Perhaps it is for its lush avenues among eucalyptus trees, for the ruins of buildings that once housed people, or for the cool temperatures that remain year-round on the island; Pedrosa Island is one of Cantabria’s most singular places and anyone who visits it agrees on the same thing: the halo of mystery that this island exudes is not indifferent to anyone. And it is not surprising that this is the sensation the Pedrosa gives, for its history, as well as its aesthetics, leaves room for such a thought.
Formerly called The Splinter Island, this still-undiscovered Cantabrian enclave lies to the south of Santander Bay, opposite the town of Pontejos, and is connected to the mainland by two isthmuses and a bridge that facilitate access to it. The starting point of its location could not be more pleasant: nature, silence and the murmur of the sea in the background, all adorned with pathways that help visitors lose themselves in this privileged setting that radiates peace.
Then, why is Pedrosa Island associated more with mystery than with bucolic charm? The answer lies in its history. And to uncover it we must travel back in time to 1834, the year a lazaretto was established on this island. The aim was to isolate here the crew of ships that arrived infected with tropical diseases they brought from the Americas and that at that time were in full swing.
The lazaretto came to hold more than 600 patients, but it was also the excuse to activate life on the island. After the lazaretto, the island housed a children’s sanatorium that operated from 1931 until the late 1980s and which, although it treated bone and pulmonary diseases of various kinds, was focused on tuberculosis patients. In addition to the sanatorium, Pedrosa Island also had a theater inaugurated by Queen Victoria Eugenia, a church, the doctor’s house and even a spa.
Ruins of the old sanatorium on Pedrosa Island, Cantabria
Today, what remains of all this is practically ruins. While it is true that some buildings are part of Cantabrian Foundation for Health and Social Welfare, which have repurposed the infrastructures for projects with young drug-dependent individuals in rehabilitation, most are abandoned, overgrown with vegetation, and with a ghostly air that only fuels the legend.
The Paranormal Legends of Pedrosa Island
Among the island’s most popular stories is the tale of the “bird girls.” Aurora and Pilar, as they were named, were admitted to the sanatorium in the late 60s and suffered from progeria, a rare disease that began to manifest from a very young age and gave the girls that unusual bird-like appearance.
Although the “bird girls” were part of the group of children with morphological problems who arrived at this sanatorium, their story has transcended over the years and has become a local myth. Some curious visitors who have approached the island even claim that their spirits still roam freely around Pedrosa.
Ruins on Pedrosa Island, Cantabria
But it is not the only legend that exists in the area. And it is no surprise, since the gloomy atmosphere left by the landscape formed by abundant vegetation and the decay of the ruins is a fertile ground for lovers of the paranormal to have approached here in search of events from another world. Some, in fact, have found them.
This was the case of Anita Lauda, a young woman who approached Pedrosa Island drawn by the halo of mystery that has surrounded it since always. Upon sensing strange presences during her visit, she decided to return accompanied by a group of paranormal investigators who claimed to have seen a group of children accompanied by a nurse descending some stairs (in one of the buildings that had already stood abandoned for decades).
