WEBVTT - The Flannan Isles Mystery 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.920 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:17.320 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant over there, and Jerry's 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:20.759 out here too. So since the gang's all here, the 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:25.040 three of us alone on a deserted aisle, stuff you 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:29.240 should know? Can I mention a couple of things here? 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.400 I think you should. I want to pre apologize to 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:39.440 our Scottish listeners, whom we love. We we toured in Scotland, 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.200 had a great time, one of our best live shows 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:47.599 in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. Yes, wonderful. People love 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.920 the Scots. But we are going to butcher some of 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:56.160 these names. And I apologize that. Yeah, we're sorry. Uh 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:57.680 and what was the other thing? Oh? The other thing 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:02.360 was it's impossible to talk about the Flannon Aisles Lighthouse 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:06.960 mystery and research it without almost always thinking about the 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:11.200 movie The Lighthouse. Uh. Yeah, and actually it comes up 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.200 a lot in the research too. Yeah. I think one 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.679 reason is because it's clear that, oh, what's the guy's 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:19.080 name he made it? I can't think of his name. 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.360 It's not William Ker's. Well, it's definitely not Dave Aggers. 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.880 It's an Egger's right. Yeah, I'm pretty Robert, I think 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:32.560 Robert Kay, Robert Aggers, Okay, yes, uh, he clearly did 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.720 his research. Uh. And you know, I remember when that 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:37.720 movie came out. I spoke on the show that I 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.240 wrote a movie, a period movie about a lighthouse and 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:42.840 a murder that takes place, and then the movie The 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.759 Lighthouse came out, and I was like, so much for that. Um. 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:47.360 But I did a lot of research at the time, 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:49.240 and it was clear that Eggers did a lot of 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:53.240 research because it was a very accurate film. Especially when 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.800 you read and research the Flannin Isisles Lighthouse mystery, You're like, oh, yeah, 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:58.880 that's like from the movie, and that's like from the movie. 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.640 Apparently they mentioned it in the movie. I didn't go 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:03.680 back and watch it again, but I saw something really 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.040 that they make a reference to the mystery in the movie. 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:10.639 That's awesome, I thought so too. Yeah, man, I can't 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.480 wait for that Viking movie to come out. Me too. 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:15.480 And this made me want to see The Lighthouse again, 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.320 which I didn't think I wanted to do, but now 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.760 I do the same. Here. So, um, we are talking 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.600 about one particular lighthouse called the Flannin Isles lighthouse, and 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.840 it was located on one island in the Flanning Isles 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:33.400 called Island More. Uh, that's not exactly like Chuck was 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:38.440 saying the Scottish pronunciation scott Gaelic um, but it's close 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.160 enough and it actually means in English. I guess the 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:47.520 More island right, Okay, So anyway, that's where this lighthouse 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.520 is and and it's situated. It's still there today. It's 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:55.480 automated though it went automated in but um, it's it's 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:59.280 it's light is about seventy five ft atop the cliff, 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:03.000 which is the high point of Island More. And that 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.320 cliff is two hundred feet above sea level. And it's 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:10.160 a pretty good place for a lighthouse because this area 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:15.880 of Scotland is kind of treacherous for ships. Yes, and 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.280 it's important how high this one was. It figures into 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:23.280 the story. I'm not just showing off with stats here. Yeah, 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.640 it is. It is treacherous. It's a windy area. Uh, 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.079 there are big winds in Scotland, especially out there on 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.960 those islands. I think it is close and this is 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.760 kind of funny the name of it, But isn't it 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:38.720 nearby supposedly the windiest place. Is it the windiest place 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:42.360 in the UK. And what's the name of it, The 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:48.760 Butt of Lewis. Come on, I'm serious, but it makes 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:54.000 Lewis is a nearby island, um, which is inhabited in 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.600 the region, which is pretty rare, I think, um. But this, 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.360 this part of it, one end of the island is 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.440 called the Butt of Lewis Island and it's the windiest part. 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.240 The Butt of Lewis is the windiest island right, So 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.120 that the the area that these Flanning Aisles are in, 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:13.800 so Island more is in the Flannon Aisles. The Flannin 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.880 Aisles are part of the larger um island chain on 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.920 the northwest of Scotland called the Outer Hebrides, and UM 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.560 to the west of them, you can just keep going 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.360 and going and going and then you'll finally reach North America. Um. 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:31.039 They're pretty remote, they're pretty isolated. They are indeed windy, 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.800 and like we're saying, the seeds are are kind of 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.640 rough around there. I think that's kind of putting it mildly. 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.279 Plus the islands themselves are often very rocky and jagged, 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:42.520 and so it's treacherous. So of course you'd want to 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.880 put a lighthouse there. Well, yeah, the winds blow strong 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.880 from the butt of Lewis. But the the lighthouse that 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:52.440 was built there finally on Island more Um, wasn't installed 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:56.720 until eighteen nine UM, which is kind of late considering 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.120 that Scotland had something called the Northern Lighthouse Board that 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:05.000 they organized in sevent six to basically oversee and standardized 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.039 lighthouse keeping in that country. Yeah. So they were headquartered 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.320 there in Edinburgh. And here here's how it worked at 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.680 the time. And this checks out according to my research 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:19.719 when I was writing my movie and the movie The Lighthouse. Uh. 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.400 They were staff. You had your principal lightkeeper called the 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:26.040 principal Keeper, and then usually depending on you know, where 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.080 the lighthouse was, how busy it was, how big it was, 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:32.640 and as far as needed uh personnel for operation, you 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.880 had one or two assistants. Uh. And they were all 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:39.280 ranked as you know. You weren't just like oh, I'll 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.360 be the first keeper this week, like you earned that spot. 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.480 It was a promotion, uh, and then you were assigned 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.279 to these stations by the board. Just like in the movie. 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:50.159 You don't you don't stay there forever. You kind of 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.640 rotate and you go there for a little while, and 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.880 you may get stationed with someone you've never worked with before, 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:57.839 and you have to get to know that person very 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:00.640 intimately over the course of you know, a short period 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.039 of time. Or it's some money you have worked with 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:07.320 before and your old friends with maybe for old enemies, yeah, exactly, 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:11.600 wor old enemies. So aside from these two to three 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:15.240 people as principles and assistance, you had what's called the 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:19.559 occasional keeper. And this is someone who actually lived nearby UH, 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.120 either an inhabited island resident or if it was uninhabited, 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.360 if it was at least close enough, they could get 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.200 there easily and they would help out UH during the day, 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:30.680 but they would go home at night and sleep and 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.839 stuff in their own betty by And that was the standard. 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.600 But for a place like Um Island more where the 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.599 flann And Isles Lighthouse was located. UM, if you were 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.000 an occasional, you were there for two weeks. That's how 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.960 hard it was to get to the island and how 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.520 hard it was to get off of the island. So 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.359 the purpose of the occasional was to give two weeks 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.640 rest off to one of the other two or three people. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.559 Who were permanently stay temporarily stationed there for much longer 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:02.039 than you. Right, then those cases, the keeper the occasional 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:06.080 does not go home and sleep right. So, Um, the 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:08.440 one of the things that that stuck out to meet 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.880 Chuck was that, you know, when you think about lighthouse keeping, like, yes, 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:13.760 the person has to live there, and it's a lot 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:15.560 of work and they have to attend to the light 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:21.400 and everything. But I think lighthouse keepers are very frequently 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:28.320 um portrayed as weirdos, just complete alcoholics who like can't 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.840 can't do anything else but live by themselves. That almost 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.120 like their place there because there's there's nothing else for 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.200 them to contribute to society, so they're kind of cast 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:41.080 off for ostra sized. That's not the case, at least 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.320 not in Scotland. That was not the case. Like if 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.240 you were a lighthousekeeper, that was a very very important job. 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:51.880 You took it very very seriously. Um, so much so 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.160 that there was a study that found between eighteen fifty 0:07:55.160 --> 0:08:00.000 and nineteen hundred fifty years there were only fifteen records 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:04.679 did instances of lighthouse keeper falling asleep at their post, 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:08.760 which was about as bad as it gets as a lighthousekeeper. Yeah. 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:10.560 I mean that's not to say they weren't drunks and 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.680 miths and thropes here and there. Maybe those are the 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.240 fifteen yes, But I did a little more further math, Chuck, 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.800 if I may be sewing indulged as to share it, 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.520 I saw that. I thought that was pretty funny. So 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.400 so get this. Let's say you have about a hundred 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:29.440 and fifty lighthouses in operation between eighteen fifty and nineteen hundred, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.480 and if you calculate that number of lighthouses times the 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.960 number of nights that occurred over that fifty years in Scotland, 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.640 you have what we'll call two point seven five million 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:46.720 lighthouse nights. Out of those two point seven five million 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:51.120 lighthouse nights in Scotland over those fifty years, only fifteen 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:55.160 of those nights found a lighthouse keeper asleep on duty. 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.040 That's how seriously they took it. Did you account for 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:04.240 leap years? Oh, Chuck, I just really wanted to drive 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.920 that home. Man. I really thought that was an important point, 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:10.760 and it didn't get come across with fifteen instances fifty years. 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.440 Who cares, no, I mean it's a big deal, because 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:16.959 you know, the purpose of a lighthouse I guess we 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.319 have not really said is to light the way around 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.800 rocky shores and islands so boats don't run into them. Yeah, 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.200 unless you've been living under a rocky shore, you know 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:31.600 that it's a very important job. Though. I love lighthouses. 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:33.520 We've talked about them quite a few times on this show, 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.360 Big Big fan. Every time I am near a lighthouse, 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:39.520 I will do my best to climb that thing if 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:46.080 it's allowed. So, who who done it? In your lighthouse mystery? Uh? 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:49.280 Who did do it? It was a good story. Actually, well, 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:51.440 then maybe you should hang onto it in case somebody 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.360 comes along, because it's not like The Lighthouse is the 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:59.480 only lighthouse movie ever made. Yeah, the briefest synopsis is 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:03.439 it's too sisters who are attending the lighthouse because it 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.679 was their family job and their parents died there. So 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:08.920 it's these two sort of like a like maybe a 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:11.440 twenty year old and a sixteen year old out there 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.040 alone in this island. And then these two men wash 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.680 ashore one day and a shipwreck and they tell the 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:21.200 awful story of their their ship going down, and it 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.240 turns out that the real story is that they were 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:29.080 prisoners aboard a ship being transferred and they escaped their 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.760 shackles and murdered everyone aboard, and then there was a shipwreck, 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.760 so they were bad guys who got washed ashore. It's 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:38.880 a bit like a reverse dead Calm sort of, and 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.520 they charmed the girls. But there is I guess I 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:43.360 didn't know the name was an occasional keeper. There's a 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.720 guy that lives one guy that lives on the island 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.200 that helps them out that is sort of suspicious of 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:49.839 the guys, and it sort of plays out over the 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.319 course of the movie where they're exposed ending in a 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.040 game of cat and mouse one night, and I remember, 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.800 actually it was okay. I mean so I did it 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:03.400 as a as an experiment because all I've ever written 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.920 is comedy, and I thought, hey, maybe I'll write a 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.600 serious thriller. And uh, it could be better if a 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:11.640 really good thriller writer got ahold of it, I think. 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.160 But where there's still like little jokes peppered as a sides, 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.320 like one of the sisters is running from the murderer 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:19.880 and says to herself, I left the mainland for this, 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:26.120 like your comedy shines through still. Oh, I don't know, 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.600 I'll have to dust that thing off. You should man, 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.680 it sounds like a good one. Thank you so um 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.640 this lighthouse back to the Flanton Isles lighthouse on Island More. Um, 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.080 Like we said that most of the Outer Hebrides are uninhabited. 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:41.880 I think we said that, didn't we I don't know, 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:43.959 but you just said it. Then. I think there's seventy 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:46.320 islands and the Outer Hebrides, and only fifteen of them 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.720 are populated, and Island More is definitely not one of them. 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:53.800 The only remote, it is extremely remote. Um. The only people, 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.960 the only beings that live there, Um, what you would 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:01.520 recognize as a genuine normal being as opposed to say, paranormal, 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:06.319 which we'll get into, are the lighthouse keepers and some sheep. 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:11.120 Even the people whose sheep those are don't live on 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.520 the island or even stay there overnight. They go out 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.760 a few times a year check on the sheep, and 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:19.679 then leave before nightfall. That's that's kind of how Island 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.040 More is viewed. It seemed kind of as a place 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:27.679 where maybe gods or ghosts or just something other worldly 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:31.320 lives on Island More, according to the locals. According to 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.280 Lower written about the locals, I've never spoken to an 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:37.360 Outer hebridean Yeah, and I think the other thing we 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:39.280 need to mention too, because I believe it comes up 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:43.520 later in one of the supernatural explanations for what is 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.280 to come here with this mystery is the name St. 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:51.560 Flannin comes from the fact that Island More was the 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:54.480 side of a chapel in the seventh century built by 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:58.679 a traveling Irish monk who eventually became St. Flannin, And 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:00.360 that's going to come up. Just put a in that. 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.160 It's a big time pin hang on to it. Okay? 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:05.640 Is that a good setup? Should we take a break? 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.120 I think so? Man, all right, we'll come back with 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:39.679 more spooky lighthouse mystery stuff right after this. Alright, so 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:46.000 we should probably mention the steamship actor or archter Arcter. 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.560 I've seen it both ways, but that kind of kicks 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.760 off the story for us, don't you think. Yeah, well, 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:56.719 we haven't mentioned the major players either yet, have we. No? No, 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.120 I guess we could go either way. We can mention 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.680 one or the other. All right, let's mention the players 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.120 because these are the actual keepers of that lighthouse. You 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:09.880 had the principal keeper, James Ducatt, you had the second assistant. 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.239 Wouldn't he be the first assistant though no, Donald mccarthur. 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.839 We'll get into that, okay. Thomas Marshall was the second 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:22.120 assistant and then Donald mccarth MacArthur was the occasional right, 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.280 here's my bit. So he was filling in for a 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:29.520 guy named William Ross. William Ross was the first assistant keeper, 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:32.000 which meant that since Donald MacArthur was filling in for him, 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.360 Donald McArthur was the first assistant keeper even though he 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.480 was an occasional keeper. Okay, that makes sense. And William 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.760 Ross was unsickly and just judging from the movie The 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.360 Lighthouse and and all this research, like you must have 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:48.480 had to been really sick to get taken off the island. Yes, 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.680 but I think, yes, that's what I thought too. But 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.960 doing research for this, I found that these guys had 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:59.840 all of them had a rotating two weeks off. So 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.520 at any given point, over a stretch of two weeks, 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.480 one of those men, James Ducott, Thomas Marshall or William 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:11.080 Ross would not be on the island because they rotated 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:15.120 two weeks shorely basically. So I yeah, I was over 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.600 the impression that if you went and tended a lighthouse, 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.200 they dropped you off left you with some food and 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:25.000 said see you never. But that's not the case. No, No, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.120 I think I think they were well taken care of. 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.560 I get the impression the Northern Lighthouse Board was pretty 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.240 good at its job and really cared about these people 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:36.160 and looked after them. I didn't see anything to to 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:40.320 to deny that. Yeah, well, it's a brutal and important job, 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.560 so surely that they were taken care of, at least 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:44.800 to a certain degree. But the upshot of all this 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.040 is that there were three men on the island, three 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:50.440 dudes working that lighthouse, and aside from some sheep that 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.000 that was it. That was the only people on the island. 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:57.880 And this, by the way, this is December of nineteen hundred, right, Yeah, 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:00.560 so this thing is brand new. Yeah, A built it 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.680 in that was scheduled to take two years. It took 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:08.440 four years. The construction was started in and what they 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.680 built was at the time a state of the art lighthouse. 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.280 But it took so long. It took twice as long 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:18.680 as they anticipated because the cliffs and the island itself 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.440 was so treacherous. That's how long it took just to 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:26.040 like get materials up the cliff to build the lighthouse. Yeah, 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:29.480 so it's finally in operation. And then now comes to 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.000 the Actor, which is what you mentioned earlier. Not a 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.840 C T O R, but the Actor a H T 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:40.040 E R. Yeah. It was a transatlantic steamship from Philadelphia 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.920 to Leith, which is a port for Edinburgh. That's right. 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.120 So they were out there was about say, sailing around, 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:50.080 but I guess they were steaming around and they waited 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:53.720 out a storm for a few days and then, uh, 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.000 this part got confusing to me. So the actor was 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:02.280 was passing by Flannon Aisles. It by on December and 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.000 the actor noticed that the light was out, not that 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.080 they couldn't see the light because of weather or anything 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.720 like that. Like the light was straight up not lit 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.879 on the lighthouse, on Flannon Isle's lighthouse like that was. 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:16.800 It was a very strange thing to see and it 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.040 was very noteworthy. UM. They ran into some weather on 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.640 their way to Leaf and had to wait it out 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:25.159 for a few days. And when they finally made it 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.119 into port, I guess they passed the information along, but 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:32.000 the the Northern Lighthouse Board didn't catch wind of it 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:36.560 until the official relief supply ship UM showed up a 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.960 few days later and the actors observation that the light 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.639 was out wouldn't come into play until an investigation was 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.879 launched later on. Right, So that relief ship was the 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:50.080 Hesperus H S P E r U S. And that 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:58.200 arrived on December, which was Boxing day after Christmas. And 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.720 what these ships brought as they usually brought either supplies 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:07.119 or uh fresh dudes or both. And in this case, 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.680 I think they had supplies and a fresh lighthousekeeper. And 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:16.080 it was captained by uh Captain Harvey, and they were like, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.560 all right, something's going on here. This lights out, the 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:20.919 flag's not flying. Let me toot on the horn a 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:25.120 few times. Dude, nobody comes out there. All right, well, 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.080 let me send up a flare. They send up a flare, 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.600 No one comes out. And what they're trying to do 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:33.719 is say, hey, we're here, get your little, uh, your 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:36.359 little rail car system going. It had a little cable 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.640 a little cable pulled railroad system that was operated by 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.879 a steam engine in a shack. And so when the 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.199 chip pulls up, they would toot the horn and the 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.879 dudes would come down and they would get that steam 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.640 engine going and get that cable car ready to transfer 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.119 the goods onto this thing, so they could. You know, 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:55.960 it's like hundreds of pounds of stuff going up a 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.600 really really steep cliff side. Yeah, there's just no way 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.040 to move that stuff otherwise now you'd have to do it. 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.960 So nobody came out, no one gets that steam chat going, 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.720 and uh, they're like, all right, something's going on. We're 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.400 gonna have to to go on land and figure this out. Yeah, 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.480 And just the fact that they weren't greeted by one 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:16.600 or more of the guys from the lighthouse, which is 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:21.600 apparently custom, Like even the most grizzled misanthrope um lighthouse 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.239 keeper just knew it was customed to come down and 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.880 greet the relief ship. You're still dying to see someone else, 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.760 pretty much, I think, you know. Yeah, So that like 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:31.760 the fact that no one showed up and then no 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.480 one responded to their signals. They were like, something really 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.120 weird is going on here. And they had Joseph Moore 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:40.320 who was the relieving keeper, which makes me think that 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.800 William Ross was really really sick because he would have 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.119 been on sickly for way over two weeks by the side, 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.400 because I believe the relief ship was um five days 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:53.080 late because of weather, so he must have really been 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:56.400 laid up, and they sent another relieving keeper, Joseph Moore 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:00.720 um instead, and Joseph Moore went ashore, and he was 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:02.680 friends with these guys. He wasn't some new dude or 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.679 anything like that. So he was genuinely concerned and he 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:07.960 went up the steps to the lighthouse. There's apparently a 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:12.040 hundred and sixty of them, and he just knew right 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:14.879 away that something was way off. There was no sign 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:19.439 of life, there was nobody around, there was the just 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.960 nothing was going on. It was abandoned, basically, and he 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:25.760 didn't have a very good feeling about it. So he 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:28.120 runs back down to the boat to say, I think 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:31.119 we have a problem here. Yes, so he says, I 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:33.920 think we have a problem. And then that's when basically 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.480 everyone on board said, all right, we gotta this is 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:39.359 a situation now that we all have to deal with. 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:44.520 I think it was the captain who went with more 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.600 to search for other stuff, and they said, in the meantime, 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:50.280 you other guys, you gotta get up there and start 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.240 operating this lighthouse because it's been down and we need 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.480 to get that thing cranked up again. Yes, so they 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.640 so the first for the first time, possibly since December 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.920 five teeth. The lighthouse was lit again with by these 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.800 relief guys who took over and kind of settled in 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:09.360 and we're like, all right, this is our job now. Um. 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:13.520 But that follow up search, it's weird. Like we'll talk 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:16.320 about some of the legends and layers that were added 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:19.040 to it over the years, But to me, the thing 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:21.160 that was like so weird about the follow up search 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:24.800 was that everything was in place like it would be 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:28.919 way more like kind of middle of the road. To me, 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:32.800 this mystery if there was like signs of struggle or 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:35.600 you know, they were like like, I think everything was 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.639 just kind of askew. It's way more eerie to me 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:41.360 that like everything was exactly how it should have been. 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:43.840 Is just the three human beings that were supposed to 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.280 be there were missing. But that's what what m. Joseph 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:50.840 Moore found and the others found when they searched a 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:55.080 lot more thoroughly. Yeah, the door to the keeper's house 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:59.000 was closed, the gate was closed. The in the kitchen 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:01.439 everything was also bit and span. Everything was all cleaned 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:03.879 up that it was clear that someone had done some 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.359 cooking in the grate, but not anytime soon there were 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:10.560 ashes in there. The beds were made, uh, the clocks 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.119 had all stopped because no one was there to wind them, obviously, 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.919 And everything was fine except like you said that there 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:20.640 was no one around that there was a full uh 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:23.560 fountain of paraffin oil. It was all like the light 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:26.400 was ready to be burned, the lamp that for nel 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:28.960 lens was cleaned up and ready to go. The blinds 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:31.879 were drawn, their records were all filled out, you know, 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:34.600 all the way up until Saturday, I think the morning 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:39.119 of December, right, and so everything was great except for 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:44.360 there were two missing sets of rain gear they're called 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:46.960 oil skins, their coats and their boots. Two of those 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:52.160 were missing out of the three guys, and so that's 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:53.920 sort of the only thing out of the ordinary at 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.119 this point. Yeah, yeah, that was basically the only trace 0:22:57.160 --> 0:23:00.000 of the missing men. Like like, had those oil skins 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.639 still been there, you would you would have taken the 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:08.480