The beach often brings images of sun, sand, and relaxation to mind. It’s a place where many of us create happy memories. But what if your favorite sunny spot held a dark secret, a chilling story from its past? It’s more common than you might think.
Many popular beaches around the world have histories marked by mystery, tragedy, or downright horror. These aren’t your typical beach tales. Get ready to explore ten beautiful beaches that have surprisingly dark stories hidden just beneath their picturesque surfaces.
10 Wanda Beach
In January 1965, a sunny day at Wanda Beach in Sydney, Australia, turned into a nightmare. Fifteen-year-old Marianne Schmidt and her friend Christine Sharrock took Marianne’s younger siblings to the beach. When the weather turned windy, the two older girls went to get their bags to head home.
Marianne’s younger brother called out, questioning why they were walking in the wrong direction, but the girls just laughed it off. They never came back. Later, their families reported them missing, and their bodies were found side by side. Despite a massive investigation, their murders remain unsolved, becoming the oldest active case for the New South Wales unsolved homicide unit.
9 Short Sands Beach
Rhonda Pattelena, a 35-year-old mother of three, cherished her visits to Short Sands Beach in Maine. It was her special place to enjoy the waves and sand. In March 2021, she went for a walk there with her boyfriend, Jeffrey Buchanan, a man she considered her soulmate. Tragically, she didn’t return.
Surveillance footage revealed Buchanan brutally murdered Pattelena with a large rock, though he claimed he “blacked out” and couldn’t remember. The shocking crime deeply affected the community and Pattelena’s loved ones. The town later held a vigil at the beach to honor her memory and reclaim the spot she loved.
8 Cannon Beach
Cannon Beach in Oregon is famous for its stunning beauty, but local legend says it’s also haunted. Near a specific area of U.S. Highway 101, a ghostly figure known as the “Bandage Man” is said to appear. The story dates back to the 1950s when a young couple parked their truck by the water.
Suddenly, something started shaking their vehicle. They saw a figure covered in bloody bandages trying to get inside. Terrified, they sped away, and the figure vanished. Others have reported similar chilling encounters with this mysterious, bandaged man in the same spot, with some sightings as recent as 2019.
7 Jaboatao dos Guararapes
An afternoon at the beach in Jaboatao dos Guararapes, Brazil, took a horrifying turn for 51-year-old Marcelo Rocha Santos. While enjoying the day with friends, Santos needed to use the restroom. Since there were no facilities nearby, he and a friend decided to relieve themselves in the ocean.
This decision proved fatal. An 8-foot tiger shark suddenly attacked Santos. Despite his attempts to fight it off, he quickly lost consciousness as the water turned red. His friends pulled him from the water, but large parts of his arm and leg were missing. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at a nearby hospital.
6 Hermosa Beach
In April 1954, a young couple, Mr. and Mrs. McDonald, were at California’s Hermosa Beach with their infant son. Suddenly, a large wave crashed ashore and swept their baby away. The distraught parents searched desperately but couldn’t find their child. Later that day, the baby’s body washed up on shore.
A local resident, who was a photographer for The Los Angeles Times, overheard the commotion. He instinctively captured a photo of the couple in their moment of deep grief. This powerful image, capturing their raw despair, later won photographer John Gaunt a Pulitzer Prize.
5 Fort Lauderdale
The popular beaches of South Florida also have their share of unsettling stories. In June 2012, a massive yacht washed up on a Fort Lauderdale beach, completely empty. The yacht belonged to Guma Aguiar, a well-known Brazilian oil tycoon and philanthropist.
Investigators found no blood or any trace of Aguiar on the vessel. Extensive searches failed to locate him, and he was eventually presumed dead. However, the mystery deepened when conspiracy theories emerged, suggesting Aguiar was still alive and hiding in the Netherlands. Interestingly, his own wife’s lawyer publicly floated this possibility.
4 Huntington Beach
If you visited Huntington Beach, California, in 1968, you might have seen teenagers playing music and dressed in colorful clothes. In the era of hippy counterculture, this might have seemed harmless. However, these beachside concerts had a sinister purpose.
They were recruitment events for a dangerous cult called “Teens for Christ.” The goal was to lure unsuspecting beachgoers to their “Light Club” facility near the pier and indoctrinate them. “Teens for Christ” later became “Children of God,” a group infamous for its leader’s horrific abuse of followers, which included sexual abuse, violence, incest, and brainwashing.
3 Cheviot Beach
The story of Harold Holt, Australia’s Prime Minister in December 1967, is particularly baffling. Despite being one of the most protected individuals, Holt vanished while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Melbourne. He was never seen again.
Intense searches yielded no trace of him; only his clothes left on the shore were found. His remains have never been recovered. Over the years, numerous theories have tried to explain his disappearance, ranging from suicide or a tragic accident to an international assassination plot. The mystery of what happened to Harold Holt endures.
2 Gilgo Beach
In 2010, Long Island police received a frantic 9-1-1 call from Shannan Gilbert, who claimed someone was trying to kill her. The search for Gilbert led to a horrifying discovery along the Gilgo Beach coast: the bodies of four women, wrapped in fabric.
It soon became clear that all these women, including Gilbert, had been working as escorts through Craigslist. The investigation eventually uncovered the remains of up to 16 victims in the same area, revealing a serial killer had been operating for nearly two decades. Despite the passage of time, no suspect has been charged, and the killer’s identity remains unknown.
1 Somerton Beach
In December 1948, a well-dressed man was found deceased on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia. He had no identification, and his body showed no signs of violence. Investigators found a tiny, rolled_up piece of paper in his pocket with the Persian words “Tamam Shud,” meaning “the end,” from the poem “The Rubaiyat.”
For decades, the “Somerton Man’s” identity was a profound mystery, sparking theories of espionage or a jilted love affair. However, in 2022, DNA analysis suggested the man was Carl “Charles” Webb, an electrical engineer from Melbourne, finally shedding light on one of Australia’s most enduring cold cases.
These stories remind us that even the most idyllic locations can have a history steeped in mystery and sorrow. The next time you’re enjoying a day at the beach, you might wonder what secrets the sands beneath your feet could tell.
Do you know of any other beaches with dark histories? Leave your comment below and share your stories!
