Of all of the fears and phobias out there, snakes are probably my biggest.
Turns out, Snake Island is a real place that I will be having nightmares about for the rest of my life.
Located in Brazil, Snake Island (which is actually called Ilha de Queimada Grande) is home to the world's largest concentration of venomous snakes.
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And to make matters worse, these aren't just any old venomous snakes.
Snake Island is infested with an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 golden lancehead vipers, which are among the deadliest types of snake in the world, NBD.
A golden lancehead viper's venom can kill a human in about an hour.
So how did this Brazilian island become one of the most terrifying places on earth?
According to Smithsonian magazine, the snakes were trapped on the island about 11,000 years ago, due to rising sea levels after the last Ice Age.
Because there were no natural predators on the island, the snakes rapidly reproduced. The snakes also had no ground-level prey, which meant they would have to mark and hunt down birds, which caused their venom to evolve into an incredibly potent version that's three to five times deadlier than the average snake's venom.
In the early 1900s, a few Brazilian locals lived on the island. According to local lore, a family who was in charge of tending to the lighthouse were all killed when the snakes came through the windows of their home.
Both tourists and Brazilian locals are forbidden from visiting Ilha de Queimada Grande.
And in the instance of any legally sanctioned visit, a doctor has to be present at all times in case of any bites.
While the snake population on the island has begun to decline in recent years due to disease and Brazilian officials tweaking the habitat in attempts to control the population (the golden lancehead viper is now officially classified an endangered species), I can confidently say that I will never step foot on Snake Island.
