The last major lighthouse built on the NC coast (1875), with two documented legends: the ghost of Sadie, a keeper's daughter who drowned at sea, and the cursed North Room of the Keepers' Dwelling where a woman died.
1101 Corolla Village Road, Corolla, NC 27927
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Tower climb ticket required. Keeper's dwelling museum admission additional. Grounds are free to visit.
Access
Limited Access
Flat Outer Banks terrain on grounds; 220-step spiral staircase in tower requires physical fitness. Keeper's dwelling has interior museum spaces.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1875 · Last major lighthouse built on the North Carolina coast · Filled navigational dark gap between Bodie Island and Cape Henry (c. 80 miles) · 162-foot unpainted brick tower — original Fresnel lens retained · Operated by Outer Banks Conservationists since 1980s restoration
Currituck Beach Lighthouse was completed in 1875, constructed to fill a navigational dark spot on the Outer Banks between the Bodie Island Light to the south and the Cape Henry Light in Virginia to the north — a stretch of coast where vessels running the inside passage faced roughly 80 miles without a lighthouse. The lighthouse board chose a site at Corolla, in the northernmost section of the Outer Banks accessible by land.
The tower is built from unpainted red brick — one of the few remaining brick lighthouses on the East Coast that retains its natural color rather than the painted stripes used at Hatteras and Cape Lookout. At 162 feet, it is among the tallest brick lighthouse structures on the Atlantic seaboard. The original third-order Fresnel lens remains in place in the lantern room.
The adjacent Keepers' Dwelling is a large Victorian-era structure built to house multiple keeper families during the lighthouse's operational years. The Outer Banks Conservationists (OBC) took over the site in the 1980s and conducted extensive restoration work on both the tower and the dwelling. The site opened to public visitors with tower climbs, museum exhibits, and access to the keeper's quarters.
Sources
The two paranormal legends attached to Currituck Beach Lighthouse are distinct in character and origin.
The first centers on a figure named Sadie, identified as the daughter of an early keeper family at the lighthouse. According to accounts documented on Outer Banks vacation and travel sites, Sadie drowned after being swept out to sea — some versions specify a storm, others an unexpected wave on the beach. Her ghost is reported by lighthouse visitors and staff: a young woman's presence on the grounds, occasionally described as a child's humming heard near the keeper's dwelling or tower base. These accounts are regional folklore and not corroborated by official keeper records or local newspaper archives identified during research.
The second legend involves the North Room of the Keepers' Dwelling, a specific bedroom in the Victorian-era structure. Multiple accounts name this as a cursed space — a room where at least one woman who spent a night reportedly fell gravely ill and died. The mechanism in the legend is not violence or malevolence but something more ambient: a room that is simply bad for certain occupants. Visitors to the dwelling museum report unusual cold spots near this room even in warm weather. The Outer Banks Conservationists, who operate the museum, have documented visitor reports of unusual sensations in the dwelling.
Notable Entities
Climb the 220-step spiral staircase to the top of the 1875 brick lighthouse for panoramic views of the Outer Banks, Currituck Sound, and the Atlantic. Interpretive exhibits on the base level cover the lighthouse's construction and the keepers who served here.
Tour the restored Keepers' Dwelling, a Victorian-era structure adjacent to the tower. The dwelling includes period furnishings, exhibits on keeper family life, and access to the infamous 'North Room' associated with one of the lighthouse's ghost legends.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Cincinnati, OH
The Cincinnati Art Museum was founded in 1881 and opened to the public in its current Eden Park building on May 17, 1886. It is one of the oldest art museums in the United States and houses an encyclopedic collection spanning 6,000 years of art history. Reuben Springer led the founding fundraising; the building has been expanded repeatedly into the 21st century.
Wilmington, NC
The Wilmington Railroad Museum at 505 Nutt Street in Wilmington, North Carolina has operated since 1979 in a late-1800s warehouse preserving the history of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, headquartered in Wilmington from 1840 until its move to Jacksonville in 1960. The building is part of Wilmington's broader downtown waterfront railroad heritage corridor.
Nags Head, NC
The Bodie Island Lighthouse, built in 1872, is the third light station to stand on this stretch of the North Carolina Outer Banks. Its 156-foot tower marks one of the most treacherous sections of the Graveyard of the Atlantic between Cape Henry and Cape Hatteras.