I'm sure that most of us have watched at least an episode or two of the popular series, Lost. A planeful of assorted characters crashland on a deserted island and encounter experiences ranging from terrifying to the downright bizarre. No one knows where they are or if anyone is even looking for them but survival, which was paramount at first, slowly takes a backseat to the unravelling mystery that is the nature of the island itself, which seems to have a cunning intelligence and a sinister purpose in bringing this particular group of people together in the first place. While there isn't anything that farfetched in real-life (that i know of), there does exist an island that might interest you Lost fans...the island of Palmyra.
A haven for endangered flora and fauna, Palmyra is actually an atoll which is formed by the growth of coral around the rim of an ancient ocean volcano that has sunk below the surface of the sea over eons of geologic time, giving the classic atoll a circular or horseshoe shape. Palmyra is located at 5 degrees, 52 minutes North, 162 degrees, 6 minutes West, a virtual speck in the vastness that is the Pacific Ocean. It is also of interest that in proximity lie the legendary deep trenches of the Pacific : the Mariana Trench and the Tonga Abyss, the deepest points on the earth.
It is totally uninhabited and is the last intact marine wilderness in the U.S Tropics. An extract from the National Geographic:
It is something of a mystery that people never colonized Palmyra. For 20,000 years, since the peak of the last ice age, its coral base has gradually followed the rising sea level and slowly developed into the splendid, living atoll it is today. Many scholars believe that Polynesian navigators would have found this high coral nub, a peak on the Line Islands underwater mountain chain that runs on a northwest-southeast diagonal across the tropics of the central Pacific. But for whatever reason—its small size, its remote location—the Polynesians didn't stay.
At one time, it was proposed that Palmyra become a nuclear waste dump (???) but thankfully, better sense won out and the atoll was designated a National Wildlife Refuge in 2001. The reason for this becomes clear when you consider the facts:
Clockwise from top left : - Bristle-thighed curlew - Butterfly fish - Coconut crab - Palm trees
Palmyra is home to more than 130 species of stony coral, several times more than in the Florida keys and three times more coral species than ALL the Hawaiian islands combined - a fact that makes you thankful they decided to nuke (pun not intended) the nuclear waste dump proposition. The reason for such an abundance of coral species is because the island is almost smack in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and is in the area of convergence for the North and South Equatorial Current as well as the Equatorial Countercurrent.
This means that Palmyra is seeded by larvae carried from every direction. Also, Palmyra is home to endangered monk seals, pilot whales, bottle-nosed dolphins, hawksbill turtles, black-tip sharks, tiger sharks, manta rays and giant clams. Globally threatened green sea turtles nest on Palmyra’s white sand beaches. The atoll is also home to the world’s largest land based invertebrate, the coconut crab, so named because of its ability to crack open a coconut with its huge claws
The abundance of flora is also supported by light winds and lots of rain. Palmyra receives about 175 inches of rain a year and is covered with lush tropical vegetation, including one of last remaining stands of Pisonia Grandis, a rare tropical forest type found only on wet atolls. Able to reach a height of a hundred feet, these huge trees are a valuable habitat for vast colonies of seabirds. The massive growths use the coral rock as a foundation and on other islands, are in danger of disappearing altogether due to clearing efforts by the inhabitants.
But enough of the classroom stuff...on to the mystery behind this island paradise...
The first seemingly paranormal experience occured back in 1798 by an American sea captain, Edmond Fanning. What transpired was that the captain had retired to his berth at 9pm as usual but awoke about an hour later to find himself out on the upper steps of the companionway. This worried him as he had never walked in his sleep before but he returned to his berth and fell asleep again. He managed to sleep for less than an hour when he awoke to find himself at the same spot on the companionway again. This occured again for the third time and this time, it convinced Fanning that it was 'supernatural intervention' at work and decided to give orders for the ship to furl sails for the night. With the crew thinking their captain was finally unbalanced, he returned to a fitful sleep. In the morning as they came about and resumed their course, they hadn't sailed far when they discovered breakers one mile ahead and they could even hear the roaring of the breakers. Everyone on board realised that if they had continued along their course for another half hour, none of them would be alive come daybreak. The reef would have ripped the bottom out of their ship.
Though this was the first discovery of the island. the captain failed to make a timely report and the credit for the discovery went to another captain in 1802 by the name of Swale, whose ship Palmyra the island was named after.
Several other incidents add to the fantastic reputation of the island:
The spanish treasure ship, the Esperanza, wrecked on the reefs of the island in 1816. The crew allegedly buried their treasure beneath a palm grove on Palmyra. After being stranded for a year, they set out on three fabricated rafts. Two of the rafts were never seen again but the remaining vessel was rescued by an American whaling ship. The sole survivor of the raft died shortly after sharing the story of his ship. The treasure has never been found to this day.
In 1855, a whaling ship was reported to have wrecked on Palmyra's reef. The ship or its crew were never found.
The US Navy used the island as a naval air facility during World War II and served as a base for long-range air patrols during 1914-1916. Hal Horton, a former Navy officer was stationed on Palmyra from 1942 to 1944 and had this to say about the island:
"Once one of our patrol planes went down near the island. We searched and searched but didn’t find so much as a bolt or piece of metal. It was weird. Like they’d dropped off the edge of the earth. Another time, a plane took of from the runway, climbed to a couple hundred feet, and turned in the wrong direction. They were supposed to go north and they went south instead. It was broad daylight. We never could figure it out. There were two men aboard that plane. We never saw them again. We had some very bad luck on that island. Old salts in the Pacific called it the Palmyra Curse. (The island)...is very small. You (could) fly over it at ten thousand feet and not see it if there (were) a few clouds in the sky. Once we heard a plane over head trying to find us, but he crashed in the drink before he could find the runway. We didn’t get to the poor guy fast enough. Sharks found him first."
Yachting couple Malcolm "Mac" and Eleanor "Muff" Graham were killed on Palmyra in 1974. Subsequent trials revealed that they were most likely killed for their sailboat, the Sea Wind, and the food stores on board. Ex-convict and federal fugitive Buck Walker and girlfriend Stephanie Stearns, who were living on the island at the time, sailed into Ala Wai Harbor aboard the repainted Sea Wind and were promptly arrested for theft. In 1980, Sharon and Robert Jordan discovered a skull and bones (which seemed to have fallen out of World War II-era metal box) while beachcombing on Palmyra. The remains proved to be those of Muff Graham; Mac Graham's body was never found...
In 1977, yachtsman Richard Taylor commented after spending some time on Palmyra :
"I had a foreboding feeling about the island. It was more than just the fact that it was a ghost-type island...I can't put my finger on specifically why..."
In 1989, the sailboat Sea Dreamer, crewed by the Graham Hughes family was pushed off course and onto Palmyra Island. After a brief stay, they set sail again but vanished. An extensive search was mounted but not a trace was found.
Though the list isn't as extensive as those of other sites of suspected paranormality, the accounts collected from the people who have experienced 'something' on the island gives us a little insight into the nature of the island. In my opinion, it is possible that being so primal and wild, the island is never meant for human contact for prolonged periods. It could be the resting place of some of nature's wildest spirits, primordial forces that have no other place to go. In a different context, it could be said that the nature devas residing on Palmyra do not like to be disturbed and benevolence can turn in the blink of an eye. We must learn to respect nature in all its forms and recognise the power behind the natural forces that govern our environment. I fully support the US government's measures to protect Palmyra from human hands that seem to stain all it comes into contact with...and in the process, protect us from Palmyra as well. Whether the grisly incidents are merely coincidental, i appreciate the sense of wonderment it has evoked in me till this moment and pray that it will continue to do so till the end of my days.
I'm sure that most of us have watched at least an episode or two of the popular series, Lost. A planeful of assorted characters crashland on a deserted island and encounter experiences ranging from terrifying to the downright bizarre. No one knows where they are or if anyone is even looking for them but survival, which was paramount at first, slowly takes a backseat to the unravelling mystery that is the nature of the island itself, which seems to have a cunning intelligence and a sinister purpose in bringing this particular group of people together in the first place. While there isn't anything that farfetched in real-life (that i know of), there does exist an island that might interest you Lost fans...the island of Palmyra. 
A haven for endangered flora and fauna, Palmyra is actually an atoll which is formed by the growth of coral around the rim of an ancient ocean volcano that has sunk below the surface of the sea over eons of geologic time, giving the classic atoll a circular or horseshoe shape. Palmyra is located at 5 degrees, 52 minutes North, 162 degrees, 6 minutes West, a virtual speck in the vastness that is the Pacific Ocean. It is also of interest that in proximity lie the legendary deep trenches of the Pacific : the Mariana Trench and the Tonga Abyss, the deepest points on the earth.
The abundance of flora is also supported by light winds and lots of rain. Palmyra receives about 175 inches of rain a year and is covered with lush tropical vegetation, including one of last remaining stands of Pisonia Grandis, a rare tropical forest type found only on wet atolls. Able to reach a height of a hundred feet, these huge trees are a valuable habitat for vast colonies of seabirds. The massive growths use the coral rock as a foundation and on other islands, are in danger of disappearing altogether due to clearing efforts by the inhabitants.
