On June 1, 1896, a fisherman shot a game warden on this offshore island, then turned the gun on himself — the lighthouse has told the story ever since.
Wood Island (offshore Biddeford Pool), Biddeford, ME 04005
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Seasonal water shuttle from Biddeford Pool (Fortunes Rocks); fare typically $20–$30 round trip. Check woodislandlighthouse.org for current season schedule and pricing.
Access
Limited Access
Island requires boat transfer; grounds include unpaved paths and lighthouse stairs.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1808 · Active Federal Lighthouse (1808–present) · 1896 Murder-Suicide Documented in Period Newspapers · Maine Maritime Heritage
Wood Island Light stands at the mouth of the Saco River at Biddeford Pool, marking the approach to Biddeford Harbor. The first lighthouse on the island was established in 1808; the current 47-foot granite tower was completed in 1858 and remains an active aid to navigation under Coast Guard management.
For most of the 19th century the lighthouse operated under the federal lighthouse establishment with a resident keeper. Fishermen and transient workers also used the island seasonally, a situation that occasionally produced disputes over access, quarters, and grazing rights.
On June 1, 1896, those disputes came to a violent end. Howard Hobbs, a fisherman who had a rental arrangement with keeper's agent Frederick W. Milliken, had been drinking heavily with Milliken through most of the day. The two argued — the exact trigger is disputed in period newspaper accounts, with rent and access rights cited as the underlying grievance. Hobbs shot Milliken; the wound was fatal and Milliken died within approximately 45 minutes. Hobbs then returned to his own quarters on the island and shot himself fatally.
The event was documented in contemporaneous Maine newspaper accounts, which the Friends of Wood Island Light have compiled from period sources and published on the museum website. The keeper's residence and lighthouse tower were decommissioned in the 1960s and the property transferred to the town of Biddeford. The nonprofit Friends of Wood Island Light was formed to preserve and restore the structures and began operating summer water-shuttle tours, which now run during the July–August season with guided interpretation of the lighthouse's full history, including the 1896 murder-suicide.
Sources
The paranormal lore at Wood Island Light centers on the keeper's quarters — specifically the building where Howard Hobbs shot himself on June 1, 1896 — and to a lesser extent the path between the quarters and the tower.
The Friends of Wood Island Light have documented oral accounts from former keepers' families who described a persistent sense of a presence in the keeper's residence. One set of accounts, attributed to a mid-20th-century keeper's family and collected before the building was decommissioned, describes doors opening and closing in the quarters on days when no wind was present. The family reportedly attributed this to Hobbs.
Contemporary summer visitors on guided tours have described cold spots in the keeper's quarters and, in several accounts noted by tour docents, an oppressive feeling in the room identified as Hobbs's. A smaller number of reports describe unexplained voices on the island in the early morning before the tour boats arrive — accounts that come from seasonal workers and volunteer caretakers who have stayed overnight.
The lighthouse itself — the tower and lantern room — generates fewer reports. The lore is concentrated in the residential structure and the grounds between it and the dock, tracking the location of the documented violence rather than distributing across the island generally.
Notable Entities
Friends of Wood Island Light operates guided tours of the 1808 lighthouse tower and keeper's quarters via water shuttle from Biddeford Pool. Tour includes the lighthouse history and the documented June 1, 1896 murder-suicide involving fisherman Howard Hobbs and game warden Frederick Milliken.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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