Deadman’s Island Canada

Located near the urban oasis i.e. the Stanley park, in Vancouver, Canada one would never expect to find a place like Deadman’s Island. It was the home and burial grounds to the Squamish people who lived there centuries ago.

Deadman's Island

J. Wood Laing

The island is currently closed to the public. Due to its long and brutal history of wars and deaths it is considered cursed by the people.

Many people have died on the island. The island was the place for a battle that killed more than 200 people and many people have died due to diseases in the later years of the island. After years of abandonment, John Morton set off for the island to check the property before purchasing it. When he reached there, he saw many cedar boxes perched on trees. When he touched one of those boxes it crumbled and lots of bones supposedly from an old resident fell from it. The cedar boxes were used to bury the dead by the Squamish people. By 1870, these boxes were taken down from the trees and the dead were given a proper burial. John Morton however had left the island and didn’t want anything to do with it.

Deadman's Island

Deadman’s Island Google earth

The island was then used by the people to bury their relatives as there was no cemetery present in Vancouver until 1887. In 1888 there was a deadly smallpox outbreak and those who suffered from the illness were sent to the island for quarantine most likely to never return back from the island. Many died during the outbreak. Since then the island has been abandoned with the local and national authorities having a dispute over it.

Nobody is allowed to visit the island except the reservists and sometimes the navy personnel. Those who have spent a night there claim to have heard disembodied voices and chains being dragged. Building no 1 which is said to be the most haunted building gets so much activity. People have heard footsteps, chairs being dragged, furniture moving on the upstairs floor even when nobody was on the island. Some people have even seen a glow coming from the trees that takes the shape of a human.