Figments of the imagination

12 islands home to mad scientists, scary pirates, and fantastic beasts!

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Whether idyllic or dangerous, mapped or mysterious, fictional islands make us want to get on a boat and become castaways. Cinema, television, and literature have allowed us to discover countless exotic lands that, despite being invented, are still fascinating. From Atlantis to Neverland, discover 12 fictional islands that, although they never existed, have earned a well-deserved place on the maps of world culture.

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The legendary island of Atlantis is arguably the inspiration for many of the other islands listed in this article. It first appeared in Plato’s writings and was described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world. Since then, Atlantis has become an allegory for lost civilizations and has been depicted in literature, films, and television shows many times.

Although nowadays everyone agrees on the story's fictional nature, there is still a debate on whether a real place influenced Plato. The search for it has attracted the attention of fictional heroes, but many real-life archaeologists and explorers have also devoted much time and effort to the quest.

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A tale of pirates and treasures buried in the sand, Robert Louis Stevenson's novel laid the groundwork for the Caribbean island archetype —beautiful, exotic, and deeply wild— that other writers and screenwriters would later replicate for decades.

In addition to the numerous film and television adaptations, the characters, setting, and events of this novel have greatly influenced modern imagery of pirate fiction, including schooners, treasure maps marked with an "x," and one-legged sailors with parrots on their shoulders.

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Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna are two islands supposedly located west of Costa Rica in the Pacific Ocean that serve as the main setting in the novels and film adaptations of Jurassic Park. However, for the film version, Steven Spielberg used the Hawaiian island of Kauai as a stand-in for the fictional islands.

On Isla Nublar lies the zoo that houses the genetically engineered dinosaurs created by John Hammond and the InGen Corporation. On Sorna, on the other hand, the dinosaurs are on the loose. Fun fact: Isla Nublar is perhaps the only island people can actually visit —so to speak— since there’s a replica at Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida.

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Odysseus visits countless islands during his great journey back home: the island of the nymph Calypso and the beautiful sorceress Circe, the island of the Lotophages, the island of the Cyclops, and the island of the gigantic Lestrygonians, among many others. However, the one that stands out the most in the work of the Greek poet Homer is Ithaca, home to his beloved Penelope and his son Telemachus.

Although there is an island of the same name in Greece, Homer's Ithaca is a figment of his imagination. The author describes it as a rocky island, unsuitable for horse breeding but rich in wheat, vineyards, and pastures.

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Skull Island is a fictional island lost in the Indian Ocean, somewhere off the coast of Sumatra. In the center of the island stands a huge rock that resembles the shape of a human skull, from which it gets its name.

Skull Island is the home of King Kong, several other prehistoric species of creatures, and a primitive human society. It's the main setting of three major films and a pseudo-documentary about the island's animal life.

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This idyllic island lost in the middle of the ocean appears in the works of Thomas More. Utopia is an example of the perfect state where its inhabitants enjoy physical and moral well-being. Utopia literally translates as "no place", coming from the Greek οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place").

Inspired by the fantastic narratives of the New World, More imagined an island created by the people, a crescent-shaped belt of land, housing 54 city-states all of equal size where religious freedom is celebrated and private property is condemned.

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"The Island" is the major setting of the popular six-season-long television show Lost. This particular fictional island is not only a remote and mysterious place, it also serves as a character.

The Island has mysterious powers that can go beyond its geographic location. It is difficult to find and can apparently "move" through an unknown process. This place is so incredible that it features time travel, slave ships, supernatural monsters, large deadly animals, hidden treasures, scary scientists, supervillains, references to antiquity, and more. In short, a combination of various aspects of the other islands on this list rolled into one.

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Deserted islands are often a metaphor for human isolation. This thesis is more than proven in Life of Pi, a best seller and famous film about a boy who must survive a journey back to civilization accompanied by a Bengal tiger.

The island in Life of Pi is hauntingly beautiful at first glance, with jungles, meerkats, food, and drink. However, it soon reveals itself to be carnivorous, feeding on its own inhabitants and reminding Pi that excessive comfort can also be dangerous.

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The book The Mysterious Island was a sequel to Jules Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways. In this story, five men, Northern prisoners during the American Civil War, find a way to escape thanks to a hot air balloon. After several days suspended in the air due to a hurricane, they finally land on an island they name Lincoln, in honor of Abraham Lincoln.

While on the island, thanks to the protagonist's knowledge in the fields of physics, agriculture, and chemistry the group are able to sustain themselves. When they find a message in a bottle a whole host of adventures ensue.

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Neverland is a fictional island described in J. M. Barrie's fantasy play and novel Peter Pan. Remote and exotic, on this island children don’t grow up and live without rules or responsibilities, spending most of their time having fun and living adventures.

Neverland is home to the Lost Boys, fairies, fearsome pirates, Indians, mermaids, and other fantastic creatures that inhabit the jungles and deep waters. According to the legend, if you want to reach Neverland, you must fly to the top of the sky and turn to the second star on the right, flying until sunrise.

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While some islands offer sun, beaches, and a warm climate, not many can boast a community of wild human-beasts created by a mad scientist. The island of Doctor Moreau, or Noble Isle, as described in the original book by H.G. Wells, is an isolated piece of land populated by animal-human hybrids trying to find a balance between their social principles and their animal nature.

Multiple film adaptations of this story, and the whole notion of animal experimentation by a mad scientist, serve as a definite precursor to Jurassic Park, and probably a few of the storylines in Lost.

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Mr. Roarke, an enigmatic host at a luxury resort on a mysterious island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean receives people who arrive by seaplane, upon payment of US$50,000, to make their most extravagant dreams and fantasies come true.

Although not fully described in the television series aired from 1977 to 1984, on this island some fantasies have to do with the real world and others have mythological elements. Whatever the case, there is always some mystery, illusion, and wizardry involved in the plots.

Ever heard of them?

How, where, and why is Fierljeppen played? 10 unusual sports names, decoded

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As names go, "football," "handball, and "table tennis" are straightforward enough. But would you be able to explain how fierljeppen is played? Or what really goes on in a "toe wrestling" match? Some sports names were directly imported from their original nations, some others are combinations of traditional games that evolved when crossing frontiers. Let’s explore the meanings and backstories behind games like qianball, hantis, and eukonkanto, and find out which one you’d be interesting in watching –or playing!

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Here’s the concept: You spring and jump off the edge of a canal, grab onto a flexible pole sticking in the middle of it, climb as high as you can, and then propel yourself to the other side of the water. Of course, the wider the canal and the higher the pole, the harder the feat gets, right? The longest pole climbed in fierljeppen to record was over 72 ft tall.

This Dutch sport originated in Friesland, a province in the Netherlands. Its name comes from the combination of Frisian words fier (far) and ljeppen (leaping/jumping). It has been practiced for centuries, derived from the pole vault technique for crossing the abundant waterways in the Netherlands.

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Qianball might remind us of tennis or squash. Except in this sport, the ball is tethered to a weight with a rubber band. Players (two or four, typically) stand on the same side of the net and strike the ball taking turns. The amazing thing about Qianball is never having to jog far after a missed ball.

The sport derives from the Chinese Qianlongball. It originated as an indoor alternative to tennis, although nowadays it can also be played outdoors. It became popular after Denmark adopted it and started organizing tournaments to promote it.

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Can you imagine playing tennis without rackets? That’s not very far from what hantis is. In this sport, named after the combination of "hand" and "table tennis," four standard tables are placed between the four players, who strike the ball with their bare hands. The goal, similarly to ping-pong, is to get the ball to bounce on and off the tables without the other team returning it.

The game originated in a classroom, and its creators have been promoting it ever since, developing the official rules and standard measurements for tables. Eventually, it caught on and was spread across U.S. schools through physical education programs and the help of the internet.

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This is an obstacle course where participants carry teammates over hurdles, water hazards, and sandy stretchers. The traditional version of it is a man carrying his own wife while competing, with techniques such as piggyback or fireman’s carry.

Eukonkanto really translates to "wife carrying" in Finnish. The sport originated in Finland inspired by 19th-century folklore. In it, a legend spoke of a bandit leader who allegedly made his recruits carry women to demonstrate their stamina. Modern rules of the game suggest that the person carried should weigh no less than 108 pounds.

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Bandy is a lot like hockey on ice, but it is played with a ball instead of a puck. Played on a large ice rink roughly the size of a soccer field, it still involves teams using curved sticks to hit the ball into the other team’s net.

The sport mixes the rules of ice hockey and soccer. It is debated whether the sport originated in Russia or England, but the name we use derives from the Middle English word bandy, which means "curved stick."

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The name straightforwardly describes the action —wrestling with toes. Yes, the sport consists of two participants interlocking their toes. The goal is to pin the other person’s foot to the ground for three seconds. As you can imagine, this requires strength, balance, dexterity, and a willingness to be barefoot in public.

This was created by a group of friends who lamented that England didn’t have any championships in unconventional sports, or so goes the legend. Today they must be proud, because a World Toe Wrestling Championships is held annually, and has been for at least 50 years.

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We’ve all seen pogo sticks, those spring-loaded, bouncing toys for children. Xpogo takes child play to the extreme in competitions where participants achieve impressive heights in circuits or challenging terrains. It could be compared with parkour, skateboarding, or BMX.

The name is a shortening of "extreme pogo." Athletes do use specially designed pogo sticks for their high jumps, backflips, and such tricks. In fact, these modern devices allow jumps exceeding 10 feet. Tournaments are held internationally, such as the "Pogopalooza," the sport’s World Championship.

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Picigin is a recreational game played in shallow water with a peeled tennis ball, known as the "balun," or alternatively, rubber balls. Players aim to keep the ball in the air using only their hands, performing dramatic dives and acrobatic moves to prevent it from touching the water.

Unlike competitive sports, picigin has no scoring system or strict rules. It just focuses on coordination, teamwork, and not losing the ball to the water currents. The term picigin is derived from Croatian. It originated in Split when local students adapted water polo to the shallow, sandy waters of Bačvice Beach.

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If you’ve ever seen someone walk or run on jumping stilts, you have surely fantasized about trying them on. Those spring-loaded stilts are usually worn by acrobats or entertainers, but the devices gave way to a new sport called "powerbocking."

The jumping stilts called "PowerSkips" were developed by Alexander Böck, a German engineer, and in his honor powerbocking was named. Not unlike xpogo, powerbocking involves running, jumping, and performing acrobatics to access heights and speeds that bare feet could never achieve. A milder variation also gained popularity as aerobic exercise, since the sticks reduce the impact on joints compared to traditional sports.

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All in all, slalom isn’t a strange sport compared with eukonkanto or toe wrestling. But it might be difficult to pinpoint the meaning of its name. The term comes from the Norwegian words sla (meaning "slope") and låm (meaning "track").

Slalom is a type of skiing race, one of the key disciplines of alpine skiing. In it, skiers slide through a downhill course marked with alternating gates (pairs of poles), making tight turns and quick, precise maneuvers. The winner is the athlete who completes it in the shortest combined time.