Dark Secrets Hidden on Buckley Island

In September of 2019, we traveled to Marietta, Ohio, and tried to get close to Buckley Island. We were not too successful until we returned in 2024 and took a sternwheeler trip down the river and rode around the island.

We knew the island's history and paranormal claims, but hearing the captain tell it while we watched was even better. We share our experience in the history section of our video below. If you wish to get close to the island and find out more about the area, we highly recommend a cruise on the Valley Gem Sternwheeler.

We took the following pictures during our first visit. This is how close we got to the island from Marietta, Ohio's riverbank. We walked as far as possible in the park along the river and believed at that moment that this would be the closest we could get.

As mentioned, we got much closer to the island during our sternwheeler cruise. We could potentially leap from the boat and swim to the island if we desired to partake in such activities.

About Buckley Island

Tucked quietly in the Ohio River, just south of Marietta, Ohio, sits a long, wooded strip of land with a name few know—Buckley Island. But beneath its peaceful surface lies a layered and haunting past filled with disease, isolation, ruin... and whispers that never left.

For centuries, Native American tribes and fur traders traveled the waters around the island. But by the late 1700s, settlers like John Duvall and Christian Coffman made attempts to live there. The river, though, had other plans. Constant flooding tore through the land, washing away cabins and crops. What remained were stories—some documented, others told in hushed tones around the fires in nearby Marietta.

In 1793, Buckley Island took a dark turn. During a smallpox outbreak, officials built what they called a “pest house”—a ”lonely, quarantined cabin where the sick were sent to die out of sight. Imagine it: no bridges, no doctors, no comfort. The cabin stood alone in the fog, the river ice cracking around it, and time passed slowly. It’s no wonder some claim you can still hear coughing and crying drifting across the water on certain cold nights.

Later, a riverside amusement park revived the island in the late 1800s. Families would ferry over for dances, bowling, and day-long picnics under lanterns strung from trees. But in 1907, a catastrophic flood erased everything—pavilions, footpaths, dreams. Locals say the island didn’t want the noise. The island exhibits a preference for tranquility.

The Buckley family took ownership in 1911, using it as farmland, but nature began reclaiming everything. The Belleville Lock and Dam raised the water level in the 1960s, submerging large parts of the island. Even the remains of old buildings slipped beneath the current. Only foundations, broken steps, and half-buried relics remain, waiting for someone to stumble upon them. Alternatively, they could be disturbed.

Today, Buckley Island belongs to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge. It serves as a sanctuary for birds, deer, and tranquility, yet it remains in our memories. You can’t drive there. You can’t walk there. The only way in is by water—and only the brave or the curious dare to paddle out.

Locals still talk about strange lights on the island after dusk. Unexplained sounds. A lingering sense of being watched. Could the unexplained sounds originate from the victims of the pest house? Could it be the haunting presence of a drowned settler? Or is it simply the influence of centuries weighing down on this forgotten place?

Undoubtedly, Buckley Island harbors secrets. And the river guards them well.