Mysterious ghost islands. The most mysterious islands in the world

26.09.2019

Trips

There are many strange things in the world.

Some are created by nature, others are invented by people.

20. La Isla de las Munecas ("Island of Dolls")

This island is located near Mexico City. A man named Don Julian apparently went crazy, abandoned his family and fled to this island, where he hung several dolls to ward off evil spirits. Some time later he drowned.

19. Okunoshima Island

This small island is located in the Sea of Japan, near the city of Takehara. It is also called "Bunny Island". Between 1929 and 1945, the Japanese army used the island as a chemical weapons test site and apparently imported rabbits as test subjects. The rabbits that inhabit the island today are descendants of those same poor animals.

18. Gaiola Island

Not far from the coast of Naples lies the terrible island of Gaiola. Almost every inhabitant of this island has either been killed, drowned, or lives in devastation. Many consider this place cursed and refuse to live here.

17. Deer Island, Thousand Islands Archipelago

At first glance, this island, located near Alexandria Bay, New York, USA, looks like an old island with old houses. But in fact it is the site of the oldest secret society, Skull & Bones, organized by Yale University students.

It is believed that members of this secret society are exclusively members of the highest elite, heirs of the wealthiest and most influential families in the United States. Both in the past and now, members of the Skull and Bones Society occupy the highest positions in the fields of politics, media, finance, as well as in the scientific and educational fields.

16. Floating islands on Lake Titicaca

These islands, created entirely by human hands ka, tied together with reeds and are the property of the local Uros tribe. Long ago, representatives of the tribe created these islands and settled on them to avoid problems with other tribes. Today, this tribe still lives on the islands and engages in fishing and also benefits from tourism.

15. Poveglia Island

This island is one of the most famous in the Venetian Lagoon, which is located in northern Italy. For many years this island served as a "dumping ground" for the sick and dead. At one time, the Romans sent plague victims here.

In 1922, a hospital for the mentally ill was built here and, according to legend, crazy experiments were carried out in this institution. Today the island is uninhabited, moreover, none of the locals even think about visiting it.

14. Alcatraz Island

Located in San Francisco Bay, the island's grounds were originally used as a defensive fort.

After some time, the island was turned into a military prison, and then into a super-secure prison, which housed especially dangerous criminals, as well as those who were caught trying to escape from a previous place of detention. Al Capone himself sat here. Today this place is a museum.

Islands in the Atlantic Ocean

13. Sable Island

Off the coast of Nova Scotia is Sable Island, which is also called the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” All you will find on this island are horses and the wreckage of 350 ships. It is worth noting that images of the island's horses can be found on Canadian stamps and coins in 2005.

It will also be interesting to note that thanks to two counter currents: the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current, the island is moving and its speed is about 200 m/year. This sometimes leads to navigation errors.

12. Queimada Grande or Snake Island (Ilha de Queimada Grande)

The island is located in Atlantic Ocean, near the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Queimada Grande is simply infested with poisonous snakes, and these are not just poisonous, but very poisonous snakes.

Moreover, the Brazilian naval forces prohibit even setting foot on the shore of this island.

11. Fort Boyar

This island took 56 years to build. The stone island fortress project was far from easy - when French troops completed construction in 1857, advances in weapons technology made the island an easy target. This led to Fort Boyar being turned into a prison.

During World War II, German troops used the island for target practice and caused significant damage to the structure. Over the next 20 years, the Fort was abandoned and continued to collapse under the influence of waves, wind and birds. Only later did television become interested in it, the island was bought, necessary work for restoration and began to be used for the television game of the same name.

Islands in the Indian Ocean

10. Christmas Island

This small island is located in the Indian Ocean and is an external territory of Australia. It is the site of one of the largest migrations of representatives of the animal world on Earth.

Every year, about 120 million crabs move from the forests to the shore to breed over the course of a month. This is truly an exciting sight.

9. Socotra Island

The island is located in the northwest Indian Ocean. It is part of the Socotra archipelago and is administered by the Republic of Yemen.

Since this island was isolated from prying eyes for a long time, a wide variety of plants and animals have been preserved here, most of which cannot be found anywhere else on Earth.

8. North Sentinel Island

This island is one of the Andaman Islands located in the Bay of Bengal. Officially, North Sentinel Island is administered by India.

The Sentinelese people live on North Sentinel Island - the aborigines. Their number cannot be accurately determined, since they are hostile to any contact from people outside their civilization. IN given time the island exists in a rather unusual state of limbo.

Islands in the Pacific Ocean

7. Tashiro Island

Also known as "Cat Island", this small Japanese island is a place where about 100 people live and great amount cats and cats.

The animals reportedly arrived on the island in the 1850s to control the rat population that was interfering with the island's silk production.

After years a large number of residents left the island, and the number of cats began to increase. Today, the island's inhabitants consider the animals to be symbols of good luck. Tourists can even spend the night in a house that looks like a cat's abode.

People created amazing legends about these mysterious islands. According to stories, a lot of strange and sometimes frightening things have always happened on these small pieces of land, surrounded on all sides by water!

ISLAND CURSE
There are many islands that have a very bad reputation. Thus, Bulawan (“Killer Island”) in Indonesia allegedly brings misfortune to everyone who tries to explore it. During the war, the plane of Dutch pilot Willem Van der Haage was shot down here. He had to spend more than three years on the island until he was picked up by a passing ship. In March 1993, Van der Haage's mutilated corpse was found in his own home in Seattle (USA). The killer was never found. This case is not isolated. Under unclear circumstances, several more people who visited Bulavan died. This “curse” is associated with pirate treasure, buried on the island. Expeditions were repeatedly sent to search for the treasure. Some even managed to get to the treasure chests stored in the stone mines, but every time at this moment a flood began, and the mines were filled with water, and the treasure hunters either died under a collapse or died after some time for an unknown reason. At least that's what the legends say.

Sable Island in the North Atlantic (Canadian territory) is no less dangerous. This is a “nomadic” island, the surface of which shifts from east to west under the influence of currents at a speed of approximately 230 meters per year. The sable is a long sandbank. The shifting sands of the island swallowed up more than one ship without a trace, which is why Sable earned the nickname “Ship Eater.” When the American steamship Manhassent disappeared into the sands in 1947, lighthouses were installed on the island. This prevented subsequent disasters. However, the few inhabitants of the island - lighthouse keepers and workers of the hydrometeorological station - often observe here the ghosts of ships and their crew members that perished in the quicksand.

THE MYSTERY OF THE ISLAND-MONSTER
In the Pacific Ocean, 1,000 miles southeast of Hawaii, there is a tiny desert island called Palmyra. Its rich plant and animal world quite suitable for a tropical climate. But there is absolutely no place for people in this piece of paradise...

Travelers who happened to visit Palmyra were left with an inexplicable feeling of anxiety. And professional sailors even consider this place cursed and bypass it on the tenth route. Indeed, strange things are happening on Palmyra. For example, the weather there changes dramatically every now and then. Nature is treacherous here. Poisonous algae grow along the coast, which makes the local fish inedible... Staying on the island is also unpleasant because of the sharks, crabs, poisonous lizards and giant mosquitoes that live in the lagoons... But they are not the main danger to sailors.

In 1798, near an island not indicated on the map at that time, the ship Betsy, heading from America to Asia, was wrecked. The ship crashed on the reefs, people tried to escape by swimming, but only ten people made it to the shore - the rest either drowned or were eaten by sharks... However, out of a dozen lucky ones, only three survived. When two months later they were picked up by another ship, the survivors said that their comrades were destroyed by the island itself, which turned into a huge vile monster destroying people!

The island was put on the map, and in 1802 it received the name Palmyra. In 1816, the story of the “wandering reefs” happened... Not far from the island, the Spanish caravel “Esperanta” was caught in a storm. The wind threw her onto the reefs. The damaged ship began to slowly sink into the water, and the terrible storm instantly subsided... Fortunately, the crew members managed to escape: they were taken on board by a passing Brazilian ship. The captain of the caravel managed to put the coordinates of the deadly reefs on the map. But a year later, he did not find any traces of reefs in this place - they seemed to have evaporated! In 1870, the American ship Angel disappeared off the coast of Palmyra. The dead bodies of the crew members were found on the island. They all died violent death, but the identity of the killer remained unknown.

In 1940, the island fell under US jurisdiction. During World War II there was a military garrison there. One of the soldiers serving in the garrison, Joe Brown, said that he and his comrades, while on Palmyra, constantly experienced unreasonable fear. Some said that they were afraid of sharks swimming in the water... Others hysterically demanded to leave the island, assuring that otherwise something terrible would happen... Indeed, several people committed suicide, unmotivated outbursts of aggression were observed among the soldiers, which led to quarrels, fights and even murders...

One day a downed German plane fell on the island. The military saw how, leaving a tail of smoke behind it, the burning car disappeared behind the palm trees. They examined all of Palmyra, but they never found the wreckage, as if the island had swallowed them up...

After the war, people left the island. The government no longer tried to use it - too bad a reputation surrounded this place... However, in 1974, amateur sailor Trem Hughes and his wife Melanie took the risk of going to Palmyra on their own yacht. At first they radioed in contact with Hawaiian dispatchers. But after some time the connection was lost...

Rescuers discovered Hugues' yacht near Palmyra, but the people had disappeared somewhere... And only a few days later they finally managed to find the bodies of the Hugues couple. Someone dismembered them and buried them in the sand on the island. The body parts were laid out in a certain order... Who committed this wild crime remained a mystery: the investigation led nowhere.

In 1990, four curious travelers led by Norman Sanders arrived in Palmyra, again on a yacht. None of them believed the nightmarish stories told about this island. The yacht approached Palmyra at night. As they approached, people were seized with an incomprehensible anxiety. None of them could sleep... The next morning all four gathered on the deck. Despite the fact that the weather was magnificent and there was a beautiful view of the island from the yacht, the depressed mood did not subside. For some reason, mentally healthy and balanced men had difficulty driving away thoughts of suicide - they wanted to jump into the water or hang themselves...

Still, Sanders and his team spent about a month on the island. Something incomprehensible was constantly happening to them there. Firstly, they quarreled every now and then over trifles, hatred for each other flared up in them. Secondly, no serious research could be carried out, since the equipment we took with us regularly broke down. But the biggest mystery was the time lag. According to researchers, they were supposed to return to the mainland on April 24, but it turned out that it was already the 25th! At the same time, none of my friends’ watches were malfunctioning... Where did the whole day go?

The famous biologist Marchand Marin hypothesized that the island is actually a living creature that has a very powerful negative aura and is capable of trapping people!

SACRED OR FORBIDDEN?
The Sorcerer Island on Lovozero (Kola Peninsula) is also called Magic Island. It has the correct shape of a crescent, the sand on the shore is surprisingly clean... And there is a whole bunch of anomalies here: other inexplicable phenomena have been observed on the island more than once.

In the winter of 1976-1977, military doctor V. Strukov, who was serving at the air unit in Severomorsk at that time, went fishing with friends on Koldun. Along the way, one of the boats' motor broke down and was replaced with a new one. But after a few kilometers, the engine of the second boat stalled. The unlucky fishermen had to return. They were advised to take a local Lapp with his own motor as a guide.

Next time they did just that. The old conductor motor actually turned out to be more reliable than the new ones. The Lapp himself told Strukov the history of the island. According to him, there are a lot of mushrooms, berries and fish there, but you can’t take anything with you from there - otherwise it will be bad!

However, his comrades did not listen to him. We caught red fish and collected mushrooms and berries. We had dinner and, in clear weather, set off on our way back. And then a hurricane arose. One of the engines stalled again, and everyone had to move into one boat. The result was overload, and the ship began to sink. The waves were already lashing over the side. And then the guide said that if they want to be saved, they must throw everything that they took with them from the island into the lake.

Friends followed his advice, but the hurricane only intensified... Then the Lapp shouted that they must not have thrown everything away - something remained. One of those present, a colonel, took a transparent pebble the size of a pigeon egg from his pocket and threw it overboard. Almost at the same moment the storm subsided and the sky became clear again.

MIRAGE ISLANDS
There are many myths about non-existent islands. Among them is the legend of the blessed Avalon and the islands inhabited by demons. Thus, according to the belief of the ancient Chinese, an elixir was hidden on the island of Peng Lai in the Pacific Ocean, and on a certain island of Wakwak only women lived and trees grew with fruits similar to female heads. There was, according to legend, a country of headless people. The legends telling about the “devil's islands” are interesting. Some believed that the Atlantic islands were a place of “hell on earth,” a refuge of evil spirits. In 1436, the island of Satanaxio appeared on the map, which means “the hand of Satan.” “There were” “devil islands” in the Newfoundland and Labrador area. According to myth, devils lived on them.

Since the 8th century and throughout the Middle Ages, there has been a legend about the Seven Cities, founded on an island in the Atlantic Ocean by seven Portuguese bishops who hid from the Moors. The Country of Seven Cities received the name Syvola in legends. Similar to this legend is the myth of Quivira, a country in the northeast, where fish the size of horses were once found, and the inhabitants ate from golden dishes. It later turned out that this story was invented by the Indians, trying to get rid of the Spanish conquistador conquerors by sending them on the wrong trail.

From the ancient Greek myth about Jason’s wanderings in search of the Golden Fleece, a legend was born about the Riphean Mountains, located somewhere in Northern Europe, and possibly in Russia. There is even a hypothesis that the Riphean Mountains are the Urals. But it is unlikely that the author of the Argonautica, Apollonius, was interested in geography; rather, his goal was to describe a fantastic place of events, convenient for the course of action. Despite this, the Riphean Mountains appeared on some maps until the early 1700s.

The island of Barsakelmes in the Aral Sea (translated from Kazakh as “You will go and never return”) is famous for the fact that time flows there differently than elsewhere. They say that people who stayed here for only a few years, returning to the continent, suddenly discovered that decades had passed... Nowadays, several people went for a walk at sea on a ship during fog. According to their calculations, the walk took only half an hour. But when they moored to the shore, it turned out that they had been looking for them for 24 hours. There are also rumors about people disappearing without a trace on this island. According to other rumors, the island of Barsakelmes does not exist at all - it’s just a legend...

NIGHTMARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAKE
IN Nizhny Novgorod region, in the Vorotynsky district there is a forest lake called. Locals They tell terrible stories about him. It’s as if there is an island in the middle of a pond that appears and disappears.

Information about this “cursed” place is found in the archives. So, in mid-17th century century, the clerk of the steward Golovin, whose estate included Maloye Plotovo, wrote to the owner: “... the fish became small, and there is a reason for this: an island grew up in the middle of the lake, eighteen fathoms in the crossbar, so the fish left. And on that island, sir, something unusual is happening, you can hear stingy barking, so that there is a ringing in your ears, and the fires of grief are burning, and the earth is howling. Ivashka Pozdeev barely made it out alive: his head was cut, his right leg was broken. He departed in peace on Peter’s Day...”

And here is written evidence from relatively recent times: a letter from the foreman of the Mikhailovsky fishing industry enterprise, Kochurov, addressed to his brother, who lived in Gorky, and dated 1939. It says: “This kind of rastaturia is going on here, you just won’t believe it. Suddenly, out of the blue, an island appeared in Maly Plotov. It was as if he had always been here. Pines grow, reeds, grass - everything is like a plane tree. Mitka Shepelev - he was always cunning and clever - was the first to find out about that island. I decided to pick strawberries: it was mowing time and berry harvest. We, our team, picked him up. None at all - the place is empty. If I had known in advance, I would never have gone. Apparently, the ax fell on a twig and he met with evil spirits on that island. And the bend of a man was buried yesterday. As if its most important goal is to cause human death...” This letter, obviously seized by censorship, bears a resolution with an illegible signature: “Send to the Lyakhovsky mental hospital for examination.”

However, the most interesting story happened recently with local resident Vasily Letov. He went to Maloye Plotovo to fish. But the fish didn’t bite. In search of a catch, Vasily was sailing across the lake in a boat, when he suddenly saw an island. The island is like an island: overgrown with mosses, sedges and ship pines. Only never before Letov, an avid fisherman, I didn’t notice any island here!

Immediately I remembered stories about a disappearing island, where bad things happened to people. But Vasily did not believe in them, because before he had never encountered any devilry. Therefore, he boldly moored to the mossy shore. The pine forest turned out to be full of mushrooms and berries. And not a single path trodden by people, as if no human foot had ever stepped here. And there were no birds to be heard, only the forest was noisy and the water was gurgling somewhere.

Birch and aspen forests followed the pine trees. Letov was surprised that birch trees had twisted branches - this, by the way, often happens in anomalous places. There was also a flower growing under our feet, which the villagers call Datura. It puts a spell on a person, and it seems magical power he has. But Vasily did not stop, he walked past. Something seemed to be calling, beckoning him into the thicket.

The places around are beautiful: flowers, grass, the sun is shining. But Letov somehow felt uneasy. He noticed that the island seemed to be small, but the end of the path was not visible, the forest stretched further and further. Finally he wandered into the wilderness, where the sun's rays did not penetrate. Some mosquitoes fly around, and huge spiders crawl along the trunks. It’s cold, damp, and there are holes in the ground all the time.

The sun suddenly went behind a cloud and it became completely dark. Some shadows glided around and strange sounds began to be heard. He distinguished the bleating of goats, the crowing of roosters and, finally, the heart-rending cry of a child... But where did they come from here? The cacophony of sounds was intensifying, and the eardrums were ready to burst from this satanic “music.” Fortunately, Vasily took a knife with him. Having ripped open the lining, he plugged his ears with scraps of material and moved at random, hoping to get out of this hell. But the devilish voices still reached his ears. Then Letov came up with a brilliant idea. He sang at the top of his lungs: “My native country is wide!”

This had an effect on the evil spirits: the cacophony ceased, and silence fell around. And then a figure stepped out of the darkness. It turned out to be a shaggy monster of the ugliest appearance. However, Vasily did not care who was in front of him - a goblin, a water man or a snowman, who is now found everywhere. He longed for only one thing - salvation! Without thinking twice, the man took out a prepared piece of bread with lard from his pocket and handed it to the monster with the words: “Here, chew it, I’m probably hungry!” The monster did not accept the treat from his hands, but stopped. Then Letov put the bag on the grass. And he immediately made a wish: if the evil spirit takes the gift, it means he will be able to get out of here alive. But he won’t take it... But the “goblin” bent down and picked up the package. And as if the wind had blown him away, he disappeared.

Vasily moved further - wherever his eyes looked. Suddenly there was a smell of tar and sulfur, the ground underfoot swelled and the decay of a grave smelled from there. And then Letov was surrounded by at least a dozen skeletons, reaching out to him with bony hands. This couldn't be real! The man realized that he was most likely hallucinating. To distract himself, he grabbed a blade of grass that was tickling his hand and tried to concentrate on it. At the same time, he convinced himself that all this devilry existed only in his imagination... And then the skeletons disappeared somewhere. There was silence again. Suddenly Letov discovered that he was lying on the very edge of an abyss. Below, the river foamed in a fast flow, and fragments of stones flew upward, scratching his face. He lowered his hand into the abyss. His fingers touched the grass, damp with dew. This means that both the river and the abyss were just a mirage!

Before he had time to think about it, a bloody red glowing pillar appeared in front of him, and in it was someone like a vampire. The creature was naked, covered with red fur, with protruding fangs. It licked its lips and bared its teeth. The only thing left in such a situation was to make jokes.
“The ghoul looks like a doll,” said Vasily. — Not factory-made, probably made at Malaya Arnautskaya in Odessa...

The ghoul also fell through the ground. The fear gradually receded: with evil spirits It turned out to be not so difficult to cope with. Finally, the darkness disappeared somewhere, and day reigned around again. Not far away, Letov saw his boat tied to a tree. As soon as the fisherman got into it, a thunderstorm began.
Sailing away from the shore, Vasily looked back - the island was no longer there! The waves splashed behind him, threatening to drown his simple boat. While our hero got to the shore, he got wet to the skin. Well at least he's alive!

Some researchers believe that such ghost islands are located in a parallel dimension, so not everyone can see them and not always. And these are not actually islands, but some living substance that feeds on human energy. And it “pops up” when it needs another victim to feed it. But there is much more plausible version. Most likely, we are talking about abnormal zones where people experience an altered state of consciousness and visual and auditory hallucinations appear. It is possible that this is due to changes in the magnetic field (for example, during a thunderstorm). Not everyone can withstand such a magnetic “attack” - having experienced the effects of the zone, a person may even die. There is only one way out - stay away from such places!

The world we live in thanks to the internet and accessibility various types transport is becoming more crowded, and there are fewer and fewer mysteries in it. Most of the islands in the world have long been studied, their secrets were discovered many years ago, but still some are still covered with an aura of mystery. We present to your attention ten of the most mysterious islands in the world.
1. Bermeya Island. This island was marked on maps of the 18th century, it was located a few kilometers from the Yucatan Peninsula and was the most remote part of Mexico. However, when expeditions were sent to search for him in the late 90s, Mysterious Island could not be found. It was never discovered and in 2009 it was officially declared non-existent. Where did Bermeya Island disappear to? There are several theories about this, including US intervention and global warming.
2. Renaissance Island. This island was discovered in the 19th century in the Aral Sea. IN Soviet time biological weapons testing was carried out on it, including the development of substances that cause anthrax with tests on animals. After the laboratory became known in the United States, a decision was made to urgently liquidate it. All equipment and personnel were removed, and weapons and chemicals being developed were buried on the island.
3. Earthquake Island. In September 2013, a powerful earthquake occurred in Pakistan, as a result of which an unexpected new island. According to scientists, Earthquake Island is a mud volcano that surfaced due to strong tremors.
4. Magic Island. An island with such an intriguing name is located... outside our planet. In 2013, astronomers, observing Titan, a satellite of Saturn, discovered the appearance of a new island on it. It is believed that this may be an accumulation of solid particles forming land. Since there is a theoretical possibility of simple life forms on Titan, the discovery of this island is an important event for astronomers.
5. Bannerman Island. Bannerman Island is located on the Hudson River, half an hour's drive from New York, and you can see the ruins of a luxurious castle on it. At the end of the 20th century, American tycoon Frank Bannerman, who bought a large number of weapons, built a castle here to store them. In 1920, approximately 200 tons of gunpowder on the island exploded, destroying much of the complex. The island remained closed to the public for a long time, but last year it became accessible to tourists again.
6. Socotra Island. The island of Socotra, located off the coast of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, looks as if it is on some other planet. Not only is the landscape of the island unique, but also many unusual plants and animals, most of which are found nowhere else on earth.
7. Diego Garcia Island. Diego Garcia Island belongs to the large Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. In the 1960s, the island's inhabitants were evicted by the US government, who established a military facility there. The secret American base is located on the island to this day and it is completely impossible to get there as a tourist.
8. Floating island. This one is unique natural object was discovered in 2016 in hard-to-reach places in the province of Buenos Aires (Argentina). The floating island is located in an almost perfectly round lake and resembles an eye from above. A film crew led by director Sergio Nespiler made a scientific documentary about this place called “The Eye.”
9. Partridge Island This island is located in Canada, off the coast of the port of Saint John. In the 19th century, thousands of immigrants came to Canada to escape famine. To avoid the spread of diseases such as typhus, scarlet fever, yellow fever and cholera, Canadian authorities established a quarantine complex on the island. Anyone who was sick was not allowed to leave the island; they died and were buried in mass grave. According to rumors, the grass in this place is saturated emerald color, since it is nourished by the bones of the dead.
10. Easter Island. The island was discovered in 1722 by Dutch sailors and got its name in honor of the Easter holiday. The main attraction of Easter Island is the giant stone statues, of which there are about 900. Scientists still have no idea about their origin consensus, and local residents believe that the statues contain the power of the ancient gods.

There are beautiful islands with pristine nature in the most remote corners of the Earth. Some of them are extremely difficult to get to, but it's worth it.

Okunoshima (Japan) – land of rabbits

This cozy uninhabited island is washed by the waters of the Inland Sea of Japan. Its main feature is the huge number of rabbits that literally filled a small piece of land. They say that at least seven hundred furry inhabitants currently live here, who are very fond of tourists and willingly contact them.

Once upon a time, Okunoshima was inhabited by several families of fishermen. At the end XIX century fortifications were erected on its territory, then a secret military base and a plant were built on the island, where they produced chemical weapons - dangerous poisonous gases. The laboratory functioned until 1945, carefully hiding its existence from the whole world.

As soon as the Second ended World War, the plant was closed, all equipment along with documents was burned, and people were evacuated. Only rabbits remained, previously used as experimental animals. Over the years, their population has increased significantly; the furry animals have literally occupied the entire island and are doing quite well here.

Cocos (Costa Rica) – the island of treasure hunters

Aldabra (Seychelles) – lost atoll

One of the most beautiful atolls in the Indian Ocean is almost impossible to get to because of its inaccessible rocky coast. Thanks to such an isolated position and the complete absence of human activity, the local nature has literally blossomed - the flora and fauna of the island is amazing.

Currently, the atoll has been declared a nature reserve of international importance; there are no tourists here, but sometimes scientists appear who conduct research and keep order on Aldabra. Rare species of animals such as the black parrot, blue dove and flying fox live and thrive on this island.

Brega Atoll resembles a colorful Persian carpet due to the colorful vegetation and exotic flowers. About 130 species of beautiful tropical butterflies live here, this paradise favored by many migratory birds. A great place to relax and gain strength after a long day.

Enderbury Islands (New Zealand) - a deserted haven of penguins

This small piece of land belongs to the volcanic Auckland archipelago, located among the waters of the Pacific Ocean to the south of New Zealand. Relatively recently, scientists discovered on the island traces of an ancient Polynesian settlement that existed on these lands around the 13th-14th centuries.

Currently, the island is completely uninhabited, sometimes it is visited by scientists who study the local flora and fauna. Enderbury was discovered to the world relatively recently - in 1806, by an ordinary crew. This island is favored by yellow-eyed penguins, who feel very at ease on the inhospitable rocky shore.

In addition to them, New Zealand sea lions, Auckland twitters and wild rabbits also live here. It is known that previously victims of shipwrecks found forced shelter on the island, who then safely returned to the “mainland.”

There are many strange things in the world. Some are created by nature, others are invented by people.

There are islands on Earth that have become famous due to their characteristics.

Here are the 20 weirdest islands from all over the world, from the island of wrecked ships to the island where wearing a gas mask is mandatory.

20. La Isla de las Munecas ("Island of Dolls")

19. Okunoshima Island

18. Gaiola Island

17. Deer Island, Thousand Islands Archipelago

16. Floating islands on Lake Titicaca

These islands, entirely man-made, are tied together with reeds and are the domain of the local Uros tribe. Long ago, representatives of the tribe created these islands and settled on them to avoid problems with other tribes. Today, this tribe still lives on the islands and engages in fishing and also benefits from tourism.

15. Poveglia Island

14. Alcatraz Island

Located in San Francisco Bay, the island's grounds were originally used as a defensive fort.

Islands in the Atlantic Ocean

13. Sable Island

12. Queimada Grande or Snake Island (Ilha de Queimada Grande)

The island is located in the Atlantic Ocean, near the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Queimada Grande is simply infested with poisonous snakes, and these are not just poisonous, but very poisonous snakes.

Moreover, the Brazilian naval forces prohibit even setting foot on the shore of this island.

11. Fort Boyar

During World War II, German troops used the island for target practice and caused significant damage to the structure. Over the next 20 years, the Fort was abandoned and continued to collapse under the influence of waves, wind and birds. Only later did television become interested in it, the island was bought, the necessary restoration work was done, and they began to use it for the television game of the same name.

Islands in the Indian Ocean

10. Christmas Island

This small island is located in the Indian Ocean and is an external territory of Australia. It is the site of one of the largest migrations of representatives of the animal world on Earth.

Every year, about 120 million crabs move from the forests to the shore to breed over the course of a month. This is truly an exciting sight.

9. Socotra Island

The island is located in the northwest Indian Ocean. It is part of the Socotra archipelago and is administered by the Republic of Yemen.

Since this island was isolated from prying eyes for a long time, a wide variety of plants and animals have been preserved here, most of which cannot be found anywhere else on Earth.

8. North Sentinel Island

This island is one of the Andaman Islands located in the Bay of Bengal. Officially, North Sentinel Island is administered by India.

The Sentinelese people live on North Sentinel Island - the aborigines. Their number cannot be accurately determined, since they are hostile to any contact from people outside their civilization. The island currently exists in a rather unusual state of limbo.

Islands in the Pacific Ocean

7. Tashiro Island

Also known as "Cat Island", this small Japanese island is home to about 100 people and a huge number of cats.

The animals reportedly arrived on the island in the 1850s to control the rat population that was interfering with the island's silk production.

Over the years, a large number of residents left the island, and the number of cats began to increase. Today, the island's inhabitants consider the animals to be symbols of good luck. Tourists can even spend the night in a house that looks like a cat's abode.

Actually, this is not an island at all, but rather an atoll, i.e. coral island that surrounds the lagoon. This uninhabited paradise in the North Pacific is a place where strange things happen.

It was discovered several hundred years ago, and visitors to the island have reported an eerie sense of doom. And to make the island seem even more sinister, it is worth noting that in 1974, a couple was murdered on it because they chose the wrong place and time for a picnic.

It is reported that an ex-con named Buck Duane Walker was involved in the crime.

5. Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Another island created by man, although not intentionally. Thanks to ocean currents, garbage thrown into the Pacific Ocean gathered in one place.

This place is twice the size of the United States. Don't try to find this spot on Google Earth, as most of the debris consists of small plastic pieces that are partially hidden under water.

4. Hashima Island

Today this former Japanese coal colony looks like a deserted ship. But it used to be one of the most densely populated places on Earth. The Japanese crammed the island with workers from China and Korea during World War II.

As you might have guessed, visiting the island can be an eerie experience.

3. Easter Island

This Chilean island is filled with hundreds of huge statues known as moai. No one knows why the ancient Polynesians created these statues, but one thing is certain - it wasn't easy.

It is worth noting that the statues are made from compressed volcanic ash. Locals believe that these statues contain the supernatural power of the ancestors who worshiped the first king of Easter Island, named Hotu Matu'a.

2. Fiji Islands

Today this place may seem like paradise, but throughout its history it was inhabited by tribes of cannibals. According to one of the travelers, people were tortured on the island and children and the elderly were treated with contempt.

Island on an island

1. Vulcan Point on the island of Luzon

Luzon is the world's only island inside a lake (Taal Island) inside a volcanic island inside a lake inside an island (Vulcan Point) in the Pacific Ocean.

Taal Volcano, which is located on the island, is one of the smallest active volcanoes on the planet. An eruption that occurred between 100,000 and 500,000 years ago caused the volcano's cone to collapse, forming a caldera, and flooding to create Taal Lake.

Further volcanic activity led to the formation of a small island in the middle of Lake Taal. After more than 30 eruptions that occurred since 1572, a small lake formed on the newly formed island.