WEBVTT - S01 Episode 8: When the Light Fades 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:13.240 When I'm considering what stories to feature on the show, 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:18.280 there are really only a few criteria that must be met. Firstly, 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:21.000 it has to be more than just an event. There 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:23.919 must be a story, a set of events with which 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:28.000 to thread and weave our way through. Secondly, that there 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:32.120 be something ultimately very human in the tales. And last, 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.000 but by no means least, that the peculiarity of the 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:39.960 story has yet to be satisfactorily explained. Of all the 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.040 unexplained mysteries I have come across so far, there is 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.040 one that for me has left the most indelible impression. 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.640 As far as mysteries go. You couldn't invent a better story, 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.640 A story that has over time led to some of 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:57.080 the most extraordinary of speculations, and has since evolved a 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:04.320 folklore all of its own. This is that story you're 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:20.600 listening to, Unexplained, and I'm Richard mcclan smith. The Flannin Isles, 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.679 also known as the Seven Hunters, are located at the 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.240 farthest reaches of the Scottish Outer Hebrides, a collection of 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:31.000 seven rocky islands. They form a small but majestic archipelago 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:36.480 of startling isolation to the east approximately seventy miles away 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.600 lies the Isle of Lewis. To the south, by forty 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:42.920 miles the deserted Isle of Saint Kilda, and if you 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.440 were to venture west, you would need to travel more 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.520 than two thousand miles of uninterrupted ocean before hitting the 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:53.440 coastline of North America. The Flannin Isles are named after 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.200 an Irish priest known as Saint Flanan, who is believed 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:58.000 to have made his home on the islands as far 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.240 back as the seventh century. The remains of the chapel 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:03.280 in which Saint Flanin has thought to have lived can 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.480 still be found on Aileen Moore, the group's largest island. 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.360 Translated from Gallic to means simply big island, Eileen More 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:13.919 rears out of the sea, a vast hulk of gray 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.840 black rock, topped by a rugged, grassy plateau, its sheer 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:21.080 cliffs measuring well over a hundred feet, with its highest 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:27.040 point reaching almost three hundred feet. Although uninhabited, many crofters 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.520 from near by Lewis would regularly visit the islands in 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.840 the summer months to graze their sheep. Others would arrive 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:36.000 to pilfer eggs and feathers from the island's bountiful population 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:40.119 of sea birds. Over time, due in no small part 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.960 to the association with Saint Flanin, the island developed a 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.000 strange mystique all of its own, becoming a place of 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:50.359 inherent sanctity to many of those who visited to view 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:53.359 the island in its isolation, it is easy to understand 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.200 the ore with which it would have filled those early visitors. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.680 There were many who believed, and some still do, that 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.360 the Files were a place of great other worldly magic, 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.320 home to a host of fairies and nature spirits, and 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.800 not all of them good, an attitude borne out in 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:11.800 the customs and superstitions of any person daring to set 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:16.040 foot on one of the Seven Hunters. If, when approaching 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.640 the islands on an easterly wind, the gust were to 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.040 suddenly switch, you wouldn't think twice before turning the boat 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:26.600 around and heading straight back home. For any that arrived successfully, 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.240 it was customary to immediately uncover the head before performing 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:34.639 a complete turn clockwise, while thanking God for your safety. 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.320 So you can imagine the sense of trepidation many would 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.720 have felt when it was announced that a lighthouse would 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.920 be erected on the especially sacred Eileen Moore, a sense 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:47.160 of trepidation that was somewhat justified when barely more than 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:50.160 a year after opening, the lighthouse was to become the 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:53.440 tragic scene of one of the UK's most enduring of mysteries. 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.680 What exactly happened on the island sometime in December in 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.640 the year nineteen hundred has never been fully accounted for. 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.120 It is quite simply a mystery that remains to this 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:21.200 day unexplained. In seventeen eighty two, a series of ferocious 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.120 storms battered the Scottish coast, resulting in the deaths of 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.280 many seamen, including those of two herring boats that were 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.800 smashed on the rocks of the Kintire Peninsula on the 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:34.000 West coast. As a result, the Northern Lighthouse Board was 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:37.159 established to oversee the construction of a number of lighthouses 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:41.719 to be stationed on the most treacherous of Scottish coast lands. Although, 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.520 as ever initially motivated by trade, the ensuing feat of 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.800 engineering was driven by a genuine desire characteristic of the 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.520 Scottish Enlightenment, to work not for individual prestige but for 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.800 the greater good of mankind. Leading the team of engineers 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.320 was Thomas Smith, the great grandfather of none other than 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:05.400 famed Scottish author Robert Louis Stephenson. Although the family profession 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.120 would prove ultimately unfitting for Robert, it was nonetheless his 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:12.520 uncle David who oversaw the construction of the lighthouse on 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:16.960 Eileen Moor. However, it would be some time before such 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.000 a plan would come to fruition. Maybe it was concern 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.760 over the exposure of such a location to the harshest 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:27.240 of the Atlantics uncompromising weather, or perhaps it was a 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:31.359 reluctance to build on such mystical ground. But finally, after 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.880 forty years of pleading, the Lighthouse Board agreed to the construction. 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.720 The build began in eighteen ninety four and was due 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.640 to take two years, but was beset by the tumultuous 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:47.200 weather and even rougher seas characteristic of the area. The 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:49.400 lighthouse was to be built on the south side of 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:53.320 the island, where the rock reaches its highest point, surrounded 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.080 on both sides by sheer cliffs, none of which were 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:58.960 less than one hundred and fifty feet in height, meaning 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.400 that all supplies had to be hauled by hand up 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.960 the cliff side. A perilous set of steps were carved 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.119 into the rock leading to the building. At the top 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:10.880 for support, there was only a modest iron railing to 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.080 remind you of the rocky peril that lay in wait 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.400 for anyone foolish enough to deviate from the path, such 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.040 as the steep incline of the steps. A small service 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.320 railway was installed, where a cable supported railcar could be 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:28.120 used to transport heavy goods to and from the landing platform. 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.760 Shortly before the build was completed, the foreman, mister Deeds, 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.000 died suddenly, an event that in hindsight could be considered 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:39.800 a disturbing portent of what was to come. It certainly 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.200 wouldn't have been lost on many of the construction workers, 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:48.039 well accustomed with the superstitions related to the island. Nevertheless, 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:51.080 a full two years after construction was due to complete, 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.240 on the first of December eighteen ninety nine, the one 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.680 hundred and forty thousand candle power lamp, perched atop a 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.799 majestic white tower two hundred and seventy five feet above 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.560 sea level, was lit for the first time. As the 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.119 rotation device kicked into life. Out of the darkness shone 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.640 a beam of light, illuminating the black north Atlantic waters 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:29.760 for miles around. There were fore keepers required to operate 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:34.280 a newly opened lighthouse as a psychological necessity. There would 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.600 only be three men on the island at any given time, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.640 while the fourth took a fortnight's leave. The first man 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:42.880 to be stationed on the island was forty three year 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:46.520 old principal keeper and married father of four, James Duckett, 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.640 a seasoned lighthouse practitioner with over twenty years of experience. 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:54.000 James hailed from our Growth on the east coast of Scotland. 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:57.920 He would later be joined by first assistant keeper William 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.960 Ross and twenty eight year old second asistant keeper Thomas Marshall. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.040 As the first Christmas of the New century approached, Ross 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.960 was forced off the island due to ill health, with 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.800 regular light keeper Joseph Moore not due for a further 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:15.120 two weeks. Ross was replaced by forty year old occasional 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:20.600 keeper and ex soldier Donald MacArthur. Donald, who was also 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.480 married with children, hailed from the nearby town of Braiscleet 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:27.600 on the Isle of Lewis. I often wonder how it 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.000 might have felt for the men returning to the lighthouse 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.920 after their regulatory breaks. At that moment, having stepped off 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:37.840 the delivery boat, watching the last contact with civilization disappear 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.200 from view. Perhaps there was some relief at returning to 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.959 the quiet sanctuary away from the daily hassles of life, 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.040 or perhaps it was more with great sadness that they 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:50.440 found themselves again alone on a distant rock, far away 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:55.960 from their wives and children. With the switch over completed 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.360 on eleventh of December, MacArthur promptly banished all thoughts of home. 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:03.440 A quick settled into his role. As the night approached, 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.640 the men set about doing what they did best, duly 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.320 noting the day's observations in the lighthouse log book. At 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.520 the end of the day, with the familiar sounds of 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.760 a North Atlantic storm rattling around the island, the men 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:19.240 settled in for the night. As a waning moon appeared 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.440 in the sky above. Down below the island, Moore Light 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.080 shone far and wide, as it had done for every 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:38.600 other night of its year long life. The first sign 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:43.960 of trouble came at midday on Tuesday, December fifteenth, Roughly 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:46.160 one hundred and twenty miles to the northwest of the 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:50.000 Seven Hunters, a cargo ship named SS arch Tour was 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:52.440 making steady progress on her route toward the port of 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.960 Leith in Edinburgh. The steamship Captain by Thomas John Holman 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:59.600 had left the American city of Philadelphia on the twenty 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.680 eighth November, carrying over four and a half thousand tons 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:06.720 of cargo. Although most of the voyage had been beset 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.920 by stormy weather, by late afternoon on the fifteenth, the 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:14.920 storm had abated somewhat, leaving fine, clear skies above. A 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.400 few hours later, and the ship was fast approaching the 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:22.040 Flannon Isles. On deck stood a greatly perturbed Captain Holman. 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.040 By his estimation, they should have been no more than 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:28.080 five miles from Eileen Moore, But as he stood under 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:32.040 the vast, expansive sky, surrounded by only the darkest of seas, 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.920 he could not make out any sign of the lighthouse, or, 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.480 more precisely, its light, the beam of which on a 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:40.880 night such as this, would have been visible for over 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:47.000 twenty miles. Assuming a miscalculation on his part, Captain Holman 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.920 continued to steer the vessel on its course towards Edinburgh. 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:53.920 The following day, however, the ship appeared clearly to be 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:58.240 plotting a correct course. The captain resolved to uncover the 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.320 discrepancy of the night before, but was almost surprised to 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.080 find nothing wrong with his calculations. The ship had indeed 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.400 passed by the lighthouse, so where then was the light 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.600 disturbed by the apparent blackout of the lighthouse. Captain Holman 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.320 planned to report the matter to the relevant authorities on 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:22.240 arrival to Leith. Unfortunately, that message never arrived. Two days later, 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:25.640 Captain Holman and the SS arch Tour ran aground on 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.760 the approach to Leith Port. Perhaps it was the shock 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.480 of the event that had dislodged the Flanninisles from Captain 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:35.360 Holman's mind, or perhaps with his navigation skills now under 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:37.840 heavy scrutiny, he was reluctant to bring up the possible 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:42.120 miscalculation from the two nights before. With no news to 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.200 the contrary, the lighthouse board would have no reason to 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:49.000 think anything strange had taken place on Eileen Moor. But 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.920 with the next rotation of keepers due a few days later, 0:11:52.400 --> 0:12:10.640 all that was about to change. On the twenty sixth 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.960 of December nineteen hundred, the lighthouse tender boat, a long 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.280 steamer named the Haspiras, made its way towards the largest 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:21.120 of the Flannin Isles. The ship had been due to 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.040 arrive the previous day, but severe storms in the area 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:28.959 had delayed its departure. On board was regular keeper Joseph Moore, 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.560 who was scheduled to start his latest shift that day. 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.240 But as Captain James Harvey brought the ship closer to land, 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:41.480 it was clear that something wasn't right. It was common 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.079 practice for the keepers to raise a flag in preparation 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.520 for the next rotation, but as Captain Harvey scoured the island, 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:51.000 he could see no sign of the flag. His concern 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.840 turned to alarm when several blasts from the ship's horn 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:58.000 brought no response from the three light keepers. The subsequent 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:01.680 firing of a distress rocket again failed to yield any response. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:06.439 Greatly unnerved, the captain ordered the rowboat into the water 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:12.080 and sent Joseph Moore to investigate. It is difficult to 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.800 imagine just what was going through Moore's mind as the 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:18.520 small boat pulled up below those tearing cliffs, the gray, 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:22.920 murky waters seeming unusually calm for the bitterly cold December day, 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.320 Moore stepped off the boat and cautiously made his way 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:31.320 up the steep stone steps. As he approached the summit, 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.439 the top of the lighthouse came into view, passing the 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:37.240 ruins of the ancient chapel. He called out to the men, 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.960 but again there was no reply, no familiar faces to 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:46.720 greet him. Something was deeply wrong. A short time later, 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:51.120 Moore arrived outside the lighthouse and slowly opened the front door. 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.120 What he discovered has formed the basis for one of 0:13:55.160 --> 0:14:00.760 the greatest maritime mysteries of modern times. After the lighthouse, 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.320 he found the inside door also closed, but curiously, the 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:09.640 kitchen door was wide open. The fireplace was cold, indicating 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.560 it had not been lit for some days. One of 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:14.920 the chairs appeared to have been pushed away from the table, 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.040 perhaps in a hurry. The rest of the room was 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:22.800 spotlessly clean. When he entered the bedrooms, he found them empty, 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.600 left as they would have been since the morning. In fact, 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.320 everything was in perfect order. The lamp for the light 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.600 was clean, the foundation was full, and the blinds on 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:37.440 the windows correctly orientated. The only thing that was missing 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.360 was the men. They had simply vanished from the face 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:45.600 of the earth. As if to add a further twist, 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.680 More also noticed that every clock in the building had stopped. 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:58.760 Are you always taking care of your family. Do you 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.920 often take care of others and not yourself. Now it's 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:05.440 time to take care of yourself, to make time for you. 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:08.880 You deserve it. Teledoc gives you access to a licensed 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.720 therapist to help you get back to feeling your best 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:16.000 to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:19.760 to a licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy appointments 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:22.680 are available seven days a week from seven am to 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:27.200 nine pm local time. If you feel overwhelmed sometimes, maybe 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:31.280 you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely, or you 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.880 might be struggling with a personal or family issue, teledoc 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:39.600 can help. Teledoc is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches, 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.480 so they make it easy to change counselors if needed. 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:47.560 For free teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.840 Download the app or visit teledoc dot com forward slash 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:58.520 Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's teladoc dot com 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:07.240 slash Unexplained podcast. The thoroughly spoot More returned to the 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.640 rowboat and requested the help of second mate McCormack, who, 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.520 along with another seaman, followed Moore back to the lighthouse 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:17.320 to renew the search of the area. Unable to find 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.680 any clues as to what had happened, the three men 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.320 promptly returned to the boat and made their way back 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:27.400 to the Hesperias. Ever, the professional Captain Harvey's first instinct 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:29.240 was to make sure that the light would be up 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:33.200 and running again that night. Moore was ordered to return 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.560 to the island along with three volunteers, the boy Master 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:42.240 Alan McDonald and two seamen, Messrs Campbell and Lamont. Having 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.520 dropped the men off again, Captain Harvey set off immediately 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.960 for braz Cleat in Lewis. Later that day, Harvey sent 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.840 his now infamous telegram to the Secretary of the Northern 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:57.280 Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh, the immortal first line, reading A 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:02.280 dreadful accident has happened at Flannen, but the mystery had 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:13.760 only just begun that first night. Taking over from the 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.439 missing lighthouse keepers would not have been easy for the 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.240 four volunteers, having no doubt been upset by the turn 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.080 of events, It would have taken some strength to stop 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.119 their minds from wandering as to what exactly had taken place. 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:31.240 It would have been a very somber night Indeed, the 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:34.399 following day, More and his companions renewed their search of 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.280 the island, but found no clues to help with their investigation. 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.080 That was until they came across the western landing point. 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:44.960 Approaching the landing, the men found that a number of 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.800 iron railings of the tramway had been ripped from their 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:52.359 foundations and mangled out of shape. A box containing mooring 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:55.560 robes had vanished despite having been firmly wedged into a 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:59.880 crevice and then anchored. Despite some of the more fanciful 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:03.119 thoughts that may have sprung to mind, the first assumptions 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.760 of the replacement crew centered on some kind of freak 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.160 storm that may have blown the men from the island. However, 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.400 when Moore submitted his report at the events two days later, 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:18.720 it contained one startling detail. All men stationed at Ailey, 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.359 Moore had a set of wet weather wear to cope 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:24.760 with the extreme conditions. In the case of Duckett and Marshall, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:29.800 this took the form of weather proof boots and oilskin coats. MacArthur, however, 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.000 only being an occasional keeper, was not so well equipped 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.760 and had only what he called his wearing coat at 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:40.600 his disposal. When Moore searched the lighthouse, he discovered Duckett 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:44.080 and Marshall's gear was missing, but MacArthur's coat was still 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.760 on its peg, which could only mean that, whatever had happened, 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.399 MacArthur had left the lighthouse in his shirt sleeves, a 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.320 strange fact if you consider just how severe the weather 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:56.680 must have been to blow the men from the island. 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.600 What could possibly have happened that would send mccarthur running 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:05.280 out into a severe storm without his jacket. A few 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.480 days later, the Northern Lighthouse Board sent Superintendent Robert Muirhead 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:15.040 to investigate further. Muerhead confirmed More's initial findings and pointed 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.720 to a particularly heavy storm front that was believed to 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:19.600 have hit the island during the time of the men's 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:24.080 disappearance as the most likely culprit. A boy that had 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.320 been fastened to the railings one hundred and ten feet 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.720 up had vanished as well. A large block of stone 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.679 weighing upwards of a ton had been clearly dislodged by 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:38.200 something before falling onto the path below. In conclusion, it 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:40.480 was his belief that a freak wave had hit the 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:43.360 island and somehow whisked the men cleaned from the rock. 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:46.679 The report was published a few weeks later, and the 0:19:46.760 --> 0:20:00.440 case was officially closed. There have been many falsehoods surrounding 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.639 the Flanonile's mystery, most often to do with reports of 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.880 strange recordings apparently found written in the log book shortly 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.760 before the men disappeared. They speak of something dark brewing 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:15.080 and the fracturing of the men's mental states. One log 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:18.840 had supposedly noted that all had been calm, suggesting initial 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.479 reports of bad weather to have been mistaken in truth. 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.280 Thanks to an exhaustive study on the subject by writer 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:28.240 Mike Dash, it appears this part of the story and 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.240 some other questionable elements, were in fact fabricated some years 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:36.080 after the event. What is known is that the last 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:38.920 recorded log entry seems to have been made on Tuesday, 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:43.600 the fifteenth of December. Needless to say, in the absence 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.720 of a satisfactory explanation for the event, many are only 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.359 too keen to fill in the vacuum, with theories ranging 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:54.840 from the workings of malicious spirits to straight out alien abduction. Certainly, 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.880 at the time of Muerhead's original report, there weren't many 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:00.600 willing to believe the conclusion that a mere wave could 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:04.480 be responsible. After all, such a thing was widely held 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:07.720 to be nothing but a myth itself, or at least 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:11.680 it was. On the first of January nineteen ninety five, 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.840 measuring equipment located on the Dropner oil rig in the 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.840 North Sea, just off the coast of Norway recorded what 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:20.920 is now considered the first official evidence of a freak wave, 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.760 crashing into the platform at a staggering sixty one feet 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:30.439 at peak height. And yet, in twenty thirteen, author and 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:34.080 historian Keith McCloskey conducted his own research into the incident. 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.280 Enlisting the help of Eddie Graham, a meteorologist from the 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:42.639 University of Highlands and Islands in Inverness, McCloskey reanalyzed the 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.320 weather patterns for the Flannin Isles around the time of 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:49.800 the fifteenth of December nineteen hundred. What he discovered was startling. 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:53.800 Although the weather appears to have indeed been rough, it 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:56.800 certainly wouldn't have been anything that the three seasoned lightkeepers 0:21:56.840 --> 0:22:01.439 hadn't experienced before. What's more, with wind speed estimated to 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.439 have peaked at roughly sixty miles per hour, any waves 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.040 generated by such a storm would barely have made it 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:11.040 above thirty feet, a fact or the more incredible when 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:14.680 you consider that mc clusky's own findings and Superintendent Mewhead's 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:17.680 earlier report suggest that the men would have been at 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:20.439 well over a hundred feet when they were supposedly taken. 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.480 The largest freak wave ever recorded was ninety five feet high, 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:28.080 so if it was a freak wave, it would have 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:31.679 to have been the largest wave ever known. And what 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:36.080 of the strange case of MacArthur's jacket. A senior keeper 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:40.080 of the Northern Lighthouse Board, Alister Henderson, is insistent that 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:43.439 under any normal circumstances, the lighthouse would never have been 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.959 left unattended. It is a fairly standard rule followed by 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:50.920 all lighthouse keepers, let alone one so experienced as Duckett, 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:56.679 Marshall and MacArthur. Perhaps more disturbingly, referring to the Mwerhead report, 0:22:56.960 --> 0:22:59.399 it is Henderson's belief that the true events were in 0:22:59.440 --> 0:23:03.520 fact covered up. After all, Muirhead's was the only official 0:23:03.560 --> 0:23:06.399 report to emerge from the incident. There was no fatal 0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:09.200 accident report that would have been standard for such an event. 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:14.560 Even more alarmingly, key documentation that contained evidence of everything 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:18.560 that happened on the island disappeared mysteriously after Muirhead left 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:24.080 the island. If MacArthur never left the lighthouse, where exactly 0:23:24.160 --> 0:23:27.160 did he go, or if he did indeed leave the building, 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:30.480 what possible reason could he have had for breaking such 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:35.040 a fundamental convention? Might ultimately MacArthur hold the key to 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:49.680 the mystery. In an age well before social media and smartphones, 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:52.320 working on the rock in the year nineteen hundred would 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:55.160 have meant a complete and utter cutoff from all communication 0:23:55.240 --> 0:23:59.320 with the world, a state of affairs comparable to astronauts 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:02.760 traveling through the isolation of space, who even then are 0:24:02.840 --> 0:24:05.600 able to communicate with others on the ground to alleviate 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:10.639 the psychological confinement. Furthermore, it is a condition that astronauts 0:24:10.680 --> 0:24:15.159 today will spend months preparing for under constant psychological analysis, 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:18.920 as scientists seek to determine their capability to endure such 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:23.600 a situation. Is it possible that MacArthur, who it is reported, 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:26.439 had worked almost consistently without a break for two and 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:29.760 a half months leading up to December the fifteenth, had 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:35.040 simply snapped, having been cooped up on what must have 0:24:35.080 --> 0:24:37.439 at times felt like the very edge of the world, 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:41.439 miles from civilization. With gale force winds battering the coast 0:24:41.440 --> 0:24:46.720 all around, the circumstances were certainly ripe. Perhaps, with the 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:49.199 other two men having left the building to undertake some 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:53.400 routine operations, MacArthur had simply lost his mind and wandered 0:24:53.400 --> 0:24:57.520 coatless into the storm, bludgeoning his companions to death before 0:24:57.560 --> 0:25:01.399 throwing himself into the waters below. It wouldn't be the 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:04.880 first time that such conditions had driven somebody to madness. 0:25:07.800 --> 0:25:11.520 On Thursday, eighteenth of August nineteen sixty, eighteen year old 0:25:11.600 --> 0:25:14.119 David Colin and his father had decided to take a 0:25:14.200 --> 0:25:17.040 day trip to visit Ross Island, off the southwest coast 0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:21.000 of Scotland. On the island stood a lighthouse that had 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:24.320 been built in eighteen forty three by Alan Stephenson, another 0:25:24.400 --> 0:25:28.920 uncle of Robert Louis Stephenson. David and his father set 0:25:28.960 --> 0:25:31.199 off from the local sailing club and arrived at the 0:25:31.240 --> 0:25:35.919 island shortly before lunch. As a courtesy, David thought it 0:25:36.040 --> 0:25:38.560 right that they should inform the lighthouse keepers that they 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:43.000 were there. After knocking on the door, David received no response, 0:25:43.280 --> 0:25:46.920 except from a rather overenthusiastic dog that he assumed must 0:25:46.960 --> 0:25:51.119 have belonged to one of the keepers. Unperturbed, David and 0:25:51.200 --> 0:25:54.520 his father returned to their walk, but as the day 0:25:54.520 --> 0:25:58.040 wore on, the keepers had still not returned, the only 0:25:58.080 --> 0:26:00.800 sign of life being the ominous ringing of an unanswered 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:06.720 telephone coming from inside the lighthouse. Eventually, David's father plucked 0:26:06.760 --> 0:26:10.320 up the courage to enter the building. Inside, he found 0:26:10.560 --> 0:26:14.600 lighthouse keeper Hugh Clark dead, with fellow keeper Robert Dixon 0:26:14.800 --> 0:26:19.919