Young Storykeeper Volume III

220 | STORYKEEPERS VOLUME III AGE ELEVEN | 221
THE LIGHTHOUSE FAMILY
Jake Brady
Co Cavan
John spent his life as a lighthouse keeper and
loved nothing better than telling his children
stories about it. He had many stories but the
events of October 4th, 1988 was one story
he particularly loved to recall.
He told his children Jeff, Paddy and
Sarah that he was lucky to have survived the
night. He described the monstrous waves
crashing along the coast and the big BOOM
as a wave would break over the lighthouse.
At the end of the thrilling story, John said to
Paddy, “When I die, I want you to take over
the lighthouse.”
Paddy was only fourteen at the time,
but he was excited and proud that his father
had chosen him.
Twenty years later John sadly passed
away in hospital and just before he died, he
turned to Paddy and said, “You take care of
the lighthouse”.
“I will,” replied Paddy and said goodbye
to his father.
Paddy woke up at seven o’ clock
every morning and went straight up to the
lighthouse.
Jeff and Sarah had their own business
just beside the lighthouse. It was called
Brothers and Sisters Jet Ski Training Camp.
Their business was very big and they were
very wealthy. Whereas poor Paddy had
not much money or interest in running the
lighthouse anymore. He felt it was not as
much fun as his siblings’ business. Looking
out from the top of the lighthouse, he
watched the jet-skis zipping over and back,
while all was quiet in the lighthouse.
Instead of giving up, Paddy decided
to set up a lighthouse tour business called
Rockcarraig Tours. He had his business
running for two weeks and it was going well.
Then one day, the 4th of May to be
exact, Paddy was taking people on the tour
when something caught his eye. There was
a little boy missing on the island and the
mother and father were getting very worried.
Paddy looked out from the balcony and saw
the little boy clinging to rocks at the bottom
of the cliffs. He raised the alarm and ran
down the spiral stairs and grabbed the life
buoy. The Coast Guard crew was there and
Paddy directed the crew to exactly where the
boy was. They rescued the boy and brought
him to the shore where Paddy performed
CPR until the ambulance crew came and
brought him to the hospital where thankfully
he survived. His parents were so grateful
to Paddy they told the story to all the local
media and social media. The story went viral.
This increased the number of tourists who
came to visit the lighthouse doing the tours.
People came from all over the world, even
from an island off Perth called Rottnest
Island where there are two lighthouses.
Paddy, following in his father’s
footsteps, loved to share the stories of life
at the lighthouse and the important part
it played in saving lives. Paddy now is a
very rich and very happy man living in the
lighthouse.
THE LIGHTHOUSE OF AILLTE
CREAGACH
It’s 1899 and the lighthouse keeper of Aillte
Creagach, Captain Connery, a robust 68 year
old man with a snow white beard and hair,
looks out over the sea. Connery is a retired
ship’s captain and wears his sea captain’s
hat always, even when he sleeps, which isn’t
often. He lives alone in the lighthouse and
reads his many books to pass the time. At
six feet and one inch, Connery is also a tall
man.
One calm day as the captain was looking
out for ships, he saw a red marker buoy
disappear, as if it was dragged underwater,
followed by another and another. “What in
the blazes!” he said to himself, as he heard
a familiar sounding voice, but dismissed
it. Connery had heard tales of lighthouse
keepers who went mad from being alone.
Connery grunted, picked up some
binoculars and looked out over the water to
see if he could find the reason the buoys
had disappeared. Maybe the captain of the
helper ship that dropped off supplies, the ILV
Granter, would be able to shine some light
on the matter. He would contact him on the
radio tomorrow.
Next morning Connery woke up in
a daze and heard the voice again. “Better
watch for ships,” he muttered in his deep
voice.
As Connery was walking upstairs he
thought he saw a white ghost-like figure, a
phantom, but it disappeared before he could
blink. He was startled.
“Who goes there?” he called. “I’m a
ship’s captain and I’m armed.”
The phantom chuckled in a deep gruff
voice, “I am your worst nightmare. You’d
better watch out, look at the sea for a
change.”
Connery ran upstairs to the light room
as fast as he could.
The ILV Granter was heading straight
towards his lighthouse at speeds he had
never seen before. The lighthouse beacon
was flashing, how could they not see it?
There was no use shouting.
“Blast and darn, the binoculars - where
are they?” he said before grabbing them
from the desk. What he saw through the
binoculars changed his life forever, there
was no crew and no captain.
“NO CREW, NO CAPTAIN. HOW?!!!”
“Michael, you see the reas…” the ghost
growled.
“How do you know my name, who are
you?” demanded Connery.
“Don’t you remember me, Michael?
We were best friends. It’s me, Conor, I died
on our ship, you could have saved me by
throwing me a rope, but you didn’t. I fell off
the ship and drowned as you watched.”
Conor’s voice became distorted as he said,
“YOU WILL DIE TOO. YOU SEE, I HAVE
BEEN DISTRACTING YOU CAPTAIN,
GOODNIGHT AND ADIEU.”
As Michael turned, the ship crashed
over the rocks into his lighthouse at the
bottom of the cliffs, destroying it and killing
him.
Everything disappeared, washed under
the waves as the sea turned calm again and
the red buoys reappeared on the surface, as
though they never moved. It is said to this
day, that Michael and Conor still haunt the
island and its new lighthouse.
Fionn Roche
Co Dublin