One of Scotland’s most enduring enigmas is the mysterious disappearance of the Eilean Mor lighthouse keepers.
For over a century, historians have been piecing together the puzzle of how three men vanished from their posts on the tiny isle off the Scottish coast. To this day, Scots are still in the dark about what really happened.
The tale dates back to December 26, 1900, when Captain James Harvey made a chilling discovery. He had set sail for the Outer Hebrides island in the to deliver provisions to the lighthouse keepers.
However, upon his arrival, he was met with silence as there was nobody there. Subsequently, replacement keeper Joseph Moore was dispatched to the scene.
When he arrived at Eilean Mor, Moore stumbled upon the unsettling truth. The lighthouse was deserted, its door unlocked, and the keepers gone without a trace.
A haunting telegram was swiftly sent to the Northern Lighthouse Board Headquarters in Edinburgh. It declared that a “dreadful accident” had occurred, stating that keepers Thomas Marshall, James Ducat, and Donald MacArthur had “disappeared from the island”.
This prompted a full-scale investigation, during which a lighthouse log was found. The log included entries that suggested a severe storm had battered the island, while also hinting at the deteriorating mental state of the keepers.
The final entry in the logbook, dated December 15, captured the end of a storm and the return to calm seas, ending with the phrase “God is over all”. Robert Muirhead, who led the investigation, believed that the lighthouse keepers were swept away by a massive wave as they tended to a life buoy near the landing stage.
However, the eerie circumstances of their vanishing act have fuelled speculation of more nefarious forces at play. Many people even believe the island to be cursed.
Conspiracy theories have swirled since the disappearance of the lighthouse keepers. These range from pirate abductions and alien encounters to the keepers being devoured by Eilean Mor’s seabirds or even a colossal sea creature.
Yet, author John Love offered a more rational explanation during a 2015 discussion on the topic. Love, who penned A Natural History Of Lighthouses, suggested there was no need to “invoke the sinister or the paranormal” — positing instead that the men were likely dragged out to sea by powerful currents.
However, the true fate of the three men remains shrouded in mystery. It will likely forever be unsolved.
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