Palmyra atoll is a thousand miles south of Hawaii. At first glance, this is a beautiful place, almost an earthly paradise. But in this paradise there is a direct road leading to hell. Palmyra has a lot of weirdness, it's a rather unusual place. The beauty of the island is alluring. There are wonderful sandy beaches, lush vegetation, and beautiful reefs and lagoons.
But if you look closely, the island is alarming. There are many sharks near the atoll, the fish is poisonous due to the content of substances that the algae growing here secrete. On the island itself there are many unpleasant animals: from mosquitoes to poisonous lizards. And the joy of the wonderful climate can quickly disappear due to lightning-fast weather changes.
Since almost the very discovery of the island, everyone who has visited this place has been pursued by an unknown force. And happiness to those who managed to leave alive. After all, the atoll even received its name in honor of the ship, which itself destroyed.
In 1798, the ship "Betsy", heading from America to Asia, was wrecked near the island not marked at that time on the map. 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, only three of them survived. When, two months later, they were rescued by another ship, the survivors said that their comrades were destroyed by the island itself - in fact, this is a huge monster that destroys people!
The island was mapped, and in 1802 it received the name Palmyra - this was the name of the lost ship that crashed near the atoll in the same 1802.
In 1870, the American ship Angel disappeared off the coast of Palmyra. The dead bodies of the crew members were found on the island. All of them died a violent death, but the killer remained unknown.
In 1940, the island came under US jurisdiction. During the Second World War, a military garrison was located there. One of the soldiers, Joe Brow, said that he and his comrades, while on Palmyra, constantly experienced gratuitous fear. Some said that they were afraid of sharks swimming in the water, others in hysterics demanded to leave the island, assuring that otherwise something terrible would happen.
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Indeed, several people committed suicide; unmotivated outbursts of aggression were observed among the soldiers, which led to quarrels, fights and even murders.
Hal Horton, a former naval officer stationed in Palmyra from 1942 to 1944, recounted the following:
“Once one of our patrol planes crashed near the island. We searched for it long and hard, but we didn't even find a bolt or a piece of metal. It was strange and amazing. On another occasion, the plane took off from the runway, climbed about 60 meters and turned in the wrong direction. The plane was believed to fly north, but instead it flew south. The day was clear. We could not understand anything. There were two people on board that we never saw again. We were very unlucky on this island. Seasoned sailors called him damned. One day we heard the sound of an airplane above us looking for us, but it crashed into the water before finding the runway. We didn't get to the guy in time. Sharks were the first to find it."
After the war, people left the island. The government no longer tried to use it - too thin fame surrounded this place.
But in 1974, two people were murdered on Palmyra while sailing on a yacht. According to eyewitness testimony in the ensuing trial, Malcolm "Mac" Graham and Eleanor "Muff" Graham of San Diego were killed, possibly because of their expensive sailing ship Sea Wind and the provision of food on it by former prisoners who settled on the island.
In 1980, the remains of Muff Graham were discovered by another pair of sailors - Sharon and Robert Jordan. Walking along the shore, Sharon Jordan found a skull and bones, which apparently fell from a metal box from World War II, which was washed ashore by the waves. It is amazing that Sharon was exactly in this place and at this time: the next low tide would forever take the bone back to the sea.
Evidence suggests that Muff was either shot or killed with a truncheon, burned with an acetylene burner, dismembered, and her remains placed in a small metal container taken from an old military rescue boat on the island, which was then sunk in the lagoon. … (Mack Graham's body was never found and is believed to have been hidden in a second container somewhere on or near the island.)
John Bryden, a witness at the murder trial, was an adventurer who spent 14 months in Palmyra trying unsuccessfully to grow a coconut plantation. Bryden looked hard to intimidate, but he testified at the trial that "at times Palmyra seemed to portend misfortune."
Tom Wolfe, a yachtsman who was in Palmyra just before the murders, testified in four different trials involving the crime. A month before the trial, Wolfe felt something that once again confirms the influence of a strange force on those who had contact with Palmyra. One morning after a violent storm, Wolfe, whose home is located in Pugit Sound, Washington, went out for a walk to see what the storm could wash ashore.
Just 12 meters from his house, he noticed a cylindrical object carried by the waves onto the rocks. Opening it, he was surprised that the tube contained a navigational map of the island of Palmyra! In detailing this story to one of the defense attorneys at the trial, Wolfe could only wonder what strange forces had brought the map of Palmyra literally to his front porch on the eve of his planned testimony at a critical stage in the trial.
He noted that “the discovery of this damned card caused a fear of something unknown. I'm not superstitious, but I admit it really shocked me. Palmyra seemed to reach out and touch me from a distance of three thousand miles."
Renowned biologist Marchand Marin hypothesized that the island is actually a living being with a very powerful negative aura and capable of trapping people!
However, there are other versions. For example, that a secret magical order has been using Palmyra for their rituals for centuries, or there is an entrance to another dimension.
The latest news about Palmyra Atoll is that a huge number of rats have bred on it. In 2011, they were very successfully poisoned with poisons, but part of the local fauna was destroyed along with the rats. The island has since been restricted for visits, and permission can only be obtained by contacting the American Conservation Service.