"Unseen Cuba" author Marius Jovaisa spent five years arranging to take aerial photography of the island. He visits Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero to show some of his most spectacular photographs. Photo: Marius Jovaisa

"Unseen Cuba" author Marius Jovaisa spent five years arranging to take aerial photography of the island. He visits Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero to show some of his most spectacular photographs. Photo: Marius Jovaisa

THESE five pristine islands look so very inviting but appearances can be deceiving; each is cursed with its own horrifying history.

PALMYRA ATOLL

Located 1600km south of Hawaii, Palmyra Atoll is a territory owned by the United States and said to be “a cursed place imbued with evil”.

The atoll was formed by a ring of coral growing along the rim of an ancient sunken volcano. Over the centuries, the reef has been blamed for several shipwrecks, one of which led to rumours of a cache of gold on the land, and is said to be haunted by the ghosts of dead sailors.

Palmyra also became notorious for ships vanishing without a trace, with seafarers telling tales of vessels entering its waters never to be seen again.

In 1855, a whaling ship reportedly ran aground on the atoll’s treacherous reef but when authorities from the mainland arrived to investigate its fate, no debris or survivors could be found.

During World War II, Palmyra was used by the US Navy as a staging area for air raids against Japan. The navy also used the atoll as a refuelling station for long-range air patrols and passing submarines. It was said that soldiers stationed there were plagued with panic attacks and an inexplicable feeling of impending doom. There were also reports of frequent violent outbursts and a number of suicides.

In 1974, Palmyra was the scene of a gruesome double murder. San Diego couple Eleanor “Muff” Graham and Malcolm “Mac” Graham disappeared on August 29 during a sailing trip from Hawaii to Palmyra.

An ex-convict called Buck Duane Walker and his girlfriend Stephanie Stearns were later charged with their murders after Eleanor’s broken and bleached bones were found on Palmyra beach. Her husband’s body was never found and presumed dumped at sea.

DAKSA ISLAND

With its pristine woodland, private beaches and very own monastery, this Mediterranean isle looks like the perfect getaway.

Yet Croatia’s Daksa Island has been on the market for five years without a single buyer showing interest — despite the owners slashing the $A3 million asking price in half.

This is because in 1944, forty-eight people accused of being Nazi sympathisers were executed here. Naturally, their ghosts are said to haunt the island, scaring off tourists and potential investors.

LAZZARETTO NUOVO

Lazzaretto Nuovo sits at the mouth of a lagoon that flows into Venice, Italy, and was originally home to a monastery.

In the 15th century, authorities designated it a quarantine area for ships approaching Venice, to protect the city from the plague. This continued until the 18th century, when the quarantine facilities were abandoned and converted into a military base.

The Italian Army gave up on the site in 1975 and it suffered years of neglect. Community efforts have since turned it into a cultural museum site, now supported by the Italian Ministry of Arts and Culture. The island is currently open for tourism but remains uninhabited.

SNAKE ISLAND

This island off Brazil is uninhabited because it is literally overrun by a species of one of the word’s most poisonous snakes. The golden lancehead viper is five times more potent than other snakes with a venom that can melt human flesh.

The predominant theory is that 11,000 years ago sea levels rose and separated the island from Brazil, which left the snakes on the island with limited sources of food save for migrating birds.

Dozens of people are said to have been killed by snakes on the island before authorities on the mainland declared it a no-go zone.

According to one story, a fisherman drifted to the island after he lost power in the engines of his boat. Unaware of the dangers, he decided to explore. When his boat was eventually discovered, he was found dead in a pool of blood covered in snake bites.

Another story is of the last lighthouse keeper to inhabit the island with his family.

Rumour has it they ran in terror when snakes crawled in through their windows; their bodies were later found scattered across the island.

CLIPPERTON ISLAND

Clipperton Island was originally discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, but was later named after John Clipperton, an English pirate who led a mutiny against William Dampier in 1704.

According to folklore, Clipperton hid treasure on the atoll but this has never been found.

More than 100 years later, the island was taken over by an American guano (a type of phosphate-rich manure excreted by seabirds and bats) mining company.

In 1857, the French disputed America’s claim to Clipperton, declaring the island was in fact part of Tahiti. In 1897, after several years of no permanent settlement, Mexico moved in and established a military outpost on the island.

In 1906, the British Pacific Island Company annexed Clipperton, building a joint township with the Mexican government in order to mine guano. In that year, a lighthouse was also erected. In 1914, about 100 people, mixed men and women, lived on the island. Every two months, a ship from Acapulco went to the island to bring food. However, with the start of the Mexican civil war, the atoll was no longer reachable by ship, and the people on the island were on their own.

By 1915, most of the inhabitants had died. The last settlers had wanted to leave on the American war ship Lexington, which had reached the atoll in late 1915, but the Mexican military governor declared that evacuation was not necessary.

By 1917, all the men on the island had died except the lighthouse keeper, along with 15 women. By July that year, all but three of the women had died were picked up by the American ship Yorktown.

Ownership of Clipperton was then disputed between France and Mexico. France approached the Vatican for a decision on who owned the lonely atoll. In 1930, the Vatican gave the rights to the King of Italy, Vikor Emanuel II, who declared one year later that Clipperton was a part of France. When Clipperton was finally declared as a French possession, the lighthouse was rebuilt and the French settled a military outpost on the island. The outpost only remained for there seven years and then the French abandoned it.

It has remained uninhabited ever since.