This Japanese Island Seems Idyllic, But Residents Have To Live With Its Deadly Secret Every Day

Something is amiss on this idyllic-looking island. You wouldn’t guess what’s wrong at first glance. The locals buzz around the streets and fill out the nearby market stalls and eateries. The postcard-worthy landscape wouldn’t give it away, either. But the problem is always there, and in the back of their minds, residents know that their home harbors a life-threatening secret.

It’s a shame, really. Barring this unnerving threat, Miyake-jima is truly very beautiful. That’s probably why the locals have stayed put and why despite the risks, tourists continue to flock there. They’re brave. This dark secret has wreaked havoc in the past, and who’s to say it won’t do it again?

But you can’t deny it: Miyake-jima boasts some of the most gorgeous mountain scenery in all of Asia. There are footpaths and biking routes dotted all over the island. You just need to keep your wits about you! But there’s another – potentially safer – activity you can get involved in, too.

Yes, the Japanese island is a great place to go scuba-diving as well. Why? Simple really. According to The Vale Magazine, dolphins make a habit of popping up in the water around the land. How cool is that? Mind you, we do wonder whether they’d get so close if they knew the dark truth. At least they can make a quick getaway.

To be honest, though, the locals have gotten pretty good at ignoring the threatening nature of their home. If they’re not harvesting the land or taking to the waters to catch fish, they find ways to unwind like everyone else. As we noted before, Miyake-jima is home to bustling markets and busy eateries. And it has holy monuments scattered around, too.

All in all, Miyake-jima seems like the absolute perfect place to visit if you’re in Asia. A real island paradise! Yet the deadly secret continues to hang over it, lurking with menacing purpose in the background. We don’t know about you, but we’d find it tough to unwind knowing that. Dolphins or not.

Anyway, you’re probably curious about Miyake-jima’s location in that part of the world. Whereabouts is it? Well, according to the Earth Observatory website, the island is some 110 miles away from Japan’s capital city, Tokyo. Then again, that doesn’t tell the whole story. Not by a long shot. So strap in, folks.

You see, Miyake-jima sits in a rather infamous part of the Pacific Ocean. It’s called the “Devil’s Sea.” Now that name might sound a little familiar to some of you, but if you’re struggling, it’s got another moniker as well. Yep, the waters are also referred to as the “Pacific Bermuda Triangle.”

It’s indeed the one you’re thinking of: the stretch of ocean where ships seemingly vanish without a trace. And Miyake-jima is nestled within that spooky space. Talk about unfortunate. Imagine living next door to one of the world’s most terrifying beds of water. Coupled with the island’s deadly secret, we’re amazed that the locals aren’t nervous wrecks.

But it’s a testament to the people of Miyake-jima that they aren’t. These residents keep their economy running thanks to the harvesting and angling, alongside the cash from overseas visitors. As for the kids, they have a choice between 12 schools that are open across the island, split between junior high and elementary.

In truth, if you took a snapshot of everyday life on Miyake-jima, it would look like any other island community. There’s just one significant difference, though. Ready? Okay then. The Japanese residents have to be ready to slip on gas masks at all times. No, that’s not a typo! We’re deadly serious.

That must be quite the shock for sailors who’ve managed to traverse the Bermuda Triangle and docked at Miyake-jima. From one spooky place to another! It’s a wonder that they wouldn’t just hop back on their boats. Yet the creepiness of the gas masks isn’t the biggest issue on the island.

Instead, Mount Oyama holds that particular honor. Why? Well, without beating around the bush, it’s a volcano. And an erratic one at that. It’s quite literally in the middle of Miyake-jima, like a hellish heart waiting to explode. Keeping that in mind, let’s go back to the summer of the year 2000.

It’s late June, and life on Miyake-jima seems to be running smoothly. But on the 26th day of the month, the India Today website reported that an earthquake hit the island. Must’ve been quite scary for the locals, right? Unfortunately for them, though, things were about to get much worse.

For the next few weeks, Miyake-jima was beset by even more earthquakes, with the last one coming on July 21, 2000. Care to guess how many there were in total? We don’t think you’ll get it, but give it a go anyway. Got a number? Right. Brace yourselves. According to India Today, the figure was roughly 17,500.

Yes, you’re reading that correctly. Unbelievable, wouldn’t you agree? Due to those thousands of tremors, Miyake-jima’s resident volcano stirred from its slumber. And there was nothing to stop what happened next. Mount Oyama erupted with the full force of a fiery monster, hitting the Japanese island with everything it had.

Magma continuously spilled out of Oyama’s top, becoming lava as it ran from the mountain. The idyllic scenery was bombarded by ash, while rubble fell to the ground below. It was a terrifying sight, yet Miyake-jima was no stranger to the effects of a full-on volcanic eruption at that stage.

You see, Mount Oyama had been “active” for hundreds of years going into 2000. The website History Daily reported that records of its eruptions could even be traced to a time known as the Nara period. This covered 710 to 794 C.E. in Japan, in case you were curious.

Anyway, in more recent times, Oyama started to show a deadly pattern. It erupted back in 1940 and took the lives of 11 residents. Then Miyake-jima went through it all again in 1962, ahead of the next incident in 1983. As you can see, we’re looking at gaps of roughly two decades between them.

And that noticeable pattern only continued with the eruption in 2000. Could it be a truly crazy coincidence? One thing was for sure, though – that incident in the summer had life-changing consequences for everyone living on Miyake-jima. It all came to a head a couple of months later in September.

At that point, Oyama’s exertions showed no signs of stopping. The living conditions on the island suffered as a result, leaving those in charge with very little choice. The locals were told to pack their bags and say goodbye to Miyake-jima. It had become far too dangerous for them to stay.

Just like that, roughly 3,600 individuals were transported away from their home, with the vast majority of them moving into Tokyo. After that, it looked for all the world that nature had reclaimed Miyake-jima. The volcano was all that remained on the island. Yet some time later, the situation changed again.

Fast forward to 2005. Miyake-jima had now been uninhabited for five years, with nothing but Mount Oyama to keep it company. Finally, though, the volcano started to ease off with its exertions. It then got to the stage where people could slowly filter back to their beloved island home. What a journey!

But make no mistake – life didn’t return to normal on the island. For instance, Miyake-jima’s airport stayed closed for another three years once locals started to come back in 2005. And not all of the former inhabitants booked passage to their old homes. Going into 2015, the population figure was a bit lower than 2,800.

So it’s clear that Mount Oyama has left a lasting impact on Miyake-jima. And that brings us back to the gas masks. Yes, there is an important connection between them and the volcano. You see, after the eruption in 2000, dangerous toxins were released into the atmosphere via the earth below.

That was a huge factor behind the initial decision to get everyone to leave Miyake-jima. Yet just because the locals returned, that doesn’t mean the toxins have vanished for good. Instead, Oyama has been consistently pumping sulfur dioxide into the air since the eruption. Pretty unnerving, right? Wait until you see some of the numbers, though.

U.K. newspaper the Daily Express reported that Mount Oyama was leaking 42,000 tons of the stuff each day after it stirred in 2000. Wow! The figures obviously went down to allow people to come back, but the sulfur dioxide hasn’t gone away. So that’s where the gas masks come in.

Now we should probably clarify something here. You’re not forced to slip on a gas mask for every waking moment of the day on the island. Nor are you expected to. The air is breathable, regardless of the sulfur dioxide. The most important thing is that you’ve got one on your person throughout your stay.

Why’s that? Well, if Mount Oyama starts to leak dangerous measurements of the gas, an alert will blare across Miyake-jima. As soon as you hear that, whack the gas masks on pronto. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the middle of the afternoon or while you’re getting shut-eye in the evening. The volcano doesn’t keep a schedule!

For that reason, Miyake-jima has earned quite the nickname in the past few years: “Gas Mask Island.” Considering the Bermuda Triangle’s nearby, that’s weirdly fitting. From one ominously named space in the Pacific Ocean to another! Anyway, that’s got us wondering about something else. Specifically, the health of those who live there.

Does the constant stream of sulfur dioxide affect them in any way? Even when it’s deemed “safe”? To help answer that question, a group of researchers came together to investigate. Once they were done on the island, the results were subsequently shared in the Journal of Occupational Health in May 2017.

The project itself spanned five years, between 2006 and 2011. Close to 170 people took part. During the testing, the authors discovered that they were suffering with the following issues, which evidently got worse as the sulfur dioxide went up. The problems included, “Coughs, irritation and/or pain in throat, irritation, runny nose, and/or nasal sniffles, and irritation and/or pain in the eyes.”

On that note, the researchers behind the paper made an interesting judgment at the end. They wrote, “Adult residents of Miyake-jima island showed no deterioration in pulmonary function at sulfur dioxide levels. But [they] complained of respiratory/irritative symptoms in a sulfur dioxide concentration-dependent manner.” Seems like fascinating stuff, wouldn’t you agree?

Incredibly, though, that hasn’t stopped people from visiting Miyake-jima. As we noted earlier, plenty of tourists still make their way to the island. But of course, they need to get a gas mask just like everyone else. And to be fair, they don’t have to look far to buy one.

Tourists can find gas masks at Tokyo’s Takeshiba Terminal. If you miss out there, Miyake-jima’s “Tourist Association Store” has them stocked too. And take note, you’d be breaking the law by ignoring those outlets and walking around the island without a mask. Your health won’t be the only thing at risk!

So, providing that your equipment is at hand, you won’t have any problems. Then again, that doesn’t mean you’ll have free reign over the island. As it turns out, a large chunk of Miyake-jima is still closed off as a result of the eruption in 2000. The specific number is roughly 33 percent.

Hey, we suggested it was big! Mind you, if you’ve seen any satellite photos of the island, that figure shouldn’t be too surprising. For instance, Earth Observatory shared one on its website in early 2015. The centre of Miyake-jima is completely taken up by the volcano and the ash it left behind. All of the communities are situated on the outskirts of that section.

It’s pretty startling when you look at it like that. And speaking of eye-opening pictures, that leads us to another phenomenon linked to Miyake-jima. Creepy viral photographs of people in gas masks have become synonymous with the Japanese island. Considering its nickname, that’s not particularly shocking. Yet one image has really captured the imagination.

It’s a black and white photograph depicting a wedding, and everyone’s sporting gas masks – even the bride and groom! But according to the website Fake History Hunter, this eerie shot has nothing to do with Miyake-jima, despite rumors it was taken there. Instead, it came from a Russian picture collection.

Sorry to burst your bubble folks! Anyway, while those images are more than a little unsettling, we’ll leave you with a real scary thought. Remember that eruption pattern we spoke about before? Well, it’s been over 20 years now… could another one be on the cards soon? For now, though, at least people are allowed to live on some parts of the island. Sadly, the same can’t be said for Brazil’s Ilha da Queimada Grande...

From a distance, the rainforest on Ilha da Queimada Grande probably gives the impression of a jungle paradise. And the sandy beaches look like the perfect places to spend a lazy hour or two. But don’t be fooled by this air of idyll. This place holds a secret much deadlier than Miyake-jima’s – and it means most people aren’t even allowed to step foot on the shore.

So if you view Ilha da Queimada Grande from a boat, it may look inviting. Its sandy beaches look like the perfect places to spend a lazy hour or two. The climate is ideal for barefoot strolls, too, getting to a balmy 66 degrees Fahrenheit in winter and rising to 82 degrees when summer kicks in. But don’t be fooled by this air of idyll.

Once you land on Ilha da Queimada Grande, it becomes even more deceiving. Think thick foliage and outcrops of rock wherever you look – and the sound of waves landing on the shores never being too far away. But this spectacular landscape hides one of the natural world’s deadliest predators.

In fact, danger lurks around practically every corner: this seemingly peaceful paradise is actually known as “Snake Island.” In the past, people have said that the islet was home to hundreds of thousands of snakes. And although estimates are far lower than that today, there are still plenty of serpents living on the island. The reason for this drop in numbers, however, may stem from the actions of an even more ruthless predator.

Among the snakes on the island is Dipsas albifrons, which is no danger to humans. It is a lethal enemy of snails, though, which it happily consumes. But alongside this snail-eater are at least a couple of thousand golden lancehead vipers. And they pose a much greater threat to people. In fact, they are among the deadliest snakes on Earth.

The golden lancehead viper is a member of the Bothrops genus – a group of snakes named for the shape of their heads. But the ones on Ilha da Queimada Grande are distinguished by the color of their bellies. And although 36 sister species are found across South America, the golden lancehead viper is only found on this specific island.

While golden lanceheads usually grow to a little over 2 feet long, some, terrifyingly, have been observed at nearly double that. And if that’s not worrying enough, these snakes have evolved a long tail so that they can travel through trees. However, the creatures are doomed to stay on their island home.

That’s because the golden lancehead viper cannot swim. Some snakes are perfectly at home in water; for instance, some coral reef snakes live their whole lives in the sea. But these serpents don’t like to get their snouts wet. And so, they’ve lived in isolation on this island for thousands of years.

But how did the golden lancehead come to live on Ilha da Queimada Grande in the first place? One story goes that pirates brought the serpents ashore and used them to guard their buried treasure from other bandits. Mind you, it’s not clear how these gold-loving buccaneers might have managed to convince the snakes not to attack them, too.

In fact, the truth about the snakes is that they became stranded on Ilha da Quiemada Grande about 11,000 years ago. It’s believed that the level of the sea rose so much that the island was cut off from mainland Brazil. Then, isolated on their new home, the serpents evolved over the following millennia into their own distinct species.

Thanks to this remote island habitat, the golden lancehead viper has no known predators. It’s possible that youngsters may fall prey to various creeping, crawling and flying beasts. But once grown, it is believed that the snakes live in complete safety. And this has meant that the creatures have been able to reproduce to the point that the atoll is now swarming with them.

But just as Ilha da Quiemada Grande seemingly has nothing that can challenge the viper, it in turn provides little for it to tuck into. Indeed, the main source of food comes in the form of birds that have landed on the island during their seasonal migration. And to get at the prey, the serpents have to wriggle skyward, climbing up tall rainforest trees.

That said, the golden lancehead only really chows down on two species of birds. This is despite the fact that 41 species have been spotted on the island. The viper eats the southern house wren – if it can catch it. And the snake also enjoys the occasional meal of white-crested elaenia, which is a flycatcher that feeds in the same places as the snake.

Meanwhile, a curious outcome of preying on birds is that the golden lancehead viper has evolved powerful, fast-acting venom. Snakes usually pursue their victims after biting them, you see, waiting for them to succumb. But this isn’t as easy once it comes to birds, and so the species has adapted to possess a far more deadly weapon.

So potent is the golden lancehead’s poison, in fact, that if one of these snakes bites you then you have a seven percent chance of dying. And even if you’re treated, the likelihood of death is three percent. The other consequences of a bite aren’t pretty, either, mind you. For instance, the venom can cause a person’s kidneys to fail or their brain to bleed.

What’s more, the venom is so toxic that it can also melt skin. When chemists have studied the poison, they’ve observed that it may be five times stronger than that of other Bothrops snakes. Altogether, the powerful punch of the snake’s bite means that the golden lancehead viper ranks among the world’s most dangerous serpents. And yet not even this unsettling revelation has kept some individuals away from Ilha da Quiemada Grande.

Indeed, locals on the Brazilian coast have their fair share of stories about the snakes’ deadliness. One terrifying tale is that about a fisherman who visited the isle for bananas, not knowing that it was home to the vipers. Assailed by the serpents, it’s said that he struggled back to his boat, where he was allegedly found lying stone dead. But he wouldn’t be the last explorer to be tempted by the island’s riches.

Perhaps unsurprisingly there is a lighthouse on the island to warn mariners of the rocky shoreline. And it’s believed that a plucky handful of people actually lived there for some years, although this was a long time ago. They tended to the lighthouse between 1909 and the 1920s – until tragedy struck.

You see, one dark night, a bunch of vipers allegedly slipped into the lighthouse keeper’s home. And there were gruesome consequences: it’s said that he and his family were killed by the vicious reptiles while they were sleeping. Worse still, when rescuers arrived to search for the family, they too apparently fell prey to the deadly creatures.

And while this story may be more myth than fact, there’s no doubt that the location still poses a threat today. Indeed, when staff from Vice magazine accompanied the Brazilian navy to the lighthouse, they were in for a nasty surprise. The magazine’s Editor in Chief had been sitting on a box in the lighthouse, out from which a snake slithered just moments later. Clearly, the journalist had had a lucky escape.

Given this danger, no one lives on Ilha da Quiemada Grande today, and the lighthouse now works automatically. The Brazilian navy, meanwhile, forbids anyone from even visiting the isle apart from a few specific exceptions. So, since the 1920s, very few individuals have ever stepped foot on Snake Island. But there are still some who are daring enough to make the eight-hour trip.

Among them are Brazilian servicemen, since the navy has the responsibility of keeping the lighthouse in good condition. Some researchers are also permitted to study the snakes, with the island and its serpentine inhabitants proving important to science. And as we’ve already noted, journalists accompany these visitors on rare occasions, too.

When it comes to scientists, they spend their time on the island monitoring the serpents and keeping the species going. This care is needed because Snake Island is not a natural habitat for the vipers – despite its moniker. Researchers hence look at where the snakes move and what parts of the island they inhabit. And they also work to restore the atoll’s vegetation, which has been damaged over time.

The work in tracking the serpents is done by small groups of experts who visit the island regularly. These brave souls actually set out to capture individual vipers. And once they get their hands on one, they measure the animal’s weight and length before injecting a tag into it and letting it go.

Of course, the scientists must take precautions when they visit. They have to dress appropriately and be on the lookout for slithering serpents. Plus ,they handle the snakes with specialized equipment designed to keep themselves safe. And understandably, the authorities won’t let anyone onto the island unless a doctor goes, too.

One person who hasn’t been put off by the risks posed by the vipers is photographer João Marcos Rosa. He has visited the island three times in order to snap images of the snakes and their spectacular habitat. And some of the daredevil’s stunning images can be seen right here in this article.

Rosa traveled to Ilha da Queimada Grande with a group of researchers who were taking a census of the island’s snakes. During the four-day trip, Rosa saw the deadly serpents first hand and at terrifyingly close proximity. As he told Scribol, “It is easy to find the snakes. As soon as you leave the rocks and start walking in the middle of the trees, you will always find them.”

Indeed, Rosa and the team happend across hundreds of snakes during the course of their four-day visit; it seems as though the creatures were wherever they turned. During a trek to the uppermost part of the island, Rosa and the scientists reported that they had “48 encounters with [individual snakes].” And while this may give us the shudders, it was a risk that the photographer was willing to take.

In order to get the best photographs, Rosa had to get very close to the snakes at times. In fact, he would position himself just a few inches from the serpents. It’s a situation that would make most people extremely nervous – and rightly so. But for Rosa, it was all worth it for the perfect shot.

That said, Rosa and the researchers did take a number of precautionary steps on their visits to Ilha da Queimada Grande. It was important to make the possibility of a bite as unlikely as possible, after all. Rosa explained, “We had to use protections for our legs and be very careful where we put our hands [in order to] not grab a snake.”

And it would seem that said measures were effective – for Rosa and for others – as there’s no official record of a viper biting a human on the island. But other lancehead snakes have been known to be deadly, too. In fact, they cause more deaths than any other serpent in the Americas. In Brazil alone, for instance, they are actually responsible for nine out of ten snakebites. One can only wonder if this information is known to those who would visit the island illegally.

That’s right: the snakes’ dangerous reputation has not put off travelers from illicitly making their way to the island’s shores. These wildlife “bio pirates” land with the aim of capturing the vipers in order to sell them on the black market. Just one serpent can go for as much as $30,000. So it’s no wonder that even security cameras cannot deter the poachers. There are reportedly even temptations for those in law enforcement who are tasked with capturing the bio pirates.

Yes, there are in fact claims that corruption has crept into the police’s crackdown on the poachers. A smuggler using the pseudonym “Juan” told Vice that criminals could pay inspectors a bribe. And this would subsequently help get them out of prison. He went even further, though, suggesting that some authorities were actually involved in smuggling themselves.

This illicit activity has perhaps played a part in landing the golden lancehead viper on the Brazilian endangered species list. Meanwhile, competition for food seems to have suppressed the population of the snakes. A 2008 survey in fact suggested that there were no more than 4,000 of these serpents on the island – and it identified illegal capture of the serpents as a critical threat to their survival.

Another reason for the snakes’ endangered status is revealed by the island’s name. In Portuguese, Ilha da Queimada Grande means “Island of the Great Burn.” This moniker stems from the fact that people once tried to create a plantation for bananas there. And to clear the land, they had to burn the rainforest – likely killing vast numbers of the serpents and destroying much of their habitat.

Mind you, biologist Marcelo Duarte says that there is still probably one snake for every 11 square feet on the island. And Duarte should know, as he’s been to the island on no fewer than 20 occasions. Frighteningly, the prevalence of the serpents means that you are, on average, within about three feet of one at any given time. It may be a good thing that there are so many of the creatures, though, as they could hold a very important purpose.

Duarte told Smithsonian in 2014 that the golden lancehead viper may yield significant medicinal value. Indeed, he explained that the snake’s venom has the potential to assist with blood circulation, clotting and heart disease. Speaking to the magazine, he said, “We are just scratching this universe of possibilities of venoms.”

More wrongly, though, this medical potential may actually be what is fuelling the smuggling trade. The poachers’ clients may be willing to shell out thousands for a single snake in order to get hold of the venom, which they could then patent. And individuals have apparently been known to offer cash to scientists on their return from the island in exchange for live specimens.

All in all, though, Ilha da Queimada Grande will probably never be much of a tourist destination. Indeed, during their trip, the journalists from Vice magazine found that the snakes were just one of the alarming animal species to be found on the island: they shared their camp with locusts and giant cockroaches, too. Suffice to say that they did not make a return booking.

So while it’s not impossible to break the law to sneak onto the island, it’s a very bad idea indeed. Instead, visitors can safely see the snakes at Duarte’s Butantã Institute in São Paulo, or they can visit that city’s zoo. There, five of the venomous reptiles can be found, safely contained behind a fence: all hiss and no bite.