The Eerie Vanishing Of The Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers

[Music] nobody cared who i was till i put on the mask this week on buzzfeed unsolved we shine a light on the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from the isolated flanin isles shine a light that's right it's a pun off to a great start that's right a punny start yeah i'm excited they really upgraded our office this season we really knocked down that wall i didn't realize how beautiful it was behind the whole open concept is in now so yeah it would be nice to have us out here what do you think about lighthouses well we know i love them i want to live in one and i want to die in one do you think you could ever be a lighthouse keeper 100 what if i told you you were going to disappear sounds good and after this year oh yeah just a little 20 20 humor i didn't realize how much i could slap my thighs out here without the desk in front of us should we get into it please oh the flanin isles also known as the seven hunters is a group of uninhabited rocky islands off the western coast of scotland the mysterious islands allegedly had a profound effect on sheep and shepherds would sail their flocks to the islands to graves sheep who dined on the grasses of the flanin isles were said to give birth to twins or recover from illness despite its positive effect on sheep legend of a spirit haunting the islands kept any shepherd from staying overnight that can't be real sheep magic what are you talking about huh well apparently it was not so much the sheep that were magical it was the grass magic grass for double sheep for twin sheep or for a sheep with a cold okay nevertheless in 1896 the board of trade sanctioned construction of a lighthouse on the largest of the flanin isles aylin moore aylin moore is also home to sombathies a scottish term for a small hut that now sit in ruin as well as the chapel of saint flannen the namesake for the islands in december of 1899 the lighthouse was completed and lit for the first time four light keepers were assigned to the lighthouse each of whom would work a staggered rotation of six weeks on two weeks off this meant there were always three men on the island tending the lighthouse at one time good to have pals it's nice to have company when you're stranded on an island well i guess if you don't have any fellas around you got those sheeps anyway just nice to not die alone you know i mean we're talking but this is unsolved so things aren't things aren't going to happen that are great in mid-december 1900 one year after the lighthouse was first put in service the three men stationed on the island were james duquette the 43 year old principal keeper with a wife four children and 20 years experience donald macarthur the married 40 year old occasional keeper who was covering for the first assistant keeper who was on sick leave and thomas marshall the youngest of the trio at 28 and the second assistant keeper the fourth keeper joseph moore wasn't on the island as it was his two weeks off the youngest was 28 years old that's right how old are you right now 29. i'm 29 so let me put myself put yourself there if you could choose your fate would you would you light who's look lighthouse i love working oh light light light hoof what is going on with your face give me one impassioned one i want to hear from you now that we've workshopped i love working at the lighthouse i don't know man hello hello i love i love working at the lighthouse this isn't offensive i don't think i apologize if you're if you're scottish and you're offended by this you should be around midnight on december 15th the steamship arc tour passed near the flanin isles captain hulman noted that he could not see the light though the conditions should have allowed him to when the ark tour arrived in port it reported the absence of the light though this was never communicated to the northern lighthouse board pretty active board i'm imagining there are the lights on yep good okay check and then just kicks back yeah that is a lot easier day hard work another day oh jesus christ on december 26th the lighthouse tender ship hesperus made a routine visit to aylin moore when nearing the island captain james harvey found it odd that there was no flag on the flagpole the hesperus sounded her horn to try to get the attention of the three lighthouse keepers but there was no response they then attempted firing a player again no replying joseph moore the fourth lighthouse keeper was on board the hesperus with no signal coming from the island moore was sent ashore upon arriving at the alan moore's east landing nothing appeared amiss everything was where it had been when moore had last been on the island moore made his way up to the island where he found the entrance gate the entrance door and the door after that all closed the kitchen door was found open however and the fireplace had not been lit for several days all of the clocks were stopped according to moore quote i then entered the rooms in succession found the beds empty just as they left them in the early morning end quote with no sign of anyone moore realized something was seriously wrong and returned to the hesperus to get more men to help him investigate they found the lamp of the lighthouse to be in working order and fully prepped but there was no clue as to what happened to the three missing men so moore went ashore to knock on the door is what you're saying you're right i like that i always find that when people are missing and nothing is out of place except the people spooky very eerie there's something about it i guess it would be scarier if it was like blood everywhere but i actually don't think so i think that'll be a bit much it takes a little more nuance to scare the burghmeister as all of you have seen on every episode of this show moore and three others were left on the island to operate the lighthouse while the hesperus sailed back to telegraph the northern lighthouse board of the disappearances the next day moore and the others set about the island searching for more clues while the east boat landing where moore had arrived the previous day was in perfect order it was a different story at the west boat landing the west boat landing was damaged and a box that had held tackle and mooring robes was gone the robes were found strewn on the rocks and the iron railings around the area had been broken with some completely missing that damage however was already detailed in the keeper's log implying it was not directly related to the disappearance most notably missing upon further investigation was a life buoy for emergencies which had been kept among the railings approximately 110 feet above sea level the ropes holding the buoy in place however had not been removed by man implying that the sea had ripped the buoy from its spot bad some bad buoy business seems kind of lazy you know it's 110 feet up in the air and you're just like yeah it must have been the ocean that took that bad boy out 110 feet up in the air yes i don't get that what i guess you could have like a big calibunga wave but uh i'm not buying that then what are you buying oh what's on the shelf uh i don't know oh some object work yeah yeah go for it what is that it looks like a gatorade no it looks like a can of alien juice is that where this is [ __ ] going is that where this is going it doesn't have anything else on it just alien juice while some may question whether a 110 foot wave is possible historian mike dash found evidence from a lighthouse keeper in the 1950s that water has splashed on aylin moore as high as 300 feet up wetting the lamphouse in fact while trying to photograph these waves the lighthouse keeper was almost washed away himself by a large wave good good for him getting up there and getting up there close and personal scary to take a photo of a big wave you guys gonna end up on uh kook slams he would end up on kook slams slippery 1950's lighthouse keeper gets dunked nut buster back at the lighthouse by taking inventory of the clothes left behind moore was also able to determine exactly what his co-workers had been wearing when they disappeared macarthur in particular had left behind the only coat he was known to wear implying he had disappeared into the cold of a december in coastal scotland without a coat they also discovered the logs from the keeper's final days it doesn't say whether or not they were in the toilet i knew that's where he was headed we had to let him go there he's gone there come on he's happy about it and we can keep on moving their final logs the last entry was from december 13th but a slate had details from december 14th and 15th including the time the light was extinguished on the morning of the 15th as well as atmospheric readings as late as 9am i didn't realize they were up to more than just flipping a switch so they're doing like readings and stuff they've got to tend to the grounds too upkeep i'm sure that like when you mow the lawn things like that make sure the the fence has proper paint on it if you're in a coastal area the elements there could be harsh they probably are erode away at the uh the structure and your sanity oh the salient point to take from all that is the fact that they weren't saying like maybe my last log i saw a big ass wave outside and it looks like it's coming towards me sure nothing like that yeah okay so seemingly a normal couple days there the log noted morale had been low amongst the keepers peculiarly it also made note of recent strong storms and winds though there had been no reports of storms in the area so either the turbulent weather had been extremely localized over their islands or the men had hallucinated or fictionalized the storms have you ever been so jacked up that you imagined there was a thunderstorm outside your house yeah no i haven't had too much of the devil's juice and you're like oh look at those clouds what if two of them are real mean and they're playing pranks on the third one they're creating a thunderstorm one source reports the discovery of additional logs made by the 28 year old thomas marshall within the second assistant keeper detailed how the storms had been so frightening they had caused the men to pray even though their location atop a 150-foot cliff in a building that was only a year old practically guaranteed their safety marshall describes ducat as being very quiet in recent days and the gref macarthur had been seen crying the final entry read quote storm ended see calm god is over all end quote while some have poked significant holes in the authenticity of these logs even if true they still don't offer much explanation for what could have happened to three vanished men sometimes things could could make you sad you know all about that right master of emotions i yeah i cry all the time i cried at little women a year ago the film right no i just saw some little women on the street and i saw why are they so little it's the way you said it it really sounded like you were at ralph's and you saw some like little women picking out fruit so the storm was not the thing that wiped them out if these logs are true that's not necessarily true because they could think the storm's over i mean how accurate do these guys they're not they're not al roker you know and he never gets it wrong he never does he never does great guy love roker shout out to roker big rogue head over here i'm a huge rogue head you watch him on roku no i watch him on nbc with the island completely searched and turning up few clues there was one man who might still be able to shed some insight on the keeper's final days one roderick mckenzie because there was no radio contact with the lighthouse the men on elin moore were essentially stranded if something happened and they required assistance they needed a way to signal to someone who could get help lighthouse keepers would do so using poles with balls or discs attached to them and placed coming out of the lighthouse balcony hoping someone would spot their message 18 miles southeast of the island is gallon head where gamekeeper roderick mckenzie was paid 8 pounds a year to watch for communications from the flanin isles each night mackenzie was to note whether he could see the light and whether any signals were seen during the day when investigators checked in with mackenzie after the disappearances he reported that he had been unable to see the actual lighthouse tower between december 7th and december 29th he had however been able to make out the light on december 12th but not again until moore lit it on the 26th mackenzie admitted the absence of the light for two weeks had concerned him but there's no indication he reported this to anyone until the northern lighthouse board came to question him so it's essentially his duty to check on them to make sure they're okay and uh you couldn't see the lighthouse for two weeks it was his job to see if something was weird and then report it and he was like that's weird let's get back to this sausage i'm cooking well wait it out it's only been uh one week and six days uh we'll see how this shakes out inaction was not what mckenzie was being paid those eight pounds a year for according to the national lighthouse board mackenzie had agreed to report a failure quote immediately by telegram to head office in edinburgh so that the necessary steps could be taken to have someone sent to carry out any repairs as soon as possible end quote had an actual lighthouse keeper been appointed to that role he likely would have reported the darkness much sooner it should be noted that ducat the principal keeper had asked the lighthouse board's superintendent if an experiment of sorts could be done with the aim of seeing how long it would take someone to notice a signal from shore and respond appropriately alas the experiment was not approved but ducat would ultimately get his answer way too long i guess it's a little too late for when i told you so i mean he could still say it just but he did bloody well tell them so with three lighthouse keepers vanished into thin air it's time to jump into theories about what happened that cold december on aylin moore our first theory is that the men were accidentally swept into the sea perhaps a wave caught the missing tackle box scattering the contents about the rocks if two of the men went to try to retrieve the supplies and a wave swept one away the other could have ran back to the house to get the third it's possible that third man was macarthur who could have run out to help without grabbing his coat perhaps while trying to rescue their co-worker the others were hit by a renegade wave and likewise swept out to sea as we've already discussed enormous waves have been known to hit the island so even if the keepers thought they were far enough from the shore they may have been caught off guard there's also the possibility the men could have literally been blown from the island the nearby butt of lewis had been at one point considered by guinness to be the windiest place in the uk what's funny about that is the butt of shane is the windiest place in the u.s do you have that one locked and loaded oh yeah i did baby no bodies ever washed ashore leaving room to question this theory how could three experienced lighthouse keepers be caught so off guard especially if one had already been swept to a rough sea why would the other two risk themselves help me you know and they're like well let's help him you know all right [ __ ] he's back in the rope down there or something and then whoa well you know we're on the sea now i would think that they have some sort of protocol when one falls in and it doesn't immediately become they will start slipping around or if they're drunk i guess what if they were drunk yes if they're hallucinating even worse look it's possible i just don't think it's very plausible perhaps because of the romanticism of an isolated scottish island some theorize one or more of the keepers could have had a psychological breakdown leading to their demise as the logs described morale was low amongst the keepers and there was the possibility they were hallucinating storms perhaps a fight broke out with one keeper killing the others tossing their bodies into the surf then leaping into the ocean himself macarthur in particular was known for his rough nature and violent tendencies there's also speculation that a romantic relationship could have sprouted between the men then soured or that one went mad running off the cliff while the other slipped chasing after him because there were no indications of violence found on the island however this theory is based mostly in speculation lighthouse more like fight house needs work it's perfectly plausible that one of them may have lost it out there on this island but there wasn't any indications of violence and i would assume being you know three grown men you would see somewhat some signs of a tussle yeah yeah that that place would be marked up you know yeah scuffs like no one's gonna go out there like like all right take me into the ocean i guess here you go i wrap myself up so i can't escape there was no way for them to get off of there on their own they could have just bailed like if all three of them walked into the ocean well cause you said two of them could have been in love and i'm thinking well what if all three they were like this works what we got going here this works the three of us we're in love we're three men who love each other a tripod a tripod let's get out and then one day one of them says i think this should be a bipod instead oh no i'm saying the three of them lived happily ever after and just you know moved to jamaica or something oh i see our third theory is of course that the men were abducted by aliens here we go that's it no it's not yeah no it's not there's more that's it what say the rest theory four our final theory is what that's it a little throwback there for you you're just having fun with it i mean look this isn't a serious theory 110 feet up in the air got knocked off by something that wasn't man and there was no signs of a major wave hitting the lighthouse no signs of a scuffle they all left the logs were pristine who's to say they didn't see some kind of big ass light outside and they were like hey what's that cause they'd be like hey nice light they're lighthouse keepers they love light oh have you seen our light what light you got there oh nice bigger yeah our light's the bit this light kicks out yeah there's another light it's much bigger than mine off the ground let's get closer to the it's possible our final theory is that some other supernatural occurrence happened to the three flanin isles lighthouse keepers there are legends of water sprites in scotland particularly the blue men of the minch or storm kelpies in the outer hebrides where the flanin isles are located i i suspect everyone watching this is is eagerly waiting for me to to really dunk on this but i gotta say i love it yeah i love tell me more about these these men these strong green-haired creatures are thought to live in caves and sink ships in order to drown sailors according to legend if the lighthouse keepers encountered a clan of these sprites their only hope for survival would be to have the last word in a rhyming duel do you not love the idea that the only way and i repeat the only way you could survive a sprite is if you beat them in a rap battle it says it says the last word in a rhyming duel a rhyming duel okay so here we go ryan well i'm a sprite and that's your impression of a sprite just you saying i'm a sprite well i'm a sprite and i've come to your island and if you want to live you're gonna have to beat me you didn't even rhyme the first two sentences you said i'm gonna do it in a rhymey way i thought you had to rhyme with what i said you didn't say like i am a sprite let's test your might okay and i'm here on this dark dark night oh are you in for a fright no i'm you better keep it tight i'm real tough and i'm trying i've had enough i sure do like my big tall light and i don't like you sir uh um as i might looks like you gent are heading for the falls if not you could suck my blue ball [Laughter] all right i know when i'm beat there's also a local legend surrounding moore's arrival on the island allegedly when he entered the lighthouse building three giant black birds perched atop the lighthouse flew off into the sky people claimed those birds were the three keepers who were transformed into the avian form as a punishment for violating the supernatural power of the island my brain is just i'm picturing the animorphs cover of a lighthouse keeper turning into like a crow could you imagine just like them perched atop the lighthouse and they see all these people trying to look for them and they're trying they're calling and calling it's us it's us please i'm the bird it's me it's me they've got little slickers on you there's the coat it's on the bird it got shrunk with them a little corn cob pipe tragic it's tragic it's fun to imagine uh and a load of horse that's what happens when you've entered the twilight zone no this is unsolved [ __ ] you're right yeah sorry dude keepers tended the lighthouse on alan moore until 1971 when it was fully automated for those 70 years the sudden and eerie disappearance of three men charged with manning the island must have hung heavily over the heads of lighthouse keepers in the flanin isles and keepers reported hearing the men's names whispered by someone in the wind as for what extinguished the likes of james ducat donald mcarthur and thomas marshall 120 years ago that mystery remains unsolved [Music] well i gotta say a little bit what is that [ __ ] look on your face you gotta really you know you gotta you gotta really get it you did like the way he did like a body roll i loved this story i like it yeah that's good that's you've improved over the course of the episode a real three-act structure it's good fun fun and a gl a good cameo for aliens in this one and i gotta say as i've been stuck in my apartment for the majority of this year nice to go on a little trip with our minds yeah that's good and that's a good lesson to you anywhere you may be locked up inside but you're never going to be locked up inside up here yeah oh you don't want to be locked up inside of there let me tell you that is a nightmare palette it's not good when are you going to realize i'm not locked in here with you you're locked in here with me jesus christ i know you're just quoting a movie what you got way too intense on that that was very scary uh we'll see you next week everybody do we usually do that at the end of a show we're outside now where do we go [Music] you

Channel: BuzzFeed Unsolved Network

Views: 4,419,108

Rating: 4.9582944 out of 5

Keywords: BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed Unsolved, BuzzFeed Unsolved Network, Cold case, Creepy, Mini doc, Mystery, PL-Unsolved, PL-UnsolvedTrueCrime, PL-UnsolvedTrueCrime-S7, Ryan bergara, SffZ, Shane madej, The Eerie Vanishing of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers, Unsolved, bizarre, buzzfeed unsolved network, cold case, investigation, mystery, ryan and shane, shane madej, theories, true crime, unexplained mysteries, unsolved, unsolved mysteries, unsolved mystery, unsolved network, unsolved true crime

Id: PoNCG3PZKII

Length: 26min 1sec (1561 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 16 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/ninjascotsman]

Wikipedia entry Flannan Isles Lighthouse

[u/mearnsgeek]

Here's a podcast on the subject: Astonishing Legends Mystery of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Part 1 #astonishingLegends

They tend to be good at digging into the details of what's known. I can't remember this particular series, but based on their other episodes, be warned - when you get to part 2, they'll tend to be thorough and consider every possibility as to what could've happened, no matter how wild it might be. :-D

[u/MajorGeneralFactotum]

That bastard Cthulhu again.