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Mysteries involving lighthouses

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Mysteries Involving Lighthouses — Daily trivia Tuesday, May 5, 2026: questions and answers

All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily

  1. Q 01Enthusiasts of which phenomenon claim the two keepers who disappeared from Great Isaac lighthouse?

    • AThe Bermuda Triangle
    • BThe Mary Celeste curse
    • CBall lightning
    • DThe Sargasso Sea vortex
    Show answer

    The Bermuda Triangle

    The brine

    The Bermuda Triangle. The station was found undisturbed but abandoned and neither keeper was ever found, though a tropical storm had passed close by days earlier.

  2. Q 02Which Gerard Butler film is based on the real disappearance of three Scottish lighthouse keepers?

    • AThe Vanishing
    • BThe Beacon
    • CThe Lamplighter
    • DThe Fog
    Show answer

    The Vanishing

    The brine

    The Vanishing. Previously titled Keepers, it stars Butler as James Ducat, one of the real keepers who went missing.

  3. Q 03Three keepers vanished without trace from which remote Scottish light station?

    • AFlannan Isles Lighthouse
    • BMuckle Flugga Lighthouse
    • CNeist Point Lighthouse
    • DBell Rock Lighthouse
    Show answer

    Flannan Isles Lighthouse

    The brine

    Flannan Isles Lighthouse. A passing steamer saw no light on 15 December, and two keepers' seaboots and oilskins were gone, suggesting they had gone down to the landing in a storm.

  4. Q 04Where does the 'overturned chair and uneaten meal' detail of the Flannan Isles mystery come from?

    • AA 1912 ballad by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
    • BThe Northern Lighthouse Board inquiry
    • CA Doctor Who episode
    • DA forged keeper's logbook
    Show answer

    A 1912 ballad by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

    The brine

    A 1912 ballad by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson. The relief keeper actually found the gate and door shut, the clock stopped and the kitchen tidied.

  5. Q 05In the Smalls Lighthouse tragedy, what was the surviving keeper's main fear about his dead colleague's body?

    • AThat wild animals would desecrate the body
    • BThat the smell would attract unwanted attention from passing ships
    • CThat the isolation would cause him to go insane if the body remained
    • DThat he would be accused of murder if he cast the body into the sea
    Show answer

    That he would be accused of murder if he cast the body into the sea

    The brine

    That he would be accused of murder if he cast the body into the sea. Thomas Howell lashed a makeshift coffin outside instead, and afterwards the lighthouse was staffed by three keepers.

  6. Q 06Which English lighthouse was the first designed to run on alternating electric current?

    • ASouter Lighthouse
    • BLongstone Lighthouse
    • CSt Mary's Lighthouse
    • DEddystone Lighthouse
    Show answer

    Souter Lighthouse

    The brine

    Souter Lighthouse. From January 1871, steam-powered generators fed its carbon arc lamp, forcing a current to jump between two carbon rods.

  7. Q 07Which Connecticut lighthouse standing alone off the Thames River mouth is said to be haunted by 'Ernie'?

    • AStonington Harbor Light
    • BNew London Ledge Light
    • CStratford Point Light
    • DSaybrook Breakwater Light
    Show answer

    New London Ledge Light

    The brine

    New London Ledge Light. Ghost Hunters investigators found too little evidence of a haunting there, despite a few unexplained cold spots.

  8. Q 08At which isolated Scottish lighthouse did a visitor find a keeper shot dead?

    • ABass Rock Lighthouse
    • BIsle of May Lighthouse
    • CLittle Ross Island Lighthouse
    • DTarbat Ness Lighthouse
    Show answer

    Little Ross Island Lighthouse

    The brine

    Little Ross Island Lighthouse. The local RNLI secretary and his son found relief keeper Hugh Clark dead, and fellow keeper Robert Dickson was convicted of his murder.

  9. Q 09While fighting a fire at the Eddystone Lighthouse, what did 94-year-old keeper Henry Hall swallow?

    • AMolten glass
    • BBurning tallow
    • CMolten lead
    • DHot pitch
    Show answer

    Molten lead

    The brine

    Molten lead. When he died days later, physician Edward Spry found a flat lump of lead in his stomach and reported the case to the Royal Society.

  10. Q 10On which Pacific atoll did a Mexican lighthouse keeper rule surviving women as 'king' until he was killed?

    • AEaster Island
    • BTristan da Cunha
    • CPitcairn Island
    • DClipperton Island
    Show answer

    Clipperton Island

    The brine

    Clipperton Island. Governor Ramón Arnaud had refused an offer to evacuate the colony, sure a supply ship was coming, and USS Yorktown rescued the last women and children in July 1917.

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