Seaside Haunt September 28, 2007

...The attraction is themed after a true story of the central coast that involved a very young lighthouse operator named Peter Blacksmith who in the 1940s intermittently turned off the lighthouse causing ships to crash between what is today San Buenaventura State Beach Park and Emma Wood State Park. It is said that Mr. Blacksmith was responsible for over 100 deaths in the area. The best guess was that he was either insane or had some strange vendetta against a sea captain of that time who stole the love of his life `and did not know which vessel to destroy. There is some controversy around his disappearance in 1943. Some believe that he was finally able to destroy the ship he wanted or that the Mariner Society found out what he was doing and was going to have him forcibly removed and prosecuted. Either way, Mr. Blacksmith was never seen by anyone again. There was said to be additional evidence in the lighthouse that he may have held survivors in the basement of the main tower before killing them but this was never proved.
....The area today remains a popular tourist spot supporting Seaside Park (Ventura County Fairgrounds), the new Crown Plaza Hotel (prior Holiday Inn),Erma Wood State Beach to the north (actual grounds of the old light house until it was rebuild offshore on Anacapa Island) and San Buenaventura State Beach Park to the South. Technically, Mr. Blacksmith could still be alive and living in Ventura, he would be in his mid 80s today.

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