Most mysterious islands don't have smoke monsters or a Dharma Initiative, but even in the real world, there are some surprisingly freaky landmasses hiding out in the ocean. If you're looking to take your next vacation in a place that none of your friends have ever been to — much less heard of — then some of these bizarre secret islands might be right up your alley, while other ones are permanently off-limits to tourists (often for good reasons).
Isola della Gaiola, the cursed island you don't want to live on
Off the coast of Naples, these two tiny islets, linked by a single elevated footbridge, would seem like the ultimate place to soak in the world's beauty. Boasting both ancient Roman ruins and majestic cliffs, it's hard to imagine a more fanciful spot. Some believe Virgil may have taught his students here. But don't get too swept up in the pretty sights because Isola della Gaiola has a nasty reputation.
See, Gaiola's history is haunted by rumors of a "curse." Like the infamous Bermuda Triangle, a number of tragic events have been connected to the island, but whether these are coincidences or a grand mythic conspiracy depends on your point of view. The legend goes that a private man referred to as "the Wizard" lived on the island in the early 1800s. Since then, a long line of wealthy owners have allegedly purchased the island, only for various hideous fates to befall them afterward.
This makes a great story, but the links are a bit tenuous. For example, the island's most famous owner was probably J. Paul Getty, who wrote in his autobiography that he purchased Gaiola around the mid-1960s. According to believers of the "curse," this purchase led to the 1973 kidnapping of his son, an event recently adapted into the Ridley Scott film All the Money in the World. Curse or no curse, the island is now abandoned.
Isla de las Munecas, the island of the dead dolls
It doesn't get much creepier than Isla de las Munecas, which is probably still in the nightmares of anyone who's visited. Not far from Mexico City, the island (technically a small lake peninsula, but whatever) is haunted by the legend of a caretaker, Don Julian Santana, who claimed to have found a dead girl floating in the canal over 50 years ago. Though Santana's family says the dead girl never existed, the caretaker claimed he wanted to help the girl's ghost find happiness in the afterlife. To do this, he began stringing up dolls for her, all over the island. Today, those dolls are hanging from fences, nailed to boards, and drooping from trees, in a display that is both sorrowful and unnerving. The dolls themselves, which include everything from classic porcelain dolls to Barbie dolls, have molded and cracked with age. Many of them are missing eyes, heads, and limbs.
It's said that after devoting so much of his time to appeasing the dead girl's spirit, Santana himself died in 2001, with his corpse supposedly discovered in the exact same canal where he claims to have seen the dead girl. Some locals believe that Santana's spirit has now become a part of the island as well. Today, the island has opened its doors to tourism, and can be visited via a gondola ride through the canals.