Loneliest house in the world on isolated island where your only neighbour is the ocean

This island has been the subject of a lot of rumours

You’ve likely seen the photograph at one point or another – a lone house, tucked inside a great sloping hillside on an abandoned island. Behind the house, an expanse of lush green hillside rises to the sky, and in front of it the grass falls away to the ocean below.

It’s the subject of plenty of urban myths, from zombie bunkers to being Björk’s home – but the real truth is the house is not a house at all. The building sits on the island of Elliðaey, the northernmost island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago.

This group of islands is located about five miles south of Iceland’s mainland.

The lone building is actually a hunting lodge, built in 1953 by the Elliðaey Hunting Association.

There is a second building on the island, but this is used as a storage hut, the island has no permanent population, except for the large number of puffins which call the island home.

There have been several rumours about the lodge.

One was that it was built by an unnamed eccentric billionaire to escape a zombie apocalypse, another was that it was constructed as a place to isolate during Covid.

A third rumour, which was a little more realistic, was that it was home to Björk, the famous Icelandic singer.

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This started way back in 2000 when The Miami Herald reported that Björk had been granted the exclusive use of the uninhabited island because she had done so much for the country.

However, this was a mistake. In fact, the reporting was about a different island, also called Elliðaey (Ellidaey) in the west of Iceland.

According to the Irish Examiner, the singer rejected the offer as she didn’t want the island to become a tourist attraction.

Now, tourists are not permitted on the island without the express permission of the owners, but plenty of boats pass it by and offer a spectacular view of the isolated island.