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A Little Less Mess: The Vanishing at Eilean Mòr [Scotland] · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hey everyone, welcome to Bless This Mess and the True
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Crime Podcast.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I'm Cara, just Cara. This is A Little Less Mess,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: our Monday mini-sode where we step off the front porch,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: pack our bags, and travel outside the South. to explore
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: strange mysteries, unsolved puzzles, and forgotten shadows across the country
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: and across the globe. But before we pull up a
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: rocking chair and get into this week's mini-sode, here's a
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: quick reminder of our weekly schedule. So on Mondays we're
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: here where we step outside the South for a little
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: less mess, and then Thursdays are for our regular full-length
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: cases right here on the main feed. Now if you
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: want to get those Thursday episodes early and ad-free, plus
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: our Friday bonus show, Sit and Sippin' and Bullshittin', come
• 1:01
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• 1:04
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• 1:06
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• 1:09
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• 1:12
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• 1:15
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• 1:19
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• 1:24
  Speaker 2: subscribe wherever you're listening right now. All right, grab your
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: mason jar and let's get into today's episode. Now around
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: here in the South, we talk a lot about dirt roads, backwoods,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: secrets buried in the bayous, but today we're leaving the
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: humidity behind and we are traveling over 4,000 miles across
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: the North Atlantic to the outermost fringe of the Scottish
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Outer Hebrids, a jagged cluster of uninhabited rocks known as
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: the Flannan Isles. Locals back in the day called these
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: outcrops the Seven Hunters. For centuries, no one lived there permanently.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Gaelic shepherds would sail out in summer to graze their
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  Speaker 2: sheep on the windswept grass of the largest isle, Eileen Moor,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: but tradition forbade anyone from staying overnight. Old superstition said
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the islands belonged exclusively to the seabirds, the restless dead,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: and an ancient Celtic saint named Flannan. If you stayed
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: after sundown, you were inviting misfortune. By the late 19th century,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: modern industry cared very little for ancient superstitions. Transatlantic trade
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: was booming. Huge steamers carrying steel, timber, and hundreds of
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: human lives cut through the treacherous minch waters every single week.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: In 1899, the Northern Lighthouse Board finished an engineering marvel.
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  Speaker 2: A gleaming white 75-foot stone lighthouse perched atop a cliff
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  Speaker 2: over 200 feet above the crashing North Atlantic surf on
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  Speaker 2: Eileen Moore. The beacon went live in December of 1899.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: It was designed to pierce 24 nautical miles of pitch
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  Speaker 2: black freezing fog to keep ships from smashing against the
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  Speaker 2: granite crags. The lighthouse required three men on duty around
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  Speaker 2: the clock, with the rotating fourth man taking leave back
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: on the Isle of Lewis. It was a grueling, bone-chilling assignment,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: but it carried steady pay and immense pride. In December 1900,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: almost exactly one year after the beacon was first lit,
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  Speaker 2: three veteran keepers climbed the 160 steep stone steps from
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  Speaker 2: the landing jetty to take their rotation. Within two weeks,
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  Speaker 2: all three were gone. They left behind a clean kitchen,
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  Speaker 2: all the lighthouse equipment polished and ready to run, and
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: a single raincoat hanging on the peg. Historians have spent
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: more than a century trying to piece together what happened.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: To really see how strange this is, you have to
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: know who these men were. These were not rookies and
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: they weren't careless. They were grown, experienced men who knew
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  Speaker 2: how dangerous the ocean could be. The man in charge
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  Speaker 2: was James Ducotte, the head keeper. James was 43, married,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: and had four kids back home. He'd spent over 20
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: years working lighthouses. He was known for doing everything strictly
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: by the book. He knew every single nut, bolt, gear,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: and gallon of lamp oil in that place, and he
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  Speaker 2: didn't cut corners. His second-in-command was 28-year-old Thomas Marshall. Thomas
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: grew up around boats and water his whole life. He
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  Speaker 2: was strong, dependable, and known around the docks as an
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  Speaker 2: upbeat hard worker. The third guy was 40-year-old Donald MacArthur.
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  Speaker 2: Donald was filling in because the regular assistant had gotten
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  Speaker 2: sick on the mainland. He lived on the nearby coast
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  Speaker 2: and knew the local weather and rough waters better than
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: just about anybody. On December 7, 1900, a boat dropped James, Thomas,
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  Speaker 2: and Donald off on the island. They were supposed to
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: stay for two weeks until their shift swap on December 20th.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Working a lighthouse back then was a round-the-clock job with
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: strict rules. Every morning at daylight, the men turned the
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: big oil lamp off, wiped down the glass, and pulled
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  Speaker 2: down window shades so the sun wouldn't bake the equipment.
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  Speaker 2: At sunset, they lit the lamp and wound up the
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  Speaker 2: heavy clockwork weights that made the light turn in circles
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  Speaker 2: all night long. They had to write down the temperature, wind,
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  Speaker 2: and how much oil they burned every single day. Most
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  Speaker 2: important of all, The rulebook said at least one man
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  Speaker 2: had to stay inside the living quarters or the tower
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  Speaker 2: at all times. You never, ever left the lighthouse completely empty.
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  Speaker 2: The first sign of trouble came on the night of
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  Speaker 2: December 15th. A big cargo ship heading to port in
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  Speaker 2: Scotland was fighting through nasty weather. Right around midnight, the
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: ship captain looked out through the rain, expecting to see
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  Speaker 2: the bright flash from the Flannan lighthouse. There was nothing.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: The whole island was pitch black. The captain had to
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: steer his ship blind past the rocks. When he finally
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: docked three days later, he reported that the lighthouse was out.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: But thanks to bad weather, bad timing, and slow mail,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: that warning got buried on an office desk on the mainland. Meanwhile,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: the relief boat with fresh supplies and groceries was supposed
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  Speaker 2: to head out on December 20th. A brutal winter storm
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  Speaker 2: blew in, kicking up giant waves and freezing winds that
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  Speaker 2: trapped the supply boat in harbor for almost a week.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't until the day after Christmas, December 26th, that
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  Speaker 2: the water calmed down enough for the crew to make
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  Speaker 2: the trip. Riding on that boat was Joseph Moore, the
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  Speaker 2: fourth keeper who had been resting at home, ready to
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: take his turn on the rock and hand-deliver Christmas letters
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  Speaker 2: to the guys. As the boat pulled up near the
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: island around lunchtime, Everyone on deck got a sick feeling
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  Speaker 2: in their stomach. The flag that the keepers always raised
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  Speaker 2: to say, We see you coming, wasn't flying. There were
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  Speaker 2: no supply boxes waiting down by the water. The captain
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  Speaker 2: blasted the ship's loud horn and fired a signal flare
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  Speaker 2: into the sky. Nothing moved. Not a single person came out.
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  Speaker 2: Joseph Moore hopped into a little rowboat. He rowed to
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  Speaker 2: the rocks. and climbed the steep stone steps by himself.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: He ran up toward the lighthouse, shouting for James, Thomas,
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  Speaker 2: and Donald. When Moore got to the compound, the gate
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  Speaker 2: and the front door were shut tight. He opened the
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  Speaker 2: door and walked inside. The house was freezing cold and
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: dead quiet. In the kitchen, the fire was long gone,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: leaving behind nothing but cold gray ashes. The clock hanging
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: on the wall had run down and stopped ticking. Looking
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: at the unmade beds, it was obvious the men had
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: gotten up in the morning and gone about their day
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  Speaker 2: like usual. He figured there might have been an accident happened.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Maybe the lamp machinery broke down. Instead, the whole room
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  Speaker 2: was spotless. The brass gears were polished clean. The lamp
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: wicks were trimmed. The oil tank was filled to the brim.
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  Speaker 2: Even the sunshades were pulled shut over the glass lenses,
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  Speaker 2: exactly like they were supposed to do every morning after sunrise.
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  Speaker 2: Everything was clean, tuned up, and ready to go for
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  Speaker 2: the night. The only thing missing was the men. Moore
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  Speaker 2: ran back down the cliff to the boat, shaken and
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  Speaker 2: white as a sheet. The captain sent four more crew
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: members ashore right away to comb every foot of the island,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: searching through every ditch, rock pile, and shed. That evening,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: the captain sent an urgent message back to the mainland. Quote,
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  Speaker 2: a dreadful accident has happened at the Flannans. The three keepers, Ducat, Marshall,
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  Speaker 2: and the occasional have disappeared from the island. The clocks
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: were stopped and other signs indicated that the accident must
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: have happened about a week ago. Poor fellas, they must
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: have been blown over the cliffs or drowned off the
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  Speaker 2: landing trying to secure a crane or something. End quote.
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  Speaker 2: The search crew checked the logbooks to see when the
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  Speaker 2: men were last heard from. Over the years, people made
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: up spooky stories claiming the men went crazy and wrote
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: weird stuff about crying and praying during storms that didn't exist.
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  Speaker 2: None of that is true. Those were just ghost tales
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  Speaker 2: people made up later on. The real story is right
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  Speaker 2: there in the paperwork. The official big leather logbook hadn't
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: been written in since December 13th. But out on the island,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: the keepers wrote down their daily notes on a little
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: handheld chalkboard first, planning to copy it into the nice
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: book later. On that chalkboard, in Thomas Marshall's neat handwriting,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: were the daily weather notes for Friday, December 14th. and
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  Speaker 2: the morning note for Saturday, December 15th. At 9 a.m.
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  Speaker 2: on Saturday the 15th, Thomas wrote down the wind, the temperature,
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  Speaker 2: and the air pressure. He wrote down the light had
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  Speaker 2: been put out at sunrise, and their morning chores were done.
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  Speaker 2: That meant that at 9 a.m. on Saturday, December 15th,
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  Speaker 2: all three men were alive, fine, and doing their jobs.
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  Speaker 2: Yet by midnight that very night, when that cargo ship
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: sailed past, the lighthouse was pitch black. Whatever happened to
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: these men happened in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon. Then
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: the searchers looked at the coat pegs by the door.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: In the coat closet, two heavy raincoats and a pair
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  Speaker 2: of waterproof boots were missing, but the third heavy coat,
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: belonging to Donald MacArthur, was still hanging right on its peg.
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  Speaker 2: Why would Donald walk outside onto an icy, freezing cliff
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  Speaker 2: in the middle of winter in just his shirt and pants?
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  Speaker 2: The answer was waiting down at the west boat dock.
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  Speaker 2: The island had two spots to type a boat, an
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  Speaker 2: east landing and a west landing, depending on which way
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  Speaker 2: the wind was blowing. A few days later, the boss
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  Speaker 2: of the lighthouse service, Robert Muirhead, who personally knew and
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  Speaker 2: hired all three men, came out to run the investigation.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: When Muirhead walked down the trail to the west dock,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: he was shocked by what he saw. Over 100 feet
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  Speaker 2: above the waterline, heavy iron railings that had been bolted
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  Speaker 2: straight into solid rock were twisted up like paper clips.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: A heavy wooden gearbox that held ropes and crane equipment,
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  Speaker 2: anchored deep in a crack in the rock way up
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  Speaker 2: above the water, had been ripped completely out of the stone,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: smashed to bits, and thrown everywhere. Even higher up, nearly
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: 200 feet above the water, chunks of grass and dirt
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: had been peeled right off the cliff. Muirhead realized that
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: a freak monster wave had slammed that rock with insane power.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: He figured out what had to have happened. That Saturday afternoon,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: James and Thomas probably looked down and saw huge waves
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: starting to beat up the gear on the lower dock.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: They put on their heavy boots and raincoats and ran
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: down to tie everything down before it washed away. Donald
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: stayed behind in the warm lighthouse just like the rule
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  Speaker 2: book said to do. While James and Thomas were down
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: there working on the wet rocks, an enormous rogue wave
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: came out of nowhere and crashed right over the cliff edge.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Donald was probably looking out the lighthouse window and watched
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: his two friends get hit by that wall of water.
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  Speaker 2: In pure panic, ignoring the rules, his coat, and everything else,
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  Speaker 2: he sprinted down those stone steps in his shirt sleeves
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: to try and throw them a rope. Before he could
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: reach them, a second wave surged up the rock and
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: swept Donald right into the freezing sea with them. In
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: water that cold, a person only lasts a few minutes
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  Speaker 2: before hyperthermia takes over. The undercurrent pulled all three of
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: them out into the deep Atlantic, and not a single
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  Speaker 2: piece of them was ever found. In the official records,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: next to the names James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald MacArthur,
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  Speaker 2: somebody wrote one simple line. Disappeared on or about December 15, 1900.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: And that was that. Three lighthouse keepers went out to
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  Speaker 2: a tiny island in the middle of the North Atlantic
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  Speaker 2: to work a normal shift. A few days later, the
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: relief crew showed up to find an empty lighthouse, a
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: cold fireplace, unmade beds, and one raincoat still hanging by
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: the door. No bodies were ever found. Now, you know
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: folks have been telling ghost stories about that island ever since.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Maybe a huge wave took them. Maybe somebody heard something
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: out in that storm and went to go look. Or
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: maybe on a dark December night with the wind screaming
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: around that lonely lighthouse, something on Eileen Moore called those
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: three men outside. Nobody knows. But I do know this.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: If I was on a cold rocky island in the
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: middle of the ocean and the lighthouse light went out,
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: I would be locking my doors, pulling up my covers,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: and waiting for daylight. Alright, that's going to do it
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: for today's A Little Less Mess. You guys come back
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: here on Thursday for our full southern case with Stew
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: and Me. Until then, stay safe, lock your doors, and
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: keep that porch light on. Bye, everyone.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Don't you know it's bad luck to be superstitious But
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: nothing else is working And.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: My head is.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Really hurting And I'm sick of all this worrying About
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: things
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: I can't control