Signal Hill is an enormous rock cliff that looms over the town of St. John’s and, during their visits, many report intriguing encounters with the ghosts of Signal Hill.
From the notorious public hangings on Gibbet Hill, to the tragic drownings in Deadmans Pond, there are lots of haunted stories ghosts and ghost sightings!!
One of the most famous stories is of Samuel Pettyman.
In 1745, a man by the name of Samuel Pettyham rented a home in St. John’s without asking about the history of the residence.
He frequently woke at night to “pranksters” lifting the latches of his front door.
One night, on his way home, he saw a man standing outside his residence. Thinking of no other reason for the man to be hanging around his house so late at night, Pettyham assumed the man was the one trying to break into his home on a nightly basis.
Pettyham began to approach the man but, upon seeing that the guy didn’t have a head, decided to bolt for his nearby landlord’s quarters.
Once Pettyham explained what he saw to his landlord, his landlord told him the back history of the home he rented.
A woman who used to live in the home once had two lovers, one a sea captain and the other a local of St. John’s.
She tried to keep the two men from discovering each other, but word eventually got around to the man from St. John’s.
He waited outside his lover’s home for the sea captain to arrive and, when he did, the man from St. John’s decapitated the sea captain with a sword.
It is unknown whether the headless ghost is searching for his lover or for his murderer, who fled the scene that night and was never discovered.
It seems that the poor Sea Captain's head was discarded somewhere around the Signal Hill area, and has never been recovered!!
Be careful in your search, use lots of stealth and keep you head planted firmly on your shoulders. and once you find the cache, make sure to return it to it's hiding place in case the Sea Captain's ghost is wandering the hills.
If you're really brave, you'll attempt this one at night!!
This cache is part of the “Fall Favourites 2018 (FF2018)” geocache hider's competition. Hence the name of the cache. It’s a fun contest between geocaching friends. If you enjoy this cache, please give it a favourite point when you log it.