WEBVTT - Season 01 Episode 08: When the Light Fades (Rerun) 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:04.160 With Unexplained on a short break, We're dipping into the 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:07.640 archives again. This week's story is a true ghost of 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.960 Christmas past, reaching out to us from almost one hundred 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:13.960 and twenty four years to the day. It was late 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:17.400 one night on December twenty sixth, nineteen hundred when a 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:21.479 telegram was received by the Northern Lighthouse Board. It was 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:24.360 sent by a member of a rescue crew dispatched to 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:28.480 the Flannan Isles, the site of the UK's most remote lighthouse, 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:33.120 located way out in the Atlantic, beyond any sign of civilization. 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:36.920 They were sent to investigate why the light was no 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:42.800 longer shining. The telegram read, A dreadful accident has happened 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:47.360 at the Flannins. The keepers have disappeared from the island. 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:54.160 This is Unexplained, Season one, episode eight, when the Light fades. 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.360 When I'm considering what stories to feature on the show, 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:18.000 there are really only a few criteria that must be met. Firstly, 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:20.720 it has to be more than just an event. There 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.520 must be a story, a set of events with which 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.600 to thread and weave our way through. Secondly, that there 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.720 be something ultimately very human in the tales. And last, 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.640 but by no means least that the peculiarity of the 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:39.040 story has yet to be satisfactorily explained. Of all the 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.160 unexplained mysteries I have come across so far, there is 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.120 one that for me has left the most indelible impression. 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.800 As far as mysteries go, you couldn't invent a better story. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.720 A story that has over time led to some of 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:56.200 the most extraordinary of speculations, and has since evolved a 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:02.560 folklore all of its own. This is that story you're 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:15.160 listening to, unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith. The Flannan Isles, 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.240 also known as the Seven Hunters, are located at the 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:21.720 farthest reaches of the Scottish Outer Hebrides, a collection of 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:25.520 seven rocky islands, they form a small but majestic archipelago 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:31.000 of startling isolation. To the east, approximately seventy miles away, 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.120 lies the Isle of Lewis. To the south, by forty 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:37.440 miles the deserted Isle of Saint Kilda, and if you 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:39.960 were to venture west, you would need to travel more 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.080 than two thousand miles of uninterrupted ocean before hitting the 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.959 coastline of North America. The Flannan Isles are named after 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.720 an Irish priest known as Saint Flannan, who is believed 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:52.520 to have made his home on the islands as far 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.840 back as the seventh century. The remains the chapel in 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.080 which Saint Flannan is thought to have lived can still 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:00.960 be found on eilean Moore, the groups Its largest island, 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.920 translated from Gallic to mean simply big island Islean Moore 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:08.400 rears out of the sea, a vast hulk of gray 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.360 black rock, topped by a rugged grassy plateau, its sheer 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:15.560 cliffs measuring well over one hundred feet, with its highest 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:21.520 point reaching almost three hundred feet. Although uninhabited, many crofters 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.160 from nearby Lewis would regularly visit the islands in the 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:27.480 summer months to graze their sheep. Others would arrived to 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.480 pill for eggs and feathers from the island's bountiful population 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:34.639 of sea birds. Over time, due in no small part 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.480 to the association with Saint Flannan, the island developed a 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.520 strange mystique all of its own, becoming a place of 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.880 inherent sanctity to many of those who visited. To view 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.880 the island in its isolation, it is easy to understand 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.720 the ore with which it would have filled those early visitors. 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.240 There were many who believed, and some still do, that 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.360 the Isles were a place of great otherworldly magic, home 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.160 to a host of fairies and nature spirits, and not 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.440 all of them good, an attitude borne out in the 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.640 customs and superstitions of any person daring to set foot 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.680 on one of the Seven Hunters. If, when approaching the 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.000 islands on an easterly wind, the gust were to suddenly switch, 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:17.200 you wouldn't think twice before turning the boat around and 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:21.600 heading straight back home. For any that arrived successfully, it 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.839 was customary to immediately uncover the head before performing a 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:29.400 complete turn clockwise while thanking God for your safety. So 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:31.919 you can imagine the sense of trepidation many would have 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.280 felt when it was announced that a lighthouse would be 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:38.560 erected on the especially sacred Eileen More, a sense of 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.760 trepidation that was somewhat justified when barely more than a 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.080 year after opening, the lighthouse was to become the tragic 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.919 scene of one of the UK's most enduring of mysteries. 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:52.039 What exactly happened on the island some time in December 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.080 in the year nineteen hundred has never been fully accounted. 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:58.479 For it is quite simply a mystery that remains to 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:09.000 this day unexplained. In seventeen eighty two, a series of 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.440 ferocious storms batted the Scottish coast, resulting in the deaths 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.480 of many seamen, including those of two herring boats that 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.080 were smashed on the rocks of the Kintyre Peninsula on 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:22.200 the West coast. As a result, the Northern Lighthouse Board 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:24.840 was established to oversee the construction of a number of 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:30.120 lighthouses to be stationed on the most treacherous of Scottish coastlands. Although, 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.919 as ever initially motivated by trade, the ensuing feat of 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.240 engineering was driven by a genuine desire characteristic of the 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.919 Scottish Enlightenment, to work not for individual prestige, but for 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:45.240 the greater good of mankind. Leading the team of engineers 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.720 was Thomas Smith, the great grandfather of none other than 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:53.840 famed Scottish author Robert Louis Stephenson. Although the family profession 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.520 would prove ultimately unfitting for Robert, it was nonetheless his 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.919 uncle David who oversaw the construction of the lighthouse on 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:05.360 Island Moor. However, it would be some time before such 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.400 a plan would come to fruition. Maybe it was concern 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.160 over the exposure of such a location to the harshest 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.640 of the Atlantic's uncompromising weather, or perhaps it was a 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.760 reluctance to build on such mystical ground. But finally, after 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.200 forty years of pleading, the Lighthouse Board agreed to the construction. 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.120 The build began in eighteen ninety four and was due 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.000 to take two years, but was beset by the tumultuous 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:35.640 weather and even rougher seas characteristic of the area. The 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.800 lighthouse was to be built on the south side of 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:41.719 the island, where the rock reaches its highest point, surrounded 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.480 on both sides by sheer cliffs, none of which were 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:47.480 less than one hundred fifty feet in height, meaning that 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.880 all supplies had to be hauled by hand up the 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.560 cliff side. A perilous set of steps were carved into 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.120 the rock leading to the building. At the top for support, 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.760 there was only a modest iron railing to remind you 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.200 of the rocky peril that lay in weight for anyone 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:06.080 foolish enough to deviate from the path. Such was the 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.600 steep incline of the steps. A small service railway was installed, 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.680 where a cable supported railcar could be used to transport 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:17.320 heavy goods to and from the landing platform. Shortly before 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:21.400 the build was completed, the foreman, Mister D's died suddenly, 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.040 an event that in hindsight could be considered a disturbing 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.600 portent of what was to come. It certainly wouldn't have 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.640 been lost on many of the construction workers, well accustomed 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:37.080 with the superstitions related to the island. Nevertheless, a full 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.040 two years after construction was due to complete, on the 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.400 first of December eighteen ninety nine, the one hundred forty 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:47.240 thousand candle power lamp, perched atop a majestic white tower 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.600 two hundred seventy five feet above sea level, was lit 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:54.920 for the first time as the rotation device kicked into life. 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.240 Out of the darkness shone a beam of light, illuminating 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:08.400 the black North Atlantic waters for miles around. Though were 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.720 fore keepers required to operate the newly opened lighthouse as 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.520 a psychological necessity, there would only be three men on 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.160 the island at any given time, while the fourth took 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.800 a fortnight's leave. The first man to be stationed on 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.600 the island was forty three year old principal keeper and 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:29.280 married father of four, James Duckett, a seasoned lighthouse practitioner 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.480 with over twenty years of experience. James hailed from ar 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:36.000 Broth on the east coast of Scotland. He would later 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.400 be joined by first assistant keeper William Ross and twenty 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:43.760 eight year old second assistant keeper Thomas Marshall. As the 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.080 first Christmas of the New century approached, Ross was forced 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:50.000 off the island due to ill health, with regular light 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.840 keeper Joseph Moore not due for a further two weeks. 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:56.240 Ross was replaced by forty year old occasional keeper and 0:08:56.280 --> 0:09:01.880 ex soldier Donald MacArthur. Donald, who was also married with children, 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.480 hailed from the nearby town of Breiscleet on the Isle 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:08.640 of Lewis. I often wonder how it might have felt 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.520 for the men returning to the lighthouse after their regulatory 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:15.240 breaks at that moment, having stepped off the delivery boat, 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:20.120 watching the last contact with civilization disappear from view. Perhaps 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.600 there was some relief at returning to the quiet sanctuary 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.760 away from the daily hassles of life. Or perhaps it 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.480 was more with great sadness that they found themselves again 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.560 alone on a distant rock, far away from their wives 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:37.520 and children. With the switch over completed on eleventh of December, 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.959 MacArthur promptly banished all thoughts of home and quickly settled 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.800 into his role. As the night approached, the men set 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.760 about doing what they did best, duly noting the day's 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:50.080 observations in the lighthouse log book. At the end of 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.720 the day, with the familiar sounds of a North Atlantic 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.000 storm rattling around the island, the men settled in for 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.439 the night as a waning moon appeared in the sky above. 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.120 Down below the island, moor light shone far and wide, 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:06.439 as it had done for every other night of its 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:16.240 year long life. The first sign of trouble came at 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:21.400 midday on Tuesday, December fifteenth, Roughly one hundred and twenty 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.240 miles to the northwest of the Seven Hunters, a cargo 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.720 ship named S s Arch Tour was making steady progress 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:31.000 on her route toward the port of Leith in Edinburgh. 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:34.160 The steamship, captained by Thomas John Holman, had left the 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:36.960 American city of Philadelphia on the twenty eighth of November 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.040 carrying over four and a half thousand tons of cargo. 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.880 Although most of the voyage had been beset by stormy 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.959 weather by late afternoon on the fifteenth, the storm had 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:52.240 abated somewhat, leaving fine, clear skies above a few hours later, 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.880 and the ship was fast approaching the Flannan Isles. On 0:10:56.040 --> 0:11:00.119 deck stood a greatly perturbed Captain Holman. By his estimation, 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:02.439 they should have been no more than five miles from 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.880 Eileen Moore, But as he stood under the vast expansive sky, 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.120 surrounded by only the darkest of seas, he could not 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.240 make out any sign of the lighthouse, or, more precisely, 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.600 its light, the beam of which on a night such 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.280 as this, would have been visible for over twenty miles. 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:24.079 Assuming a miscalculation on his part, Captain Holman continued to 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:28.760 steer the vessel on its course towards Edinburgh. The following day, however, 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:31.720 the ship appeared clearly to be plotting a correct course. 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:36.240 The captain resolved to uncover the discrepancy of the night before, 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:40.400 but was almost surprised to find nothing wrong with his calculations. 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.720 The ship had indeed passed by the lighthouse, so where 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:48.360 then was the light disturbed by the apparent blackout of 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.600 the lighthouse, Captain Holman planned to report the matter to 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:56.160 the relevant authorities on arrival to Leith. Unfortunately, that message 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:00.480 never arrived. Two days later, Captain Holman and the SS 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.440 arch Tour ran aground on the approach to Leith Port. 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:06.199 Perhaps it was the shock of the event that had 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:10.200 dislodged the Flanninisles from Captain Holman's mind, or perhaps with 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.480 his navigation skills now under heavy scrutiny, he was reluctant 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.520 to bring up the possible miscalculation from the two nights before. 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.080 With no news to the contrary, the lighthouse board would 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.560 have no reason to think anything strange had taken place 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.280 on Eileen Moore. But with the next rotation of keepers 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:37.360 due a few days later, all that was about to change. 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.560 On the twenty sixth of December nineteen hundred, the lighthouse 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:43.760 tender boat, a long steamer named the Hespiras, made its 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:48.000 way towards the largest of the Flannan Isles. The ship 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:50.680 had been due to arrive the previous day, but severe 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:54.720 storms in the area had delayed its departure. On board 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.800 was regular keeper Joseph Moore, who was scheduled to start 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.400 his latest shift that day, But as Captain James Harvey 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.199 brought the ship closer to land, it was clear that 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:10.199 something wasn't right. It was common practice for the keepers 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.800 to raise a flag in preparation for the next rotation, 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:15.920 but as Captain Harvey scoured the island, he could see 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.520 no sign of the flag. His concern turned to alarm 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.680 when several blasts from the ship's horn brought no response 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:26.160 from the three light keepers. The subsequent firing of a 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:31.720 distress rocket again failed to yield any response. Greatly unnerved, 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.960 the captain ordered the rowboat into the water and sent 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:40.520 Joseph Moore to investigate. It is difficult to imagine just 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:43.120 what was going through Moore's mind as the small boat 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:47.040 pulled up below those towering cliffs, the gray, murky waters, 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:52.480 seeming unusually calm for the bitterly cold December day, Moore 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.200 stepped off the boat and cautiously made his way up 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:59.360 the steep stone steps. As he approached the summit, the 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.120 top of the light house came into view. Passing the 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.920 ruins of the ancient chapel. He called out to the men, 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.600 but again there was no reply, no familiar faces to 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:14.360 greet him. Something was deeply wrong. A short time later, 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:18.800 Moore arrived outside the lighthouse and slowly opened the front door. 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.800 What he discovered has formed the basis for one of 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:28.440 the greatest maritime mysteries of modern times. After entering the lighthouse, 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.960 he found the inside door also closed, but curiously, the 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:37.280 kitchen door was wide open. The fireplace was cold, indicating 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.200 it had not been lit for some days. One of 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.640 the chairs appeared to have been pushed away from the table, 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.680 perhaps in a hurry. The rest of the room was 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:50.440 spotlessly clean. When he entered the bedrooms, he found them empty, 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.200 left as they would have been since the morning. In fact, 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.960 everything was in perfect order. The lamp for the light 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.240 was clean, the foundation was full, and the blinds on 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:05.120 the windows correctly orientated. The only thing that was missing 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:09.040 was the men. They had simply vanished from the face 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:13.240 of the earth. As if to add a further twist, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:17.360 Moore also noticed that every clock in the building had stopped. 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.160 The thoroughly spooke Moore returned to the row boat and 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.320 requested the help of second mate McCormack, who, along with 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:33.360 another seaman, followed Moore back to the lighthouse to renew 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:37.080 the search of the area. Unable to find any clues 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.960 as to what had happened, the three men promptly returned 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.160 to the boat and made their way back to the Herspiris. Ever, 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.520 the professional Captain Harvey's first instinct was to make sure 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.720 that the light would be up and running again. That night. 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.600 Moore was ordered to return to the island along with 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:58.000 three volunteers, the boy Master Alan MacDonald and two seamen, 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:02.600 Messrs Campbell and Lamont. Having dropped the men off again, 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:07.800 Captain Harvey set off immediately for Braiscleet in Lewis. Later 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.000 that day, Harvey sent his now infamous telegram to the 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.920 Secretary of the Northern Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh, the immortal 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:19.280 first line, reading, A dreadful accident has happened at Flannet's, 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:30.760 but the mystery had only just begun that first night. 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.680 Taking over from the missing lighthouse keepers would not have 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.200 been easy for the four volunteers, having no doubt been 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:39.840 upset by the turn of events. It would have taken 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.600 some strength to stop their minds from wondering as to 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.680 what exactly had taken place. It would have been a 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:50.800 very somber night. Indeed, the following day, Moore and his 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.600 companions renewed their search of the island, but found no 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.280 clues to help with their investigation. That was until they 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:01.760 came across the western landing point. Approaching the landing, the 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.040 men found that a number of iron railings of the 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.600 tramway had been ripped from their foundations and mangled out 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:12.040 of shape. A box containing mooring ropes had vanished despite 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.040 having been firmly wedged into a crevice and then anchored. 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:18.840 Despite some of the more fanciful thoughts that may have 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:22.120 sprung to mind, the first assumptions of the replacement crew 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.960 centered on some kind of freak storm that may have 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:29.400 blown the men from the island. However, when Moore submitted 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.360 his report at the events two days later, it contained 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:37.480 one startling detail. All men stationed at Eilean Moor had 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:39.560 a set of wet weather were to cope with the 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:43.040 extreme conditions. In the case of Ducket and Marshal, this 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:47.760 took the form of weather proof boots and oil skin coats. MacArthur, however, 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.040 only being an occasional keeper, was not so well equipped 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.760 and had only what he called his wearing coat at 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:58.600 his disposal. When Moore searched the lighthouse, he discovered Duckett 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.080 and Marshall's gear was missing, but MacArthur's coat was still 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.800 on its peg, which could only mean that whatever had happened, 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.480 MacArthur had left the lighthouse in his shirt sleeves, a 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.320 strange fact if you consider just how severe the weather 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.680 must have been to blow the men from the island. 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:18.600 What could possibly have happened that would send MacArthur running 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:23.240 out into a severe storm without his jacket. A few 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:27.480 days later, the Northern Lighthouse Board sent Superintendent Robert Muirhead 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:33.040 to investigate further. Muwhead confirmed More's initial findings and pointed 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.720 to a particularly heavy storm front that was believed to 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:37.640 have hit the island during the time of the men's 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:42.080 disappearance as the most likely culprit. A boy that had 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:44.320 been fastened to the railings one hundred and ten feet 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.760 up had vanished as well. A large block of stone 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.720 weighing upwards of a ton had been clearly dislodged by 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:56.199 something before falling onto the path below. In conclusion, it 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:58.480 was his belief that a freak wave had hit the 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.360 island and somehow whisked the men clean from the rock. 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:04.760 The report was published a few weeks later, and the 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:15.440 case was officially closed. There have been many falsehoods surrounding 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.639 the Flannenile's mystery, most often to do with reports of 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:21.879 strange recordings apparently found written in the log book shortly 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:25.760 before the men disappeared. They speak of something dark brewing 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:30.080 and the fracturing of the men's mental states. One log 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.879 had supposedly noted that all had been calm, suggesting initial 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.480 reports of bad weather to have been mistaken in truth. 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.240 Thanks to an exhaustive study on the subject by writer 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.280 Mike Dash, it appears this part of the story and 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:47.280 some other questionable elements, were in fact fabricated some years 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:51.080 after the event. What is known is that the last 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:53.920 recorded log entry seems to have been made on Tuesday, 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:58.600 the fifteenth of December. Needless to say, in the absence 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.720 of a satisfactory explanation for the event, many are only 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:04.359 too keen to fill in the vacuum, with theories ranging 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:09.840 from the workings of malicious spirits to straight out alien abduction. Certainly, 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:12.880 at the time of Muwhead's original report, there weren't many 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.600 willing to believe the conclusion that a mere wave could 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.480 be responsible. After all, such a thing was widely held 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.720 to be nothing but a myth itself, or at least 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.720 it was. On the first of January nineteen ninety five 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.840 measuring equipment located on the Dropner oil rig in the 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.840 North Sea, just off the coast of Norway, recorded what 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:35.920 is now considered the first official evidence of a freak wave, 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:39.760 crashing into the platform at a staggering sixty one feet 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:45.439 at peak height. And yet, in twenty thirteen, author and 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:49.120 historian Keith McCloskey conducted his own research into the incident. 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:53.280 Enlisting the help of Eddie Graham, a meteorologist from the 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:57.679 University of Highlands and Islands in Invernesse, McCluskey reanalyzed the 0:20:57.680 --> 0:20:59.960 weather patterns for the flann And Isles around the time 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.840 of the fifteenth of December nineteen hundred. What he discovered 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:08.320 was startling. Although the weather appears to have indeed been rough, 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.199 it certainly wouldn't have been anything that the three seasoned 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:16.320 light keepers hadn't experienced before. What's more, with windspeed estimated 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:19.080 to have peaked at roughly sixty miles per hour, any 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:21.960 waves generated by such a storm would barely have made 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:25.679 it above thirty feet, a fact all the more incredible 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:29.720 when you consider that McCluskey's own findings and Superintendent Murehead's 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:32.679 earlier report suggests that the men would have been at 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.479 well over one hundred feet when they were supposedly taken. 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:40.520 The largest freak wave ever accorded was ninety five feet high, 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:43.119 so if it was a freak wave, it would have 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.720 to have been the largest wave ever known. And what 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:51.119 of the strange case of MacArthur's jacket. A senior keeper 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:55.119 of the Northern Lighthouse Board, Alistair Henderson, is insistent that 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:58.439 under any normal circumstances, the lighthouse would never have been 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.959 left unattended. It is a fairly standard rule followed by 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:05.920 all lighthouse keepers, let alone one so experienced as Duckett, 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:11.679 Marshall and MacArthur. Perhaps more disturbingly, referring to the Muwhead report, 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:14.439 it is Henderson's belief that the true events were in 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:18.560 fact covered up. After all, Murehead's was the only official 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:21.399 report to emerge from the incident. There was no fatal 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:24.200 accident report that would have been standard for such an event. 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:29.560 Even more alarmingly, key documentation that contained evidence of everything 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:33.600 that happened on the island disappeared mysteriously after Muhead left 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:39.080 the island. If MacArthur never left the lighthouse, where exactly 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:42.160 did he go, or if he did indeed leave the building. 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:45.480 What possible reason could he have had for breaking such 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:50.080 a fundamental convention. Might ultimately MacArthur hold the key to 0:22:50.119 --> 0:23:00.720 the mystery. In an age well before social media and smartphones, 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:03.320 working on the rock in the year nineteen hundred would 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:06.120 have meant a complete and utter cutoff from all communication 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:10.400 with the world, a state of affairs comparable to astronauts 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:13.800 traveling through the isolation of space, who even then are 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:16.600 able to communicate with others on the ground to alleviate 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:21.719 the psychological confinement. Furthermore, it is a condition that astronauts 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:26.240 today will spend months preparing for under constant psychological analysis, 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:29.920 as scientists seek to determine their capability to endure such 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:34.600 a situation. Is it possible that MacArthur, who it is reported, 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:37.439 had worked almost consistently without a break for two and 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:40.760 a half months leading up to December the fifteenth, had 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:46.040 simply snapped, having been cooped up on what must have 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:48.479 at times felt like the very edge of the world, 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:52.440 miles from civilisation, with gale force winds battering the coast 0:23:52.480 --> 0:23:57.760 all around. The circumstances were certainly ripe. Perhaps with the 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:00.240 other two men having left the building to undertake some 0:24:00.320 --> 0:24:04.399 routine operations. MacArthur had simply lost his mind and wandered 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:08.520 coatless into the storm, bludgeoning his companions to death before 0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:12.399 throwing himself into the waters below. It wouldn't be the 0:24:12.440 --> 0:24:15.920 first time that such conditions had driven somebody to madness. 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:22.439 On Thursday, eighteenth of August nineteen sixty, eighteen year old 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:25.159 David Colin and his father had decided to take a 0:24:25.200 --> 0:24:28.040 day trip to visit Ross Island, off the southwest coast 0:24:28.040 --> 0:24:32.000 of Scotland. On the island stood a lighthouse that had 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:35.320 been built in eighteen forty three by Alan Stephenson, another 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:39.920 uncle of Robert Louis Stephenson. David and his father set 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:42.199 off from the local sailing club and arrived at the 0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:46.919 island shortly before lunch. As a courtesy, David thought it 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:49.560 right that they should inform the lighthouse keepers that they 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:54.040 were there. After knocking on the door, David received no response, 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:57.520 except from a rather over enthusiastic dog that he assumed 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:02.040 must have belonged to one of the keepers. Unperturbed, David 0:25:02.040 --> 0:25:05.280 and his father returned to their walk, but as the 0:25:05.359 --> 0:25:08.760 day wore on, the keepers had still not returned. The 0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:11.240 only sign of life being the ominous ringing of an 0:25:11.280 --> 0:25:17.359 unanswered telephone coming from inside the lighthouse. Eventually, David's father 0:25:17.400 --> 0:25:20.959 plucked up the courage to enter the building. Inside, he 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:25.160 found lighthouse keeper Hugh Clark dead, with fellow keeper Robert 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:30.560 Dixon nowhere to be seen. After an extensive manhunt, the 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:33.720 twenty four year old Dixon was eventually apprehended and brought 0:25:33.720 --> 0:25:37.760 to trial for the murder of Hugh Clark. The trial 0:25:37.960 --> 0:25:41.800