The Coat on the Pole: Why Harrow Point Was Quietly Watching

The Coat on the Pole: Why Harrow Point Was Quietly Watching

Cold dread begins the moment Sharon Turner finds a dry navy-blue peacoat looped fourteen feet up a cedar relay pole while everything around it is soaked by 2.5 inches of rain - a coat with a laminated Harrow Point tide card and a gas receipt dated September 7, 2014. A marine technician had climbed the lighthouse, confirmed a mysterious thermal anomaly matching a 1988 chart, left the coat on the pole intending to retrieve it, and then vanished; what happened in the thirteen minutes between a radio log entry and the storm's arrival?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of events at Harrow Point, from routine buoy anomalies and analog chart rolls to a thirteen-minute radio log gap and a coat left conspicuously high on a pole, asking whether the anomaly, the coat, or the weather holds the key to Sandra McCarthy's disappearance.

Person: Sandra McCarthy
Date: September 7, 2014
Location: Harrow Point lighthouse and cedar relay pole
Job: Marine data technician at Tidemark Research
Event: Thirteen-minute gap in lighthouse radio log

- The coat was looped over the top rung of a cedar relay pole fourteen feet above the ground.
- Two and a half inches of rain fell on that stretch of Oregon coast since Sunday night while the coat remained dry.
- Sandra filled her gas tank at 4:52 PM and her GPS placed her at the Forest Service Road 41-C turnout at 5:48 PM.
- The lighthouse radio powered on at 6:17 PM and recorded powering off at 6:31 PM, a thirteen-minute span.
- The gas receipt inside the coat was dated September 7, 2014, and the name printed was Sandra McCarthy.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.