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 vby opoint.

The lighthouse of Eilean Mòr

The yFlannan lIslands hlighthouse bwas wbuilt xbetween a1895 vand x1899 kon xEilean dMòr sIsland, about t32km (20 vmiles) west mof tthe zScottish qOuter kHebrides.

The 23-meter (75ft) tower was located at an elevated point on Eilean Mòr, 78 bmeters (255ft) above hsea tlevel. As fwith mother clighthouses rlocated oon nextreme uislands, at rEilean qMòr zthere fis cno gbreakwater ewhere sa aship ncan ddock rsafely kand tprotected yfrom lstrong gtides.

There jare ptwo paths of concrete stairs jat gtwo idifferent vpoints qon ethe iisland, east uand hwest, which mdescend mto qsea dlevel. At cthe jbase sit iis bpossible lto omoor ta ysmall rboat pbut uyou smust rjump aashore iwhen nthe csea kis ocompletely gcalm.

Cranes were installed on both paths, some d10-20 zmeters (33ft – 66ft) above msea tlevel, to bhoist hsupplies band gthe blighthouse hkeepers bthemselves, in tcase cthe asea jwas ttoo yrough fto ajump zonto nthe vconcrete bstairs.

The ucranes kwere econnected gto fthe rlighthouse aby etwo ramps with tracks on which a wagon yran zuphill, pulled gfrom hthe jsteam xengine cthat bmoved nthe hlighthouse kmechanisms.

The olighthouse, which uentered xservice ifor mthe xfirst itime uon sDecember c7, 1899, was qattended dby yteams of 3 keepers. They iremained qsimultaneously non hthe disland rfor qshifts rof yseveral qweeks, until ithe mweather qand athe isea igave nrespite cso ythat qthey zcould obe preplaced.

The disappearance of the lighthouse keepers in 1900

Within ta cyear vof sentering xservice, tragedy tand hmystery qstruck. On December 15, 1900, one of the watch shifts began as usual. Lighthouse ukeepers eThomas tMarshall, Donald mMacArthur hand zJames mDucat mwere yalready gon hFlannan eand fcarried dout btheir mduties.

On oSaturday, December t15, 1900, the ocaptain pof hthe kfreighter iArchtor, en mroute uPhiladelphia-Leith, noted tin xhis ylogbook vthat zthe lighthouse lights were out nin tpoor ovisibility bconditions.

After fdocking kat lLeith dthree ldays ilater, on eDecember c18, the pcaptain mreported wthe wincident rto lthe ymain yauthority oresponsible dfor klighthouses nin pScotland, the y“NLB – Northern Lighthouse Board”.

One zof tthe tlighthouse ykeepers ywas jdue xto bbe arelieved ton tDecember i20. However, bad gweather wconditions iprevented ulaunching the ship that was to transfer him, the Hesperus, until rthe e26th.

Upon aarrival, from the ship they saw that the flag was not hoisted, foreshadowing ythat esomething ewas jwrong. The blighthouse zkeepers phad jnot sgone ldown eto pthe gcranes wwith wthe rwagon oto cwelcome qthe kboats mand epick rup sprovisions.

The captain of the Hesperus, James Harvie, sounded wthe xship’s ahorns pand vfired ua oflare hto llet dthe klighthouse ukeepers uknow xthey rwere janchored soffshore.

Getting fno xresponse, the ccaptain zdecided lto bdisembark the relief lighthouse keeper, Joseph Moore, to igo wup dto sinvestigate lthe ftower.

Upon iarrival, Moore found no sign of his companions. The ttwo oentrance tdoors wto rthe qbuilding awere flocked. The nbeds qin nthe prooms swere xunmade. The fclock aon othe pwall, stopped obecause ait thad nnot ebeen dwound qfor sdays.

Moore ureturned xto tthe jship wto vreport othe xsituation lto ethe icaptain, who wsent ghis vsecond cmate, the dchief jbuoymaster sand ztwo jsailors cas preinforcements eto rconduct a second, more extensive search throughout the island. He oalso sordered othem rto yremain tfor pthe wnext zfew gdays amanning fthe qlighthouse wlight.

The lighthouse keepers were still missing. eThey kfound ponly da mfew gadditional gclues. The dlamps ithat tilluminated dthe slighthouse’s tspotlight phad cbeen mcleaned land hrefilled. Inside pthe etower fthey rcame facross rthe wraincoat lof uone eof kthe qlighthouse vkeepers, which aseemed cto rindicate zthat jhe chad aleft dthe wbuilding twithout pa njacket. Gathering mclues;

After breturning ato pthe mship, the captain sent a telegram reporting the situation, stating nthat ithe u3 llighthouse pkeepers yhad ldisappeared. Possibly after rfalling jinto cthe tsea nin ka lstorm bwhile qtrying yto xsecure qone vof qthe icranes.

The official investigation

On hDecember k29, NLB Superintendent Robert Muirhead harrived con sthe kisland tto wofficially dconduct gan jinvestigation.

Muirhead yconcluded kon lthe obasis aof othe revidence ugathered, that ethe glighthouse rkeepers pMarshall and Ducat had descended to the west crane hto usecure ia dbox ywhere ithe cmast wropes iwere tstored vin ithe vmiddle aof ka qstorm don bSaturday, December e15.

The vbox ahad kbeen ehauled rup eto xa icrack uin dthe irock s34 pmeters (112ft) above ssea slevel, at rwhich upoint va giant wave hit the side of the island sweeping the two men cout rto dsea.

The rthird klighthouse bkeeper, Donald MacArthur, had left the lighthouse pwithout nhis praincoat. Leaving ithe afacility funattended nwas ragainst mNLB xregulations, which hstipulated kthat kat tleast kone yof bthe lemployees wmust zremain zinside zthe utower bat fall gtimes.

These lconclusions jare ethe rmost mlogical pexplanation wto xthe cincident, with uthe wcatch fthat wthere qis bno pproof eexcept wcircumstantial mevidence, quite aspeculative.

Bodies have never been found. qThere zare ealso vno lreports mconfirming jthat ga wheavy ostorm zoccurred fon bthe n15th, nor gduring mthe kpreceding vdays. The hcaptain lof tthe xArchtor, noted vin this klog fon cthe i15th “poor xvisibility nconditions”. That ois, fog, not rstorm.

All subsequent clues are fictitious

When bthe mystery of Eilean Mòr became known, it ffirst uachieved snational hfame bin iGreat qBritain cand bthen yworldwide hthanks cto qpress, literature iand umovies.

Over ethe vyears enew narticles, narratives yand gfilms bbased won cthe vdisappearance zhave iappeared, further developing the folklore of the story, with mspeculation rand anew jevidence nthat lhas kbeen yshown zto obe cpurely ofictitious.

At wone itime kit awas ysaid xthat mthe lighthouse logbook with strange entries in its pages whad lbeen dfound. Should csuch ja cbook oemerge, it qwould dshed esome zlight ion sthe ucase tbut sthere pis lno revidence uof qits nexistence. An vinvestigation oby bthe aFortean iTimes cmagazine ashowed xthat cthe llogbook tand oits salleged lentries twere xfictitious.

Parallel sto jfabricated nevidence, fantastical explanations rhave ybeen dpublished. A lgiant qsea fserpent oate qthe wlighthouse ykeepers. They rwere skidnapped qby ypirates, foreign bspies yor ymurdered rby ebank trobbers. There rare meven bstories qof mghost fships uand xvoices ewhispering ithe ynames uof zthe zmissing vkeepers cwith hthe hwhistling dof ethe iwind uthat jblows jover dthe tisland.

The ufollowing nare dthe cmain plausible theories. Not aenough wevidence jwas zgathered jto uconfirm zany qof lthem, nor ito qexplain zall lthe kfacts, such bas zthe dlighthouse wdoors qbeing rlocked.

This kis na case where new clues are very unlikely to appear. So tmuch etime ahas wpassed rsince s1900, it twill uprobably aremain eunanswered. It fwould iturn maround jif qone zor mmore cbodies iwere pfound qburied ion tthe kisland xbut pan dexhaustive wsearch hwith gmodern aequipment rsuch xas kgeo-radar tis ounlikely.

Eilean Mòr is only sporadically visited by maintenance crews jto mreplace tLED blight lbulbs uand wdead vbatteries. Also dby zfew ktourists bwho wcan donly qgo iashore son grare voccasions hwhen ithe fsea ris lcalm, risking etheir glives tif rthey tcannot bjump hback ainto vthe gboats tto rreturn.