Palmyra Island
photo taken from wikimedia.org
Palmyra Island is an atoll located in the Northern Pacific Ocean. An atoll is defined by Wikipedia.org as, “an island of coral that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.” It is south of the Hawaiian islands, and about halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa. It was first discovered in 1798 by a man named Edmund Fanning. This is where the legend of Palmyra begins.
It is believed that while Fanning and his crew were on his ship, one night he was awoken three times for no reason. After the third time, he took this as an omen and stopped the ship for the rest of the night. The next morning, when they again started moving forward on the ship, they hit the atoll only one mile later. If Fanning had never stopped the ship, they would’ve probably died from a collision, hitting land.
Most people believe that this is the reason why Palmyra is involved in many paranormal occurrences. Anyone who has gone to the island reports an aura that is unlike anything they had ever felt before. It is believed that there are many buried treasures from pirates in the land, as well as planes of American fighter pilots from World War II. During the war, many planes mysteriously disappeared, crashing into the one-mile long island.
In the 1970s, Palmyra was the setting for the double murder of Malcolm “Mac” Graham III and Eleanor LaVerne “Muff” Graham. This was recorded and written in Vincent Bugliosi’s book, And the Sea Will Tell. This has been yet another occurrence to solidify people’s belief in strange happenings on the island. To this day, Palmyra lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean as one of the most remote places on earth, leaving it one of the most feared places in the world.
Works Cited/ Further Reading
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/toptenhaunted/hauntedworld/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra_Atoll
