Mike Conley's Tales of the Weird: Can anyone shed a light on this mystery?

For more than 100 years, a lonely island along the coast of Scotland has been the home of an enduring mystery. What happened to the three lighthouse keepers who vanished without a trace in December 1900?
Eilean More is one of the Flannen Islands located on the Scottish coast. The name means "big island" in Gaelic. In 1895, construction of a lighthouse was started on the lonely, windswept island. Four years later, the lighthouse was completed and it started operating. Three men, James Ducat, Donald McArthur, and Thomas Marshall, were given the job of taking care of the lonely outpost. For ships passing through there, the lighthouse's bright beacon helped steer them to safe waters. It could be seen for 24 miles, regardless of the weather, according to a Web site.
But on Dec. 15, 1900, the light mysteriously stopped burning. The steamship Archtor passed by the island and the ship's crew noticed it was not operating. Residents living on the Scottish mainland also saw that the light had gone out. By nightfall, the beacon was still not working. Of course, there was no telephone or any other way to communicate with the three men.
The next day, the weather turned bad and investigators from the mainland could not reach the island. The weather stayed bad for 12 days before the residents could safely make the crossing to see what had happened. On Dec. 27, 1900, the investigators finally arrived at Eilean More.
They found a perfectly calm lighthouse. The lamps were ready to be lit and there was no sign that anything violent had happened there. But the three lighthouse keepers were gone.
The only clues were an up-turned chair, unmade beds and a meal of cold meat and boiled potatoes which lay half eaten on the table. The log kept by the three men indicated there had been a terrifying storm the day before their disappearance. But their final entry on Dec. 15 read that the storm had died down and the sea was calm.
Investigators could never find out what happened to the three lighthouse keepers. For more than 100 years, there have been numerous theories. Some have suggested that the men were the victims of a pirate raid but there were no signs of a struggle. Others think that they were taken away by some kind of sea monster. Another theory holds that one of them went insane, murdered the other two and dumped their bodies in the sea. Then that man killed himself by jumping into the sea as well. But the most plausible theory for their disappearance is that the three men were swept out to sea by some kind of a freak wave.
Alasdair Macaulay, a reporter with BBC Radio, researched the incident and came to that conclusion too. He heard about a nearby woman who was hanging out her wash on that day and saw a massive wall of water coming in from the west. She ran back to the house as this large wave hit the shore. Her washed clothes and washing line were supposedly swept away by the massive wave.
Macaulay thinks that is what happened to the three lighthouse keepers on Eilean More.
Another weird story about the event concerns what happened the night the light went out. The crew of the ship Fairwin were in the area on the night of Dec. 15, 1900. They were trying to find out why the lighthouse wasn't working. They saw a "ghostly longboat across the bow" that was being rowed by three men with pale, almost white faces. The crew of the Fairwin called out to the men and blasted their horn but there was no reply. This added to the legend that the island was haunted, according to a Web site.
The strange disappearance of the three lighthouse keepers is one of Britain's most enduring mysteries. Singer Phil Collins was captivated by the legend and even wrote a song about it. The lighthouse continued to be manned until it was automated in 1971. A Web site states that it is still in operation today.