Welcome to the Victorian Underground Project

Eight miles south of the Outer Hebrides, one will find the Isle of Insectum. It once had the largest population of all the islands in the British Isles. It was also a source of mystery and speculation among academics.

As we can see from photographs #1 and #2, there was a stone circle on the northern tip of the island which has existed since at least 5,000 b.c. Most scholars of the day presumed it to be an ancient place of astrological worship and/or a burial ground for important members of the community.

In the autumn of 1889, two archaeologists from Oxford decided to visit the island and search for clues. It was the first time anyone had actually disturbed the circle. And as we can see from photographs #2 and #3, what began as a small excavation ended as a complete upheaval followed by an unlikely discovery.

To everyone’s horror, beneath the circle, there were thousands of monstrous insects breaking out of the ground. Everyone on the island was whipped into a frenzy as they ran towards the shoreline for their lives.

Reports from locals say that after the initial commotion, people began to realise the insects weren’t actually aggressive. To the contrary, they seemed as surprised as everyone else that they had been woken up. All they did was run around while looking particularly ugly.

There was a meeting among the islanders and visitors to discuss what should be done. After a few hours of deliberations, the consensus was to get photographic evidence for posterity before exterminating the insects and sendingthem out to sea. The reasoning was to prevent any possibility of them causing a nuisance in the future.

It appears that many people were quick to kill the insects and then pose with them as if somehow implying that they had endured a life and death struggle trying to rescue everyone. The truth, of course, is that they had been met with no resistance.

These photographs are the only ones that survived. We have had our hoax photography experts examine them for any signs of forgery. Another member of the Fellowship has also visited the island to check all of the landmarks and to talk directly to descendants of those who were alive during the infestation.

While we believe that the evidence for this event is watertight, we do think it’s a bit of a stretch to say there was an element of trophy hunting. Regardless we are content with the fact that nobody was injured or killed, and that these images are simply stunning.

Many thanks for your continued support and interest. We will be back very soon.

TVUP