[MUSIC PLAYING] The 2003 film Open Water was
inspired by the real life story surrounding the
disappearance of Tom and Eileen Lonergan on January 25, 1998. Abandoned by their
tour boat while diving in Australia's
Great Barrier Reef, the couple was
missing for two days before anyone even
realized they were gone. A rescue mission was
eventually mounted, but their bodies
were never found. The critically beloved
film made from their story theorized the couple
fell victim to sharks. But the truth is, no
one really knows how Tom and Eileen met their fate. Today, we're going
to take a look at the terrifying
true story that inspired the movie Open Water. But before we get started, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel, and let
us know in the comments below what mysterious stories
you would like to hear about. OK, let's dive in. A dive slate is a small
board often carried by divers on which they
can write messages. Dive slates make underwater
communication much more effective and give the diver
a place to record information. About six months
after the Lonergans disappeared, 100 miles north
of their last known position, a fisherman pulled a water-worn
dive slate from the sea. It read, "Monday, January
26, 1998, 8:00 AM. To anyone who can
help us, we have been abandoned on Agincourt
Reef by MV Outer Edge, 25th of January, 1998, 3:00 PM. Please help to rescue
us before we die. Help!" The message proves that Tom
and Eileen didn't stay behind by choice and that the
couple survived at least into the following afternoon. After the disappearance,
Tom and Eileen's diaries were located and read. They provided plenty of
insight into the state of the couple's marriage,
which, apparently, was in a particularly dark place. Turns out both of the Lonergans
were unhappy in their marriage and with their lives. Both of them also hated their
respective teaching careers. According to Eileen's
diary, she believed she was becoming too
intertwined with her husband, who she suspected was
developing a death wish. Sections of Tom's diary seem
to validate those suspicions. For example, in one
passage he wrote, "I feel like a student
who has finished an exam. I feel that my life is complete,
and I am ready to die." There are those who believe
that the diary suggests the Lonergans died enacting
some sort of suicide pact, or, alternatively, that Eileen
died in a murder-suicide at the hands of her husband. However, most investigators
have concluded that the couple died in
an unfortunate accident and the personal stuff in the
diaries is just coincidental. The movie Open Water
speculates that Tom and Eileen were eaten by sharks. While plausible
at first, experts have pointed out
most sharks that live in the waters around Australia
are harmless to humans. Moreover, the couple's wet
suits and dive jackets, which later washed ashore,
showed no blood residues, teeth marks, or anything else
that indicated a shark attack Despite this, at least
one veteran diver still believes they
were eaten by sharks. That would be Ben Cropp, who
thinks that the likely culprits were Tiger sharks. He theorizes these
notoriously dangerous sharks would have watched
and waited for hours before trying to attack. Because of the
Tiger sharks, Cropp believes Tom and Eileen couldn't
have lasted more than 48 hours. During the investigation,
police encountered the captain of another boat, who claimed
to have visited the same dive spot the day after that
Lonergans disappeared. According to his
story, the headcount at the end of the trip
when the boat was returning came out with two more
people than the one at the beginning of the day
when the boat headed out. He also remembered hearing
a few American voices, even though the tourists on the
expedition were all from Italy and only spoke Italian. If true, this would mean that
the Lonergans spent the night in the ocean, slipped in
amongst the Italian tourists during the next day's dive,
boarded the second boat without being
noticed at the time, and then disappeared forever
after reaching the shore. While this scenario can't be
eliminated as in possible, most investigators haven't
found it particularly plausible either. A few weeks after the
Lonergans disappeared, inflatable diving jackets and
air tanks washed up on a beach about 75 miles north
of the dive site. The items had Tom and Eileen's
names written on them. An examination of the tanks
showed some air left inside, indicating they were
likely jettisoned when the couple realized
the ship wouldn't be returning for them. Eight years later, a fin
with the couple's last name written on it was
discovered in the surf. Why the Lonergans
remove their jackets, which would have helped keep
them afloat, remains a mystery. In the absence of any
evidence of a shark attack, investigators have
theorized the couple may have become delirious
from dehydration or might have removed
the jackets in an attempt to swim to shore. Regardless of which is
correct, the Lonergans would almost certainly
have worn themselves out trying to tread water
without the jackets. The air tanks and diving jackets
weren't the only items found. Several months after
the Lonergans vanished, a woman's wet suit of
the same size Eileen wore washed up on shore. It was found intact,
with no damage that was consistent with
a shark attack, and no traces of
blood anywhere on it. While some minor terrors
were present in the armpit in the bottom area,
they were believed to be caused by the suit
getting snagged on coral as it made its way
through the ocean. Barnacles were
attached to the zipper, and forensic scientists
were able to use their rate of growth to
determine that the suit had been in the ocean
since approximately the end of January, or right
around the time Tom and Eileen disappeared. While there isn't
any concrete evidence to suggest such a
thing, many have speculated that Tom and
Eileen faked their deaths. Why? Well, more than 20 eyewitnesses
from all over the continent came forward to say they saw
the couple after the date of their alleged demise. Those who hold
this point of view tend to believe that the
Lonergans were picked up a mile away from the dive
site by an unidentified boat. If they did fake their
deaths, the Lonergans would really have had
to start from scratch. Their bank accounts
remained untouched, their passports
were left behind, and their insurance policies
were never cashed in. However, such a
scenario seems unlikely, given that their plan would
have required the ship's crew to somehow count the number
of passengers aboard. Shortly after the Outer
Edge returned to shore, one of the crew members
found the lonergan's bag left unattended. Thinking it was merely
forgotten luggage, they handed it to
the lost and found. Meanwhile, the hostel Tom and
Eileen had been staying at had sent a shuttle
to bring them back. When they didn't
show up, the driver spent a short time searching for
them in shops and restaurants and then checked in
with the Outer Edge. At this point, it was discovered
that the Lonergans had left their shoes at the dive shop. Furthermore, it was
assumed that the couple had forgotten the shoes and managed
to make it back to the hostel without the shuttle. It was two days later when
the owner of the Outer Edge noticed the Lonergan's bag was
still in the lost and found. He opened it up and
found Tom's wallet. This prompted him
to call the police. More than 48 hours after
they had gone missing, a search was finally begun. Immediately, it was discovered
that two dive jackets and weights were missing, Though it took 48 hours
to get a search started, the Outer Edge had actually
returned to the exact same dive spot with a different
group of divers only 24 hours after Tom
and Eileen disappeared. One of the divers
from this group discovered two weight
belts on the sea floor. The belts, which divers
use as a countermeasure against the buoyant
equipment they carry, were right near where Tom
and Eileen were last seen. This was reported, but
it was before anyone knew the couple was missing. So no one tied the
two events together. The ship's crew simply
consider the belts a lucky find and carried on with
the day's expedition. Though it can't
be known for sure, it's possible that these
belts were the ones Tom and Eileen had been using. They likely would
have dropped them once they realized the
ship wasn't returning. It was Eileen Lonergan that
first started scuba diving. She picked up the hobby when
the couple lived in Louisiana, and she convinced her husband
to give it a shot as well. On what would be
their final trip, they had been returning
from a Peace Corps mission in Fiji, when they
decided they couldn't miss the chance to dive at
Australia's Great Barrier Reef. To that end, they
boarded the Outer Edge, which took 24 divers to three
different sites about 40 miles offshore. The third dive was
at a place known as Fish City on account
of the abundant sea life. Being experienced divers,
Tom and Eileen allegedly told the crew they wanted
to go off on their own for this final dive. This request was apparently
never recorded in the dive log by any of the ship's crew. Taking headcount at
the beginning and end of a diving expedition
is standard practice. Which raises the question, how
was Tom and Eileen's absence overlooked? The ship's skipper claims
to have ordered such a count on that day. However, in the
middle of the count, things got confused when
two people jumped back into the water. With the count down
two, these people were assumed to be
the last divers, and all appeared to
be accounted for. It's also believed
that the crew may have been generally inexperienced. On the day the Lonergans
disappeared, the water was clear, calm, and warm. This has led some to wonder
why the couple didn't swim to a large
buoy that was nearby or one of the well-lit
diving platforms that was only a few miles away. However, experts say that
while these things would be easily visible from
the deck of a boat, things would look very different
from the surface of the water. Making things worse, Tom had
left his glasses on the boat, and his vision wasn't
great without them. As for the diving
platforms, they were likely up current,
which would have made them very difficult to swim to. It's also highly likely that the
couple was in a state of panic. And who wouldn't be? They had been
abandoned in the ocean, and there was no rescue
mission underway. Combined with the sun's heat
and lack of drinking water, the Lonergans were probably
disoriented and terrified. In 1999, the owner of
Outer Edge, Jack Nairn was charged with the
manslaughter of Tom and Eileen Lonergan. At trial, the defense
used the couple's diaries to convince the jury
that the two might have fake their own deaths. Nairn was acquitted. As the trial centered on
Nairn personally, rather than the entire
company, it's possible that the jury didn't believe the
deaths were solely his fault. Nairn was later
tried in civil court. This time he pled
guilty to negligence and was eventually fined
for breaking safety rules. While he may have escaped
criminal liability, Nairn didn't get off scot-free. The court costs
and fines, coupled with the negative
publicity to his business, forced him to close Outer Edge. As a result of the
incident, Queensland would later enact stricter
rules governing how dive companies take headcounts. How do you think you
would have survived being abandoned at sea? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History. [MUSIC PLAYING]
