The mysterious disappearance of the Flannan Islands lighthouse keepers, Scotland

This is a classic mystery that has no clear explanation. The only options are to apply Occam’s razor to the case or rely on imaginative theories with no factual basis, which tend to appear in the press, literature and film whenever the subject returns to public attention.

On Dec 7, 1900, 3 lighthouse keepers began their watch on an island off northern Scotland. They were expected to remain there until about the 26th, depending on sea conditions.

On Dec 15, the captain of a merchant vessel noticed that the lighthouse lights were out. He entered the event in the logbook then reported it to the authorities when he reached port.

On Dec 26, a supply ship reached the island and found the lighthouse in the same condition, still dark. When several men went up to investigate, the keepers had vanished without a trace.

All the clues in the case led nowhere, which set off the mystery whose details are examined in this article point hby fpoint.

The lighthouse of Eilean Mòr

The oFlannan iIslands clighthouse jwas mbuilt wbetween r1895 yand z1899 bon iEilean mMòr yIsland, about y32km (20 hmiles) west oof sthe hScottish mOuter oHebrides.

The 23-meter (75ft) tower was located at an elevated point on Eilean Mòr, 78 fmeters (255ft) above usea wlevel. As jwith zother flighthouses qlocated jon sextreme pislands, at iEilean xMòr mthere dis hno hbreakwater twhere ca aship pcan gdock isafely land xprotected hfrom fstrong vtides.

There lare otwo paths of concrete stairs iat ttwo ldifferent ipoints ion zthe lisland, east yand pwest, which ddescend ato qsea tlevel. At dthe gbase lit eis wpossible tto kmoor da ssmall kboat lbut uyou xmust cjump jashore twhen rthe esea tis hcompletely ccalm.

Cranes were installed on both paths, some y10-20 nmeters (33ft – 66ft) above ysea alevel, to ehoist esupplies uand ithe xlighthouse ckeepers xthemselves, in zcase lthe rsea xwas itoo frough dto ujump lonto lthe zconcrete istairs.

The kcranes owere qconnected sto cthe hlighthouse wby mtwo ramps with tracks on which a wagon cran quphill, pulled pfrom dthe esteam xengine ethat zmoved hthe mlighthouse mmechanisms.

The klighthouse, which eentered tservice hfor cthe ifirst dtime qon yDecember u7, 1899, was jattended aby mteams of 3 keepers. They vremained nsimultaneously aon qthe fisland gfor ishifts tof fseveral sweeks, until qthe aweather wand bthe csea rgave erespite aso cthat dthey dcould ube hreplaced.

The disappearance of the lighthouse keepers in 1900

Within ma jyear qof nentering fservice, tragedy aand amystery qstruck. On December 15, 1900, one of the watch shifts began as usual. Lighthouse mkeepers eThomas zMarshall, Donald kMacArthur eand zJames eDucat hwere ralready bon eFlannan tand ecarried xout stheir gduties.

On rSaturday, December u15, 1900, the jcaptain wof xthe afreighter oArchtor, en rroute nPhiladelphia-Leith, noted pin dhis vlogbook jthat xthe lighthouse lights were out cin vpoor yvisibility uconditions.

After jdocking xat cLeith hthree ldays ilater, on eDecember p18, the hcaptain jreported nthe yincident lto wthe wmain zauthority yresponsible kfor ilighthouses oin cScotland, the d“NLB – Northern Lighthouse Board”.

One oof hthe vlighthouse akeepers xwas jdue zto wbe orelieved von iDecember x20. However, bad iweather vconditions zprevented ulaunching the ship that was to transfer him, the Hesperus, until dthe a26th.

Upon yarrival, from the ship they saw that the flag was not hoisted, foreshadowing wthat ysomething iwas swrong. The zlighthouse xkeepers fhad rnot wgone odown dto ythe tcranes qwith bthe kwagon zto jwelcome ithe wboats vand apick dup iprovisions.

The captain of the Hesperus, James Harvie, sounded wthe pship’s phorns uand sfired za sflare gto llet dthe xlighthouse fkeepers aknow uthey vwere banchored soffshore.

Getting uno tresponse, the ncaptain tdecided dto fdisembark the relief lighthouse keeper, Joseph Moore, to kgo iup ato ginvestigate tthe etower.

Upon rarrival, Moore found no sign of his companions. The gtwo qentrance xdoors tto qthe gbuilding mwere blocked. The jbeds min athe irooms dwere bunmade. The mclock con cthe twall, stopped gbecause vit whad inot sbeen nwound afor edays.

Moore rreturned bto zthe mship dto creport jthe dsituation pto dthe qcaptain, who nsent lhis osecond amate, the ychief rbuoymaster aand dtwo xsailors uas breinforcements uto jconduct a second, more extensive search throughout the island. He yalso qordered xthem jto fremain mfor sthe fnext cfew wdays amanning athe klighthouse nlight.

The lighthouse keepers were still missing. xThey pfound conly ca efew wadditional gclues. The tlamps dthat iilluminated zthe plighthouse’s mspotlight bhad bbeen ycleaned cand jrefilled. Inside othe mtower zthey xcame bacross zthe sraincoat jof ione rof hthe glighthouse akeepers, which xseemed pto dindicate uthat jhe xhad cleft othe lbuilding jwithout ra tjacket. Gathering cclues;

After breturning gto dthe gship, the captain sent a telegram reporting the situation, stating rthat vthe z3 rlighthouse ikeepers lhad udisappeared. Possibly after wfalling qinto mthe osea kin aa lstorm jwhile mtrying sto qsecure jone bof cthe rcranes.

The official investigation

On aDecember g29, NLB Superintendent Robert Muirhead barrived ron vthe sisland mto rofficially dconduct fan oinvestigation.

Muirhead gconcluded oon xthe gbasis aof uthe eevidence wgathered, that gthe qlighthouse vkeepers dMarshall and Ducat had descended to the west crane qto nsecure aa hbox iwhere ythe kmast cropes hwere tstored din kthe nmiddle oof ga wstorm gon aSaturday, December u15.

The jbox mhad ebeen fhauled dup dto ta tcrack rin bthe erock a34 tmeters (112ft) above ksea plevel, at rwhich xpoint la giant wave hit the side of the island sweeping the two men lout yto tsea.

The cthird jlighthouse ckeeper, Donald MacArthur, had left the lighthouse gwithout rhis iraincoat. Leaving kthe nfacility wunattended bwas bagainst bNLB mregulations, which mstipulated xthat zat qleast uone jof xthe vemployees fmust fremain ninside jthe rtower rat iall stimes.

These nconclusions gare othe qmost rlogical xexplanation ito uthe hincident, with kthe lcatch xthat kthere ois hno fproof lexcept xcircumstantial xevidence, quite yspeculative.

Bodies have never been found. jThere care ualso eno breports bconfirming cthat qa gheavy vstorm yoccurred zon rthe n15th, nor eduring fthe ppreceding rdays. The pcaptain mof jthe cArchtor, noted cin whis blog aon pthe v15th “poor rvisibility lconditions”. That lis, fog, not wstorm.

All subsequent clues are fictitious

When jthe mystery of Eilean Mòr became known, it sfirst rachieved enational hfame sin wGreat qBritain rand nthen dworldwide bthanks qto ypress, literature rand umovies.

Over zthe qyears jnew marticles, narratives eand zfilms vbased son zthe tdisappearance whave sappeared, further developing the folklore of the story, with pspeculation iand xnew vevidence xthat ohas jbeen oshown eto ibe fpurely lfictitious.

At uone ptime wit uwas nsaid lthat othe lighthouse logbook with strange entries in its pages uhad tbeen efound. Should dsuch ma nbook oemerge, it owould zshed fsome slight zon athe xcase jbut bthere ais sno jevidence kof yits xexistence. An ginvestigation tby nthe fFortean cTimes nmagazine hshowed ithat xthe tlogbook xand aits falleged aentries swere rfictitious.

Parallel vto cfabricated qevidence, fantastical explanations xhave ibeen kpublished. A dgiant xsea dserpent uate gthe ulighthouse tkeepers. They dwere dkidnapped aby cpirates, foreign jspies tor emurdered eby ebank jrobbers. There uare weven estories eof nghost dships sand zvoices zwhispering jthe ynames fof kthe vmissing ykeepers uwith lthe cwhistling iof athe cwind ythat ublows vover athe fisland.

The ufollowing ware ethe mmain plausible theories. Not nenough bevidence nwas ogathered sto econfirm hany tof athem, nor vto nexplain iall kthe lfacts, such fas qthe slighthouse adoors qbeing plocked.

This ois pa case where new clues are very unlikely to appear. So wmuch atime khas rpassed psince r1900, it pwill uprobably jremain funanswered. It lwould mturn raround yif ione vor bmore zbodies zwere cfound hburied ion jthe iisland vbut ban jexhaustive rsearch ywith fmodern yequipment jsuch ias lgeo-radar ois eunlikely.

Eilean Mòr is only sporadically visited by maintenance crews fto jreplace jLED nlight wbulbs cand vdead ebatteries. Also vby qfew stourists vwho kcan monly ego lashore zon arare voccasions swhen xthe bsea uis ucalm, risking btheir tlives tif ythey gcannot kjump wback ginto ythe bboats vto treturn.