### **Episode 68: The Flannan Isles Lighthouse Mystery** **Three men vanished. An unlit lantern. A clock frozen in time.** In December 1900, a supply ship arrived at the remote **Flannan Isles Lighthouse** (Eilean Mòr) off the coast of Scotland, expecting to be greeted by the station's crew. Instead, they were met with total silence. When relief keeper Joseph Moore climbed up to the isolated tower, he stepped into an eerie scene: a cold kitchen fire, a main clock stopped in its tracks, unmade beds, and a logbook whose entries ended abruptly on December 15th. Down at the western landing, the physical evidence was even more unsettling—heavy iron safety railings were twisted out of shape, a supply crane box was smashed, and a stone block weighing over a ton had been dislodged and thrown high up the cliffs over 100 feet above sea level. Curiously, while two sets of heavy waterproof gear were gone, veteran sailor Donald MacArthur had apparently rushed out into a brutal winter gale wearing only his shirt sleeves. Where did James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald MacArthur disappear to without leaving a single trace or body behind? Was it a catastrophic **rogue wave**, a sudden descent into **cabin fever**, or something far more uncanny lurking in the Scottish mist? Join Paul and Michelle in **Episode 68** as they unpack the official reports, the baffling physical clues, and a century’s worth of wild theories—ranging from rogue surges to phantom ships and sea monsters
In December 1900, relief keeper Joseph Moore stepped onto the isolated Scottish rock of Eilean Mòr to find the Flannan Isles Lighthouse completely deserted. The main door was closed but unlocked, the kitchen fire cold, the station clock stopped, and two sets of heavy waterproof coats and boots were missing. Most baffling of all, veteran sailor Donald MacArthur had left his coat hanging behind, apparently rushing out into a raging winter gale wearing only his shirt sleeves.
Down at the western landing—over 100 feet above sea level—investigators found heavy iron safety railings twisted like wire and a solid block of stone weighing over 2,000 pounds dislodged from the cliffs.
What caused three experienced keepers to vanish without a trace? In this episode, hosts Paul and Michelle dig into the uncanny official findings, the sudden stop of the logbook, and over a century of wild explanations ranging from tragic freak waves to phantom ships and psychological breaking points.
SC-EP-68-Flannan-Isles-Lighthouse-Mystery
Paul: [00:00:00] And we're gonna go in five, four, three, two, one. Hello, Michelle.
Michelle: Hi, Paul.
Paul: Hello, dragon.
Michelle: Hi, Paul.
Paul: Uh-huh. How are you? Hi,
Michelle: Paul.
Paul: Handsome little man you are.
Michelle: Mm.
Paul: And welcome everybody in North America and around the world. We are grateful that you have come to join us. We, you are in the Spooky Coop.
Michelle: You sure are.
Paul: And for those of you who are listening to us on our podcast rather than watching us on YouTube, thank you for joining us as well. You always have the option to come over and see Michelle and I li- on YouTube recorded. We haven't done any live shows yet.
Michelle: Not yet.
Paul: And I'll-
Michelle: I got sniffles.
Paul: For those of you who have been listening and watching, please subscribe.
Michelle: Mm-hmm.
Paul: Please give us a thumbs up.
Michelle: It means a lot to us old people. I mean, you know, we're gonna die.
Paul: Yeah.
Michelle: It doesn't cost you anything. It doesn't hurt. Yeah. Just subscribe, [00:01:00] you know, hit the bell.
Paul: Okay.
Michelle: Hit the hype button.
Paul: Hit the hype button, right. So
Michelle: today- Tell your friends ...
Paul: today-
Michelle: Say, "You wanna see a couple of lunatics?"
Paul: Today we're going across the pond, I believe. Everybody grab a blanket.
Michelle: Everybody grab your script.
Paul: Brew something hot that probably shouldn't, you probably should not be drinking in the dark, and lock your doors. Today we're taking a trip across the pond To England
Michelle: Uh, Scotland
Paul: And Scotland
Michelle: Mm-hmm, Scotland
Paul: And maybe Wales, by Ireland.
Michelle: Oh.
Paul: Somewhere in there.
Michelle: Mm-hmm. That's because this week we're going to do another in our series of two
Paul: Yes
Michelle: A long series. Um, anyway, we're gonna cover another eerie story. A lot of people think this story happened in New England, but it didn't. It happened kind of in old England.
Paul: In old England,
Michelle: yeah. Yeah, in old England.
Mm-hmm. [00:02:00] And it's like a story about another lighthouse, that's our series of two, and about the lighthouse keepers there who completely- Mm-hmm ... vanished. Some of you are gonna know this story, but I think we have our own little- Right ... spin on it maybe.
Paul: So like you said, the funny thing is that as much as New England has its share of top-tier coastal ghost stories and spooky lighthouses-
Michelle: Mm-hmm
Paul: that legend actually didn't happen in New England at all.
Michelle: Nope. It's a classic piece of folklore, but it's not just folklore, it really happened. Mm-hmm. Um, and it's a story that's worthy of Stephen King himself. Oh, Paul, you remember I told you that long time ago when I worked out, um, out in Burlington near Boston?
Yes. I used to drive down the highway almost exactly the same time as I would see Stephen King driving the highway. He had a little red BMW. License plate said, "Spooky." It was really cool.
Paul: Did you say hi?
Michelle: I think it was a BMW. It was a little red car. Mm. I used to wave, and he- He used to- ... would just go. [00:03:00]
Paul: That crazy woman again.
A little dizzy. Oh.
Michelle: Yeah, it's that crazy woman again. Little one. I was, I was the inspiration for Misery. No, I wasn't. I better- Only Your Misery ...
Paul: I better check my feet here. They're still there. Okay. We're good.
Michelle: Only Your Misery. Okay. Anyway, it actually took place, what? In Scotland somewhere?
Paul: Yes, off the wave-lashed western coast of Scotland.
Michelle: Mm. The wave left?
Paul: Yeah. We're talking about the ultimate maritime enigma, the Flannan Isle Lighthouse mystery of December 1900.
Michelle: Can't trust those- Yeah ... century
Paul: changers. That's 126 years ago that this happened.
Michelle: Mm-hmm.
Paul: Three men walked into a tower, locked the door against the winter storm that was happening- Coming at them
at the time, coming at them, and vanished off the face of the earth.
Michelle: Yeah. And it's-
Paul: Without a trace.
Michelle: No, not even a drawing.
Paul: Not even a drawing. Oh, you're so witty today.
Michelle: Yeah. And it was really weird because, uh, the chilling facts [00:04:00] and, uh, it's just like this big mystery because, um, the truth is actually stranger than the fiction.
Why don't you tell them?
Paul: To understand how weird this gets, you have to picture where the Flannan Isles are. Th- there's a cluster of tiny, uninhabited, jagged rocks known locally as the Seven Hunters, and sitting out in the North Atlantic off the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. And it's about as isolated as is humanly possible.
Michelle: Well, yeah, except for ... Never mind.
Paul: The moon?
Michelle: No. No, there's a big, big place ... Never mind.
Paul: Okay It's about as isolated as possible. In 1899, a brand new state-of-the-art stone lighthouse was completed on the main island. Eileen- There's a
Michelle: guy in the top with a lighter ...
Paul: Eileen Moore. Stay off the moors. Eileen Moore, to guide ships away from those deadly ledges.
Michelle: You lean more than who?
Paul: I, who,
Michelle: [00:05:00] who-
Paul: Go ahead, Irene.
Michelle: The man being the lighthouse keeper back then was not a cozy, uh, des- it wasn't a really nice job. You wouldn't have wanted it, you know?
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: Um, we're talking about weeks trapped on this rock, um, with two other men. This is after the three guys in the Smalls Hou- N- Lighthouse.
Two
Paul: guys.
Michelle: No. Yeah, two guys. Three guys. They had to make it three guys after that. They had to make it three
Paul: guys after that.
Michelle: So no, this is three guys. Worldwide Right?
Paul: Yeah.
Michelle: Totally isolated, howling winds, some guy doing this on the
You know, defending the ocean, you know, trying to keep yourself alive out there.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: Uh, the crew was stationed in there in December, and it consisted of three men. Um-
Paul: Experienced men, at that, too.
Michelle: Yep, yep. Yeah. The ke- the primary keeper was James...
Paul: Ducat.
Michelle: Ducat. Ducat.
Paul: James Ducat. Or, or, or, or Duckett if you're from New England, but- Yeah
I would say it's Ducat.
Michelle: Yeah. Okay. Second assistant was [00:06:00] Thomas Marshall. I got that one. And the occasional keeper who happened to be hanging out with them that day was Donald MacArthur. Not Ronald McDonald, Donald MacArthur. And there was also a fourth man, Joseph Moore. He came in the back of the boat- ... and they said, "Well, you're staying."
Paul: Stay off the moors. Yep.
Michelle: Um, who was currently on shore leave, but he decided to stay on the mainland, so he wasn't really there. I can't, I cannot understand that. There was a fourth man, Joseph Moore, who was currently on shore leave on the mainland.
Paul: On the mainland, so he came with them. So he- I guess to drop them off, and then went back
Michelle: Well, so he wasn't actually with
Paul: them.
He wasn't there, no, but he went out with them.
Michelle: You're the one who wrote this.
Paul: I, I was.
Michelle: Now-
Paul: I was smoking nothing nor drinking anything, I swear. So the mainland observers had actually noticed something was wrong a bit early. Passing ships and a local gamekeeper reported that the lighthouse light hadn't been [00:07:00] seen burning for about 10 days leading up to Christmas, but fierce winter storms kept anyone from getting out there to check on them.
Michelle: Basically, their yule log was out.
Paul: Their yule log was out
Michelle: Until December 26th, which was Boxing Day. Now, this is a true story. My older brother had me and my younger brother- Mm ... convinced till I was about, I don't know, 12?
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: That Boxing Day was a day in England that they fought over their presents.
They actually went boxing, like boom, boom, boom, over the presents they got the day before to see who got the best ones.
Paul: It's enough to make me choke.
Michelle: Yeah. Okay. Then a relief ship named the Hesperus-
Paul: Mm-hmm ...
Michelle: yeah, finally managed to anchor there. And I'm not gonna say Eileen Moore because-
Paul: Eileen Moore.
Michelle: Yeah.
Search
Paul: for Moores.
Michelle: And, um, a- and on board was Joseph Moore, I guess that's Eileen's [00:08:00] husband, and, um, the relief keeper came back to do his rotation alongside with a Captain Holdman and, and his crew. And right away, um, something set s- it says something felt wrong.
Paul: Yeah, something felt wrong.
Michelle: Paul.
Paul: Things felt wrong.
Totally off, in fact. Usually, when a relief ship pulls up, the keepers are waiting at the, at the landing stage, waving- I wanna
Michelle: get outta
Paul: here ... waiting, glad to see fresh faces and fresh supplies. Waving.
This time there was total silence. There was no, no flag was flying, and no smoke was coming from their chimney, just empty gray rock, gray rocks and crashing waves.
Michelle: Right out the chimney. Captain Holman blew in, blew the ship's horn. You know, he's like, "Hey, guys, anybody out there?" And nobody came. Nobody, nothing.
Um, so Moore, uh, and a couple of other guys, a couple of crew members went out there, and they climbed all [00:09:00] these steep stones, which I guess they expected the other guys to cle- ski- Mm-hmm ... you know, to climb down.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: So they went up this, and they went into the lighthouse.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: And that's where, like, they freaked out.
Paul: Like- Yeah, and this is where the hair on the back of your neck starts standing up.
Michelle: Mm-hmm.
Paul: Everybody check for attention. Okay.
Michelle: Yep.
Paul: All six hairs.
Michelle: When they got to the main do- all six hairs. When they got to the main door, it was closed, but it wasn't locked.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: And when they stepped inside, they started shouting the names of the guys, you know, in case they were up the stairs or in
Paul: a- Ducote, Marshall- Or in a- MacArthur, where are you all?
Michelle: Yeah, maybe, you know, in case they were in a homemade coffin m-
Paul: Like, like the Smalls Lighthouse.
Michelle: If you don't know what I'm talking about, go watch la- the last video.
Paul: Watch or listen to our last episode about the Smalls Lighthouse.
Michelle: Yeah.
Paul: Yeah, we, uh, we, we, we did a, when, when we talked about the Smalls Lighthouse, somebody wrote in and said, "Oh, you've missed one.
There's one about the three," and we checked, and it's, it's not, it wasn't in New England. It was in [00:10:00] England area proper. And so we decided that this would be really, really funny to do.
Michelle: Hm.
Paul: Um, well, fun, but made funny. So anyway, he walked into the kitchen, and this is where pop culture and poetry have added a few spooky embellishments over the years.
Michelle: Let's go with it.
Paul: Some poets later wrote about an untouched meal and an overturned chair sitting frozen in time.
Michelle: Hm.
Paul: But the actual official report written by Joseph Moore himself is still plenty eerie.
Michelle: Mm, it's 'cause of what they ate. Spooky pancake.
Paul: Spooky pancake.
Michelle: What Moore actually found was this. The kitchen fire had been, uh, had been unlit for days.
It was The situation's main clock, the station's main clock had stopped. No one was there to wind it. Yeah, they had to wind clocks back then.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: Yeah. [00:11:00] The beds were unmade. Unmade?
Paul: Unmade.
Michelle: Which meant I lived
there. He deduced that maybe I didn't live there 'cause I wasn't born for another h- half, more than half century
Paul: Century ...
Michelle: yeah, meaning that the men had got up, didn't bother winding the clock, and-
Paul: Did not make their beds ...
Michelle: no, they didn't.
Paul: And they didn't tuck in their sheets
Michelle: for sure. So they didn't get the gold star.
Paul: No gold star. No fruit cup for them.
Michelle: And nobody had come back.
Paul: Mm-hmm. Yeah. To- And then, yeah, that's right.
Michelle: Yeah.
Paul: And then they checked the hooks where the men hung their heavy outdoor weather gear, their oil skins, and sea boots. There were three men on duty, but two sets of heavy waterproof coats and boots were completely missing.
Michelle: Which meant two of them got dressed, and my thought is they probably grabbed the third one [00:12:00] and th-
Paul: You think that, but there's no proof to that
Michelle: No, there's no proof to that
Paul: No, but so at least two of the men, they rushed out to the teeth of a brutal winter Atlantic storm. But wait, it gets crazier.
Michelle: It has to-
Paul: It has to
if it's
Michelle: on our podcast
Paul: Donald MacArthur's personal coat was left hanging behind, which meant MacArthur, a notoriously rugged, experienced sailor, arr- Matey ... uh, had apparently good one. Had apparently bolted out the door into the- Strong- ... freezing wind and rain wearing just his shirt sleeves. No- Not
Michelle: the shirt
Paul: just shirt sleeves. That's right. No shirt, no waterproof jacket and, and obviously with no time to grab it.
Michelle: Well, we don't know that.
Paul: Seemingly that- He could
Michelle: have just been pay, playing big tough guy
Paul: So the theory goes according to, uh, our man's, uh, report.
Michelle: Well, probably. He doesn't know. He wasn't really there.
Paul: Mm-hmm. Well, this is what he surmi- what [00:13:00] Moore surmised when- Yeah ... he was looking at that.
Michelle: Think about how urgent that was, though, that this guy just ran out without his, uh, without his, you know, his stuff on.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: You know, and, and this was during a bad, bad... You know, just his sleeves. He was only wearing his shirt sleeves.
Paul: This was a Scottish winter gale of- Yeah ... grand proportions.
Michelle: It was just asking for trouble.
Paul: Right. Yeah. Yeah. So they searched the entire island top to bottom. The lighthouse mechanisms were spotless. The lamp was full and clean and ready to be lit, meaning that the last work had likely been done on the afternoon of December 15th.
After that date, the logbook entries just stopped dead.
Michelle: Oh, that reminds me. I'm gonna bother you now. I have a short s- thing if we have time to tell everybody.
Paul: Okay.
Michelle: Okay.
Paul: Later.
Michelle: There were no bodies, no notes, as far as they knew, no survivors, unless they were abducted by aliens or eaten by porpoises or something.
Paul: Hmm.
Michelle: You know, illegal porpoise.
Paul: Yeah. They had no porpoise. [00:14:00]
Michelle: Just an empty stone tower-
Paul: Mm ... on
Michelle: a lonely rock with an unlit lamp.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: Mm-hmm. Yeah, investigators swarmed the island looking for footprints, looking for shark remnants
Paul: Yeah, and when they inspected the western landing, the side of the island exposed to the open Atlantic, they found evidence of a nightmare.
Michelle: It looked like a monster had trashed the place. Heavy iron safety railings along the tramway. Why did they have a tramway? They had a
Paul: tramway.
Michelle: I think it just brought them up and down.
Paul: Wow.
Michelle: Yeah, you know, so they didn't have to rock the, walk the rocks like those other idiots did.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: Yeah. So it was twisted and completely out of shape, massive, heavy iron bars and- I c-
boxes, and-
Paul: They had a crane box used for hauling supplies there, too ...
Michelle: they did. Yeah. And it was, like, all a mess. This thing was 100 [00:15:00] feet over the sea level, and it had been smashed to s- like my microphone.
Paul: And tossed around, like your microphone. Like your $800 microphone.
Michelle: Mm, like my now $600 used microphone.
Paul: And listen to this. A solid block of stone weighing over a ton, over 2,000 pounds, had been dislodged and thrown high up on the cliffs. Whatever hit the western side of Eileen Moore, stay off the moors, was operating with raw, incomprehensible physical power.
Michelle: You know that piece of, um, where was it, that fell down in, in New Hampshire in, um-
Paul: Oh, that stone that recently fell down, yes.
Yeah,
Michelle: that was
Paul: sad. That hanging over, uh,
Michelle: yeah. All the darn mountains are starting to collapse.
Paul: Crumble, yes.
Michelle: Yeah. Anyway, that led official etern- eternities
Paul: Authorities ...
Michelle: authorities
Paul: Eternal
Michelle: authorities ... I'm still thinking of mountains falling down. Um, y- the Northern Lighthouse [00:16:00] Board To put forward the most logical and tragic conclusions, they said it was a massive rogue wave.
Like, massive
Paul: I, I have an alternate theory, which I'll, I will propose at the end of this here, okay?
Michelle: I do, too. Dragons.
Paul: Okay. So, right. So the theory is that James Ducat and Thomas Marshall went down toward the western landing to secure equipment or check the crane during a horrendous surge.
Michelle: That makes a lot of sense.
Oh, my God. Yeah. We're gonna be killed by that huge
Paul: wave. Huge wave that's coming at us- Let's go
Michelle: outside ...
Paul: from the horizon. A massive, unexpected wall of water, a rogue wave, slammed up the fa- the cliff face, towering, towering way higher than anyone expected, and swept them clean off the rock.
Michelle: And seeing his camaraderie, comrades, seeing his friends and coworkers washed away by the sea, that Douglas MacArthur, without any of his [00:17:00] slee- with only his sleeves on.
Paul: No shirt, just the sleeves. Brave Donald MacArthur.
Michelle: Threw, threw down whatever was in his hands, didn't grab any protection, and ran down out to this horrid mess of water and fish flying and Sharknado, and to try to help his friends, and he was swept away by the next wave coming in.
Paul: You make him sound like he was at a blind date or something.
Michelle: How do we know he w- how do we, we don't know- It's, uh, heartbreak- Hey, look, look, Paul. Nobody knows what goes on at lighthouses when no one's there.
Paul: It's like Vegas. Happens on the lighthouse, stays on the
Michelle: lighthouse. Stays on the lighthouse.
Paul: And seeing his comrades, his comrades grabbed by the sea, he threw down whatever he- I already told them that ... he ran down there. And, and it's a heartbreaking explanation, and mechanically it fits a lot of the physical evidence.
It could've- I was just briefly [00:18:00] reiterating ...
Michelle: like I said, it could've been a Sharknado. I've seen the movie.
Paul: Yeah, the m- Both of them ... the missing gear, the smashed landing, the sudden silence. But because human beings love a good ghost story, people weren't satisfied with just a tragic accident. Nope. And so they should not, because a mystery belies all this.
Michelle: Right. Sharknado.
Paul: Sharknado.
Michelle: I mean, it could be anything.
Paul: It could be.
Michelle: Yeah. And
Paul: I'll, I'll tell you my theory at the end.
Michelle: And once the new- well, once the newspapers got ahold of this- Mm-hmm ... in 1900s, the theories were wild.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: Mm-hmm. Worse than mine.
Paul: What are your favorites? We've got the classics: foreign spies kidnapping them, or secret agents whisking them away on a phantom ship.
Michelle: Yeah. Tell me everything you know about salt water.
Paul: Oh. Don't forget the alien abduction angle, my dear.
Michelle: Mm-hmm. Don't forget me. Don't, don't forget to tell me everything you know about salt water.
Paul: Because every good mystery eventually gets blamed on little green men.
Michelle: On a, a little green men? [00:19:00]
Paul: Huh?
Michelle: You said, "On a little green men."
Paul: On- On little green men.
Michelle: It's m- I've never seen a little green man.
Paul: Me either. Gray men, yes.
Michelle: Gray men.
Paul: Green, no.
Michelle: Mm-hmm. Tall, other colored men.
Paul: Uh-huh. Do, do you have a personal dark theory?
Michelle: Yeah, that guy we saw today who was nine, nine and a half, six foot nine. He was massive.
Paul: Oh,
Michelle: yeah. W- Nice looking guy, but just very, very tall.
Paul: Now, now you see here when I was looking this up, they said that there, th- there was this psychological horror movie by Robert Eggers, The Lighthouse. Or, uh, um, or the 2019 film, The Vanishing. But it, it was cabin fever that, that caused this. Oh, yeah. Like- These guys got cabin fever and went nuts ... a
Michelle: gas leak.
Paul: Uh-huh. Yep, they, they, they've... A gas leak? Yep, the violent quarrel theory.
Michelle: That McDonald killed the other two, threw them off out at sea, and then couldn't-
Paul: Yeah ...
Michelle: bear with what he did, so he took off all his [00:20:00] clothes and ran out into the surf?
Paul: And of course, rather than on near the shore, the fight broke out on the, on the cliffs.
You know that, right?
Michelle: Right. Oh, and they were so mad at each other, they ripped up the iron.
Paul: Yeah. And that's right. And, and it
was-
Michelle: Or, or they hadn't had enough, um, red meat- That's right ... so they needed the iron.
Paul: Yeah, and, and they went over the edge in a struggle.
Michelle: Sorry, vegetarians.
Paul: And the last man standing was either washed away or threw himself into the ocean in horror.
Michelle: Oh.
Paul: Now, I, if I may, I, I think I- Okay, what's your theory? I think I know exactly what happened here.
Michelle: Okay.
Paul: There was three giant squid, and they traveled, they migrated from Ireland to Wales, and-
Michelle: So you think it was whales that did
Paul: it? Up, up to... No. No, I do not. And up, up the coast towards Scotland. When they passed by Wales, they picked up a bunch of Welsh weed, and on their way-
Michelle: So they were high
Paul: r- they were high. A- a- and, you know, m- [00:21:00] and as they, they went up the coast, they grabbed some magic mushrooms south of Hadrian's Wall, some of the most powerful in, in the world, and by the time they hit the Scottish coast, they were swilling saltwater scotch. And the combination of those three intoxicants drove them into a, an hysterical, wild, panicked squid- Chaos fest
Michelle: And they-
Paul: And they-
eat them to
Michelle: death ...
Paul: they, and they swam out to Eilean Mòr, stay off the Mòrs, swam out to Eilean Mòr, and they just wreaked havoc. Well- And then when the two guys came out to see what was going on, they said, "Oh, itty bits," and they scooped them up and ate them 'Cause they were
Michelle: so hungry
Paul: And the third ... Exactly.
Yeah, and the third, the third guy came out, and the third squid who got left out went, "Oh, mine," and took up the last one. And then they're throwing rocks, they're twisting metal, and it, it was a, a squid fest.
Michelle: I still think it was Sharknado.
Paul: Giant squid fest.
Michelle: It sounds [00:22:00] plausible, but I really think it was Sharknado.
Paul: Yeah?
Michelle: Simple explanations are always the best. Simple explanations are the best. You know, you know, Occam's razor. Yeah. Simple explanations are always the best.
Paul: Right. It's, it's dramatic, it's cinematic, but there's just one tiny problem. There's just zero evidence.
Michelle: That's right. You know, we're never gonna know.
Paul: No signs of a struggle inside the living quarters, no blood, no broken furniture inside, no angry notes in the lodge. Just a clean, quiet, abruptly abandoned station.
Michelle: And if you have an idea what happened, put it in the comments.
Paul: Yes.
Michelle: Oh, and you can also vote who's right, him or me.
Paul: Giant squid or Sharknado.
Michelle: Mm-hmm.
Paul: Okay.
Michelle: Anyway, so that's what makes it stick, that luring nobody will ever know, you know? Unless, you know.
Paul: Yeah, even a century and a quarter later.
Michelle: Yep.
Paul: Yeah, whether it was a freak rogue wave spawned by a winter tempest or something far more uncanny lurking on the Scottish mist.
Michelle: Hey, if you guys got a good,
Paul: um- We will [00:23:00] truly never know what happened to Ducat, Marshall, and MacArthur on that December afternoon.
Michelle: Unless they were cannibals. And threw the bones over.
Paul: What did the third man do? He consumed himself. He was consumed.
Michelle: Yeah, if you're consumed, if you eat your-
Paul: It
Michelle: just- Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Mm-hmm. If you eat yourself, right, do you lose weight as you eat yourself, or do you gain, or do you stay the same weight because you're eating your own flesh?
Paul: Law of conservation of energy.
Michelle: Mm-hmm.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: Just a question.
Paul: It reminds us of just how small we are when we pit ourselves against the raw, indifferent power of the natural world- Of sharks ... and giant squid, out on the lonely-
Michelle: Dragon, what do you think? ...
Paul: edges of the sea.
Michelle: Dragon's like, "It's past my bedtime."
Paul: So if you've been confusing this with a New England ghost story all your life, you are definitely not alone Next time you're visiting a historic lighthouse on the coast of Maine or Massachusetts and [00:24:00] someone tells you a spooky vanishing tale, just smile, nod, and maybe keep an eye out for any approaching rogue waves, giant squid, flying sharks.
Michelle: I got a, I got a very short New England lighthouse story for you.
Paul: Okay.
Michelle: When I was a kid, and now I looked this up on the internet, I couldn't find it-
Paul: Must be true ...
Michelle: anywhere.
Paul: Oh, no.
Michelle: Okay? Okay. Could not find it anywhere. When I was a kid, um, there was a tale about a lighthouse not far from, uh, where Paul and I live.
Um, and, uh, it's called... What's that lighthouse? Nubble. Nubble Light.
Paul: Nubble. Not Nibble, Nubble.
Michelle: Nubble, Nubble Light, okay? It's in Maine. And, um, there used to be a story we used to tell as kids-
Paul: Mm-hmm ...
Michelle: about this woman, I think her name, they used to say her name was, like, uh, Lucy, Lucy something. Lucy Carpenter or something.
Hmm. And they said that she, that's all automated, and they said that one day she went in there, um, to check the light, and there's, like, a log book, and you [00:25:00] have to write in who, who you were, what day you went in there.
Paul: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: And, um, I don't know if it's true or not, 'cause I've never really checked into it, but they say sometimes they give tours inside there.
And, um, but they say the old log book of the original people who used to be there when there were three of them avoiding sharknados, and, um, she went in there and she logged in. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, "I'm here. This is the date," blah, blah, blah. And then they say that the old keeper showed up to her and- Told her that the light kept going out, and she had to be there to make sure the light was on, and, um, something about some sailors dying 'cause the light went out.
And, uh, supposedly she went crazy, and she went in there and she signed her name and said, um, you know, she checked the light, the light's okay, and then she signed under it, "I have to stay or the light will go out and all will die." And then they never found her again. They said no one e- she never [00:26:00] checked out.
She never logged out. Like- Mm ... I guess, you know, she never ... We said punched out, but-
Paul: Mm-hmm ...
Michelle: um, and then she, her ghost still haunts the place.
Paul: Curious. You have to cross a body of water to get onto the island, so I mean- Yeah, you
Michelle: have to.
Paul: Yeah ... yeah, and it's choppy water as well.
Michelle: Yep.
Paul: That's where we saw with, when our kids were young, we were out there and, and in the evening we saw all sorts of little gold lights.
Yeah,
Michelle: little lo- luminescent, um, uh-
Paul: Life form, and it would travel around. It followed us
Michelle: every- Yeah, it was so wild ...
Paul: much.
Michelle: It
Paul: was
Michelle: very strange. Maybe b- maybe it knew people were gonna sh- sh- uh, feed it or something. There's like little, um, what do they call those things?
Paul: We couldn't tell if it was, uh, naturally occurring, a phenomenon, or if it was something truly supernatural.
Michelle: Yeah, 'cause it was bigger than the luminescence you see on-
Paul: Right ...
Michelle: uh, like when you go online and you- Mm ... look at luminescent water. And it wasn't blue. All the luminescent waters we've seen online are blue.
Paul: Yeah. Regardless, it was a magical-
Michelle: It was so
Paul: cool ... afternoon.
Michelle: Yeah.
Paul: And [00:27:00] there is something magical about lighthouses, and especially stories where people vanish without a trace.
Michelle: Yeah. Hey, guys, if you've ever toured a haunted l- lighthouse or seen something around a launted, a launted hou- sehouse. Mm-hmm. Uh, you know, we're just normally this way. Anyway, uh, let us know
Paul: Oh, God
Michelle: He won't kiss me with the dragon here. Hey, if you have a story about dragons, let us know
Paul: So anyway, I guess that wraps it up for us. Yeah This, this episode. Thank you everybody in North America and around the world for joining us.
Michelle: Mm-hmm.
Paul: Please subscribe, hit the like button, tell your friends, ask your friends to tell their friends.
Tell your
Michelle: enemies, if you have any.
Paul: Yeah, tell your enemies.
Michelle: Yeah.
Paul: They could become your friends.
Michelle: Yeah.
Paul: Probably not, but in a perfect world, you know.
Michelle: You know, you could be doing worse to them.
Paul: You could be doing-[00:28:00]
That's a double win. Tell your friends and tell your enemies your en- I won't get into it.
Michelle: No, don't
Paul: get
Michelle: into it How, how- You know what? It's pretzel logic
Paul: It is. You're right
Michelle: Mm-hmm
Paul: Without being any more of a pretzel than I already am, I will bid everybody adieu. Thank you so much for joining us. Be good to each other, take care of one another, love each other.
Be safe, be happy. Until next time, when we see you in... In the spooky coop
Off the rails. We went off the rails, my dear
Michelle: I think that's what's gonna make us popular
Paul: Oh, in Quebec they would say very poopular
Michelle: I liked it