Where did these three men go?
April 8, 2019 7:03 AM Subscribe
120 years later and still searching for the missing First men to man the lighthouse on Flannan Isles worked hard against the elements, but three of the four men simply disappeared.
An interesting paper by Mike Dash ( a contributing editor to the Fortean Times) on 'The Vanishing Lighthousemen of Eilean Mor' goes into considerable detail about some of the oft-repeated elements of this tale, including a more sceptical examination of the nature of the logbook entries than is typical. Well worth a read.
posted by Obscure Injoke at 7:52 AM on April 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by Obscure Injoke at 7:52 AM on April 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
One of my favorite mysteries. It would not be out of place as an intro to a tale from the Cthulhu Mythos.
I think Jeff VanderMeer agrees with you.
posted by The Tensor at 8:58 AM on April 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
I think Jeff VanderMeer agrees with you.
posted by The Tensor at 8:58 AM on April 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
I wonder if it was something they ate? Like ergot contaminated flour?
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:02 AM on April 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:02 AM on April 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
Maybe they were eaten by a passing fiberglass shark sculpture.
posted by Quindar Beep at 9:14 AM on April 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Quindar Beep at 9:14 AM on April 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
Looking for the Southern Reach reference, not disappointed! We might want to check somewhere inland if there's a lighthouse that goes down.
posted by TreeRooster at 9:21 AM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by TreeRooster at 9:21 AM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
I was wondering about that, Obscure Injoke. I've read articles on the disappearance before, but without all the logbook entry stuff. It was treated as probably not that mysterious, but most likely a freak wave sweeping one off the tower and the other two drowning trying to rescue him. It fit all the observed facts and occasional huge waves appearing in otherwise relatively calm situations is now well established scientific fact with the increase in automatic monitoring. I can't get the paper without giving academic.edu all my google contacts -- is the logbook info thought to be made up afterwards, or just selectively edited?
posted by tavella at 9:37 AM on April 8, 2019
posted by tavella at 9:37 AM on April 8, 2019
One of my favorite podcasts (the What If podcast) did an episode on this story. So interesting!
posted by sucre at 9:50 AM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by sucre at 9:50 AM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
This story has fascinated people ever since whatever it was happened. There is a pretty well-known poem, Flannan Isle, and it has cropped up in several songs, an opera, and an episode of Dr Who. There are also at least two movies, The Vanishing, which stars Gerard Butler, so is probably terrible, and another, which I can't for the life of me remember the title of.
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:03 AM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:03 AM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
Yes, the paper linked by Obscure Injoke pretty well demolishes the dramatic logbook entries, the half-eaten meal, and the supposedly calm seas as hoaxes and embellishments added after and in contradiction to the official records.
posted by TreeRooster at 10:05 AM on April 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by TreeRooster at 10:05 AM on April 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
Obscure Injoke (or anyone else), is there any other link to the Mike Dash paper? I'd like to read it, but the site wants me to create a subscription and then download the PDF, and that's not doable.
posted by rue72 at 10:35 AM on April 8, 2019
posted by rue72 at 10:35 AM on April 8, 2019
is the logbook info thought to be made up afterwards, or just selectively edited?
The dissection of the problems with the logbook entries is good reading, but this is the most damning bit:
...But firm evidence of fraud does exist – once one returns to original sources not readily accessible to a lazy hoaxer. Both the records of the Northern Lighthouse Board and contemporary press reports make it clear that Flannan station’s log book was kept only up to 13 December, with subsequent entries being noted, in chalk, on a slate for later transfer to the book; the notion of a log extending as late as 15 December is a fallacy. Even if we are charitable, and count the entries on the slate as part of the log proper, it is explicitly stated that the lighthousemen’s last notes (a simple record of the weather conditions) were written at 9am on the morning of 15 December(48). The contemporary record is clear that no entry was made as late as 1pm. This must imply that the supposed log whose entries are quoted so frequently in the Fortean secondary literature is a hoax.
(I did download the article and will try to share it with the folks here who have expressed an interest)
posted by nubs at 10:56 AM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
The dissection of the problems with the logbook entries is good reading, but this is the most damning bit:
...But firm evidence of fraud does exist – once one returns to original sources not readily accessible to a lazy hoaxer. Both the records of the Northern Lighthouse Board and contemporary press reports make it clear that Flannan station’s log book was kept only up to 13 December, with subsequent entries being noted, in chalk, on a slate for later transfer to the book; the notion of a log extending as late as 15 December is a fallacy. Even if we are charitable, and count the entries on the slate as part of the log proper, it is explicitly stated that the lighthousemen’s last notes (a simple record of the weather conditions) were written at 9am on the morning of 15 December(48). The contemporary record is clear that no entry was made as late as 1pm. This must imply that the supposed log whose entries are quoted so frequently in the Fortean secondary literature is a hoax.
(I did download the article and will try to share it with the folks here who have expressed an interest)
posted by nubs at 10:56 AM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
...the site wants me to create a subscription and then download the PDF, and that's not doable.
For me, if I scroll down it loads the text of the PDF into the web page, no download required.
posted by The Tensor at 10:57 AM on April 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
For me, if I scroll down it loads the text of the PDF into the web page, no download required.
posted by The Tensor at 10:57 AM on April 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
A fictional, remorseless god, whose powers are beyond human comprehension and that requires constant human sacrifice is never required as an explanation when the sea is involved.
posted by bdc34 at 11:59 AM on April 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by bdc34 at 11:59 AM on April 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
Yeah, try scrolling down further on the academia.edu site. It wanted me to login/etc. in order to download the paper, but when I scrolled down, there was a deviously-grey down arrow labeled "Read paper", and beneath that, as I scrolled, was the complete paper.
Granted, I'm on a desktop rather than mobile. But you shouldn't have to actually register--it just wants you to think you do.
Very interesting it is, too. It makes very good points about things like the hoax log entries, and the accretion of urban-legendy-Ghost-Ship details like the knocked-over chair and the unfinished food that contradict the initial witness report.
posted by theatro at 12:00 PM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
Granted, I'm on a desktop rather than mobile. But you shouldn't have to actually register--it just wants you to think you do.
Very interesting it is, too. It makes very good points about things like the hoax log entries, and the accretion of urban-legendy-Ghost-Ship details like the knocked-over chair and the unfinished food that contradict the initial witness report.
posted by theatro at 12:00 PM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
Old lighthouse mysteries appeal to me far less since I found out that the light itself typically floated in a bath of mercury and that one of the chief duties of the keeper was maintaining that bath.
posted by jamjam at 1:51 PM on April 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by jamjam at 1:51 PM on April 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
If you'd like to read a credulity-stretching mystery with amnesia and bees set against the backdrop of this old mystery, I have the book for you.
posted by acrasis at 3:50 PM on April 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by acrasis at 3:50 PM on April 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
Huh, I was only just listening to Mark Kermode talk about The Vanishing which is based on this story. Clearly a case of Wittertainment Related Synchronicity.
posted by Fence at 11:50 AM on April 10, 2019
posted by Fence at 11:50 AM on April 10, 2019
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posted by tommasz at 7:44 AM on April 8, 2019 [3 favorites]