The Flannan Isles Lighthouse Disappearances
What happened to the three keepers in 1900?
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On December 7, 1899, after a 4-year long construction, the Flannan Isles Lighthouse was lit for the first time.
It was located off the West coast of Scotland, surrounded by the violent Atlantic Ocean. And it was manned by a team of 3 keepers with a fourth person on rotation onshore.
One year after it went in operation, in December 1900, the lighthouse went down in history with one of the strangest missing persons cases.
Something is wrong
The first official record that things were not right is a log from the steamer Archtor dating from 15 December 1900. Passing the Flannan Isles in extremely poor weather conditions, the crew observed that no light is coming from the lighthouse.
The Archtor reached shore 3 days later, on December 18, and immediately relayed their observation to the Lighthouse Board.
The board scheduled a relief vessel to inspect the lighthouse on December 20. But the already bad weather grew even worse. The relief vessel was delayed by almost a week.
Finally, on December 26, the crew and on-shore relief keeper reached the lighthouse.
What they found
Immediately, the crew noticed some unusual signs. Not a single one of the 3 keepers — Thomas Marshall, James Ducat, and Donald MacArthur — came out to greet them. There was no flag in the flag post. The provision boxes had been left on the usual place for re-stocking.
The captain sounded the ship’s whistle and fired a flare in an attempt to get the attention of the keepers. Nobody responded.
The on-shore rotation keeper, Joseph Moore, got on a small boat and went to the lighthouse to investigate for himself. Soon, he returned with chilling news.
The doors to the lighthouse had been locked. He unlocked them and went inside but found no one. All 3 men were missing. The beds were unmade and the clock had stopped.
The boat was launched again — this time Moore went to investigate with two other crew members. They did not find many clues inside the lighthouse. The lamps had been cleaned and refilled. And a pair of oilskins was found — meaning, a crew member had left without one.
But when they inspected the island, a picture started forming.
The west landing of the island appeared to have been all but demolished by the violent weather. Bent over iron railings, an iron railway wrenched from the concrete, a displaced rock that weighed over a ton. Turf had been ripped away at the top of the cliff, at 200 feet above sea level. In the later official investigation report by the Board, the damage was described as “difficult to believe unless actually seen.”
The captain of the relief vessel sent a telegram to the Northern Lighthouse Board.
“A dreadful accident has happened at the Flannans. The three keepers, Ducat, Marshall and the Occasional have disappeared from the Island… The clocks were stopped and other signs indicated that the accident must have happened about a week ago. Poor fellows they must have been blown over the cliffs or drowned trying to secure a crane.”
Investigation
A Northern Lighthouse Board superintendent conducted an official investigation.
He discovered that the three men most likely perished on the evening of December 15 — ironically, the same date when the Archtor passed by and saw no light.
Two of them — Ducat and Marshall — had gone to the western landing stage that later was discovered in a nearly demolished state by the relief vessel crew.
The superintendent wrote,
“From evidence which I was able to procure I was satisfied that the men had been on duty up till dinner time on Saturday the 15th of December, that they had gone down to secure a box in which the mooring ropes, landing ropes etc. were kept, and which was secured in a crevice in the rock about 110 ft (34 m) above sea level, and that an extra large sea had rushed up the face of the rock, had gone above them, and coming down with immense force, had swept them completely away.”
The third keeper, McArthur (the “Occasional”) remained behind, at least initially. According to the regulations of the Lighthouse Board he should have stayed in the lighthouse. His coat was discovered inside, and very likely the single oilskin that was found also belonged to him.
Theories and speculation
Over a century later, we don’t know what happened to the three men. Their bodies were never found and the mystery of their disappearance has inspired all variations of theories over the years.
In the early 1900s, people were talking about giant sea monsters, serpents, or ghost ships carrying the men away. Modern theories talk about alien abduction.
But there are many speculations that don’t even touch on the paranormal. Maybe the keepers were kidnapped by foreign spies? Maybe one lost his mind, murdered the other two, and threw himself into the sea?
The disappearance has inspired also elaborate works of fiction. In 1912, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson wrote a ballad, “Flannan Isle”, in which he mentions an overturned chair and an untouched meal on the dinner table. This simple image turned out to be so evocative that it regularly is being referenced as fact in retellings of the case.
Later, entries surfaced from the Flanan Isles Lighthouse logbook. They painted a picture of mistrust between the 3 keepers, heavy but unlikely emotions, religious experiences. A subsequent investigation proved that this was also a fabrication.
So what do we know with certainty?
The weather had been calm for several days leading up to December 15, 1900. Then an extraordinarily strong storm hit.
Ducat and Marshall were likely swept up by the waves while picking up provisions.
McArthur, a veteran mariner, stayed behind in the safety of the lighthouse but then — in violation of the rules — left. Did he witness his friends falling in danger and rush to help them? Did he panic? Or something else made him leave?
We know he was in a hurry because he left behind his coat and oilskins. An experienced veteran, he broke several fundamental rules. But he remembered to lock the door.
We know he must have also gone to the western landing — where Ducat and Marshall had gone and which was nearly demolished by the storm.
And we do know that it was not aliens, spies, or serpents. The Atlantic Ocean took all three men.
