Amygdaloid Island
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Amygdaloid Island is an island in Lake Superior. It is within the boundary of Isle Royale National Park, a national park located within the U.S. state of Michigan. The island is protected and patrolled by a seasonal ranger station operated by the U.S. National Park Service.
Amygdaloid Island is approximately 3.8 miles (6 km) long but no more than 0.25 miles (0.4 km) wide. Like the rest of the Isle Royale archipelago, the island is an ancient ridge of basalt oriented from the southwest to the northeast.
Amygdaloid Island is separated by Amygdaloid Channel from Isle Royale. It had relatively low visitation until the 1990s, when the growth of sea kayaking made it possible for human-powered visitors to approach the island. The waters of Lake Superior around Amygdaloid Island are notoriously dangerous, however, and inexperienced kayakers are not encouraged to navigate them.
The island is the site of the Amygdaloid Island Flow, a deposit of basaltic lava with silica inclusions. After the lava cooled, the inclusions hardened into pink agate specimens. The agates of Amygdaloid Island are characteristically almond-shaped or amygdaloidal, hence the name Amygdaloid.
[edit] Ghost story
Amygdaloid Island, like some other locations within Isle Royale National Park, is said to be haunted. In the case of this island the eerie occurrences began in December 1927 with the disappearance of the Kamloops, a package freighter operated by Canada Steamship Lines and upbound with a valuable cargo of papermaking machinery bound for Thunder Bay, Ontario. On Dec. 7, a snowstorm and gale hit Lake Superior, and the Kamloops was never seen again above the surface of the lake.
In spring 1928, the remains of several of the 22 men who had been aboard the Kamloops on its final voyage were found at a campfire site on Amygdaloid Island. In sharp contrast to the stereotypical story of mariners cast away on a deserted island, the seamen had not been able to find anything to eat. Adding to the macabre scene was visual evidence indicating that some wolves had come by, presumably after the deaths of the victims.
The men of the Kamloops are said to walk Amygdaloid Island to this day, looking desperately for sustenance.
