The Eerie Vanishing Of The Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers

**"The Eerie Vanishing Of The Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers"** is a video made by Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej, uploaded onto YouTube on October 16, 2020. It was the first episode of the seventh season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime, and the fifty-fifth episode overall. You can find it here.

## Description

What happened to the three lighthouse keepers of Flannan Isles?

## Background

The Flannan Isles, also known as the Seven Hunters is a group of uninhabited rocky islands off the western coast of Scotland. The mysterious islands allegedly had a profound effect on sheep and shepherds would sail their flocks to the islands to graze. Sheep who dined on the grasses of the Flannan Isles were said to give birth to twins or recover from illness. Despite its positive effect on sheep, legend of a spirit haunting the islands kept any shepherd from staying overnight.

Nevertheless in 1896, the Board of Trade sanctioned construction of a lighthouse on the largest of the Flannan Isles, Eilean Mor. Eilean Mor is also home some bothies, a Scottish term for a small hut that now sit in ruin as well as the Chapel St. Flannan, the namesake for the islands. In December of 1899, the lighthouse was completed and lit for the first time. Four light keepers were assigned to the lighthouse, each of whom would work a staggered rotation of six weeks on, two weeks off. This meant there were always three men on the island tending the lighthouse at one time.

In mid-December 1900, one year after the lighthouse was first put in service, the three men stationed on the island were James Ducat, the 43 year old principal keeper with a wife, four children and 20 years experience, Donald MacArthur, the married 40 year old occasional keeper who was covering for the first assistant keeper who was on sick leave and Thomas Marshall, the youngest of the trio at 28 and the second assistant keeper. The fourth keeper, Joseph Moore, wasn't on the island as it was his two weeks off.

Around midnight on December 15th, the steamship Archtor passed near the Flannan Isles. Captain Holman noted that he could not see the light, though the conditions should have allowed him to. When the Archtor arrived in port, it reported the absence of the light, though this was never communicated to the Northern Lighthouse Board.

On December 26th, the lighthouse tender ship Hesperus made a routine visit to Eilean Mor. When nearing the island, captain James Harvey found it odd that there was no flag on the flag pole. *The Hesperus* sounded her horn to try to get the attention of the three lighthouse keepers but there was no response. They then attempted firing a flare, again, no reply. Joseph Moore, the fourth lighthouse keeper, was onboard the Hesperus. With no signal coming from the island, Moore was sent ashore. Upon arriving at the Eilean Mor's east landing, nothing appeared amiss. Everything was where it had been when Moore had last been on the island. Moore made his way up to the island where he found the entrance gate, the entrance door and the door after that all closed. The kitchen door was found open however and the fireplace had not been lit for several days. All of the clocks were stopped. According to Moore, "I then entered the rooms in succession, found the beds empty just as they left them in the early morning". With no sign of anyone, Moore realized something was seriously wrong and returned to the Hesperus to get more men to help him investigate. They found the lamp of the lighthouse to be in working order and fully prepped but there was no clue as to what happened to the three missing men.

Moore and three others were left on the island to operate the lighthouse while *the Hesperus* sailed back to telegraph the Northern Lighthouse Board of the disappearances. The next day, Moore and the others set about the island searching for more clues. While the east boat landing where Moore had arrived the previous day was in perfect order, it was a different story at the west boat landing. The west boat landing was damaged and a box that had held tackle and mooring ropes was gone. The ropes were found strewn on the rocks and the iron railings around the area had been broken, with some completely missing. That damage however was already detailed in the keepers log, implying it was not directly related to the disappearance. Most notably missing upon further investigation was a life buoy for emergencies which had been kept among the railings approximately 110 feet above sea level. The ropes holding the buoy in place however had not been removed by man, implying that the sea had ripped the buoy from its spot.

While some may question whether a 110 foot wave is possible, Historian Mike Dash found evidence from a lighthouse keeper in the 1950s that water has splashed on Eilean More as high as 300 feet up, wetting the lamp house. In fact, while trying to photograph these waves, the lighthouse keeper was almost washed away himself by a large wave.

Back at the lighthouse, by taking inventory of the clothes left behind, Moore was also able to determine exactly what his coworkers had been wearing when they disappeared. MacArthur in particular have left behind the only coat he was known to wear, implying he had disappeared into the cold of a December in coastal Scotland without a coat. They also discovered the logs from the keepers' final days. The last entry was from December 13th but a slate had details from December 14th and 15th, including the time the light was extinguished on the morning of the 15th as well as atmospheric readings as late as 9:00 a.m. The log noted
morale had been low amongst the keepers. Peculiarly, it also made note of recent strong storms and winds, though there had been no reports of storms in the area. So either the turbulent weather had been extremely localized over their islands or the men had hallucinated or fictionalized the storms.

One source reports the discovery of additional logs made by the 28 year old Thomas Marshall. Within, the second assistant keeper detailed how the storms had been so frightening, they had caused the men to pray even though their location atop a 150 foot cliff in a building that was only a year old practically guaranteed their safety. Marshall describes Ducat as being "very quiet in recent days." And the gruff MacArthur had been seen crying. The final entry read, "storm ended, sea calm. God is over all." While some have poked significant holes in the authenticity of these logs, even if true, they still don't offer much explanation for what could have happened to three vanished men.

With the island completely searched and turning up view clues, there was one man who might still be able to shed some insight on the keeper's final days, one Roderick Mackenzie. Because there was no radio contact with the lighthouse, the men on Eilean Mor were essentially stranded. If something happened and they required assistance, they needed a way to signal to someone who could get help. Lighthouse keepers would do so using poles with balls or disks attached to them and placed coming out of the lighthouse balcony, hoping someone would spot their message. 18 miles southeast of the island is Galen Head, where gamekeeper Rodrick Mackenzie was paid eight pounds a year to watch for communications from the Flannan Isles. Each night, Mackenzie was to note whether he could see the light and whether any signals were seen during the day. When investigators checked in with Mackenzie after the disappearances, he reported that he had been unable to see the actual lighthouse tower between December 7th and December 29th. He had however been able to make out the light on December 12th but not again until Moore lit it on the 26th. Mackenzie admitted the absence of the light for two weeks had concerned him but there's no indication he reported this to anyone until the Northern Lighthouse Board came to question him.

Inaction was not what Mackenzie was being paid those eight pounds a year for. According to the National Lighthouse Board, Mackenzie had agreed to report a failure, "immediately by telegram to Head Office in Edinburgh so that the necessary steps could be taken to have someone sent to carry out any repairs as soon as possible". Had an actual lighthouse keeper been appointed to that role, he likely would have reported the darkness much sooner. It should be noted that Ducat, the principal keeper, had asked the Lighthouse Board's Superintendent if an experiment of sorts could be done with the aim of seeing how long it would take someone to notice a signal from shore and respond appropriately. Alas, the experiment was not approved but Ducat would ultimately get his answer, way too long.

## Theories

* The men were accidentally swept into the sea.
	+ Perhaps a wave caught the missing tackle box, scattering the contents about the rocks. If two of the men went to try to retrieve the supplies and a wave swept one away, the other could have ran back to the house to get the third. It's possible that third man was MacArthur, who could have run out to help without grabbing his coat. Perhaps while trying to rescue their coworker, the others were hit by a renegade wave and likewise swept out to sea.
		- No bodies ever washed ashore, leaving room to question this theory. How could three experienced lighthouse keepers be caught so off guard, especially if one had already been swept to a rough sea? Why would the other two risk themselves?
* Perhaps because of the romanticism of an isolated Scottish island, some theorize one or more of the keepers could have had a psychological breakdown, leading to their demise.
	+ As the logs described, morale was low amongst the keepers and there was the possibility they were hallucinating storms. Perhaps a fight broke out with one keeper killing the others, tossing their bodies into the surf, then leaping into the ocean himself. MacArthur in particular was known for his rough nature and violent tendencies. There's also speculation that a romantic relationship could have sprouted between the men, then soured or that one went mad, running off the cliff while the other slipped chasing after him.
		- Because there were no indications of violence found on the island however, this theory is based mostly in speculation.
* The men were abducted by aliens.
	+ Ryan did not provide further evidence for this theory, leaving Shane laughing and outraged.
* Some other supernatural occurrence happened to the three Flannan Isles lighthouse keepers.
	+ There are legends of water sprites in Scotland, particularly the Bue Men of the Minch or Storm Kelpies in the Outer Hebrides where the Flannan Isles are located. These strong green-haired creatures are thought to live in caves and sink ships in order to drown sailors. According to legend, if the lighthouse keepers encountered a clan of these sprites, their only hope for survival would be to have the last word in a rhyming duel.
	+ There's also a local legend surrounding Moore's arrival on the island. Allegedly, when he entered the lighthouse building, three giant black birds perched atop the lighthouse flew off into the sky. People claim those birds were the three keepers, who were transformed into the avian form as a punishment for violating the supernatural power of the island.