Failaka Island, an island that was once busy and full of life, was deserted in 1991 after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. It is now rumoured to be haunted with the souls of the people that died in the war and they are forever stuck there haunting the island’s visitors. I decided to go to Failaka to find out for myself if the rumours were true.
To get to the Island you have to take a ferry from the mainland, when I first arrived on to the port, I instantly felt the blaring heat of the sun slowly burning my skin and the stinging sensation with a slight desire to sneeze from the salt and dust filled air. The first thing i noticed were the eerie abandoned houses littered with bullet holes and graffiti which mainly consisted of the names of people that perished and the words “Free Kuwait”.
As night was approaching I decided to climb up on the roof of an abandoned house to set up camp as I have heard that there are scorpions at that time of year, after 15 minutes of setting up my tent the sky turned into a jet black colour with only a few stars scattered in the sky. I noticed in the distance there was house with lit up windows all alone, some people decided to go back to the island after the war had finished, as they loved the place so much, this gave me a strange feeling of hope and determination because there was nothing left of the island yet people were still so attached to the place, I would love to know what was so special about the place that it gave them this strong sense of attachment towards it.
There was definitely something about that place at night, I did not sleep all night as I was scared that a ghost may pop up at any moment. I kept on hearing a weird quacking like noise throughout the night, which at the time terrified me, but I later learned that there were animals on the island that were in a farm but now they roam freely.There was also an icy breeze that would appear out of nowhere and would chill my bones and make me shiver. I remember reading that when there are ghosts around the temperature usually drops. I found this strange as during the day the temperature was unbearably hot. Setting camp on top of a worn out, harrowing abandoned house covered with bullet holes certainly did not help me ease my mind.
The next morning I took the next ferry back to the mainland, there is definitely something odd about that place and the haunting rumours may be true, the atmosphere was very sinister, are there ghosts on this island or are they just some made up superstition, I am not sure but one thing I am sure of is that I will not return.
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