History

On May 16, 1898, the North Head Lighthouse was put into service as the primary navigation aid at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Cape Disappointment Lighthouse had served this function since October 15, 1856; however, ships continued to run aground at the “Graveyard of the Pacific.” Due to the sheer number of shipwrecks, it was determined a second lighthouse was needed on the northwestern spur of Cape Disappointment, commonly referred to as North Head.

First Lighthouse Keeper

Alexander “Ikey” Pesonen, who had been serving as head keeper at Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, was transferred to North Head to be its first keeper. Keeper Pesonen was born in Finland in 1859, and immigrated to the United States in 1876. Pesonen was awarded the lighthouse efficiency flag for having the model station in the district in 1919.

Hauntings & Lore

Over the years, the Chinook Observer (the area’s local newspaper) has reported how visitors to the North Head have experienced feelings of a ghostly presence; volunteers, too, have reported unusual electrical surges and objects that appear to move.

Melancholy Mary

One of the most popular haunted tales from North Head Lighthouse is the ghost of Mary Pesonen who was the wife of the first lighthouse keeper.

Freed from the isolation of Tillamook Rock, Alexander “Ikey” Pesonen (the first lighthouse keeper) married Mary “Soney” Watson in 1890, two years after arriving at North Head. In the spring of 1923, Keeper Pesonen took his wife to a doctor in Portland, Oregon, where she was diagnosed with “melancholia,” a condition marked by persistent depression and ill-founded fears. The couple returned to North Head on June 8, and the following morning, Mary arose early and went for a walk with her dog Jerry.

The dog returned a short while later, and its behavior alerted Keeper Pesonen that something was wrong. The local paper explained what happened next: He notified the boys at the radio station and also at the weather bureau, and a searching party was soon organized. The dog led searchers to a spot just under the fire control station near the North Head Lighthouse, and there they found her coat lying on the edge of the cliff. A trail through the tall grass, as though someone had slid down the cliff, was mute evidence of what had befallen the unfortunate woman.

Newspapers suggested Mary’s “rash act” to plunge herself over the cliffs was prompted by the “desperate life of isolation and the incessant howling of the winds.” Many claim her spirit still wanders the lightkeeper’s house to this day.

Alexander died two years later and they are buried next to each other in the Ilwaco Cemetery.

Location