been Solved." 10 Oct. 2015, The Sunday
Post, www.sundaypost.com/news/scottish-news/has-mystery-of-flannan-isles-finally-
been-solved. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

Links for further research:

 Proquest
https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/article-6-no-title/docview/109116257/se-
2?accountid=25998
The newspaper article is about explaining the history of the three lighthouse keepers’
disappearance that contribute to the making opera production of, “The Lighthouse”. This article
shows a perception of what real life evidence expired the tales of the events in the Flannan Isles
lighthouse disappearance.

Historic UK
www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/The-Eilean-Mor-Lighthouse-Mystery
The website is about explaining the history of the three lighthouse keepers' disappearance
that contribute to the making of the theories of the true event. The website uses logs of the three
lighthouse keepers to show their point of view in the mystery of their disappearance. The website
uses the logs to build on speculation on what happened to the lighthouse keepers coupled with
the evidence found on the island.

Atlas Obscura
Flannan Isle Lighthouse – Outer Hebrides, Scotland - Atlas Obscura
The website is about explaining the history of the three lighthouse keepers' disappearance
that contribute to the making of the theories of the true event. The website uses the history and
supernatural elements of the disappearance of the three lighthouse keepers on Flannan Isles for
an increase of tourism in this area.

The Necessity of Bodysnatching

 Author: Reagan

The origin of body snatching was for medical practice and art, but the underground black market of resurrectionist grew directly from the demand for bodies by medical curiosity. As Body Snatching around the World | History Detectives by PBS put it, body snatching was “condoned by many medical practitioners and institutions who believed it was a necessary evil” throughout most culture and most of history before legal anatomical study of the body. The article goes into detail about the first believed body snatching for medical use in 1319 by a anatomy professor at Bologna, Mundinus. From that point on medical professionals and artist began to dissect the body for review more frequently in histry.

 

 

 By Rowlandson

 The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London by Coates, Isabel is an article on the murders of orphans due to resurrection men, while additionally on the trial of anatomy murderers and the history of ending the practice of burking. Burking meaning to murder by suffocation, leaving no marks of violence which was the practice of resurrection men. The burking of victims by resurrection men was called autonomy murders as for they were to supply the demand by medical professionals for fresh bodies to dissect. The anatomy murders were the final straw for the public on bodysnatching. The murder of an orphan boy caused three resurrection men to be put on trial for murders in 1831. This trail was the first of many that influenced laws that hindered resurrection men's autonomy murder. Anatomy murders occurred internationally in result of the demand for fresh dead bodies for dissection in the medical world but was majoritively during peaks in medical advancements throughout history. 

 

Throughout history bodysnatching was very common in most cultures that advanced in medicine and the arts until the late 1800s and 1900s when it became restricted by laws. The Begin Cutting by Telhan, Gaurav Raj is an article on the recollection of the author’s medical career experience dissecting human cadavers and the necessity it was to their medical education. Morally and ethically debating the value of the knowledge versus the actuality of cutting dead bodies. The impact body snatching had on the medical community is why it was morally accepted by the surgeons who bought bodies at the time. The purpose of body snatching was to advance the medical world to the point humans could reach voluntary dissection and body/organ donation.

Works Cited

 “Body Snatching around the World | History Detectives.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 2003, www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/body-snatching-around-the-world/.

Coates, Isabel. “The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London (Book).” Library Journal, vol. 129, no. 12, July 2004, pp. 100–101. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=aph&AN=13802540&site=ehost-live&scope=site

 Nuland, Sherwin B. “The Uncertain Art.” American Scholar, vol. 70, no. 2, Spring 2001, p. 125. EBSCOhost,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=aph&AN=4398983&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Sanders, J. R. “Grave Business.” Wild West, vol. 31, no. 4, Dec. 2018, pp. 24–25. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=aph&AN=132235573&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Telhan, Gaurav Raj. “Begin Cutting.” Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 91, no. 4, Fall 2015, pp. 54–60. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=aph&AN=110200273&site=ehost-live&scope=site

 

Further Research:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/resurrectionist

https://www.joincake.com/blog/grave-robber-us/ 

https://diggingup1800.com/the-simple-art-of-burking/

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Burke-Hare-infamous-murderers-graverobbers/

The Legend of the Flying Dutchman

Author: Laura

For hundreds of years, the story of the “Flying Dutchman” has grabbed the attention of many
people around the world. A story told from generation to generation. A ship is making a
treacherous journey back to port, but never makes it back. A ship, now cursed, must sail the sea
forever, and ever, and ever...! According to William DeLong, in his article, “The Mystery Of The
Flying Dutchman Explained By The Physics Of Light”, the captain of the ship, Captain Handrick
van der Decken, who went by “The Dutchman”, said in the midst of the storm, it was too late to
retrace the route from which he came from, and decided to keep pushing forward, which led to
the sinking of the vessel

 

                                                            The Flying Dutchman

Legend has it that the myth of the “Flying Dutchman” has been in existence since, as early as the 17th century. Stefan Andrews, in his article, “For 250 years, people have spotted the Flying Dutchman... doomed to sail the Seven Seas forever”, says writings about the ship started in the 18th century, but official sightings of the ship were not recorded up until the 19th and into the 20th century. It is believed that the ship looks “ghost-like” and not like normal ships that normally sail the seas. Author of “Ghost Ships”, Daniel Loxton states, “A strange ship slides by. It is silent and empty, without a living soul on board. Passing like a phantom, it vanishes into the night.” (Loxton 64). The use of solid descriptions in this article, bring the “ghost-like” nature of the ship to life. 

What if the Flying Dutchman was Real?

It is said that the ship will destroy any other ship that sees and/or approaches it. The article,
“Ghost Ship: The Mysterious Flying Dutchman”, written by Shamseer Mambra, says, “the
Dutchman is called the harbinger of death and destruction for those vessels which have sighted
it. It has also been retold countless times that letters and missives used to be passed onto those
ships that passed the Dutchman in their route. The opening of these letters and missives by the
crew resulted in the ships getting destroyed and the crew parting with their lives.” (Mambra).
The lives of those who crossed paths with the Flying Dutchman, were sentenced to a death
provided by the vessel itself.

The story of the “Flying Dutchman” has been so heavily discussed around the world that many
types of media have picked up on the legend and have put their own twist on the story. Natasha
Sheldon, author of the article, “The Truth Behind the Legends of the Flying Dutchman”, says
that the story of this legendary ship has inspired many creators to put their own twist on the
story, through plays, paintings, poetry, and even motion pictures. In “The Story Of ‘The Flying
Dutchman’”, written by National Public Radio, it is said that the story of the ship is told through
an opera written by Richard Wagner, and it tells the story but with its own unique twist. Kerri-
Ann Bevis, who wrote the article, “The Legend of the Flying Dutchman, the Ghost Ship of the
Cape”, talks about how the story of the Flying Dutchman was featured in an opera, written by
Richard Wagner, with a story of a man on the hunt for love. This brings forth the question, what
is the true story of the Flying Dutchman? The answer to that is that the world may never know. 

 

 Works Cited:

Andrews, Stefan. “For 250 years, people have spotted the Flying Dutchman, the phantom ship
doomed to sail the Seven Seas forever.” The Vintage News, 12 Jul. 2017,
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/07/12/for-250-years-people-have-spotted-the-
flying-dutchman-the-phantom-ship-doomed-to-sail/.

Bevis, Kerri-Ann. “The Legend of the Flying Dutchman, the Ghost Ship of the Cape.” The
Culture Trip, 30 Nov. 2017, https://theculturetrip.com/africa/south-africa/articles/the-
legend-of-the-flying-dutchman-the-ghost-ship-of-the-cape/.

DeLong, William. “The Mystery Of The Flying Dutchman Explained By The Physics Of Light.”
All That’s Interesting, 2 Apr. 2018, https://allthatsinteresting.com/flying-dutchman.
Accessed 13 October 2021.

Life’s Biggest Questions. “What If The Flying Dutchman Was Real?” Youtube, 21 February
2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwIandvyKEw.

Loxton, Daniel. “Ghost Ships.” Skeptics Society & Skeptic Magazine, 2017,
https://www.skeptic.com/junior_skeptic/issue65/.

Mambra, Shamseer. “Ghost Ship: The Mysterious Flying Dutchman.” Maritime Insight:
Maritime History, 3 Sep. 2021, https://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/ghost-
ship-the-mysterious-flying-dutchman/.

Ryder, Albert Pinkham. “Flying Dutchman.” Wikipedia Commons, 24 October 2006,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flying_Dutchman,_the.jpg.

Sheldon, Natasha. “The Truth Behind the Legends of the Flying Dutchman.” History Collection,
14 Sep. 2018, https://historycollection.com/the-truth-behind-the-legends-of-the-flying-
dutchman/.

“The Story of ‘The Flying Dutchman.’” National Public Radio, 7 October 2011,
https://www.npr.org/2011/10/06/141123770/the-story-of-the-flying-dutchman.

For Further Research:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “Flying Dutchman.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 April
2016, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Flying-Dutchman. Accessed 19 October 2021.
This source gives basic information on the legend of the ship. It also talks about pieces of
literature that were written based off the legendary ship and the story behind it.

“Flying Dutchman.” Wikipedia, 5 October 2021,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman. Accessed 19 October 2021. This
resource talks about the origins of the Flying Dutchman and the sightings of the ship. It
also talks about optical illusions and how the story is recreated through many different
types of media.

Sullivan, Kerry. “Legend of the Flying Dutchman, Ghostly Apparition of The Ship of Captain
Hendrick.” Ancient Origins, 20 May 2021, https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-
legends/legend-flying-dutchman-ghostly-007285. Accessed 19 October 2021. This source
talks about the legend of the Flying Dutchman and the voyage and curse of the ship. It
also talks about the legacy that the Flying Dutchman holds and how the story continues to
be told through operas.

The Illuminati

 by Kara Loyd

The illuminati itself is a source of many great conspiracies. The illuminati was a secret
society, first meeting in May of 1776, founded by Adam Weishaupt. Weinshaupt was a professor at a university; he was involved in a private group within a Catholic church. While he was a leader in the group, he found the best method to keep control was to keep secrets. Weinshaupt formed a secret society to manipulate the members. The people did anything to learn the secrets, whether they were real or fake. I believe this may have been the start of all the conspiracies formed throughout the years. The group's goals were to limit religious influence and power by the government on society. The group chose not to discuss or worship religion together as a symbol of freedom to each member. Many of the group's rules and virtues were based on the Enlightenment ideas of the time period.

As time went on, the illuminati began to slowly fall apart. Almost a decade after the first
meeting, the Bavarian government shut down the secret society and banished Weishaupt to Gotha,
Germany. There are many present-day organizations that claim the name “illuminati.” Although
there is no evidence to link these groups to the illuminati, it is the only current connection we have
to the illuminati. Originally the illuminati was never meant to be noticed, but when people found
out they began to create ideas and conspiracies about what the illuminati really was.

Many common conspiracies are formed around the common symbol of the eye. The Eye of Providence is a symbol that has been the start of many conspiracies. The eye inside a triangle on the one-dollar bill is known to connect the European and US government and the passages of power (Hunt). The eye also shows up on some versions of the Bible; one example of this, as explained by John Hunt in “Secrets of the Illuminati: The Top- Secret Society With Plans to Rule the World,” the Catholic Bible was
used by Joe Biden on Inauguration Day. Some people tend to think the swearing in of Biden means
the illuminati is planning to overrun the governments by using such celebrities as Biden, Lady
Gaga, and Eminem.

Over the years many facts about the illuminati have been proven true. There are also many
unproven conspiracies and theories. Most people can agree it has become a discussion over what is
facts or fiction. No matter what you believe about the illuminati, it is a fact that it once existed in
some society in the past.

Works Cited:

Hunt, John. “Secrets of the Illuminati: The Top- Secret Society With Plans to Rule the
World.” Trade Craft, 2021. https://spyscape.com/article/mysteries-of-the-illuminati-the-
secret-rulers-of-the-world.
Spence, Richard. “Adam Weishaupt, the Founder of the Illuminati, and His Ideal World.” The
Great Courses Daily. Wondrium. 21 Aug. 2021. Web. 22 Oct.
2021. https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/adam-weishaupt-the-founder-of-the-
illuminati-and-his-ideal-world/
Vickery, Matthew. “The Birthplace of the Illuminati.” BBC, 2021.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20171127-the-birthplace-of-the-illuminati.

Links for Further Research:

Secret Society
https://www.history.com/news/secret-societies-freemasons-knights-templar
This website provides detail on more secret societies in past decades.

Present Day Illuminati
https://www.theweek.co.uk/62399/what-is-the-illuminati-and-what-does-it-control
The article discusses more on present day illuminati and how it involves celebrities. It also goes
back into the illuminati in the early years.

Illuminati in Government
https://time.com/5892376/early-american-conspiracy-theory/
Time.com discusses the conspiracies and beliefs of how the illuminati has impacted the
government with President Trump and evangelistic Christians