When Lighthouse Keepers Disappear...

[jackspring]

I remember being in a Lighthouse many years ago off the coast of Ireland on a small filming project - and at night it was creepy, something about watching the beams of rotating light reaching out into the sea mist in the darkness. Your Smalls Lighthouse piece was excellent. Its hard to fathom how Thomas Howell endured all that he did and still managed to keep the lighthouse going, saving numerous lives while he was living through that.

[MateoVanHouten]

I've heard this story told many times, and I had never thought of a rogue wave. I think it's the only possible explanation. In 1995, ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was hit by two consecutive rogue waves over 90 ft tall each. But in this lighthouse story I think even one wave perfectly explains it. Two men go out to inspect the landings and one rogue wave washes them off the island. The third man, watching this happen from the lighthouse, runs out in their aid and perhaps tries to recue them from the water, and falls in. To me it's the most simple, Occam's razor type of explanation for this story.
Anyway, great content as usual, very nice story-telling and video composition in general.

[timdavies]

The footage is actually the 'Bull Rock' lighthouse which is about a mile off the end of Dursey Island, in Southwest Ireland.

[tammysims]

Rogue wave. Let's face it, they lived on a rock in the middle of the ocean. RIP.

[happysahoo]

It's been only two days since I discovered your channel. I don't think any other channels come even close in the story telling genre. Much appreciated. Great work. Keep it up

[navebushes]

Been to this island and seen the lighthouse, the far far prevailing theory on the island is that they simply went to do some work on the island and were swept away, considering the box of ropes that were on the rocks and the crazy weather was so insane when i went (in summer) it wouldn’t surprise me

[PySimpleGUI]

Rowing upstream through your content and finding brilliance. Incredible writing and storytelling gifts... what a bright future here... your most recent story, EPIC.... Thank you for the calm beauty in a stormy world 🧡

[SeanPat]

The damage to the landing is probably the strongest evidence of what happened.

Around 1950, when I was a little boy, I went with my uncles and aunts to the house of one of my great aunts. I had been there many times before. It was located on a bluff about 50 or 60 feet above the water at high tide. The house was made of stone and quite solid. My great aunt lived there for many years. My family was there to convince her to come and stay with them because of a hurricane that was coming that was reportedly very strong. At the time I was living on Parade Street in Providence Rhode Island. The street was lined with huge trees and the city decided to cut them all down to avoid damage if they were blown down. The storm was that big.

By great aunt did not want to leave her house because she had weathered many storms in her house. However, my family prevailed and she agreed to go live with another one of my great aunts.

After the storm passed, I went with my family to bring my great aunt back to her house. We got there and initially thought we might’ve made a wrong turn because we didn’t see the house. Finally, one of my uncles found the foundation. There was not a trace left of that stone house.

Green water can do a lot of damage and a monster wave is definitely a possibility. Whether there was one or two of them is an open question, but there could’ve been some minor damage at that landing which the three of them we’re either inspecting or trying to repair when the monster wave came in.

[greenman]

"never found anything to indicate where they had gone."
Uh...that great huge watery thing that surrounded them. It was pretty obvious.
And waves hitting100ft above the water line is not that unusual, for lighthouse sites.
The Fastnet Lighthouse was struck by a wave about 154 feet in 1985
In 1986 The Eagle Island lighthouse, whose lights was 220feet above sea level, was repeatedly struck by waves which broke the glass at the top. On one occasion so much water poured in through the broken panes at the top of the lighthouse that it was impossible to open the door to entre the lighthouse from the outside. The keepers had to drill through, to let the water drain out, so that they could push the door open (it opened inwards).
The storm waves off the West coast of Ireland and Scotland are something else. It's the North Atlantic.
Eagle Island had 2 lighthouses initially. The site was so storm wracked that a protective wall was built around one of the lighthouses, but a storm still managed to destroy it, despite being sited about 200 feet above high water mark.

[glitchtime]

It’s a DAMN SHAME that this isn’t as popular as it deserves

[samimansour]

Cool detail using the same aspect ratio as the film The Lighthouse for this video.

[ericwieboldt]

Rogue or freak waves are much more common than you think. Not much was known about these waves in 1900 and surely the men wouldn't have expected another wave since rogue waves were accepted as only occurring once every ten thousand years.

[julianyoungnysveen]

Great video! Everything, the editing, the information and all the time you put into these videos make them so enjoyable to watch. One of my favorite mysteries too!

[gregoryvigneault]

It saddens me to say one of the two who had gone out for some reason probably slipped and began to fall off the island at which point the third was called for help and they all ended up falling by accident. The place is wet and uneven. People get boared and curious and accidents happen.

[oscarplant]

landing had lost structural integrity, on investigating the scene one man lost his footing falling into the sea, then one rogue wave catches the other two as they try to assist, likewise, people to crazy stuff when drowning/freezing to death, the man in the water may have dragged one or both of the other in with him... BUT THATS JUST A THEORY :) great content man thankyou <3

[tamonettX]

Tough men manning the lighthouse? What about the tough men who built it? Look at that location. I can't imagine just getting the building supplies there

[kle]

So spooky and mysterious! Excellent video, you have a real talent for storytelling and visual arts. this is by far my favorite channel

[froggyspond]

Man I love this channel. It’s really starting to inspire me to look back into school. Even if there are no jobs for historians, I love this stuff so much. All sorts of history which is why I love this channel. Subject matter is massive and expansive!
Thank you for the content and inspiration

[KaraokeKarsten]

Why did I discover your channel so late? Your videos hit me in just the right ways, my guy!

[irtazajawad]

I cannot describe how amazing your videos are. I like how you structure these and how each of these videos has its own style and aesthetic direction. You should get more recognition brother. Highly underrated.