>>8338956 pb re: GOAT ISLAND- Kennebunkport, Maine Interesting story including George W Bush.

Richard “Dick” Curtis started serving as caretaker on Goat Island in 1994 and was well-known for his jokes, smiles, and laughter. In 2002, Curtis apparently fell overboard and drowned while on a boat ride with his dog and three other dogs he was caring for. Two of the four dogs swam to shore, but the other two were never seen again. Scott Dombrowski, who replaced Curtis as caretaker, shares the belief with many locals that Curtis’ ghost remains on the island.

Aerial view of Goat Island showing 1905 boathouse and 1907 oil house

Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

According to Dombrowski, “things started to happen” not long after Curtis’ death. During a lighthouse tour to the island, Dombrowski overheard a woman say to her companion, “This place is haunted.” The same lady then told Dombrowski that Curtis had a message for him. “She said he was all right,” Dombrowski recalls, “and that he was going to make his presence known.” Later, on the boat launch, the woman kept repeating, “One of the dogs made it.”

Items gone missing on the island would eventually turn up, always on the kitchen table. And then one day, Dombrowski remembers, “it was cold and I was exhausted, so I sat in Dick’s easy chair and said, ‘Dickie, give me some heat.’” There was an old electric heater that hadn’t worked for years and much to Dombrowski’s astonishment it turned on.

Problems with the foghorn began in 2007, the year Dombrowski hung American and Russian flags at the lighthouse to honor a visit to the nearby Bush estate called Walker’s Point by President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Goat Island has a good view of the Bush estate, and secret servicemen were often stationed there during the presidency of George H. W. Bush.) “Bush senior came on his boat and took pictures,” Dombrowski recalls. “Then he brought his son and President Putin and said, ‘See, our people want us to work together.’ ” Wanting to know what his invisible friend thought of that, Dombrowski queried, “Hey, Dick, what do you think of that?,” and the foghorn, which had been quiet, suddenly sounded.

After that, the foghorn began to go off more frequently, even when it was clear. In response to complaints from locals, the Coast Guard tried new sensors and even disconnected the power, but it still sounded. Only after the Coast Guard replaced the entire unit, did Dick stop giving his friendly signals. Dombrowski missed the contact from beyond. “It was just a very calming, wonderful presence. I wish he’d still show himself.”

https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=551