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E039: Mystery of the Missing Lighthouse Keepers
1.5k Plays5 years ago
A lighthouse represents safety and hope. It's a place where the light is never supposed to go out. So, when the light DID go out and the lighthouse keepers were nowhere to be found, instead of safety and hope, the island lived up to its reputation of danger and mystery.
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Transcript
Reunion and Gratitude
00:00:00
Speaker
Okay, my sleuthown. So, as you know, Allison and I have been separated for quite a while, but through professional development days, we've gotten to see each other a few times, and since school's starting back virtually for now in a few weeks, we wanted something to be a little normal again, or as normal as things could be.
00:00:19
Speaker
So, with that in mind, I have a surprise for you. Allison and I are officially recording together again, starting now. Hello! I'm so excited, you guys! I'm telling you, we sat down and we were like, oh my gosh, it's like we're starting over again! I'm nervous! I know! It's so exciting, though. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting.
00:00:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's been sad doing these alone. I know. And I'm not funny. Maggie's funny. And so I think mine have just been like in a slump. So I'm so excited that we're back together again. Me too. And we do want to thank you guys for sticking with us these past
Personal Story: War and Separation
00:01:00
Speaker
few months. We know that it has been weird. We know that we're not nearly as fun when we're as separate as we are when we're together.
00:01:07
Speaker
It feels nice to have my best friend beside me again while recording. At least now I have someone to laugh with me when I mispronounce all of the names and have to redo sections millions of times. So we're glad things are a little bit back to normal for us. So we're glad you're here with us. If you're a pre-COVID listener, you know what to expect. If you're newer to the show, we hope you like how coffee and cases was always intended to be.
00:01:35
Speaker
As a little girl, my mom used to tell me a story that I know she definitely made up on the spot at the time, but I loved it. And so today, to the best of my memory and ability, I'm going to retell that story to you. Once there was a beautiful house on a hill that overlooked the sea. The house was well maintained with a huge balcony. Inside the home lived a young couple. Newly married, the couple was anxious to begin a life together in their family home. Sadly, a few months after their wedding, the young man was sent away to war.
00:02:05
Speaker
The young woman promised that she would wait for her husband and that when he returned, their life together would begin. She told him that every night she would light a candle and place it in the window so he would know the way home. The young woman watched as her groom sailed away out to sea. She stood at the bedroom window until the sails disappeared over the horizon.
00:02:24
Speaker
Each day, the young woman sat by the window and to pass the time she began sewing. Night after night and day after day, she watched the horizon for the ship carrying her husband. If you pass by her house on a clear night, you can see the flickering candle in her window and can catch her silhouette at the sewing machine. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years.
00:02:48
Speaker
With each passing day, the beautiful young woman grew older, her hair grew wide, and her body grew frail, but she never stopped hoping her love would return. As the years went by, her candle remained in the window each night and she sat at her sewing machine. Her hands grew sore and tired, they were swollen from arthritis, but she never stopped sewing and she never stopped dreaming about her husband.
00:03:11
Speaker
One terrible night, a storm came. The worst the old woman had ever seen. The sea raged, the wind howled, and the rain fell. The old woman was scared. All these years alone, by the sea, and she had never seen a storm with this fury. Still, she lit her candle as the sun set and waited for her true love to return.
00:03:30
Speaker
The storm subsided as she stitched the last line of a beautiful quilt, and the sun slipped behind the sea. She looked out at the sky, the stars she thought had never shone so bright. The moon had never been quite as full. Then something caught her eye. There, on the horizon, a ship.
00:03:46
Speaker
She flew as fast as she could to the window. It was a ship. She threw open the balcony doors and gazed out to sea. There was something wrong with this ship. It was glowing. This glow didn't come from candlelight or even from firelight. This glow was unworldly. It was growing larger and larger until finally her true love was before her, standing on the balcony, embracing the same unworldly glow.
00:04:08
Speaker
He explained that his ship was lost at sea on its return home. All the crew died in the water. He explained that all these years he'd been searching for her and that when he saw a small light in the distance he turned his ghostly ship in that direction and found her there on the balcony. As he reached for her hand she felt at peace knowing that he was no longer hurting and no longer searching for a way home. Their hands briefly touched as he told her that now he could wait on her and then he disappeared.
00:04:35
Speaker
The woman was so happy she cried tears of joy knowing her true love was waiting for her on the other side.
Podcast Goals and Listener Engagement
00:04:41
Speaker
Ghostly and unworldly things creep into the seams of our case today. When there's nothing to explain how three men go missing, perhaps the explanation lies in fantasy. Could they have been visited by a ghost like in my story? Maybe they simply ran away. Theories abound in this case. This is the mystery of the missing lighthouse keepers.
00:05:15
Speaker
So.
00:05:34
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases, where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement.
00:05:50
Speaker
So justice and closure can be brought to these families. With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:06:11
Speaker
Before Maggie starts our show today, I wanted to take a quick moment to remind you about our challenge. You guys were so awesome when we initiated our first challenge of getting 15 written comments. You were great at getting us there so quickly that we did decide to up the ante. Maybe we were a little too lofty in our goal since it's taken a while but I still have faith.
00:06:34
Speaker
And I know we set our size high, but we know that you guys can help us to get to 150 ratings on iTunes. We currently have 106. So again, we're inching up each week, but it does only take a split second if you are listening to us on Apple Podcast to click for that five star rating. And if you have a second longer, go ahead and leave us a written review. We love hearing from you and what you like about our podcast.
00:07:02
Speaker
We do have listeners from all over the world. I know a few episodes ago, I listed like 30 countries. What that shows is that we know that you can do it. It is taking longer, but once we get there, we'll do another bonus episode.
The Flannan Islands Mystery
00:07:16
Speaker
Just make sure that you follow us on social media, Coffee and Cases podcast on Facebook or at Coffee Cases podcast on Instagram, or as always, listen in each week to know when that bonus episode will air. Now, Maggie, let's get into our show.
00:07:32
Speaker
On December 15, 1900, a small ship was making its way to the Flannan Islands, a small, remote group of islands off the shore of Scotland, when they noted that no light was coming from the lighthouse on the island of Eileen Moor. The lighthouse was maintained by three men, Donald MacArthur, James Duckett, and Thomas Marshall.
00:07:52
Speaker
Their job was to ensure ship's safe passage through the group of islands by keeping the light shining. This light could be seen for more than 24 miles on a clear day. It was odd that there would be no light coming from the lighthouse as this group of islands was surrounded by ragged rocks
00:08:14
Speaker
misty and most of the time dangerous waters. The article unraveling the mystery of Eileen Moore Lighthouse describes the island as often bathed in mist, its jagged rock transformations erupt from the North Sea like the fangs of some aquatic animal. But on clear days, the water becomes aqua blue and the islands illuminated in the sunset appear idyllic.
00:08:37
Speaker
Besides the Lighthouse, Eileen Moore was totally uninhabited and had been that way for hundreds of years. According to the Mystery of the Missing Keepers at Flannan Isles Lighthouse, Eileen Moore had its oddities and you're going to hear more about these as we get into the story.
00:08:56
Speaker
The island's only permanent residence were sheep, which to me sounds fun. Yeah, I like those. They're cute. Yeah. And fluffy. Yeah, fluffy, heavy. And the herders refer to it as quote, the other country, believing it to be a place touched by something paranormal. Okay, that's a little creepy though. I know it is weird. And this little like section isn't that there's another. So nobody lives there. There's just it's literally the lighthouse and sheep.
00:09:25
Speaker
Yeah, and it's a tiny, I feel like when we say island, we think of something big, but this is like, I feel more like a rock coming up out of the ocean. There's grass and stuff on it, but it's really, really small. And I feel like if you know you're there by yourself, that's creepy. I can't even be in my house by myself without getting creeped out, so I can only imagine on an island. Yeah, I don't want to lie by myself. I have to have people to talk to, so I can imagine not really being able to go anywhere. Yeah, that is a little creepy.
00:09:55
Speaker
So it was even kind of feared by people that visited the island. The main draw to this remote location had been a chapel that was built in the 17th century by St. Flannan, hence the name of this group of islands. And its ruins are actually still there today, which I thought were kind of cool because that's really old. So even those who prayed there
00:10:16
Speaker
were moved to worship while on a lean more. So they say that there's like some like supernatural being there that kind of like influences people that are there. But that's almost like a positive thing, right? If you're like moved to pray. So there's superstitions and rituals like circling the church ruins on your knees. That's weird, I think. And apparently that's was adopted there just over the years. Like I don't really know
00:10:45
Speaker
why that is a thing. I don't know. Being on your knees is like reverence, but to crawl around in a circle, it reminds me there's a short story, the yellow wallpaper, and it's like madness. So that's what that reminds me of. So a lot of people say this island has like this like indescribable aura about it, and it's like something you can't ignore. Like you feel it when you're there.
00:11:09
Speaker
so shortly after the structure was completed the saint and his flock actually left the island claiming that they were being tormented by magical beings that inhabited the island. oh so
00:11:21
Speaker
Hence the reason why the church is abandoned. Not so positive. And like I read a couple things that said even when shepherds would like come over with their flocks like no one ever say they're not there. Like they would come and then leave. So it's kind of like the episode on the devil's tramping ground. Like there's this spot and it is something otherworldly. Something's wrong.
00:11:45
Speaker
get out so like any responsible seagoer so remember this light is out the outage was reported to the proper authorities and a relief crew was sent out and slew pounds what they find turns out more questions than answers
00:12:03
Speaker
So the person sent out was Captain James Harvey. And as he approached the island on December 26, 1900, he looked out over the calm and idyllic sea. So remember that there's been a couple of days. Yeah, because that was on the 15th, so a week and a half. Right. And that kind of comes into play like later on when some stuff is discovered. And from what I read online, they literally just explained it as there were more important things that came up.
00:12:30
Speaker
and like it was kind of just pushed down the list to go check on this. I mean if it's remote, not that many people, even though it's dangerous obviously, they're like the craggly rocks, but if it's not passed through as often, maybe like it just wasn't like a priority. In spite of the good weather, Harvey felt a sense of dread as his ship approached the notoriously hard to navigate shores.
00:12:54
Speaker
So in an article by Addison Nugent unraveling the mystery of the Eileen Moore Lighthouse, she says that the relief flag had not been raised and no one waited anxiously on the landing to be taken back to shore. So like I'm assuming that if something was wrong
00:13:10
Speaker
in this lighthouse, there would have been some type of flag that was raised to let people know that they needed help. Like an SOS. Yeah, like SOS, because that wasn't a lot of things that I read. And then apparently, I guess, because the shores were so dangerous, people would come, the lighthouse keepers, would come down to help people. Oh, well that makes sense. Well, especially if the light's out. Heck, I need help in the middle of the day if I'm pulling a boat next to its dock, so I can't imagine. I would not even be able to do that, so.
00:13:39
Speaker
So Captain Harvey blows a whistle to say, hey, somebody's here, hello. And then they even send up a flare and they get no response. Nobody comes down to help him, nothing happens. So Harvey at this point,
00:13:56
Speaker
It just feels kind of weird about this whole thing. And there's three of them. There's three of them. So it's not like there's just one. Right. Right. If there were one, I was thinking, well, maybe they were asleep or maybe they got sick or broke a leg, you know, because the island's where something happened. But if there's three, somebody should be able to come down there. So when nobody comes, he sends Moore, who is the relief lighthouse keeper that he took there. So the person there that is to relieve them. He sends him ashore to investigate.
00:14:27
Speaker
What he found there is still a mystery to this day. Like we don't know what he found. Like we know what he found, but like it just doesn't make sense. Oh, okay. It just doesn't make sense. I'm ready. So when no one met the ship, Morris set sail in a small boat to investigate what was going on. So in my mind, I picture like you can't, cause you know, it's like a group of islands. So this is kind of more in the center of this group of islands. So I'm thinking he had to take like a small boat to like get into where he needed to be.
00:14:58
Speaker
So when he arrives, he's met with an open gate and then a locked door though. So the door is locked, but the gate's open. So to me, like the gate being open, like you're the only people there. So it's kind of like if you live in the country and you don't walk your car. Right, okay, get it. But then the door was locked. Which again, you wouldn't need to do if you're on the island by yourself. Yeah. So nobody comes to the door.
00:15:27
Speaker
So this just keeps getting stranger to more. So remember Sleuthhounds, it's in the middle of winter on this small island off the coast of Scotland. It's the day after Christmas. Yes, it is the day after Christmas. So it's going to be cold here. Yeah. I'm assuming it's more cold in Scotland than it is in Kentucky when it's the day after Christmas. Right. Most years. Right. It's normal.
00:15:49
Speaker
So it's going to be cold. So any right minded person would dress appropriately when going out. Absolutely. So this part kind of reminds me of like the diet law pass. Oh, where they were found with like barely anything on and no pants. Yeah.
00:16:04
Speaker
But Moore only finds that two of the three coats are hanging on the door by the door, or on the hanger by the door. So only one coat's missing, but all three men are gone. So one person put their coat on. So one person's smart. Yeah. Three people. Two people. Yeah.
00:16:22
Speaker
So naturally he thinks that maybe just someone must be like inside. There must be two people inside. Somebody's like out on the island. He just didn't see them. Right. But the lighthouse appears to be abandoned upon his first inspection and he knows this because you know there's no one outside. He can clearly see it. Right. But the door was locked. Right.
00:16:43
Speaker
So it just doesn't sit well with him. He knows that none of the keepers would have been brave enough to go out into the cold winds of Eileen Moore without a coat. So what possibly could have caused them to be in such a rush that they would have just left their coats behind, but had time to block the door. Yeah. Well, cause I was thinking in my head, I'm like, okay, maybe, cause I play all these hypotheticals.
00:17:05
Speaker
maybe the one who had the coat went out and then somehow got hurt and then the other two saw and they were like oh my gosh we gotta go out and help so they didn't put their coats on but then they also wouldn't have locked the door. Right so I went there too but then I was the same thing I'm like if something happened like
00:17:22
Speaker
somebody tripped and was like hanging on to the ledge of this island about to fall over into the sea. According to the mysterious disappearance of the Eileen Moore lighthouse keepers by Ben Johnson, Moore continued on into the kitchen area where he found
00:17:44
Speaker
have eaten food in an overturned chair like almost as if somebody had like jumped out of their seat in a hurry so there's like meat and boiled potatoes lift chairs overturned like somebody left in a hurry
00:17:59
Speaker
Okay, you know what that reminds me of a little bit? Is the Lost Colony at Rowan Oak, right? How they said, like, and all of a sudden everybody's, which also goes back to the devil's tramping ground. So maybe there were places that are just haunted like this? I don't know. And even more peculiar, the kitchen clock had been stopped.
00:18:21
Speaker
And there were some articles that I read that said every clock in the lighthouse had been stopped. Okay, I've got goosebumps now because it freaking creeps me out. It's just weird. He went further into the lighthouse but found nothing except unmade beds and more stopped clocks. Okay, that's weird.
00:18:38
Speaker
So he returns back to Captain Harvey. Captain Harvey sends a telegram back to the mainland, which in return was forwarded to the Northern Lighthouse Board headquarters.
Investigations and Theories
00:18:47
Speaker
And the telegram read, this is just like a part of it. It says, quote, a dreadful accident has happened on the Flannans. The Three Keepers, Duckett Marshall, and the occasional have disappeared from the island.
00:18:59
Speaker
On our arrival there this afternoon, no signs of life was to be seen on the island. Fire at a rocket, but as no response was made, managed to land more who went up to the station but found no keepers there. The clocks were stopped and other signs indicated that the accident must have happened about a week ago. Poor fellows, they must have been blown off the cliff or drowned trying to secure a crane or something like that. Night coming on, we cannot wait to make something as to their fate.
00:19:26
Speaker
So he's just like, maybe they drown. But that doesn't explain stopped clocks. Yeah, or really locked, I mean, I guess maybe the locked door. Unless they were afraid the sheep were gonna come in and eat the rest of their food, I mean. Or the people that like haunted that same. Right, that church, yeah. So a few days later, Robert Muirhead, who had both recruited and knew all three of these men personally, departed to the island to investigate the disappearances.
00:19:55
Speaker
So we have somebody else coming on to investigate. Okay. His investigation of the lighthouse found nothing over and above what Moore had already reported. That was until he stumbled upon the lighthouse log. And so to me, like, I think of a log like October 5th, 12 p.m. ship passed by. Right. Yeah, I mean that makes sense. Like the work that they're doing. But this was more like a diary.
00:20:27
Speaker
Sleuth Hounds, Muirhead immediately noticed that the last few days of injuries were, let's just say, unusual. So on December 12th, Thomas Marshall, who was the second assistant, wrote of, quote, severe winds, the likes of which I have never seen before in 20 years, end quote. He also noted that James Duckett, the principal keeper, had been, quote, very quiet, and that the third assistant, William MacArthur, had been crying.
00:20:46
Speaker
So again, like diet love past. Yes.
00:20:55
Speaker
weird. I'm giving Maggie a look like what is up with this? I mean I totally get like obviously with COVID. I get the depression. The oscillation. I get the crying. Right. But I mean there's at least three of them there. Yeah you have somebody to talk to. And I wouldn't think that just winds would make you cry. Especially there's probably they're seasoned lighthouse keepers. Right. So it's like day one. They've seen this. Freaking out because the winds blowing. Right.
00:21:22
Speaker
So what's strange about this injury is that the descriptions that he gave were actually quite the opposite of the men that Mirrorhead knew. Okay, so all work season lighthouse keepers all would have kept their cool during any storm knowing that they were safe like literally over 100 feet above sea level. Right. Duckhead was a very level-headed man
00:21:44
Speaker
who Muirhead could not see, shutting down and just sitting like in the corner being quiet. McArthur was a hot-headed man and was known to get into brawls and didn't shy away from a good fight. So the fact that he was described as crying left Muirhead wondering if there was something more missed than what he first maybe believed. Right. It would be like if all of a sudden somebody was like, Allison was running down the hallway saying every curse word in the book. He'd be like, no.
00:22:10
Speaker
or it'd be like Maggie was running and then you could be like Maggie doesn't run. So this has nothing to do with the story but on the way here today it took me through like not the normal way. Okay. So I had to go like through Lexington. Uh-huh. So I passed this, okay I did not know it was an RV place.
00:22:32
Speaker
And I was like, oh my god, when did they put a Krispy Kreme on this side of town? And I was like, I'm stopping getting some Krispy Kreme from me and Allison. And I got in the turn light and then it was like, north something something, RV park. And it was just like a green and red sun. And I was like, this is not Krispy Kreme, I'll say it. So, I don't run. That's how we got there.
00:22:56
Speaker
So, log entries on December 13th stated that the storm was still raging and that it was so bad they began praying. Like they thought they were gonna die. Okay. So, that would have to be really bad. Yeah, but again, this is three experienced lifekeepers we're talking about. It's not like us. Yeah. I can remember when I was a little kid, anytime I would hear the
00:23:17
Speaker
like tornado warnings. I asked my mom, I'm not even kidding, I asked my mom for a garbage bag and I would fill it with all my favorite toys and I would go ahead and put it in the bathtub. So you had it in your house? Yeah, that's how terrified I was. But I mean, I'm not a seasoned lighthouse keeper, so. True. I remember one time we went, like my cousin, my two cousins that are like around my age, and two of my aunts went to a play, like in a string, like an outside play.
00:23:43
Speaker
and on the way home it rained and it was like the we were driving past like the walmart in the town that i grew up in and it had no lights like the lights went out and we had to pull over it was raining so hard i was like seven probably so my cousin was like four and i can remember him going a tornado's coming a tornado's coming and i was like boo hooing in the corner yeah i would be but for these guys
00:24:08
Speaker
That would take a lot. Yeah, because they are 150 feet above sea level. So I know that I mentioned that before. So it's a lot. So really, like we said, they would take a lot for them to be praying for a storm to stop because they would know that they are actually safe. So even more peculiar. Oh, no.
00:24:26
Speaker
It's the fact that there were zero storms reported on December 12th, 13th, and the 14th. Zero. In fact, the weather was calm and the storm that battered the island, so there was a storm, but it didn't hit until like around the 17th. So the days he's riding these injuries, there is no storm. And we know that because the people that live like in the islands, in that group of islands, could see the lighthouse.
00:24:55
Speaker
So there was no like, I mean, I'm sure maybe it rained, but there was no like storm with raging winds and like big waves and all of this. Creepy. Yeah. So they literally would have been perfectly safe. The final log entry that was made on December 15th, simply read, quote, storm ended, sea calm, God is over all. Done. Done. And there's no more entries after that.
00:25:24
Speaker
So remember that the light had been reported out on December 15th. So we know that the men were obviously alive that day on December 15th because the light was going in the lighthouse. So even though the last, and that's the day that we have that last entry. So we know that they were alive.
00:25:42
Speaker
So why had the light gone and attended? What happened to these men? And how had they disappeared from an island where there were no other inhabitants? They just vanished. So again, the coat struck your head as odd.
00:25:57
Speaker
Why would they go out into the cold with no coats, which we've talked about? And even more importantly though, why had all three men left the lighthouse? Because this is actually against, at that time, regulation. So all three were not to be out of the lighthouse at one time. Right, because a boat could come in and then crash on the rocks because there's nobody there. So at that time, someone always had to be there and it just would have been weird that there wasn't anybody there.
00:26:23
Speaker
Further clues were found down by the landing platform, so where the ships would come up. Here, Muirhead noticed ropes that were all over the rocks. And these are ropes that usually held down a brown crate 700 feet above the platform on like a supply crane. So I guess that they could like pull supplies up or something.
00:26:41
Speaker
So he thinks like maybe something's happened to the crate in like a storm or some wind and that it's been like knocked down and the lighthouse keepers were attempting to retrieve that and an unexpected wave came and washed them out to sea. That's a logical explanation. But again though, all three of them shouldn't have been out there. Right.
00:27:00
Speaker
Even if it were a struggle, you still have to leave. Somebody has to stay. Yeah, and then I read somewhere where one of them actually had like some type of investigation going on that they'd broke like some type of regulation. So probably wouldn't want to break another one. Right. So this was the first and most likely theory in his head, and this is what he includes in his official report to the Northern Lighthouse Board.
00:27:22
Speaker
But it doesn't add up to me, so again, why would they leave their coats if they're trying to pull something up from the sea in the dead of winter? Right, they know it's cold. The water's gonna be cold. Why would three experienced lifekeepers not notice a giant wave building in the ocean and retreat to safety? We're just gonna go, we're fine! Right, they know this stuff. And then why, okay, remember it's relatively calm, so if they had fallen into the water,
00:27:50
Speaker
Like, would their bodies not wash up onto a shore of one of these islands, you would think? I would think. I mean, because I feel like this is like Titanic-type water, so you're probably gonna freeze today before you drown. But I still think that they would wash up. So, remember Sleuthhounds, at the time they disappeared, the sea was calm. So, I mean, it's just weird. We just don't know anything, really. So there are a bunch of possible explanations about what happened to them.
00:28:17
Speaker
and we're gonna talk about some of them like more in depth and some of them just kind of briefly because they're kind of like out there. So the dark histories podcast talks about two other possible explanations. So they say quote, one more plausible theory carries that at least one of the men suffering from a form of isolation sickness became violent and killed the other two then killed himself. That's exactly what I was thinking in my head as you were reading the diaries and I was gonna bring it up when you asked me.
00:28:45
Speaker
But I was thinking maybe the one who was writing the diary became delusional. Yeah and then that's why he were saying these things about the other two that were completely out of character. Because maybe he was like losing it himself. Right and then maybe he
00:29:04
Speaker
But then he would obviously have to have been so delusional that he killed himself after he killed the other two. But I was thinking that exact same thing. Yeah, so a lot of people do believe in the murder, suicide thing. So this relies on the evidence of the effects of isolation and what they can do to a person. And it's backed up by the fact that the relief vessel was late to arrive to the island. So I guess they were expecting somebody to kind of relieve them, but it was late to arrive, in which we know that the vessel carrying
00:29:32
Speaker
like Moore and Harvey, it was late. So this exact scenario in fact did occur, this is again according to the Dark History's podcast in 1960 when the relief keeper of another lighthouse on another island named Hugh Clark was shot by the assistant keeper Robert Dixon at close range with a light and then Robert Dixon actually pleaded insanity and saw it's the stress and isolation of his job was a contributing factor to his mental decline.
00:29:59
Speaker
So I mean it's not like it hadn't happened before. So maybe this isolation sickness is common among people like the lighthouse keepers. Well especially I guess when you're on an island and it's just the three of you guys. Better hope you get along. Yeah better hope you like each other. So concerning this theory neither more nor Muirhead noted any type of murder weapon so like they don't see any gun or like anything that has like blood on it which I guess maybe
00:30:25
Speaker
somebody could be super crafty and like lure them out with the pretense of pulling something up on these ropes and push them over the edge or something. But again you'd have to do a lot of convincing if you're going to convince somebody to break regulation and everybody come out. Unless you're the one that broke the regulation in the first place and then it wouldn't have been. Oh that makes sense like if they went out and you said I'll stay here but then you'd follow. But then you'd sneak out there. Which is why you got the coat on. Yeah and locked the door because you had time. And then they wouldn't be able to get back in. They wouldn't be able to get their coats.
00:30:56
Speaker
Okay. So the second theory that in your head like kind of went with
00:31:09
Speaker
was suggested that there were high winds that caused damage to the western dock and that maybe something happened to them and the winds like pushed them overboard over the cliff sandwich. But, I mean, I really don't think that that's that plausible. I mean, that's going to have to be a super strong... First of all, I'm not going to be standing that near the edge. No, no. That a wind would knock me down.
00:31:35
Speaker
So, the final conclusion is that the men were drawn outside, perhaps in an attempt to repair something, and were washed away after being struck by weight. So, that is like, I guess the official report. So, kind of like in the dialogue past that they all died from hypothermia. Yeah. Yeah. No. No. We know. No, not buying it. It was the itty. Yeah. We all know. Right. So, if worldly things cannot explain this, it must be something unworldly, right?
00:32:04
Speaker
So one website suggests that the lighthouse attendants were murdered by spies. So in the early 20th century, there was a lot of paranoia happening about German spies infiltrating the UK. So one hypothesis is that spies visited the lighthouse and murdered the keepers for unknown reasons. I mean, I guess if it's an isolated island, there could have been something
00:32:31
Speaker
you know, covert happening and maybe the lighthouse keepers came upon it? I mean, I don't know. Like, I need to show you a picture because again, it's not like a big island. I feel like you could see the whole thing basically.
00:32:44
Speaker
So they think that could have happened and then maybe the keepers could have been captured and taken on board a boat by some spies and taken somewhere. But there's still a mystery of why the one coat was on. Like if you say, wait, let me put my coat on before you get nutty. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.
00:33:04
Speaker
So more fantastical still is the theory of a sea monster. So kind of like Nessie the Loch just lost her. Okay. So some think that sea monsters or maybe giant birds.
00:33:16
Speaker
Can I have birds? Yes. Okay see I'm more likely to believe the sea monster theory because like we don't know everything that lives in the sea. Exactly. But I feel like if there's a giant bird flying in the sky. I would have seen it. In 2020 it probably would have reappeared. Definitely would have reappeared by now.
00:33:34
Speaker
So presumably whatever came out of the sea or the sky snatched up these men and ate them. So this is very like Homer in the audience. Oh yeah, totally. Like I pictured like the things on the side of the cliff for having people and eating them out of the ship. That's what I see.
00:33:50
Speaker
So, even more fantastical is the suggestion that some type of supernatural being killed them. So, some say the devil himself killed them, or those like mysterious dwellers that we mentioned. This is the other country. Yeah, at the beginning, you know, in this other country may quote, maybe they
00:34:15
Speaker
kidnapped them and took them to like, whatever country that they live in, like, quo type of country, or that they killed them. So, lastly, we have those who believe that UFOs and alien abductions are to blame for their disappearance, and I mean, if they built the pyramids, why could they know that? Right, why not? Why the heck not? Why not? I mean, I think that's the most believable one. So, as for me, all I know
00:34:45
Speaker
is that maybe we just blame it on ghosts. And you know, I believe if you listen to the dialogue pass, you obviously know that I believed it was the Yeti. So who's to say? We're ball lightning. Yeah. The spontaneous level day. Weird things that happen. So who is not to say that it was something like unexplainable that happened?
00:35:09
Speaker
Maybe these three got an argument when they were trying to pull up supplies and in a five one fell like some fell over the cliff or something like that But maybe like some they ran away to start a new life like I don't know. What do you think? I'm still leaning toward the isolation sickness that one of them was driven insane and now I'm wondering because there's one detail that I just keep coming back to other than the codes and
00:35:33
Speaker
And that's that all of the clocks were stopped? The clocks were stopped? It's weird. But again, if somebody is delusional, he could have set all of the clocks to that. You know what I mean? I never found online if it said they were all stopped at the same time, because that would have been weird. Right. But maybe it was part of a delusion or something. Yeah. I feel like that probably is the most realistic
00:35:59
Speaker
Scary. Yeah. Realistic at the same time. Especially in, you know, the times of the corona where we all have to stay home and can't
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:36:08
Speaker
get out anywhere. So if you're at home and you notice all the clocks around your house have been stopped at the same time, get out. Run.
00:36:17
Speaker
This case has remained a mystery for over 100 years, and honestly, I think it always will be. I don't think we'll ever know what happened to these three men. The lighthouse is no longer operated by men. Everything's computerized. The cries that many claim to have heard from the men now fall on deaf ears, lost to the wind and lost to the sea.
00:36:35
Speaker
But just like in the story my mom told me, a light still shines to bring them home. Every night the lighthouse calls for them. Every night the lighthouse waits for their return. Maybe one day their souls will find peace and rest at the lighthouse where their story seems to have both started and ended.
00:36:53
Speaker
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00:37:23
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.