Palmyra, an idyllic paradise in the north Pacific, is known for its stunning beauty, but also has a reputation as being a cursed place imbued with evil.

While commonly referred to as an island, Palmyra is actually an atoll – a ring formed by coral formations growing along the rim of an ancient sunken volcano. Halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa, the atoll has no permanent residents, but it has a diversity of wildlife, and is home to a vibrant, thriving coral reef system.

Sounds like an ideal place to get away from it all, right? Not so fast. The atoll has been dogged by stories of supernatural events, curious mysteries, and unexplainable happenings since it was discovered in 1798. Those that have landed here have reported an impending sense of doom or seeing lights and jutting coral reefs where there was nothing moments before. As yachtsman Richard Taylor, who spent some time on the island in 1977, said, "I had a foreboding feeling about the island. It was more than just the fact that it was a ghost-type island. It seemed to be an unfriendly place to be. I've been on a number of atolls, but Palmyra was different. I can't put my finger on specifically why, but it was not an island that I enjoyed being on."

Then there's the mysterious and grisly double murder of a couple visiting the island in 1974. Malcolm "Mac" Graham III, 43, and Eleanor LaVerne "Muff" Graham, 40, were yachting around the Pacific on their impressive sailboat called the Sea Wind, and they had unfortunately chosen the wrong island to camp on. Buck Duane Walker, an ex-con, had also sailed to Palmyra that summer with his girlfriend, Stephanie Stearns. The Grahams soon disappeared. Walker and Stearns sailed the Sea Wind back to Hawaii and upon anchoring, were arrested for boat theft. Six years later, the bones of Muff Graham washed up in Palmyra. Mac's body was never found. Buck Sterns was convicted of Muff's murder in 1985.

Currently, the only known residents of Palmyra are climate scientists that are sometimes stationed on the atoll and the occasional thrillseeker.

