The Eilean Mor Mystery
The Flannan Isles are a group of seven uninhabited islands, part of the Outer Hebrides chain off the coast of Scotland. The largest of the seven–also called the Seven Hunters–is called Eilean Mor, which in Scots Gaelic means, simply, Big Island. It’s not so very big; it covers a grand total of thirty-seven acres.
There is no particular ghost story attached to Eilean Mor, but it is the site of a classic unsolved mystery. Three lighthouse keepers vanished from the island in December 1900, and no one has ever explained why or how.
The sea around the Flannans has always been exceptionally dangerous. So many ships have been lost there in heavy weather that, in 1895, a lighthouse was commissioned on Eilean Mor. The same heavy seas that caused so many shipwrecks also made the transportation of construction materials difficult, and the lighthouse was not completed until 1899.
It had been in operation a little over a year when, on the night of December 15, 1900, a Captain Holman, skipper of a freighter, SS ARCHER, saw that the light was dark. He reported this fact by Morse code to the nearest shore station.
There were at the time three keepers stationed at the Eilean Mor light: head keeper James Ducat, first assistant Thomas Marshall, and second assistant Donald McArthur. One of the three was due to be replaced by Joseph Moore, and supplies were due to be landed at the same time, but, because the weather was so severe, it was not until December 26 that Moore, aboard SS HESPERUS, was able to land
on the island. Under ordinary circumstances, the man whom he would replace on duty would be waiting at the east landing, on the lee of the island. No one was waiting for Moore when he came ashore. Worried, Moore ran to the lighthouse. There, he found the living quarters and storehouse empty, the clock stopped, and the fireplace ashes cold.
He reported back to HESPERUS, and, in company with three seamen from the ship, made a more thorough search. This search confirmed that the men were not in the lighthouse or any of its outbuildings, and that the oilskins (the heavy-weather gear the keepers wore while working outdoors) and boots of all three were missing. Outside, they found that, on the west (windward) side of the island, the landing stage had suffered severe damage; the iron staircase that led down the slope to the landing was twisted, and ropes and jibs on the crane platform, where supplies were landed from that side, were scattered about.
The last official entry in the head keeper’s logbook was dated December 13; on a slate nearby, written in chalk, there was data recorded at nine o’clock AM on Saturday, December 15, with barometric pressure and temperature recorded. Whatever happened to the three keepers happened therefore between nine AM and midnight, when Captain Holman of SS ARCHER reported that the light was out.
Theories:
Investigators were puzzled as to what had terrified the men. On the island of Lewis, less than 20 miles away, there had been no storms of any sort during those days in mid December. Ducat had over 20 years of lighthouse experience and Marshall and McArthur were seasoned mariners.
Some of the wilder theorists have claimed that the man were seized by a gigantic bird, octopus or squid or they turn the Flannan Isles tragedy into a UFO abduction case. Others thought one of the men had gone mad, killing the others before throwing himself into the sea. Maybe they ate something that drove them out of their minds; there were rumours that a strange "seaweed" was found.
The Fairwin was in the area on the night that the light had gone out and the crew said they had seen "a ghostly longboat"; the three men who where rowing the boat were dressed in heavy raingear and had faces with "the color of bone". The crew of the Fairwin called out to the men in the boat and blasted the horn, but there came no reply.
This story fueled the already existing belief that Eilean Mor was haunted. The Flannan Islands had been marked by superstition from the time they were named for the obscure Saint Flan. It was said that the “Phantoms of the Seven Hunters” so resented the intrusion of the lighthouse that they lured the men over the cliff to their death. As a matter of fact, Ducat did not want to be stationed at Eilean Mor. He seemed to have had some sort of a premonition and said it was "not the most suitable place for a man with a young family". To survive on the island, the lighthouse keepers were required to raise and slaughter their own sheep and poultry, catch their own fish and grow their own vegetables. They had not much contact with the mainland, and with three men confined to small quarters for lengthy periods, personalities indeed can clash.
The last person had left the quarters in a hurry, but had taken the time to close the outside door and the gate. Ducat had noted with chalk on a slate the weather conditions, state of supplies, barometric and thermometer readings, and the time of extinguishing the light: December 15, by dawn. That morning's routine duties had all been performed, so it seemed that doom befell the keepers in the late forenoon, before lunch time.
The investigators concluded that it was McArthur who left in a hurry, knocking over the chair, after Ducat and Marshall had gone out to check the security of the equipment at the west landing. It was possible that McArthur observed a series of exceptional waves approaching. He dashed out to warn Ducat and Marshall and all three men were washed out to sea.
But, in such a violent storm, would three experienced keepers have ventured outside for any reason at all? A lighthouse should not be left unmanned and if McArthur run out in an emergency, why did he then bother to close the door and the gate? Moreover, the furious gale that was pounding the Flannan Islands on December 12th and 13th had calmed considerably on the 14th. On the other hand, rogue waves several feet high following Atlantic storms were not uncommon.
Amidst all these mysteries, one thing is certain: 70 years passed without further incident, until in 1971 the light was automated and there was no need any more for lighthouse keepers.
But, this one still remains unsolved.