Freaky Friday Files: Flannan Isles Lighthouse Mystery
- ashey9111
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Hi friends! Happy Fri-YAY! For this week's edition of Freaky Friday Files, we are going to be exploring the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Mystery #freakyfridayfiles #unsolvedmysteries
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Flannan Isles Lighthouse Mystery
I stumbled across this mystery while I was doing research for my Freaky Friday Files, and it intrigued me. So what's the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Mystery? Well, in 1900, three Lighthouse Keepers vanished, and to this day, no one knows what happened to them or where they went, only speculation and a most likely explanation (we love an Occam's Razor explanation).
Flannan Isles Lighthouse is located in Eilean Mòr, which is one of the Flannan Isles in the Outer Hebrides off the West Coast of Scotland.
According to Wikipedia, it was around the 15th of December 1900 when things started to seem a bit fishy at the lighthouse. A steamer-boat Archtor noted in its logbook that the light from the lighthouse was not operational in poor weather conditions. Once this ship docked, it passed on its findings to the Northern Lighthouse Board, and the relief vessel for the lighthouse keepers at Flannan Isles Lighthouse didn't come until the 26th of December due to severe weather conditions. In "this source", they claim that the light wasn't reported until after the keepers were reported missing, so I'm not sure which is correct (I am going to assume the latter).
The three keepers meant to be in the lighthouse at the time were James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald McArthur. I believe there was a rotating 4th man that spent time on shore, too (he was on sick leave at the time). All 3 men were very experienced lighthouse keepers - keep this in mind for later on.
It wasn't until a routine visit from the ship Hesperus was conducted that they realised the three men were indeed missing. The Captain of Hesperus reported that there was no sign of life on the island on the 26th of December 1900. There was also no response from a rocket (like a whistle/horn) fired from the ship. The relieving keeper (the men's replacement) went up to the lighthouse and found no one in the lighthouse. The entrance gate was closed, and all beds were unmade. Everything else was completely intact (i.e., no signs of foul play). The logbook's last entry was on December 13th, but there were notes about the weather the following days. The next day, the Hesperus crew found that at the Western Landing, a wooden box that was used to store ropes and crane handles was wrenched away, and iron railings around this area had been bent. A block of stone had also been moved, and life buoys had been torn off. Did this perhaps mean that the men had left their stations in the lighthouse for some reason? Were they checking for damage?
A full investigation occurred and the most likely conclusion that authorities came up with was that the men all left the lighthouse together and were likely caught by a large rogue wave. However, many have pointed out that it's really odd that these three men would all leave the lighthouse at once because they were experienced keepers and would know that they would be safe in the lighthouse even if the weather was extreme. So were they assessing potential damage? Did something call out to them? Or, were they all just not thinking?
Other theories include abduction, murder, one of the men falling to his death from a high point, one man being swept away by a big wave, and the other two men trying to save him but being swept away by another rogue wave, or even a big fight between the three men and all of them falling to their demise off a cliff face. I think it's most likely that they were washed away by a wave, BUT where are their remains? How far can a wave take a human body? I'm not entirely sure but according to Wikipedia, the largest recording rogue wave got to 84 feet (which is pretty high in my non-expert opinion).
Since 1900, more communication systems have been added in to this lighthouse area and from 1971, it was automated - which is a really good thing because it makes it a lot safer.
This mystery has been in popular culture a lot, too - including Doctor Who - The Horror of Fang Rock, The Vanishing, and even a poem that was written about it. Spooky.
What do you think happened? Let me know in the comments below!
Stay safe out there, and thanks for reading
Ash
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Wow.. What an exciting story. I love stories like this. Anything could have happened to them. It's strange that their remains are missing. I think, just to add an interesting different twist, they were abducted by aliens... hehe... I think it's so scary and a bit frustrating to read about missing people because you never really find out what has happened. Thank you for an interesting post!