What Really Happened at the Flannan Isles

It was December 26, 1900, when the supply ship Hesperus finally reached Eilean Mòr. What they found was chilling: no one was there. The lighthouse lamps were spotless and full, ready for use. Two sets of waterproof oilskins were gone, but one still hung right by the door, as if someone had just stepped out. The official investigation concluded that the men had been swept away by giant waves while trying to secure a crane on the west landing during an unusually fierce storm. There's good reason to believe this: that very landing was found destroyed, and huge stone blocks, each weighing more than a ton, had been moved from their original spots. Later, a famous poem was written about the Flannan Isles. It added many dramatic details that people now mistakenly remember as part of the true story.