Keith McCloskey – författare

On 26 December 1900, the vessel Hesperus arrived at Eilean Mor in the remote Outer Hebrides with a relief lighthouseman and fresh provisions. The lighthouse had been in operation for a year, but it had been noted that no light had been seen from Eilean Mor for several days. The relief keeper, Joseph Moore, found the lighthouse to be completely deserted, and a subsequent search of the island failed to reveal any sign of what had happened to the three keepers. The last entry in the logbook had been made on 15 December and contained a number of strange and distressing clues as to the mental states of the men. One was reported to have been crying, while another had become ‘very quiet’. When it was revealed that the men’s oilskin coats were missing and the clock in the lighthouse had stopped, theories surrounding the keepers’ fates inevitably proliferated. These included a giant wave washing them away, murder or suicide. Others favoured more esoteric explanations – Eilean Mor was believed to have mystical properties. In The Lighthouse, Keith McCloskey explores this mysterious and chilling story in depth for the first time and reveals a shocking conclusion.

Conspiracy theories of sabotage, murder and even UFOs flourish around the greatest unsolved mysteries of aviation from the twentieth century. This account of the most intriguing loose ends from aeronautical history provides the known details of five great mysteries and the best (and most colourful) attempts to explain what might have happened. Planes disappearing out of the sky, shady dealings with Sri-Lankan businessmen, the plummeting death of the richest man in the world in 1928 and even the Kennedy family all feature in these gripping open cases. Having previously written about the Dyatlov Pass Incident and cast his detail-oriented eye over many other aviation mishaps, Keith McCloskey now turns his attention to reassessing these five mysteries –all of which occurred over water, none of them ever resolved.