A MYSTERIOUS island that was at the centre of World War II experiments has dark secrets linked to germ warfare.
Dubbed “Anthrax Island”, the uninhabited Gruinard Island off the west coast of Scotland is too dangerous to visit after it was contaminated with anthrax bacteria.
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Gruinard Island was at the centre of secret WWII anthrax experimentsCredit: PA:Press Association
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The island also suffered a large wildfire in 2022Credit: Northpix
In 1962, a BBC reporter set out to investigate local reports of secret WWII experiments which caused unexplained animal deaths.
Reporter Fyfe Robertson said: “Hereabouts, they call it the island of death, the mystery Island, and for good reason.
“Now, this is not a story of old dark deeds or Highland superstition. No, this story started in 1942.”
Operation Vegetarian
With most of Europe on a knife’s edge in 1942, then UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill tasked a team of top scientists to find a way to harness anthrax as a weapon.Read more world news
Inside eerie deserted mansion where a supercar has been left to rot
The project, called Operation Vegetarian, had started under Paul Fildes, then head of the biology department at Porton Down, a military facility in Wiltshire.
Gruinard Island was deemed the perfect location for a series of secret experiments.
What actually happened remained a mystery until the Ministry of Defence declassified a video 50 years later.
The shocking footage showed approximately 80 sheep exposed to an anthrax cloud.
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