Flannan Isles is a group of numerous small islands in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of mainland Scotland. These islands were named after the seventh-century Irish preacher, Saint Flannan. But no population ever settled here, because this island was always considered extremely mysterious and also a witness to many unexpected incidents.
One morning on 16 December 1900, a steamer named Archtor was passing by near Flannan Islands. Then the captain of the steamer saw the Eilean Mor island lighthouse of Flannan Isles in an inoperative condition. Looking at it from a distance, it was found that the lighthouse is not operational, as per the rules, it was mandatory for any lighthouse to be fully operational. The steamer captain reached the shore and told the incident to the agency that was maintaining the lighthouse. They were very surprised to hear this, as three people were stationed at the lighthouse a week earlier by the maintenance agency, named Donald McArthur, Thomas Marshall, and James Ducat.
As soon as the lighthouse was reported to be inactive, a relief vessel named Hesperus was sent to investigate the lighthouse, which also included relief material and other supplies for the three people working there. The captain's name on this relief vessel was Jim Harvie. When his relief vessel reached the lighthouse, Captain Harvie noticed that there was no signal flag on the lighthouse, the flag-waving on any lighthouse means that the staff in that lighthouse is present and the lighthouse is in an active state. But not seeing the flag in its place, Captain Harvie immediately started blowing the ship's whistle. But despite the continuous sound of the horn, there was no movement at the lighthouse. Now Captain Jim Harvie understood that there must have been something wrong but he did not even know what he was going to see in a while. Upon reaching the shore, the captain noticed that some supply crates had been placed outside the lighthouse while these supply crates should have been placed inside and the empty supply crates should have been kept outside. The captain and relief keeper Joseph Moore decided to investigate the lighthouse and its surrounding area. The whole island was deserted and a loud sound could be clearly heard from the waves hitting the stones of the shore.
On reaching there, they found that both the main entrance of the lighthouse was closed from inside. The doors were forcibly opened after a long time of knocking. Joseph went inside and found that the lamps placed there had been cleaned and refilled, which was a normal thing in such an unusual situation, but upon reaching the room, he saw the beds were unmade. On a nearby table, there was some uneaten meal laid out, and one of the three chairs around the table overturned as if someone had suddenly gone out of there and did not get a chance to keep the chair back properly. At the same time, Joseph and the captain found that all the clocks that had been installed in the lighthouse were stopped, which was really a strange thing. Despite searching the entire lighthouse completely, no clue was found of the three keepers working there. While exiting the lighthouse, they found a set of oilskins (a waterproof garment) hung near the exit door and the remaining two oilskins were not there, which means two keepers wore oilskins while exiting, but one in a hurry could not wear and left the lighthouse without it.
This is the first rule of every lighthouse that at least one person must be in the lighthouse at all times so that any odd situation can be dealt with in time. But what happened here was that the three people stationed at the lighthouse got out of the place simultaneously. This was a question that was going on in every person's mind and disturbing them. Captain Harvie, Joseph, and their companions now completely understood that something very strange had happened at that place. They researched those three keepers in the surrounding coastal areas and returned without any clue. Then the missing report of the three keepers was sent to the Northern Lighthouse Board through telegram. Subsequently, the investigation of the case was given to the superintendent of the Northern Lighthouse Board, Robert Muirhead. In the initial phase of this official investigation, Robert found the lighthouse logbook. The logbook is a document in which the lighthouse keeper has to write every small event or information related to the lighthouse and weather. But after the evening of 15 December, nothing was written in the logbook, which meant that after the end of that day something terrible had happened to the three keepers.
In the logbook, on December 12, Thomas Marshall wrote, that day there were severe winds and waves hitting the shore in a very fierce form, which he had never seen before in twenty years. He also wrote that James Ducat had been very quiet and he was not talking to anyone and Donald MacArthur had been crying and very scared. Investigator Robert found this very strange because the three men working at the lighthouse were highly experienced, strong-witted individuals. So it was very strange for MacArthur to be crying in response to a storm. On 13 December, it was written in the logbook that the winds have changed a bit, but the sea is still raging today and they three had been praying. After all, why did they feel so worried as they were safe in that lighthouse, a secure structure 150 feet above sea level? And on the last date such as 15 December, it was written that finally the sea is calm now and the speed of the winds has reduced and the storm ended. God is over all. But the even more surprising thing was that the ships passing around that lighthouse had reported no reports of any storm on the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th, nor did the Meteorological Department got any such news.
As the Flannan islands are a group of several small islands and the Eilean Mor is one of that islands on which this lighthouse existed. Therefore ships and other lighthouses on other islands around this island were also asked about the weather reports of the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th, but everyone said that the weather was clear on all these days. So what happened there that only those three men had to face that terrible weather during these days. If all three of them came out of the lighthouse, then how did all the doors of the lighthouse be closed from inside, and if they were inside then why no one found any clue of them. They had disappeared or died, this could not be known till date. The bad weather and storm that the three keepers were facing was just a fantasy or a mysterious truth. Where did those three suddenly disappear from that island? No one knows. After this incident, neither has any clue of those three men ever been found nor the case has yielded any result to date. For this reason, this incident is considered one of the most strange and mysterious events in history.
One morning on 16 December 1900, a steamer named Archtor was passing by near Flannan Islands. Then the captain of the steamer saw the Eilean Mor island lighthouse of Flannan Isles in an inoperative condition. Looking at it from a distance, it was found that the lighthouse is not operational, as per the rules, it was mandatory for any lighthouse to be fully operational. The steamer captain reached the shore and told the incident to the agency that was maintaining the lighthouse. They were very surprised to hear this, as three people were stationed at the lighthouse a week earlier by the maintenance agency, named Donald McArthur, Thomas Marshall, and James Ducat.
As soon as the lighthouse was reported to be inactive, a relief vessel named Hesperus was sent to investigate the lighthouse, which also included relief material and other supplies for the three people working there. The captain's name on this relief vessel was Jim Harvie. When his relief vessel reached the lighthouse, Captain Harvie noticed that there was no signal flag on the lighthouse, the flag-waving on any lighthouse means that the staff in that lighthouse is present and the lighthouse is in an active state. But not seeing the flag in its place, Captain Harvie immediately started blowing the ship's whistle. But despite the continuous sound of the horn, there was no movement at the lighthouse. Now Captain Jim Harvie understood that there must have been something wrong but he did not even know what he was going to see in a while. Upon reaching the shore, the captain noticed that some supply crates had been placed outside the lighthouse while these supply crates should have been placed inside and the empty supply crates should have been kept outside. The captain and relief keeper Joseph Moore decided to investigate the lighthouse and its surrounding area. The whole island was deserted and a loud sound could be clearly heard from the waves hitting the stones of the shore.
On reaching there, they found that both the main entrance of the lighthouse was closed from inside. The doors were forcibly opened after a long time of knocking. Joseph went inside and found that the lamps placed there had been cleaned and refilled, which was a normal thing in such an unusual situation, but upon reaching the room, he saw the beds were unmade. On a nearby table, there was some uneaten meal laid out, and one of the three chairs around the table overturned as if someone had suddenly gone out of there and did not get a chance to keep the chair back properly. At the same time, Joseph and the captain found that all the clocks that had been installed in the lighthouse were stopped, which was really a strange thing. Despite searching the entire lighthouse completely, no clue was found of the three keepers working there. While exiting the lighthouse, they found a set of oilskins (a waterproof garment) hung near the exit door and the remaining two oilskins were not there, which means two keepers wore oilskins while exiting, but one in a hurry could not wear and left the lighthouse without it.
This is the first rule of every lighthouse that at least one person must be in the lighthouse at all times so that any odd situation can be dealt with in time. But what happened here was that the three people stationed at the lighthouse got out of the place simultaneously. This was a question that was going on in every person's mind and disturbing them. Captain Harvie, Joseph, and their companions now completely understood that something very strange had happened at that place. They researched those three keepers in the surrounding coastal areas and returned without any clue. Then the missing report of the three keepers was sent to the Northern Lighthouse Board through telegram. Subsequently, the investigation of the case was given to the superintendent of the Northern Lighthouse Board, Robert Muirhead. In the initial phase of this official investigation, Robert found the lighthouse logbook. The logbook is a document in which the lighthouse keeper has to write every small event or information related to the lighthouse and weather. But after the evening of 15 December, nothing was written in the logbook, which meant that after the end of that day something terrible had happened to the three keepers.
In the logbook, on December 12, Thomas Marshall wrote, that day there were severe winds and waves hitting the shore in a very fierce form, which he had never seen before in twenty years. He also wrote that James Ducat had been very quiet and he was not talking to anyone and Donald MacArthur had been crying and very scared. Investigator Robert found this very strange because the three men working at the lighthouse were highly experienced, strong-witted individuals. So it was very strange for MacArthur to be crying in response to a storm. On 13 December, it was written in the logbook that the winds have changed a bit, but the sea is still raging today and they three had been praying. After all, why did they feel so worried as they were safe in that lighthouse, a secure structure 150 feet above sea level? And on the last date such as 15 December, it was written that finally the sea is calm now and the speed of the winds has reduced and the storm ended. God is over all. But the even more surprising thing was that the ships passing around that lighthouse had reported no reports of any storm on the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th, nor did the Meteorological Department got any such news.
As the Flannan islands are a group of several small islands and the Eilean Mor is one of that islands on which this lighthouse existed. Therefore ships and other lighthouses on other islands around this island were also asked about the weather reports of the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th, but everyone said that the weather was clear on all these days. So what happened there that only those three men had to face that terrible weather during these days. If all three of them came out of the lighthouse, then how did all the doors of the lighthouse be closed from inside, and if they were inside then why no one found any clue of them. They had disappeared or died, this could not be known till date. The bad weather and storm that the three keepers were facing was just a fantasy or a mysterious truth. Where did those three suddenly disappear from that island? No one knows. After this incident, neither has any clue of those three men ever been found nor the case has yielded any result to date. For this reason, this incident is considered one of the most strange and mysterious events in history.
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