Mystery Island of the Month: Brownsea
Brownsea Island in its present incarnation couldn't be more of a haven for innocent English jollity, being a National Trust nature reserve, scout camp, sometime holiday home for John Lewis employees, and written about by Enid Blyton. The reason it was known for years as Mystery Island, despite being close to a very popular and prosperous bit of Dorset, is due to the efforts of the 'Demon of Brownsea', Mary Bonham Christie, a recluse who drove the inhabitants from the island and let it turn into wilderness for 30 years. She refused to allow even her own family to land without permission, and kept gamekeepers constantly roaming to keep the curious locals out (although the more daring ones still managed to sneak ashore now and again).
The peculiar Mrs Bonham Christie is thought to haunt the castle since her death in 1961, and was supposedly captured in a photograph here.