NOTHING IS OWNED. AS USUAL.
LEAGUE ARCHIVES, LONDON
ITEM NO. 68954
Checked out by:
P. Holmes
Reason given: "Light reading."
Discussions on Stormbound Islands
By Dr. Kyle Archer, University of Oxford
Written for The United Kingdom Parliament Finance Committee and House of Commons
Dr. Archer is a meteorologist who specializes in looking at past weather patterns to predict current ones.
It has become apparent from both the recent events at Yamatai and studying the Denison Journals that the Skull Island weather phenomenon is not an isolated incident.
For the uneducated, a brief summary: the mysterious Skull island is located of the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, in the South Pacific. One of the island's defining features, apart from it's unusual ecosystem of megafauna, is the enormous storm system that constantly surrounds it. While the island rests comfortably in the eye of the storm, any water- or aircraft approaching the island would find it very difficult to successfully land on it's unforgiving shoreline. After the expedition in the year 1973, it was assumed that the unique weather patterns on the island were isolated to that particular stretch of the Pacific. Recent events have confirmed, however, that this is no longer the case.
Six years ago, I became aware of the incident that led to the discovery of the lost island nation of Yamatai. At the time, I thought nothing of it save for the brave actions of a few shipwrecked archaeologists and adventurers. About two weeks ago, however, I stumbled upon the after-action report of the Skull Island Expedition and made a startling connection between it and the now-vanished storm system around Yamatai.
According to the reports from the survivors, the island was surrounded by what they claimed to be a living storm system, generated by the spirit of the long-dead Sun Queen Himiko in an attempt to gain a new body for herself. I don't know how much of Ms. Croft's testimony is accurate, but the the fact remains that there appears to be a startling similarity between the Yamatai Incident and the Skull Island Expedition. Having realized this connection, I dove into the League Archives in search of any other similar cases and found one other incident.
In 1989, a crew of Philippine fishermen recovered a set of journals belonging to a man named Arthur Denison, a 19th century biologist who was traveling on a schooner named the Venturer in the year 1860. He was traveling with his son, Will, and they were the only survivors when they were caught in a sudden typhoon. The journals contain his account of a mysterious island they were supposedly carried to by dolphins.
On this island, called Dinotopia by the locals, the descendants of shipwrecked sailors apparently lived side-by-side with dinosaurs that had survived the Cretaceous Extinction Event millions of years ago. Denison claimed that the island was surrounded by both ferocious storms and an impassable reef system that prevented any ship from leaving the island. It was only through remarkable circumstances that his journals escaped the grip of the storm and found their way to a university library, where they were accidentally discovered by a talented writer looking for information on China's spice trade.
I immediately noticed the similarities between this island and Skull Island, the only apparent difference being that the megafauna on Dinotopia appear to have remained unchanged for millions of years in terms of biological makeup, while those on Skull Island have evolved as nature may have intended, giving a glimpse of what could have been.
A point worth noting is that the storms surrounding Dinotopia and Skull Island appear to have generated naturally, while the one around Yamatai was artificial in nature, created by the spirit of Himiko and vanishing with her final death. It may be possible that the Dinotopia and Skull Island storms are created by an object or person, but not enough information exists on the subject.
Another interesting point is that all three of these islands are part of the Pacific Ocean, with Skull Island being off the coast of Indonesia, Yamatai located to the south of Tokyo, and the presumed location of Dinotopia to be about a week from Hong Kong. It could be a coincidence, of course, but there might be a connection there. As a result of my own personal experiences, I cannot rule out a mystical factor.
Sadly, all my attempts to launch new expeditions to find answers have, thus far, met with failure. Skull Island has been declared off limits to all by the UN since the 1970s, Yamatai has been claimed as a cultural heritage site by the Japanese government, and the exact location of Dinotopia is unknown, as Denison failed to write down his exact location at the time of the wreck of the Venturer. In addition, satellite imaging has failed to locate any landmass like Denison described.
I plan to reach out to the British Government for help in securing funds for an expedition to Skull Island soon in an attempt to identify whether or not the cause of the local storm is natural or something else. I can only hope they will see sense and assist me in my endeavor.
Dr. Archer was unable to secure funding from the government and set out on his own with a group of volunteers. He has since gone missing. Due to the sensitive subjects he spoke about, all of his research notes, including this paper, have been added to the League's Archives and are available for viewing upon request.