Speaker 1: When I'm considering what stories to feature on the show,
Speaker 1: there are really only a few criteria that must be met. Firstly,
Speaker 1: it has to be more than just an event. There
Speaker 1: must be a story, a set of events with which
Speaker 1: to thread and weave our way through. Secondly, that there
Speaker 1: be something ultimately very human in the tales. And last,
Speaker 1: but by no means least, that the peculiarity of the
Speaker 1: story has yet to be satisfactorily explained. Of all the
Speaker 1: unexplained mysteries I have come across so far, there is
Speaker 1: one that for me has left the most indelible impression.
Speaker 1: As far as mysteries go. You couldn't invent a better story,
Speaker 1: A story that has over time led to some of
Speaker 1: the most extraordinary of speculations, and has since evolved a
Speaker 1: folklore all of its own. This is that story you're
Speaker 1: listening to, Unexplained, and I'm Richard mcclan smith. The Flannin Isles,
Speaker 1: also known as the Seven Hunters, are located at the
Speaker 1: farthest reaches of the Scottish Outer Hebrides, a collection of
Speaker 1: seven rocky islands. They form a small but majestic archipelago
Speaker 1: of startling isolation to the east approximately seventy miles away
Speaker 1: lies the Isle of Lewis. To the south, by forty
Speaker 1: miles the deserted Isle of Saint Kilda, and if you
Speaker 1: were to venture west, you would need to travel more
Speaker 1: than two thousand miles of uninterrupted ocean before hitting the
Speaker 1: coastline of North America. The Flannin Isles are named after
Speaker 1: an Irish priest known as Saint Flanan, who is believed
Speaker 1: to have made his home on the islands as far
Speaker 1: back as the seventh century. The remains of the chapel
Speaker 1: in which Saint Flanin has thought to have lived can
Speaker 1: still be found on Aileen Moore, the group's largest island.
Speaker 1: Translated from Gallic to means simply big island, Eileen More
Speaker 1: rears out of the sea, a vast hulk of gray
Speaker 1: black rock, topped by a rugged, grassy plateau, its sheer
Speaker 1: cliffs measuring well over a hundred feet, with its highest
Speaker 1: point reaching almost three hundred feet. Although uninhabited, many crofters
Speaker 1: from near by Lewis would regularly visit the islands in
Speaker 1: the summer months to graze their sheep. Others would arrive
Speaker 1: to pilfer eggs and feathers from the island's bountiful population
Speaker 1: of sea birds. Over time, due in no small part
Speaker 1: to the association with Saint Flanin, the island developed a
Speaker 1: strange mystique all of its own, becoming a place of
Speaker 1: inherent sanctity to many of those who visited to view
Speaker 1: the island in its isolation, it is easy to understand
Speaker 1: the ore with which it would have filled those early visitors.
Speaker 1: There were many who believed, and some still do, that
Speaker 1: the Files were a place of great other worldly magic,
Speaker 1: home to a host of fairies and nature spirits, and
Speaker 1: not all of them good, an attitude borne out in
Speaker 1: the customs and superstitions of any person daring to set
Speaker 1: foot on one of the Seven Hunters. If, when approaching
Speaker 1: the islands on an easterly wind, the gust were to
Speaker 1: suddenly switch, you wouldn't think twice before turning the boat
Speaker 1: around and heading straight back home. For any that arrived successfully,
Speaker 1: it was customary to immediately uncover the head before performing
Speaker 1: a complete turn clockwise, while thanking God for your safety.
Speaker 1: So you can imagine the sense of trepidation many would
Speaker 1: have felt when it was announced that a lighthouse would
Speaker 1: be erected on the especially sacred Eileen Moore, a sense
Speaker 1: of trepidation that was somewhat justified when barely more than
Speaker 1: a year after opening, the lighthouse was to become the
Speaker 1: tragic scene of one of the UK's most enduring of mysteries.
Speaker 1: What exactly happened on the island sometime in December in
Speaker 1: the year nineteen hundred has never been fully accounted for.
Speaker 1: It is quite simply a mystery that remains to this
Speaker 1: day unexplained. In seventeen eighty two, a series of ferocious
Speaker 1: storms battered the Scottish coast, resulting in the deaths of
Speaker 1: many seamen, including those of two herring boats that were
Speaker 1: smashed on the rocks of the Kintire Peninsula on the
Speaker 1: West coast. As a result, the Northern Lighthouse Board was
Speaker 1: established to oversee the construction of a number of lighthouses
Speaker 1: to be stationed on the most treacherous of Scottish coast lands. Although,
Speaker 1: as ever initially motivated by trade, the ensuing feat of
Speaker 1: engineering was driven by a genuine desire characteristic of the
Speaker 1: Scottish Enlightenment, to work not for individual prestige but for
Speaker 1: the greater good of mankind. Leading the team of engineers
Speaker 1: was Thomas Smith, the great grandfather of none other than
Speaker 1: famed Scottish author Robert Louis Stephenson. Although the family profession
Speaker 1: would prove ultimately unfitting for Robert, it was nonetheless his
Speaker 1: uncle David who oversaw the construction of the lighthouse on
Speaker 1: Eileen Moor. However, it would be some time before such
Speaker 1: a plan would come to fruition. Maybe it was concern
Speaker 1: over the exposure of such a location to the harshest
Speaker 1: of the Atlantics uncompromising weather, or perhaps it was a
Speaker 1: reluctance to build on such mystical ground. But finally, after
Speaker 1: forty years of pleading, the Lighthouse Board agreed to the construction.
Speaker 1: The build began in eighteen ninety four and was due
Speaker 1: to take two years, but was beset by the tumultuous
Speaker 1: weather and even rougher seas characteristic of the area. The
Speaker 1: lighthouse was to be built on the south side of
Speaker 1: the island, where the rock reaches its highest point, surrounded
Speaker 1: on both sides by sheer cliffs, none of which were
Speaker 1: less than one hundred and fifty feet in height, meaning
Speaker 1: that all supplies had to be hauled by hand up
Speaker 1: the cliff side. A perilous set of steps were carved
Speaker 1: into the rock leading to the building. At the top
Speaker 1: for support, there was only a modest iron railing to
Speaker 1: remind you of the rocky peril that lay in wait
Speaker 1: for anyone foolish enough to deviate from the path, such
Speaker 1: as the steep incline of the steps. A small service
Speaker 1: railway was installed, where a cable supported railcar could be
Speaker 1: used to transport heavy goods to and from the landing platform.
Speaker 1: Shortly before the build was completed, the foreman, mister Deeds,
Speaker 1: died suddenly, an event that in hindsight could be considered
Speaker 1: a disturbing portent of what was to come. It certainly
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been lost on many of the construction workers,
Speaker 1: well accustomed with the superstitions related to the island. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: a full two years after construction was due to complete,
Speaker 1: on the first of December eighteen ninety nine, the one
Speaker 1: hundred and forty thousand candle power lamp, perched atop a
Speaker 1: majestic white tower two hundred and seventy five feet above
Speaker 1: sea level, was lit for the first time. As the
Speaker 1: rotation device kicked into life. Out of the darkness shone
Speaker 1: a beam of light, illuminating the black north Atlantic waters
Speaker 1: for miles around. There were fore keepers required to operate
Speaker 1: a newly opened lighthouse as a psychological necessity. There would
Speaker 1: only be three men on the island at any given time,
Speaker 1: while the fourth took a fortnight's leave. The first man
Speaker 1: to be stationed on the island was forty three year
Speaker 1: old principal keeper and married father of four, James Duckett,
Speaker 1: a seasoned lighthouse practitioner with over twenty years of experience.
Speaker 1: James hailed from our Growth on the east coast of Scotland.
Speaker 1: He would later be joined by first assistant keeper William
Speaker 1: Ross and twenty eight year old second asistant keeper Thomas Marshall.
Speaker 1: As the first Christmas of the New century approached, Ross
Speaker 1: was forced off the island due to ill health, with
Speaker 1: regular light keeper Joseph Moore not due for a further
Speaker 1: two weeks. Ross was replaced by forty year old occasional
Speaker 1: keeper and ex soldier Donald MacArthur. Donald, who was also
Speaker 1: married with children, hailed from the nearby town of Braiscleet
Speaker 1: on the Isle of Lewis. I often wonder how it
Speaker 1: might have felt for the men returning to the lighthouse
Speaker 1: after their regulatory breaks. At that moment, having stepped off
Speaker 1: the delivery boat, watching the last contact with civilization disappear
Speaker 1: from view. Perhaps there was some relief at returning to
Speaker 1: the quiet sanctuary away from the daily hassles of life,
Speaker 1: or perhaps it was more with great sadness that they
Speaker 1: found themselves again alone on a distant rock, far away
Speaker 1: from their wives and children. With the switch over completed
Speaker 1: on eleventh of December, MacArthur promptly banished all thoughts of home.
Speaker 1: A quick settled into his role. As the night approached,
Speaker 1: the men set about doing what they did best, duly
Speaker 1: noting the day's observations in the lighthouse log book. At
Speaker 1: the end of the day, with the familiar sounds of
Speaker 1: a North Atlantic storm rattling around the island, the men
Speaker 1: settled in for the night. As a waning moon appeared
Speaker 1: in the sky above. Down below the island, Moore Light
Speaker 1: shone far and wide, as it had done for every
Speaker 1: other night of its year long life. The first sign
Speaker 1: of trouble came at midday on Tuesday, December fifteenth, Roughly
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty miles to the northwest of the
Speaker 1: Seven Hunters, a cargo ship named SS arch Tour was
Speaker 1: making steady progress on her route toward the port of
Speaker 1: Leith in Edinburgh. The steamship Captain by Thomas John Holman
Speaker 1: had left the American city of Philadelphia on the twenty
Speaker 1: eighth November, carrying over four and a half thousand tons
Speaker 1: of cargo. Although most of the voyage had been beset
Speaker 1: by stormy weather, by late afternoon on the fifteenth, the
Speaker 1: storm had abated somewhat, leaving fine, clear skies above. A
Speaker 1: few hours later, and the ship was fast approaching the
Speaker 1: Flannon Isles. On deck stood a greatly perturbed Captain Holman.
Speaker 1: By his estimation, they should have been no more than
Speaker 1: five miles from Eileen Moore, But as he stood under
Speaker 1: the vast, expansive sky, surrounded by only the darkest of seas,
Speaker 1: he could not make out any sign of the lighthouse, or,
Speaker 1: more precisely, its light, the beam of which on a
Speaker 1: night such as this, would have been visible for over
Speaker 1: twenty miles. Assuming a miscalculation on his part, Captain Holman
Speaker 1: continued to steer the vessel on its course towards Edinburgh.
Speaker 1: The following day, however, the ship appeared clearly to be
Speaker 1: plotting a correct course. The captain resolved to uncover the
Speaker 1: discrepancy of the night before, but was almost surprised to
Speaker 1: find nothing wrong with his calculations. The ship had indeed
Speaker 1: passed by the lighthouse, so where then was the light
Speaker 1: disturbed by the apparent blackout of the lighthouse. Captain Holman
Speaker 1: planned to report the matter to the relevant authorities on
Speaker 1: arrival to Leith. Unfortunately, that message never arrived. Two days later,
Speaker 1: Captain Holman and the SS arch Tour ran aground on
Speaker 1: the approach to Leith Port. Perhaps it was the shock
Speaker 1: of the event that had dislodged the Flanninisles from Captain
Speaker 1: Holman's mind, or perhaps with his navigation skills now under
Speaker 1: heavy scrutiny, he was reluctant to bring up the possible
Speaker 1: miscalculation from the two nights before. With no news to
Speaker 1: the contrary, the lighthouse board would have no reason to
Speaker 1: think anything strange had taken place on Eileen Moor. But
Speaker 1: with the next rotation of keepers due a few days later,
Speaker 1: all that was about to change. On the twenty sixth
Speaker 1: of December nineteen hundred, the lighthouse tender boat, a long
Speaker 1: steamer named the Haspiras, made its way towards the largest
Speaker 1: of the Flannin Isles. The ship had been due to
Speaker 1: arrive the previous day, but severe storms in the area
Speaker 1: had delayed its departure. On board was regular keeper Joseph Moore,
Speaker 1: who was scheduled to start his latest shift that day.
Speaker 1: But as Captain James Harvey brought the ship closer to land,
Speaker 1: it was clear that something wasn't right. It was common
Speaker 1: practice for the keepers to raise a flag in preparation
Speaker 1: for the next rotation, but as Captain Harvey scoured the island,
Speaker 1: he could see no sign of the flag. His concern
Speaker 1: turned to alarm when several blasts from the ship's horn
Speaker 1: brought no response from the three light keepers. The subsequent
Speaker 1: firing of a distress rocket again failed to yield any response.
Speaker 1: Greatly unnerved, the captain ordered the rowboat into the water
Speaker 1: and sent Joseph Moore to investigate. It is difficult to
Speaker 1: imagine just what was going through Moore's mind as the
Speaker 1: small boat pulled up below those tearing cliffs, the gray,
Speaker 1: murky waters seeming unusually calm for the bitterly cold December day,
Speaker 1: Moore stepped off the boat and cautiously made his way
Speaker 1: up the steep stone steps. As he approached the summit,
Speaker 1: the top of the lighthouse came into view, passing the
Speaker 1: ruins of the ancient chapel. He called out to the men,
Speaker 1: but again there was no reply, no familiar faces to
Speaker 1: greet him. Something was deeply wrong. A short time later,
Speaker 1: Moore arrived outside the lighthouse and slowly opened the front door.
Speaker 1: What he discovered has formed the basis for one of
Speaker 1: the greatest maritime mysteries of modern times. After the lighthouse,
Speaker 1: he found the inside door also closed, but curiously, the
Speaker 1: kitchen door was wide open. The fireplace was cold, indicating
Speaker 1: it had not been lit for some days. One of
Speaker 1: the chairs appeared to have been pushed away from the table,
Speaker 1: perhaps in a hurry. The rest of the room was
Speaker 1: spotlessly clean. When he entered the bedrooms, he found them empty,
Speaker 1: left as they would have been since the morning. In fact,
Speaker 1: everything was in perfect order. The lamp for the light
Speaker 1: was clean, the foundation was full, and the blinds on
Speaker 1: the windows correctly orientated. The only thing that was missing
Speaker 1: was the men. They had simply vanished from the face
Speaker 1: of the earth. As if to add a further twist,
Speaker 1: More also noticed that every clock in the building had stopped.
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Speaker 1: slash Unexplained podcast. The thoroughly spoot More returned to the
Speaker 1: rowboat and requested the help of second mate McCormack, who,
Speaker 1: along with another seaman, followed Moore back to the lighthouse
Speaker 1: to renew the search of the area. Unable to find
Speaker 1: any clues as to what had happened, the three men
Speaker 1: promptly returned to the boat and made their way back
Speaker 1: to the Hesperias. Ever, the professional Captain Harvey's first instinct
Speaker 1: was to make sure that the light would be up
Speaker 1: and running again that night. Moore was ordered to return
Speaker 1: to the island along with three volunteers, the boy Master
Speaker 1: Alan McDonald and two seamen, Messrs Campbell and Lamont. Having
Speaker 1: dropped the men off again, Captain Harvey set off immediately
Speaker 1: for braz Cleat in Lewis. Later that day, Harvey sent
Speaker 1: his now infamous telegram to the Secretary of the Northern
Speaker 1: Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh, the immortal first line, reading A
Speaker 1: dreadful accident has happened at Flannen, but the mystery had
Speaker 1: only just begun that first night. Taking over from the
Speaker 1: missing lighthouse keepers would not have been easy for the
Speaker 1: four volunteers, having no doubt been upset by the turn
Speaker 1: of events, It would have taken some strength to stop
Speaker 1: their minds from wandering as to what exactly had taken place.
Speaker 1: It would have been a very somber night Indeed, the
Speaker 1: following day, More and his companions renewed their search of
Speaker 1: the island, but found no clues to help with their investigation.
Speaker 1: That was until they came across the western landing point.
Speaker 1: Approaching the landing, the men found that a number of
Speaker 1: iron railings of the tramway had been ripped from their
Speaker 1: foundations and mangled out of shape. A box containing mooring
Speaker 1: robes had vanished despite having been firmly wedged into a
Speaker 1: crevice and then anchored. Despite some of the more fanciful
Speaker 1: thoughts that may have sprung to mind, the first assumptions
Speaker 1: of the replacement crew centered on some kind of freak
Speaker 1: storm that may have blown the men from the island. However,
Speaker 1: when Moore submitted his report at the events two days later,
Speaker 1: it contained one startling detail. All men stationed at Ailey,
Speaker 1: Moore had a set of wet weather wear to cope
Speaker 1: with the extreme conditions. In the case of Duckett and Marshall,
Speaker 1: this took the form of weather proof boots and oilskin coats. MacArthur, however,
Speaker 1: only being an occasional keeper, was not so well equipped
Speaker 1: and had only what he called his wearing coat at
Speaker 1: his disposal. When Moore searched the lighthouse, he discovered Duckett
Speaker 1: and Marshall's gear was missing, but MacArthur's coat was still
Speaker 1: on its peg, which could only mean that, whatever had happened,
Speaker 1: MacArthur had left the lighthouse in his shirt sleeves, a
Speaker 1: strange fact if you consider just how severe the weather
Speaker 1: must have been to blow the men from the island.
Speaker 1: What could possibly have happened that would send mccarthur running
Speaker 1: out into a severe storm without his jacket. A few
Speaker 1: days later, the Northern Lighthouse Board sent Superintendent Robert Muirhead
Speaker 1: to investigate further. Muerhead confirmed More's initial findings and pointed
Speaker 1: to a particularly heavy storm front that was believed to
Speaker 1: have hit the island during the time of the men's
Speaker 1: disappearance as the most likely culprit. A boy that had
Speaker 1: been fastened to the railings one hundred and ten feet
Speaker 1: up had vanished as well. A large block of stone
Speaker 1: weighing upwards of a ton had been clearly dislodged by
Speaker 1: something before falling onto the path below. In conclusion, it
Speaker 1: was his belief that a freak wave had hit the
Speaker 1: island and somehow whisked the men cleaned from the rock.
Speaker 1: The report was published a few weeks later, and the
Speaker 1: case was officially closed. There have been many falsehoods surrounding
Speaker 1: the Flanonile's mystery, most often to do with reports of
Speaker 1: strange recordings apparently found written in the log book shortly
Speaker 1: before the men disappeared. They speak of something dark brewing
Speaker 1: and the fracturing of the men's mental states. One log
Speaker 1: had supposedly noted that all had been calm, suggesting initial
Speaker 1: reports of bad weather to have been mistaken in truth.
Speaker 1: Thanks to an exhaustive study on the subject by writer
Speaker 1: Mike Dash, it appears this part of the story and
Speaker 1: some other questionable elements, were in fact fabricated some years
Speaker 1: after the event. What is known is that the last
Speaker 1: recorded log entry seems to have been made on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: the fifteenth of December. Needless to say, in the absence
Speaker 1: of a satisfactory explanation for the event, many are only
Speaker 1: too keen to fill in the vacuum, with theories ranging
Speaker 1: from the workings of malicious spirits to straight out alien abduction. Certainly,
Speaker 1: at the time of Muerhead's original report, there weren't many
Speaker 1: willing to believe the conclusion that a mere wave could
Speaker 1: be responsible. After all, such a thing was widely held
Speaker 1: to be nothing but a myth itself, or at least
Speaker 1: it was. On the first of January nineteen ninety five,
Speaker 1: measuring equipment located on the Dropner oil rig in the
Speaker 1: North Sea, just off the coast of Norway recorded what
Speaker 1: is now considered the first official evidence of a freak wave,
Speaker 1: crashing into the platform at a staggering sixty one feet
Speaker 1: at peak height. And yet, in twenty thirteen, author and
Speaker 1: historian Keith McCloskey conducted his own research into the incident.
Speaker 1: Enlisting the help of Eddie Graham, a meteorologist from the
Speaker 1: University of Highlands and Islands in Inverness, McCloskey reanalyzed the
Speaker 1: weather patterns for the Flannin Isles around the time of
Speaker 1: the fifteenth of December nineteen hundred. What he discovered was startling.
Speaker 1: Although the weather appears to have indeed been rough, it
Speaker 1: certainly wouldn't have been anything that the three seasoned lightkeepers
Speaker 1: hadn't experienced before. What's more, with wind speed estimated to
Speaker 1: have peaked at roughly sixty miles per hour, any waves
Speaker 1: generated by such a storm would barely have made it
Speaker 1: above thirty feet, a fact or the more incredible when
Speaker 1: you consider that mc clusky's own findings and Superintendent Mewhead's
Speaker 1: earlier report suggest that the men would have been at
Speaker 1: well over a hundred feet when they were supposedly taken.
Speaker 1: The largest freak wave ever recorded was ninety five feet high,
Speaker 1: so if it was a freak wave, it would have
Speaker 1: to have been the largest wave ever known. And what
Speaker 1: of the strange case of MacArthur's jacket. A senior keeper
Speaker 1: of the Northern Lighthouse Board, Alister Henderson, is insistent that
Speaker 1: under any normal circumstances, the lighthouse would never have been
Speaker 1: left unattended. It is a fairly standard rule followed by
Speaker 1: all lighthouse keepers, let alone one so experienced as Duckett,
Speaker 1: Marshall and MacArthur. Perhaps more disturbingly, referring to the Mwerhead report,
Speaker 1: it is Henderson's belief that the true events were in
Speaker 1: fact covered up. After all, Muirhead's was the only official
Speaker 1: report to emerge from the incident. There was no fatal
Speaker 1: accident report that would have been standard for such an event.
Speaker 1: Even more alarmingly, key documentation that contained evidence of everything
Speaker 1: that happened on the island disappeared mysteriously after Muirhead left
Speaker 1: the island. If MacArthur never left the lighthouse, where exactly
Speaker 1: did he go, or if he did indeed leave the building,
Speaker 1: what possible reason could he have had for breaking such
Speaker 1: a fundamental convention? Might ultimately MacArthur hold the key to
Speaker 1: the mystery. In an age well before social media and smartphones,
Speaker 1: working on the rock in the year nineteen hundred would
Speaker 1: have meant a complete and utter cutoff from all communication
Speaker 1: with the world, a state of affairs comparable to astronauts
Speaker 1: traveling through the isolation of space, who even then are
Speaker 1: able to communicate with others on the ground to alleviate
Speaker 1: the psychological confinement. Furthermore, it is a condition that astronauts
Speaker 1: today will spend months preparing for under constant psychological analysis,
Speaker 1: as scientists seek to determine their capability to endure such
Speaker 1: a situation. Is it possible that MacArthur, who it is reported,
Speaker 1: had worked almost consistently without a break for two and
Speaker 1: a half months leading up to December the fifteenth, had
Speaker 1: simply snapped, having been cooped up on what must have
Speaker 1: at times felt like the very edge of the world,
Speaker 1: miles from civilization. With gale force winds battering the coast
Speaker 1: all around, the circumstances were certainly ripe. Perhaps, with the
Speaker 1: other two men having left the building to undertake some
Speaker 1: routine operations, MacArthur had simply lost his mind and wandered
Speaker 1: coatless into the storm, bludgeoning his companions to death before
Speaker 1: throwing himself into the waters below. It wouldn't be the
Speaker 1: first time that such conditions had driven somebody to madness.
Speaker 1: On Thursday, eighteenth of August nineteen sixty, eighteen year old
Speaker 1: David Colin and his father had decided to take a
Speaker 1: day trip to visit Ross Island, off the southwest coast
Speaker 1: of Scotland. On the island stood a lighthouse that had
Speaker 1: been built in eighteen forty three by Alan Stephenson, another
Speaker 1: uncle of Robert Louis Stephenson. David and his father set
Speaker 1: off from the local sailing club and arrived at the
Speaker 1: island shortly before lunch. As a courtesy, David thought it
Speaker 1: right that they should inform the lighthouse keepers that they
Speaker 1: were there. After knocking on the door, David received no response,
Speaker 1: except from a rather overenthusiastic dog that he assumed must
Speaker 1: have belonged to one of the keepers. Unperturbed, David and
Speaker 1: his father returned to their walk, but as the day
Speaker 1: wore on, the keepers had still not returned, the only
Speaker 1: sign of life being the ominous ringing of an unanswered
Speaker 1: telephone coming from inside the lighthouse. Eventually, David's father plucked
Speaker 1: up the courage to enter the building. Inside, he found
Speaker 1: lighthouse keeper Hugh Clark dead, with fellow keeper Robert Dixon
Speaker 1: nowhere to be seen. After an extensive manhunt, the twenty
Speaker 1: four year old Dixon was eventually apprehended and brought to
Speaker 1: trial for the murder of Hugh Clark. The trial was
Speaker 1: no less dramatic, as David himself recounts. As Lord Cameron
Speaker 1: donned the hideous black cap and prepared to pronounce a
Speaker 1: sentence of death by hanging, the courtroom grew darker and
Speaker 1: darker until coinciding with the judge's awful words, the courtroom
Speaker 1: was shaken by an enormous flash of lightning and a
Speaker 1: colossal peal of thunder. Dixon's execution was set for the
Speaker 1: twenty first of December nineteen sixty. However, five days prior
Speaker 1: to the fateful day, Dixon was reprieved on account of
Speaker 1: what was judged to be his unstable mental condition at
Speaker 1: the time of the crime. Robert Dixon's apparent moment of
Speaker 1: psychopathy was thought to have been stimulated in no small
Speaker 1: part by the stress of working in such close proximity
Speaker 1: with others in a state of such intense isolation. Was
Speaker 1: it a similar fate that befell the island Moore keepers?
Speaker 1: Or was it something even more sinister at play? In
Speaker 1: nineteen oh four, four years after the disappearance of the men,
Speaker 1: newly installed lighthouse keeper John mcclachlan was cleaning the glass
Speaker 1: casing of the light when he slipped and fell to
Speaker 1: his death. Counting the foreman who died shortly before the
Speaker 1: lighthouse opened, five people had died on the island in
Speaker 1: less than five years since the lighthouse was constructed. No
Speaker 1: other lighthouse in the UK has been beset by such tragedy.
Speaker 1: Was the island simply cured by what locals sometimes refer
Speaker 1: to as the phantom of the hunters taking its revenge
Speaker 1: for the careless invasion of its unearthly realm? In the
Speaker 1: memoirs written by relief keeper Joseph Moore many years later,
Speaker 1: it is clear that the event had affected him profoundly.
Speaker 1: Thinking back on that chilly December day in nineteen hundred
Speaker 1: that he first came upon the empty lighthouse, he writes
Speaker 1: of a mysterious event from the night before. That night,
Speaker 1: he hadn't been sleeping well, and for some reason had
Speaker 1: been drawn to the window looking out. He thought that
Speaker 1: he saw the boat house on fire, but when he
Speaker 1: investigated further, he found it to be just a figment
Speaker 1: of his imagination. He knew instantly that it was a
Speaker 1: portent for something awful. Detailing again the event, which he
Speaker 1: described as very strange. Indeed, he believed as all to
Speaker 1: be cursed in some way. In truth, we will never
Speaker 1: know exactly what happened on that cold December day in
Speaker 1: nineteen hundred. On September twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one, the
Speaker 1: Eileen Moore Lighthouse became fully automated and continues to guide
Speaker 1: ships through the dark North Atlantic nights. Perhaps what appeals
Speaker 1: most about this story is the sheer improbability of the
Speaker 1: most rational explanation. But might there be something else, something
Speaker 1: that strikes at the very heart of all of us?
Speaker 1: For aren't we all, in a way keepers of the
Speaker 1: light isolated on a rock forever, on the verge of
Speaker 1: being swept from existence by a giant, mythical wave. And
Speaker 1: for what it's worth, my own view as intriguing the
Speaker 1: notion is that the men were the unfortunate victims of
Speaker 1: some other worldly event. I believe what occurred was a
Speaker 1: little more prosaic, but no less extraordinary. For is there
Speaker 1: anything more incredible than the notion that MacArthur, having watched
Speaker 1: his colleagues become endangered by some unfathomable storm, had rushed
Speaker 1: from the safety of the lighthouse to help them, and
Speaker 1: in so doing had lost his own life in the process.
Speaker 1: That ultimately, it was in trying to protect the lives
Speaker 1: of each other and the many others passing by on
Speaker 1: the stormy seas, that these ordinary folk, doing a job
Speaker 1: that was far from ordinary, lost their lives. When I
Speaker 1: think about this story, i'm reminded of Cormac McCarthy's incredible
Speaker 1: post apocalyptic novel The Road, And forgive me for those
Speaker 1: who haven't read it, as this will contain a spoiler.
Speaker 1: The Road details a terminally bleak journey of survival as
Speaker 1: one man and his son try to reach the south
Speaker 1: coast of America in the aftermath of a catastrophic event.
Speaker 1: As they grow increasingly weak and the journey becomes more
Speaker 1: and more dangerous, the father fights desperately to keep his
Speaker 1: son from harm. He tells him they must survive because
Speaker 1: they are the good guys who are carrying the fire.
Speaker 1: The phrase seems glib, but it's enough to keep the
Speaker 1: boy going, even though he doesn't quite get it, and
Speaker 1: nor do we really, that is until the novel's fateful end,
Speaker 1: when both we and the boy finally understand the fire
Speaker 1: was him. Though three men dwell on flattered aisle to
Speaker 1: key heed the lamp alone death, we stood under the
Speaker 1: lee we call no glimmer through the night. A passing
Speaker 1: ship at dawn had brought the news, and quickly we said, saying,
Speaker 1: to find out what strange thing might all the keepers
Speaker 1: of the deep sea light. The winter day broke blue
Speaker 1: at fry with a glancing sun and a glancing spray.
Speaker 1: Ask for the swell les madeway a scallonas a gull
Speaker 1: in flight, but as we need their lonely eye. I
Speaker 1: looked up at the naked high saw the lighthouse towering
Speaker 1: wide with blinded lantern that all night I'd never shared
Speaker 1: a spark of comfort through the dot. All elements of
Speaker 1: Unexplained are produced by me, Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe
Speaker 1: and rate the show on i Tunes. Feel free to
Speaker 1: get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the
Speaker 1: stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an
Speaker 1: explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can
Speaker 1: reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or on
Speaker 1: Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Now. It's time to take care
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