About 1000 miles southeast of the Hawaiian Islands lies the island of Palmyra, which consists of many small islets. From the outside, it looks like a real paradise: untouched nature, lush vegetation, lagoons, reefs and a premonition of disaster lurking among them.
A whole chain of tragic events took place in the history of Palmyra. It all began in 1798, when the American ship "Betsy", heading from America to Asia, fell victim to coastal reefs. The blame was poor visibility due to foggy weather.
Many who tried to swim to the island drowned or were eaten by sharks. Those who managed to miraculously escape, told later that they would never again want to be on this cursed land again. During the two months they were there, out of 10 people, only three survived. The survivors claimed that everyone else was destroyed by the island.
The island was fixed on the map and became known as Palmyra after the name of the ship that crashed off its coast. And this is not the only tragedy associated with Palmyra.
In 1816, the Spanish caravel "Esperanta" was caught in a terrible storm, which broke out in a matter of minutes. When the caravel hit the reefs and began to sink slowly, the storm began to diminish and also suddenly died down. The crew was rescued by a passing Brazilian ship. The captain of "Esperanta" carefully entered the coordinates of all reefs on the map, but, sailing a year later in the same place, he did not find them …
In 1870, the American ship "Angel" disappeared off the coast of Palmyra. The corpses of the team members were later found on Palmyra. All of them reportedly died a violent death, but who killed them is unknown. Sailors still claim that this island is a cursed place and it is better to bypass it.
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Scientist Mershan Marin believes that Palmyra has a strong negative aura of a living organism, and like a magnet attracts living beings to itself. According to the scientist, Palmyra has many oddities and mysteries. The weather there changes almost instantly. The nature is beautiful, but in the magnificent lagoons there are a huge number of sharks, the fish are inedible, since the algae in these places emit harmful substances. There are many insects, including huge mosquitoes, as well as poisonous lizards, crabs and other animals.
In 1940, the island was taken under the "guardianship" of the United States. During World War II, the American government used it to attack Japan. One of the soldiers of the garrison located on the island during wartime, Joe Brow, says that when he arrived there, he considered himself lucky, since the place looked like a real paradise. But in reality, everything turned out to be far from so wonderful.
“Everyone on the island was scared,” recalls Brau. “Some were afraid to approach the water, because they thought they would be swallowed by sharks. Others insisted that if they did not leave the island right now, something terrible would happen. There were several mysterious suicides among the soldiers of the garrison. In addition, the island aroused an incomprehensible anger in people. The soldiers quarreled, there were fights and murders."
In 1974, Hughes and his wife went to Palmyra on their yacht. At first, Hughes kept in touch with the dispatchers by radio, then the connection was cut off. The authorities decided to send a boat in search of the missing yacht. She was soon discovered off the island of Palmyra. But there were no people. A few days later, the dismembered bodies of the spouses were found in the sand near the water. They were arranged in a special way. Who and why committed this crime is unknown
In early 1990, Norman Sanders and his friends visited the mysterious island. “I didn’t believe the rumors about the strangeness happening on the island,” said Sun Shchors later. - “But I had to be convinced on my own skin that Palmyra is one of the most mysterious places on earth. We came to the island at night. I was not on deck, but immediately felt that we were close. A strange melancholy and loneliness seized me,”Sanders recalled.
The day was a magnificent blue ocean, blue sky and bright gentle sun, but all this did not please people. As one of them later admitted, the mood was such that "I wanted to jump overboard or hang myself." People stayed on the island for about a month, although at first they expected to spend much more time there. Sanders does not hide the reason: "During our stay on the island, we turned from friends into bitter enemies." Devices on the island often junked, and sometimes did not work at all. Returning from the voyage, all crew members found that they were behind the times.
They returned on April 24, according to their calculations, although it was already 25. The hours of all members of the expedition went completely normal and did not stop. Where the whole day disappeared remained a mystery.
Now the island is again uninhabited, but the false paradise continues to attract desperate sailors.