"Flannan Isle" is an

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

poem by

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (2 October 1878 – 26 May 1962) was a British Georgian poet, who was associated with World War I but continued publishing poetry into the 1940s and 1950s. Early work Gibson was born in Hexham, Northumberland. His parents ...

, 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.

Text

The poem begins: The remaining stanzas record the increasing tension of the relief party as they search the lighthouse and island, finding no sign of life but three strange birds that plunge from sight. At the ending, conscious of Flannan Isle's history of unexplained tragedies:

In popular culture

The poem "Flannan Isle" is quoted by

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is best known for having played the Fourth Doctor, fourth and longest-serving incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television ...

the Doctor The Doctor, sometimes known as Doctor Who, is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called th ...

at the end of the ''

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'' story ''

Horror of Fang Rock ''Horror of Fang Rock'' is the first serial of the 15th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 September 1977. The serial is set on the ficti ...

'', 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 Hector Zazou (11 July 1948 – 8 September 2008) was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists. He worked on his own and other artists' albums, inclu ...

adapted an extract of the poem "Flannan Isle" as a song entitled "The Lighthouse". Lead vocals were performed by

Siouxsie Sioux Susan Janet Ballion (born 27 May 1957), better known by her stage name Siouxsie Sioux (, ), is an English singer and songwriter. She came to prominence as the leader and main lyricist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, who w ...

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...

, and backing vocals were provided by a female Nanai shaman. The

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

song "The Mystery of Flannan Isle Lighthouse" (on ''Archive 1967-75'') is based on the incident as is the opera '' The Lighthouse'' by

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

. 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. 2018 Scottish thriller film '' The Vanishing'' is set in the Flannan Isles. The play "Keepers of the Light" written by Izzy Gray (granddaughter of a former Lighthouse Keeper who served on the Flannan Isles) is based on the incident.

References

Edition

External links

Text of ''Flannan Isle''
{{Authority control English poems 1912 poems