'I went to UK's 'ghost island' you can only see by kayak – what happened next was eerie'

The UK's creepiest island is an that can only be accessed by kayak.

As you cross the River Medway estuary in Kent, eerie wooden posts jut out from the low-lying mud flats surrounding . The area was once used as a burial site for victims of yellow fever and maritime diseases who had been quarantined at nearby Burntwick Island in the early 1800s.

At the time, the island was just a mud swamp, where the and where they remained for hundreds of years. In the years since, sea levels have changed and the coffins and remains can be seen poking out at low tides.

The island is closed to the public, with a complete ban on visiting, though dark tourists can book a kayak tour to pass close by.

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South East Kayaking tour guide Rob Davis told that one of the main concerns is not to disturb the nesting birds. The reporter visiting sat in a tandem vessel while Rob rowed around the infamous island.

During the two hour trip, the tour group rowed the whole way around the island before paddling over to Burntwick Island, which was where the corpses that line the mud flats actually passed away.

Despite the reports of skeleton clambering from the muddy depths, the reporter said they didn't see any human remains at the current tide, adding that they were likely looming just under the surface. Kayakers can only travel along the estuary when the tide is high enough, which is why they probably couldn't see them.

Swat Archaeology's Dr Paul Wilkinson is one of the privileged few who've been allowed to visit the island itself. Back in 2017, he was a part of a crew who were tasked with confirming that the remains were in fact human.

He told The Sun: "At low tide as the waters retreated I saw extremely large eels writhing inside the skeletal bodies; some were being rocked by the tide which made them seem almost alive.”

The Medway is home to several small islands, many with their own chilling history. However, you can only access most of them by kayak. Shipwrecks and naval attacks are among some of the stories attached to the network of tiny land masses, though Deadman's Island is the scariest of the lot.

“Local fishermen have seen human ghosts calling out to them to come and save them,” Wilkinson explained.

To visit Deadman's Island, you can book a tour with South East Kayaking departing from Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey for £40 plus another £20 for equipment hire. To book, you can email info@southeastkayaking.co.uk or visit southeastkayaking.co.uk