History Main / IslandOfMystery

* In ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'', the Yotsuba clan of magicians own Miyaki Island. Places of interest include an active volcano, a '''very''' illegal prison (whose captives are regularly allowed to escape so Yotsuba members can learn about HuntingTheMostDangerousGame), the ruins of the even more illegal laboratory the Yotsuba were genetically engineered in, training grounds for Guardian slaves, and the scattering of elaborate manors and gardens where Yotsuba actually live. The sequel series adds a space elevator and the Stellar Furnace power plant.

* ''Lost Island Theme Park'' in Iowa is set on an enchanted tropical island of childlike nature spirits, an inventor colony that was marooned when their floating city crashed to the surface, the ruins of an ancient city reclaimed by a magical tree and guarded by a giant snake, and a volcano containing a [[SealedEvilInACan trapped lava demon]].

** The island in ''Dead in Vinland'' also has [[spoiler: a SupervillainLair of sorts in Bjorn Headcleaver's compound]] and while there aren't ''native'' inhabitants who engage in human sacrifice [[spoiler: one of the Norse party members can sacrifice another to the gods at her request]]. It also apparently has some sort of TranslatorMicrobes, as [[TheBard Cisse]] observes; he's [[AncientAfrica Malian]], but can converse perfectly fine with [[TheHero Eirik]] and his Norse family. The other inhabitants of the island are Persian, Japanese, Italian, and French, among other nationalities, but they all hear each other in their native language.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island North Sentinel Island]] is a mysterious and remote jungle island in the Indian Ocean. Mysterious primarily because its native inhabitants are hunter-gatherers who quickly attack and kill anyone or anything approaching the island.

* The DC Universe has:
** [[Franchise/WonderWoman Themyscira]], or Paradise Island. Hidden from mortal eyes by magic, on it reside the Amazons of legend, complete with classical Greek architecture. Blessed by the Olympian Gods, no man is allowed to physically set foot on it. The Olympian Gods stop by there from time to time. Themyscira is presently located in the Bermuda Triangle, but possesses the magical ability to teleport to any location or time period its inhabitants desire. Doom's Doorway to the underworld is there, guarded by the Amazons. Mythical, magical and outsized creatures live there, and in the waters surrounding.

* The Marvel Universe has
** Literature/MonsterIsland, home to many mutant Kaiju, as well as resident megalomaniac Mole Man, a cave to the LostWorld.
** Krakoa, The Living Island is a small island subjected to nuclear testing that turned the island's ecosystem into a hive-mind entity. Kratoa has had children.

** The island of ''Flight 714'' has caves, ancient ruins, ancient ruins in caves, anomalous physical properties and is ultimately a [[spoiler:landing site for alien spacecraft]].
** The crashed meteor in ''The Shooting Star'' becomes a MysteriousIsland with giant plants and insects.
** ''The Black Island'' contains ruins and a mysterious, dangerous beast [[spoiler: which turns out to be a gorilla. In Scotland]].

%% Image moved to Object Shaped Landmass (TLP) per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16774586740.66807900

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/SuperboyNew52 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/msyteryisland2_3352.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Very mysterious. Those flying people, I mean.]]

* The Isle of Naboombu from the movie ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' is accessible by magic and populated by anthropomorphic animals.

* The legend of Myth/KingArthur has Avalon. as described in a narrative of the life of Merlin by the medieval historian Geoffrey of Monmouth:

* ''ComicBook/LargoWinch'' has Sarjevan(e), a lovely Baltic island in the Adriatic Sea originally colonized by a small community of 15th Century Orthodox monks who hid on the island -- for over 400 years! - -to escape Turkish persecution. Isolated by sheer cliffs with a freshwater lake at its heart(supplied by a spring) his adoptive father Nerio purchased the island as his own Franchise/JamesBond hideaway; installing electricity but no telephone, television or even a radio - and hid the only entrance behind a remote-controlled secret passage.

* The island of Mako in MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure, AKA 'Mako : Island of Secrets'. Home to mer-people, water monsters, secret caves and magic artifacts.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe'': The [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Dread Isle]], where [[BigBad Nergal]] makes his base of operations and where the ancient Dragongate is located.

* The islands of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' are full of mystery. Caves, ancient architecture, weird creatures both big and small, {{IslandBase}}s...

** ''Film/KingKong2005'' takes the mystery aspect UpToEleven adding in that the island is surrounded by a mysterious magnetic field that prevents compasses from working, is filled with bigger and nastier beats than before seen in Kong films, has the remnants of a once great civilization whose inhabitants have been reduced to mindless savages and on top of that is slowly sinking into the seas.

* The island Applejack finds herself stranded on in ''Fanfic/MotherOfInvention''. So far we have an unseen monster in the jungle, mysterious ruins marked with the ArcWords, and a force field cutting off escape from the island.
* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': The chapter, [[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/dungeon-keeper-ami-sailor-moon-dungeon-keeper-story-only-thread.30066/post-6355738 "Mysterious Island"]], where the titular island is somehow holding [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]], living what is assumed to be a lifeless island. And also home to magical secrets that Ami is hoping to discover.

* [[IsleOfGiantHorrors Creatures]]! [[{{Kaiju}} Gigantic creatures]]. [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyMonsters Mythical creatures]]. [[HybridMonster Hybrid creatures]]. [[LivingDinosaurs Thought-extinct creatures]].

* ''Manga/OnePiece'', being a manga about seafaring pirates, features several such islands as settings. There is the dinosaur-inhabited Little Garden, the horror-themed Thriller Bark with all its zombies (though it's actually an island-sized ''ship''), the sky island Skypiea which has xenophobic Native American-inspired warriors and corrupt religious zealots, and many other such islands.

* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' has seen a few:
** The island of ''Flight 714'' has caves, ancient ruins, ancient ruins in caves, anomalous physical properties and is ultimately a [[spoiler:landing site for alien spacecraft]].
** The crashed meteor in ''The Shooting Star'' becomes a MysteriousIsland with giant plants and insects.
** ''The Black Island'' contains ruins and a mysterious, dangerous beast [[spoiler: which turns out to be a gorilla. In Scotland]].
* The Marvel Universe has
** Literature/MonsterIsland, home to many mutant Kaiju, as well as resident meglomanic Mole Man, a cave to the LostWorld.
** Krakoa, The Living Island is a small island subjected to nuclear testing that turned the island's ecosystem into a hive-mind entity. Kratoa has had children.

* ''ComicBook/LargoWinch'' has Sarjevan(e), a lovely Baltic island in the Adriatic Sea originally colonized by a small community of 15th Century Orthodox monks who hid on the island - for over 400 years! - to escape Turkish persecution. Isolated by sheer cliffs with a freshwater lake at its heart(supplied by a spring) his adoptive father Nerio purchased the island as his own Franchise/JamesBond hideaway; installing electricity but no telephone, television or even a radio - and hid the only entrance behind a remote-controlled secret passage.

* Invoked in universe in the first ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' movie: our separated gang are invited to the Spooky Island, a resort with a ghostly and mystical theme, by the owner Mondavarious.

* The Isle of Bronze in the 1963 movie ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'' has ancient Greek architecture full of treasure and a giant bronze statue that comes to life.
* The island(s) full of dinosaurs of ''Film/JurassicPark'' and sequels. Now including abandoned research stations!
* The ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' film series has Monster Island, home to many Kaiju, a research base and a force field containment system.
* The Isle de Muerta in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'', where the cursed Aztec gold was hidden, a place shrouded in fog that could only be found by those who already knew where it was. Following the events of the film, it was reclaimed by the sea.
* The Isle of Naboombu from the movie ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' is accessible by magic and populated by anthropomorphic animals.
* ''Film/AttackOfTheCrabMonsters'' is set on a remote irradiated Pacific island with a research team on it, now populated with enormous once-human land crabs.
* ''Film/TheKillerShrews'' is set on an isolated island with a research station now being terrorised by mutant shrews.
* Isla del Muerta from the movie version of ''Film/HouseOfTheDead'' has zombies, evil experiments gone wild and a villain from the days of Spanish sailing.
* ''Film/IslandOfTerror'' has a silicon monsters who eat bones on a remote and isolated island, created through genetic engineering by a MadScientist.
* ''Film/HorrorsOfSpiderIsland'' has an island with uranium desposits with giant spiders which turn people into more giant spiders.
* The TV film ''Danger Island''.

* ''Literature/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'' by Creator/HGWells. A mad doctor turns animals into animal/human hybrids through vivisection.
* ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'' by Creator/JulesVerne. A group of balloon-wreck survivors on an island are threatened by pirates and helped by a mysterious benefactor. He turns out to be Captain Nemo, who survived the maelstrom at the end of ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea''.

* The island of Leshp from the Creator/TerryPratchett novel ''Literature/{{Jingo}}''. It tends to raise itself from under the sea on a regular basis and is covered with [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Chthonic]] architecture. An homage to R'lyeh, home of Great Cthulhu.

* ''Literature/PeterPan'': Neverland, home of the title character and the Lost Boys. Uncharted and accessible only through magic, children never grow old and die there and can fly with a little help. The geography of Neverland is shaped by the minds of the children residing there.
* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': The Island of Ogygia, Calypso's home/prison, which cannot be reached by any normal means. The fates only allow heroes that Calypso can't help but fall in love with to wash up there, but eventually they all go, leaving her alone once again. ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' indicates that Odysseus seemed to be working on a way to find it again, and now Leo might have the means to finish it. In any case, he's sworn on the River Styx to return there. [[spoiler:He manages it by getting himself killed in the climax of ''The Blood of Olympus'' and reviving himself with the Physician's Cure. Since he's technically on his second life, he is allowed back to Ogygia, and since he has Festus, his mechanical dragon, this time he has the means to take Calypso with him when he leaves.]]

* The islands encountered by the eponymous ship in ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader''. One of them has invisible inhabitants and a sorcerer, one has a dragon's lair, another has water that turns anything that falls in to gold, and the last has three old men in an eternal sleep and is inhabited by a star.

* In ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'', the Yotsuba clan of magicians own Miyaki Island. Places of interest include an active volcano, a '''very''' illegal prison (whose captives are regularly allowed to escape so Yotsuba members can learn about HuntingTheMostDangerousGame), the ruins of the even more illegal laboratory the Yotsuba were genetically engineered in, training grounds for Guardian slaves, and the scattering of elaborate manors and gardens where Yotsuba actually live. The sequel series adds a space elevator and the Stellar Furnace power plant.

* ''Series/FantasyIsland''. Each week people go to what they think will be a nice vacation but which turns out to be a SecretTest designed to teach them a lesson. Their fantasies are fulfilled magically; guests travel in time, change sex, and other impossible things. Mr. Rourke is intimated to be several centuries old and possibly God.
* Danger Island from the ''WesternAnimation/TheBananaSplits'' show. Possibly home to the lost city of Tobanya. Contains castaways and comes with three tribes of cannibalistic native.
* Living Island, home to ''Series/HRPufnstuf''. Jimmy is shipwrecked and lives with the denizens there. Everything on the island is alive and sentient... houses, castles, boats, clocks, candles, books, trees, mushrooms, etc.
* The CW's live-action adaptation of DC comics' Green Arrow, ''{{Series/Arrow}}''. Oliver Queen finds himself stranded on a seemingly deserted island in the South China Sea. Soon he runs into a mysterious Chinese man, a mysterious military organization, and more.
* The Marivellas in ''Series/TalesOfTheGoldMonkey'' are a whole chain of Islands of Mystery, with such inhabitants as [[ManiacMonkeys two sets of killer monkeys]], [[EverythingsBetterWithSamurai samurai]], lost tribes of Africa ''and'' ancient Egypt, [[AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage tentacled swamp monsters]] and... the UsefulNotes/{{Amish}}.

* ''Series/FantasyIsland2021'': Just like in the original, although what happens on Fantasy Island is well known to the public now.

* ''VideoGame/ShounenKinindenTsumuji'' has an island called Kagami island which holds an important artifact that allows anyone to enter the Demon Castle in the sky.
* ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'' is set on Yamatai, an island kept remote by fearsome storms that shipwreck Lara. She finds a previous cast-away, a nazi research station, angry native cultists with an eye to perform a sacrifice and (naturally) caves with ancient tombs. Ticking quite a few boxes.
* Much of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'' takes place on the Island of Creation, the deadly trap-filled home of the Sisters of Fate.
* ''[[VideoGame/PeterJacksonsKingKong Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie]]'', is set on the mysterious Skull Island.
* The island of ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'', which is full of strange devices which are portals to other realms, Atrus' empty laboratories and, other than the player, has no one on it. As the name suggests, it's a mystery to solve.

* ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'': The eponymous Monkey Island is a uncharted tropical island of which nobody knows exactly where it is, and which can only be reached by performing a voodoo spell. Besides the more usual features of unknown tropical islands, such as cannibals, a castaway, and a volcano, Monkey Island also hosts ancient ruins, a giant monkey head statue, and at least one three-headed monkey. Beneath the island is a labyrinth of hellish caverns, with a ghost pirate ship anchored on a stream of lava.

* The Donkey Kong Island of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' has mysterious caves and ancient ruins.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. The Timeless Isle in ''Mists of Pandaria'', a place where time stands still and where the ancient emperor of Pandaria tests the mettle of heroes against the August Celestials.
* In ''[[VideoGame/TheSpellcastingSeries Spellcasting 101]]'' the protagonist has to move from island to island, each of which has its own peculiarities.
* Versteckte Insel in ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'' is a former Spanish colony, and the game's primary setting. Home to the El Dorado statue, and all of the dark secrets that come with it, every expedition there throughout history ends in failure, up until the statue sinks into the pacific ocean at the end of the game.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe'': The [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Dread Isle]], where [[BigBad Nergal]] makes his base of operations and where the ancient Dragongate is located.

* ''VideoGame/LegendOfGrimrock II'' is set entirely on such an island, complete with a full set of ancient ruins (including a pyramid), talking statues, extremely dangerous wildlife, a vicious band of {{Ratmen}} pirates (pi-rats?) and the mysterious Island Master who likes to leave taunting messages to anybody unfortunate enough to wash up on its shores.
* The main setting of ''VideoGame/ArkSurvivalEvolved''. First of all, it's inhabited by various prehistoric animals that significantly differ from their fossil counterparts (all HandWaved as descendants of the originals). Then, the island itself has several biomes that connect seamlessly with each other like a frigid arctic region right next to a tropical oasis. Not to mention, there's enormous floating obelisks and "specimen implants" embedded in the players' hands. There's also boss monsters of creatures that never appeared in real life like dragons with notes on them written in an incomprehensible language as well as further notes on the island from previous human inhabitants which suggest, not only are they from different places, but different time periods too!

* The final mission of ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' takes place on the Isle of Sgàil in the north atlantic, described as being one of the most secretive places in the world.
* ''Dead in Bermuda'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/DeadInVinland'' are set on such islands, and reached via plane crash and shipwreck respectively. They contain most of the above tropes, including caves, ruins, bizarre monsters, mysterious supernatural phenomena, giant carnivorous plants, treasure, both a volcano and various fellow castaways in the case of the latter game, [[spoiler: and blue-skinned Atlanteans who are apparently also the Greek and Norse gods]].
** The island in ''Dead in Vinland'' also has [[spoiler: a SupervillainLair of sorts in Bjorn Headcleaver's compound]] and while there aren't ''native'' inhabitants who engage in human sacrifice [[spoiler: one of the Norse party members can sacrifice another to the gods at her request]]. It also apparently has some sort of TranslatorMicrobes, as [[TheBard Cisse]] observes; he's [[AncientAfrica Malian]], but can converse perfectly fine with [[TheHero Eirik]] and his Norse family. The other inhabitants of the island are Persian, Japanese, Italian, and French, among other nationalities, but they all hear each other in their native language.
** It's implied that the island might have [[EldritchLocation some sort of power]] to pull in lost travelers from seas all over the world, considering that it seems to be in the North Atlantic (WordOfGod says near Newfoundland) but the Japanese [[LadyOfWar Lady]] [[{{Ronin}} Tomoe]] somehow got there. It's even implied that the island is some sort of [[TimeTravel time warp]], since some of the characters from different parts of the world have backstories indicating they come from different ''eras.''
* ''VideoGame/SunlessSea'' is full of them, as you might expect of a vast flooded cavern somewhere below the Mediterranean rumoured to be the skull of a long-dead god. The relatively mundane ones are places like Nuncio, where obsessed postal workers endlessly struggle to sort the waves of dead letters carried here by the tide; the ''weird'' ones include Frostfound, a palace of ice and frozen secrets entered by staring at your reflection on the wall until you realise you’re inside, and Irem, which ''only exists in the future'' (and [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble always will have]]).

* {{Lampshaded}} in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''' version of ''Literature/TheOdyssey'': "Who decided to give every weirdo an island?"
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'': When Scrooge goes to find the lost play of [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed William Drakespeare]], he finds a strange island that seems to be inhabited by characters from Drakespeare's plays, and who all seemed determined to throw them off the island. [[spoiler: They eventually find the play, and find out that these are actually actors, descendants of Drakespeare's original theatre company]].

** At one point the main characters visit a deserted tropical island populated with giant dinosaur-like creatures. While trying to find a safe place from the monsters, the boys fall victim to some {{Enthralling Siren}}s.

* The Marivellas in ''Series/TalesOfTheGoldMonkey'' are a whole chain of Islands of Mystery, with such inhabitants as [[ManiacMonkeys two sets of killer monkeys]], [[EverythingsBetterWithSamurai samurai]], lost tribes of Africa ''and'' ancient Egypt, [[AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage tentacled swamp monsters]] and.... the UsefulNotes/{{Amish}}.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Literature/MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren'': Cairnholm--it's got [[GroundhogDayLoop quasi-time travel]], it's got an ExtranormalInstitute... as well as [[RealityEnsues much less glamorous trappings of a remote Welsh island]].

* ''Dead in Bermuda'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/DeadInVinland'' are set on such islands, and reached via plane crash and shipwreck respectively. They contain many of the above tropes, including caves, ruins, bizarre monsters, mysterious supernatural phenomena, giant carnivorous plants, treasure, both a volcano and various fellow castaways in the case of the latter game, [[spoiler: and blue-skinned Atlanteans who are apparently also the Greek and Norse gods]].
** The island in ''Dead in Vinland'' apparently has some sort of TranslatorMicrobes, as [[TheBard Cisse]] observes; he's [[AncientAfrica Malian]], but can converse perfectly fine with [[TheHero Eirik]] and his Norse family. The other inhabitants of the island are Persian, Japanese, Italian, and French, among other nationalities, but they all hear each other in their native language.
** It's implied that the island might have [[EldritchLocation some sort of power]] to pull in lost travelers from seas all over the world, considering that it seems to be in the North Atlantic but the Japanese [[LadyOfWar Lady]] [[{{Ronin}} Tomoe]] somehow got there. It's even implied that the island is some sort of [[TimeTravel time warp]], since the characters from different parts of the world have backstories indicating they come from different ''eras.''

** ''Franchise/KingKong'': Skull Island is consistently