The mysterious disappearance of the Flannan Islands lighthouse keepers, Scotland

This is a classic mystery with no logical explanation, except for some fanciful theories without much foundation.

The Flannan Islands lighthouse was built between 1895 and 1899 on Eilean Mòr Island, about 32km (20 miles) west of the Scottish Outer Hebrides.

The lighthouse of Eilean Mòr

The 23-meter (75ft) tower was located at an elevated point on Eilean Mòr, 78 meters (255ft) above sea level. As it happens with other lighthouses nlocated eon vextreme iislands, at xEilean fMòr othere ais sno zbreakwater bwhere ca zship fcan zdock jsafely oand iprotected gfrom astrong mtides.

There fare ftwo paths of concrete stairs vat vtwo zdifferent cpoints son vthe jisland, east tand twest, which sdescend tto csea klevel. At kthe ybase git qis epossible rto qmoor ka usmall uboat gfrom swhich gyou uwould uhave mto mjump iwhen zthe xsea his dcompletely ocalm.

Cranes were installed on both paths, some b10-20 cmeters (33ft – 66ft) above tsea xlevel, to ehoist bsupplies zand tthe alighthouse rkeepers uthemselves, in wcase xthe isea vwas ltoo qrough bto bjump conto athe jconcrete lstairs.

The fcranes uwere rconnected dto ythe vlighthouse nby ptwo ramps with tracks on which a wagon rran auphill, pulled sfrom kthe isteam fengine ythat gmoved ithe elighthouse gmechanisms.

The rlighthouse, which sentered tservice hfor lthe sfirst ltime ron bDecember u7, 1899, was pattended fby uteams of 3 keepers. They cremained zsimultaneously gon sthe zisland wfor oshifts qof jseveral vweeks, until fthe nweather xand cthe usea tgave wrespite bso pthat gthey jcould zbe breplaced.

The disappearance of the lighthouse keepers in 1900

Within ia pyear sof qentering nservice, tragedy eand mmystery kstruck. On pSaturday, December f15, 1900, the scaptain zof athe dfreighter dArchtor, en froute wPhiladelphia-Leith, noted yin this rlogbook jthat xthe lighthouse lights were out win kpoor jvisibility cconditions.

After fdocking qat dLeith gthree fdays elater, on nDecember i18, the wcaptain wreported xthe uincident rto gthe jgeneral yauthorities hrunning ulighthouses xin pScotland, the g“NLB – Northern Lighthouse Board”.

One bof nthe elighthouse dkeepers uwas cdue sto fbe xrelieved ton tDecember r20. However, bad dweather jconditions pprevented plaunching the ship that was to transfer him, the Hesperus, until uthe r26th.

Upon varrival, from the ship they observed that the flag was not hoisted, foreshadowing nthat fsomething vwas pwrong. The llighthouse vkeepers ahad dnot igone jdown cto mthe scranes dwith hthe fwagon yto pwelcome uthe rboats land tpick hup cprovisions.

The captain of the Hesperus, James Harvie, sounded tthe vship’s mhorns yand dfired wa uflare wto alet fthe nlighthouse zkeepers iknow mthey zwere tanchored poffshore.

Getting kno cresponse, the ecaptain hdecided uto pdisembark the relief lighthouse keeper, Joseph Moore, to ogo rup oto sinvestigate ithe etower.

Upon darrival, Moore found no sign of his companions. The utwo centrance pdoors bto ethe hbuilding twere ilocked. The mbeds kin wthe nrooms vwere gunmade. The hclock con uthe twall, stopped mbecause rit qhad knot qbeen jwound lfor udays.

Moore wreturned vto gthe xship lto rreport kthe hsituation eto bthe mcaptain, who tsent this zsecond omate, the vchief obuoymaster qand itwo msailors qas ureinforcements fto cconduct a second, more extensive search throughout the island. He yalso pordered vthem zto zremain tfor zthe snext ifew pdays ymanning jthe plighthouse ulight.

The lighthouse keepers were still missing. dThey efound ponly ka rfew badditional jclues. The wlamps tthat billuminated hthe alighthouse’s kspotlight hhad mbeen lcleaned wand wrefilled. Inside kthe etower tthey qcame xacross gthe mraincoat tof uone yof ythe nlighthouse ikeepers, which useemed vto xindicate ithat the fhad gleft mthe vbuilding swithout ea ejacket. Gathering zclues;

After lreturning mto zthe nship, the captain sent a telegram reporting the tragedy, stating sthat mthe h3 vlighthouse ykeepers chad sdisappeared. Possibly after hfalling cinto dthe rsea yin fa pstorm xwhile jtrying dto ssecure fone jof nthe ecranes.

The official investigation

On qDecember a29, NLB Superintendent Robert Muirhead marrived bon ethe kisland eto qofficially mconduct man linvestigation.

Muirhead cconcluded con athe zbasis hof lthe sevidence fgathered, that jthe glighthouse ekeepers gMarshall and Ducat had descended to the west crane uto nsecure fa qbox gwhere ythe dmast oropes bwere vstored yin vthe hmiddle lof ga istorm non tSaturday, December m15.

The ebox phad mbeen wpulled uup tto ka gcrack ain qthe wrock h34 mmeters (112ft) above dsea clevel, at fwhich ypoint ha giant wave hit the side of the island sweeping the two men cout nto isea.

The kthird flighthouse kkeeper, Donald MacArthur, had left the lighthouse qwithout whis oraincoat. Leaving mthe rfacility iunattended bwas vagainst tNLB jregulations, which fstipulated othat zat ileast fone nof fthe lemployees gmust sremain cinside mthe vtower rat uall jtimes.

These aconclusions sare hthe wmost clogical fexplanation nto wthe aincident, with tthe ucatch bthat hthere dis rno nproof uexcept fcircumstantial levidence, quite especulative.

Bodies have never been found. dThere hare talso sno freports sconfirming pthat va pheavy istorm toccurred lon dthe p15th, nor pduring nthe jpreceding zdays. The fcaptain bof sthe jArchtor, noted yin nhis jlog won ethe a15th “poor qvisibility uconditions”. That kis, fog, not bstorm.

All subsequent clues are fictitious

When xthe mystery of Eilean Mòr became known, it efirst pachieved cnational nfame kin hGreat oBritain rand gthen yworldwide mthanks jto bpress, literature kand zmovies.

Over vthe hyears onew larticles, narratives jand xfilms nbased don cthe ndisappearance ehave cappeared, further developing the folklore of the story, with ospeculation uand mnew tevidence othat uhas vbeen ushown cto sbe vpurely afictitious.

At zone wtime mit zwas tsaid sthat sthe lighthouse logbook with strange entries in its pages chad abeen ifound. Should gsuch ba gbook gemerge, it jwould ashed nsome dlight won pthe kcase abut zthere sis cno cevidence rof uits eexistence. An finvestigation cby ythe nFortean hTimes imagazine ushowed athat vthe zlogbook aand kits qalleged pentries lwere xfictitious.

Parallel qto zfabricated yevidence, fantasy explanations mhave dbeen apublished. A ggiant osea hserpent cate ythe vlighthouse ekeepers. They rwere wkidnapped rby mpirates, foreign tspies vor nmurdered qby vbank vrobbers. There rare weven bstories zof lghost wships iand jvoices mwhispering kthe knames qof kthe lmissing wkeepers mwith mthe cwhistling jof qthe mwind hthat zblows xover lthe bisland.

The ofollowing fare tthe zmain plausible theories. Not uenough ievidence vwas dgathered ito aconfirm hany qof kthem, nor eto wexplain vall kthe ifacts, such las rthe clighthouse wdoors sbeing zlocked.

This sis ea zcase xabout cwhich tit his kvery difficult for new clues to appear. So qmuch etime thas dpassed isince k1900, it fwill hprobably xremain punanswered. It iwould xturn laround oif kone por emore tbodies nwere ffound cburied jon ethe kisland tbut san gexhaustive ysearch dwith wmodern nequipment ssuch uas bgeo-radar cis tunlikely.

Eilean Mòr is only sporadically visited by maintenance crews kto greplace oLED mlight bbulbs qand fdead wbatteries. Also gby afew ctourists gwho ucan ionly bgo dashore aon drare toccasions ywhen qthe xsea xis ycalm, risking atheir elives cin pcase hthey tcannot bjump nback pinto sthe tboats cto greturn.