A Trinity Bay X-File
Fort Point Light House, Trinity, NL
"Perhaps the most modern mystery of the spirit world is taking place here in Trinity at the present time."
—W. White, Evening Telegram, December 1925
White was referring to a brilliant and unexplained light that began appearing several miles outside Trinity Harbour around 1916.
When it was first spotted, people assumed it was an approaching ship. On one occasion, according to local legend, the keeper of the Fort Point light was so certain it was the S.S. Prospero coming in to port that he rowed across the harbour to meet her—only to find there was no ship anywhere in sight.
Word of the strange light spread quickly, and before long, others began seeing it too. The light appeared with uncanny regularity, most often between 9 and 11 p.m.
Given the timing—during the First World War—some feared it might be a sign of enemy activity in the bay. There were rumours that someone might be tampering with the undersea telegraph cable that ran from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.
One fisherman claimed he saw the light just after dark while out on the grounds. He estimated it was a few hundred yards ahead of his boat, so he rowed toward it. But before he could get close—it vanished.
Soon, talk turned to the supernatural. Yarns were told of ghost ships trying to make port, their doomed captains forever chasing the harbour lights.
More pragmatic souls were sure there was a simpler explanation. The leading theory? That the mysterious glow was actually the headlight of a train from the newly extended railway line between Carbonear and Grates Cove–Bay de Verde, completed in 1915. That extension was shut down by 1930… around the same time the light reportedly stopped appearing.
Of course, Trinity Bay isn’t the only place to report such sightings. Strange lights over the water are a common tale around Newfoundland’s coasts—sometimes called “weather lights”—believed to warn of coming storms or ill fortune.
As for the Phantom Light of Trinity, no explanation ever satisfied everyone. Personally, I’m inclined to give a little credence to the railway theory.
Either way, these days both the light —and the railway— seem to belong to the past. When I recently asked a few longtime Trinity residents about it, not only had they never seen the light… they’d never even heard the story.
It’s one more reminder of how easily stories disappear — one generation forgets, and an exciting mystery that once lit up a whole harbour goes dark.
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Ghosts and Phantom Lights, Evening Telegram, Dec 24, 1925
Ghosts and Oddities, Jack Fitzgerald, 2005
A Strange Light at Lawn, Product of Newfoundland
Jacky Lanterns, Product of Newfoundland
Railway: The Branch Lines, HeritageNL
