Some Strange Scent of Death
by Angela J Elliott – first published 2005
The Flannan Isles are
located 21 miles west of Gallan Head on the Isle of Lewis. They are comprised of 7 islands and numerous rocks. There are 2 main islands - Eilean Mor and
Eilean Tighe.
This
is a fictionalised account of the real life disappearance of the 3 lighthouse
keepers from the island of Eilean Mor on the Flannan Isles in December
1900. All the main characters in the
book, except for a very persistent American journalist, were real people and the
text is interspersed with the Northern Lighthouse Board’s original records of
the incident. The plot is a little
thin, as it is widely accepted that the keepers were washed off one of the
landing places by exceptionally large waves and that is all there is to the
story. However this is a very readable
book, which examines the effect of the disappearance of his friends and
colleagues on the mental health of the remaining keeper, Joseph Moore. He was
at the shore base at the time of the incident and he discovered their
disappearance on his return to the Flannan Isles. The book also explores the other theories about the incident, including
the notion that the keepers had been spirited away by a phantom, captured by
passing pirates or swallowed by a sea monster!
The title of the book is taken from a quotation from the poem The
Flannan Isle by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson. 7/10
Islands covered - Eilean Mor, Flannan Isles and Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides
Looking west from Garenin on the Isle of Lewis towards the Flannan Isles
