Feature

The Mystery of The Lighthouse

by Wayne Lee Gay

Peter Maxwell Davies

The disappearance, in December of 1900, of the staff of three keepers at a remote lighthouse in the Flannan Isles of Scotland attracted attention not only throughout the British Isles but across Europe and the English-speaking world.

No human suspect emerged, and no logical scenario entirely explained the obvious fact that three men, presumably living their lives routinely and doing their appointed tasks, were suddenly and simply no longer where they were supposed to be, or, for that matter, anywhere else.

After an initial report from a passing vessel that the lighthouse was not operating, a follow-up investigational landing from the British lighthouse service discovered an eerily calm scene. A single upturned chair in the kitchen of the living quarters provided the only clue of any disturbance; other than that, the lighthouse and living quarters were completely in order, except for the absence of the occupants. Although a mutual accidental death on the storm-wracked coast provides the most reasonable and likely explanation, the public has, in the ensuing decades, created narratives ranging from a murder-suicide to speculation of supernatural intervention and even extra-terrestrial abduction...

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