Case file · Haunting
Sam Lord's lanterns, Barbados
Samuel Hall Lord, who built a grand house on Barbados's south-east coast in 1820, is said to have hung lanterns in coconut palms to lure ships onto the reef and plunder them.
1820 CE · 13.12, -59.43 · status: legend
The account
The house, later Sam Lord's Castle hotel, was said to be haunted by him. It was destroyed by fire in 2010.
The sceptical view
Historians find no proof that he caused wrecks; he made his fortune from inheritance and marriage. The story is a classic 'wrecker' legend.