Flannan Isle
Flannan Isle is a famous English language poem by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, first published in 1912. It refers to a mysterious incident that occurred on the Flannan Isles in 1900, when three lighthouse-keepers disappeared without explanation.[1]
In popular culture
The poem Flannan Isle is quoted by Tom Baker as the Doctor at the end of the Doctor Who story Horror of Fang Rock, which was set on a lighthouse and involved an alien explanation for the tragedy that befell the three keepers there and survivors of a shipwreck.
For the 1994 album Chansons des mers froides (Songs from the Cold Seas), French producer Hector Zazou adapted an extract of the poem Flannan Isle as a song entitled The Lighthouse. Lead vocals were performed by Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees, and backing vocals were provided by a female Nanai shaman.
The Genesis song The Mystery of Flannan Isle Lighthouse (on Archive 1967-75) is based on the incident.
Likewise the opera The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies.
The novel Some Strange Scent of Death by Angela J Elliott takes its name from a line in the poem and tells of the disappearance of the lighthouse keepers.
The main story of the video game Dark Fall II: Lights Out contains characters and locations related to the incident.
Notes
- ↑ Flannan Isle poetry-archive.com Retrieved 8 Jan 2011.