10 Places You Probably Will Never Visit

1. Snake Island. This small island, which could also legitimately be called Nightmare Island, sits just off the coast of Brazil and is home to 4,000 of the world deadliest snakes, including Bothropsinsularis, regarded the world’s most venomous viper and is responsible for most of the human snake deaths in North and South America. Its venom melts human flesh, making you and everyone you love easier to swallow. The island is so dangerous, the Brazilian government banned visitors.

2. Plum Island. A tiny island off the eastern coast of Long Island is the site of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, ALLEGEDLY. Few people will ever know for sure, since access to the island is strictly controlled by the US Department of Homeland Security.

3. Bohemian Grove. Bohemian Grove is a top secret No-Girls-Allowed club. In mid-July each year, some of the most prominent men in the world meet up at a 2,700 campground in Monte Rio, California to do Top Secret Stuff. Guests include artists, musicians, business leaders, government officials including US presidents, senior media executives, and other people of power. But the point of the whole thing is shrouded in mystery. Former president Richard Nixon was recorded on May 13, 1971 saying that, “But it’s not just the ratty part of town. The upper class in San Francisco is that way. The Bohemian Grove, which I attend from time to time—it is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine, with that San Francisco crowd.”

4. Vatican Secret Archives. The central repository contains the state papers, correspondence, papal account books and other documents. In the 17th century the archives were sealed until 1881, when Pope Leo XIII opened them to researchers. About a thousand researchers are permitted to view them every year. Scholars are required to present an introductory letter by either a recognized institute of research or by a suitably qualified person in the field of historical research. Applicants need to specify their personal data as well as the purpose of their research. Undergraduate students are not admitted. But even once you’re in, you’re not really in. No materials dated after 1939 are available for public viewing – and an entire section of the archives relating to the personal affairs of cardinals from 1922 onwards can’t be accessed.

5. White’s Gentleman’s Club. White’s is the oldest and most exclusive gentleman’s club in St. James, London. Founded in 1693, and widely considered one of the most exclusive. Current members include Charles, Prince of Wales, who held his stag night at the club before his wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, and his son Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who was admitted as a member of the club upon his birth.

6. North Sentinel Island. Home to the uncontacted tribe, the Sentinelese. The Sentinelese have been known to react violently to any attempts at contact. In January 2006, two fishermen were killed by Sentinelese when their boat accidentally drifted too close to the island when they were fishing illegally for mud crabs. Officials estimate there are only about 40 Sentinelese left.

7. Svalbard Seed Vault. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a secure seed bank in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, about 810 miles from the North Pole. The vault was started to preserve a wife variety of plant seeds in case of large scale global crisis and the seeds are expected to last literally forever. The seed bank is buried 390 feet inside a sandstone mountain on Spitsbergen Island, and its security measures are so tight they aren’t even discussed.

8. Surtsey Island. Surtsey is the southernmost point of Iceland, formed in a volcanic eruption, which began 426 feet below sea level, and reached the surface on November 14, 1963. It reached 1 square mile across on June 5, 1967. Since then, erosion has caused the island to diminish; it’s now about half a mile across and is about 509 feet above sea level. It’s estimated the island will be above sea level for another 100 years or so. Marine life, birds, and insects have all made the island their home, but the only humans who have ever been to the island are a few researchers.

9. Poveglia, Italy. This beautiful island in Northern history has a dark history. Off and on through history the island has been evacuated and re-populated. In 1776 the island came under the jurisdiction of the Public Health Office, and became a check point for all goods and people coming to and going from Venice by ship. In 1793, there were several cases of the plague on two ships, and consequently the island was transformed into a temporary confinement station for the ill. In 1922 the existing buildings were converted into an asylum for the mentally ill. In 1968 the hospital was closed, and the island abandoned… In 2014 the Italian state auctioned a 99-year lease of Povegliato raise revenue… The highest bid was from Italian businessman Luigi Brugnaro but the lease did not proceed.

10. RAF Menwith Hill. The largest electronic monitoring station in the world is owned by the UK’s Ministry of Defence but made available to the US Department of Defense. It’s run entirely by the US. The site is a satellite ground station, a communications intercept and missile warning site and was instrumental in the US government program Echelon, which aimed to track every phone call, email, fax and probably smoke signal in the world.