Plum Island-A Closer Look

There are a few threads on ATS that mention Plum Island but they don't really contain much info so I thought I would share some findings.

Plum Island New York is located just off the North-West tip of Long Island.
In 1897 the war department bought 150 acres to build Fort Terry for the purpose of coastal defense. The department bought the remaining land in 1901.In 1945 Fort Terry was decommissioned.
In 1952 the Army Chemical Corps took over Fort Terry with plans to house an animal disease laboratory. Classified documents released in the 1990's indicated the Army Chemical Corps lab was intended to research deadly viruses that could kill off Soviet livestock.

In 1954 the island was transferred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Lab;

The Nazi Connection-

Erich Traub was the lab chief of Isel Riems, a secret Nazi biological warfare lab. He worked directly for Hitler's second in charge, Heinrich Himmler. After the war, Traub was recruited by the Soviets and ordered to research germ warfare viruses but in 1949 he escaped to West Berlin and applied for employment in the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.
Traub studied in the U.S. prior to 1939. He studied at the Rockefeller Institute at Princeton, and was a member of Amerika-Deutscher Volksbund also known as Camp Siegfried, the national headquarters of the American Nazi movement. Incidentally, Camp Siegfried was located just thiry miles west of Plum Island.
Despite Traub's troubling war record, the U.S. Navy recruited and stationed him at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. He was most likely one of the founding fathers of the Plum Island research lab. Two years after the Plum Island dedication ceremony, which Erich Traub was in attendance, he was offered the top position. Officially, Traub declined the offer but there is considerable evidence that he was involved in biological warfare reasearch at Plum Island. There are records of Traub visiting the Island frequently. Traub was a biological warfare mercenary who worked under three flags-Nazi, Soviet and U.S.

Lyme Disease Research-

In 1979, former Justice Department prosecutor Jonh Loftus was hired by the Office of Special Investigations, a unit set up to unearth Nazis hiding in the U.S. He was given top secret clearance to reveiw files that had been sealed for thirty-five years. He eventually wrote a book titled "The Belarus Secret" in whch he refered to work being done on Plum Island involving Nazi scientist experimenting on diseased ticks.
Clandestine outdoor germ warfare trials were almost routine during the early 50s. In 1952 the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for vigorous [biological warfare] test and the secretary of defense stated "steps should be taken to make certain of adequate facilities are available, including Fort Detrick, Dugway Proving Ground and Fort Terry (Plum Island)". When the Army first scouted Plum Island for it's Cold War designs, they charted wind speeds and direction and found that the prevailing winds blew out to sea, rather than inland.
Researchers claim to have isolated Bb [the bacterium that causes the Lyme infection] in the late 1940s. That timing coincides with both Erich Traub's arrival in the United States on Project Paperclip and the Army's selection of Plum Island as its offshore biological warfare laboratory. By the 1970's, the focal point of Plum Island research was the Lone-Star tick, whose habitat was previously confined to Texas and was by now spread throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. So far no one has been able to explain the migration from Texas. Ticks are famous for being carriers of Lyme disease.

It is believed by some that the Bb bacterium escaped the island and found it's way to Old Lyme, Connecticut, (the disease's namesake) just ten miles away.

The Monsters-

Over the years a few strange things have washed ashore near Plum Island, creating more speculation about the mysterious island.

More Speculation-

Allegedly, in 2010 a body was discovered on the beach of Plum Island;

A security guard on foot patrol reportedly discovered the clothed decomposing body Thursday afternoon on the southwest beach area of the island, where access is restricted, police said.
The body was described as that of a white male about 6-feet tall with a large build and “very long” fingers. According to authorities, there were no obvious signs of trauma.

The website I pulled this from speculated the Island may be used to create hybrid soldiers. The site also referenced Jesse Ventura's "Conspiracy Theory" and called it a documentary. Jesse himself, on ATS last night, called the show "entertainment" not a documentary, so a grain of salt is recommended.

In 2003 the Department of Homeland Security took over Plum Island, shifting the lab's focus to preventing foreign diseases from being used for bio terrorism.
In 2008, Afia Saddiqui, an MIT graduate working as a scientist for al Qaeda was captured in Afghanistan, Plum Island was on a list of targets she kept.

In 2010 environmentalist were given a rare tour of the island. The visit was part of an ongoing effort by Plum Island brass to end the suspicion surrounding the island made famous in a 1997 Nelson DeMille best-selling book of the same name, and its mention as a possible home for Hannibal Lecter in the film “Silence of the Lambs.”

Officially, in 2018 the research lab is relocating to a new facility in Kansas and the island will one day be available for public sale.

Sources;

www.newsday.com...
www.cbsnews.com...
www.thelymeconspiracy.net...
www.vosizneias.com...
www.johnnycirucci.com...
spitfirelist.com...

My personal opinions;

A small island with a short commute would be a perfect place for some top secret research.

The "monsters" that washed up on the beach don't look that strange to me but I was raised on a farm near the ocean and I've seen some strange animal corpses.

Kansas (the middle of the beef-belt) seems like a lousy place to house deadly animal pathogens.

S+F for you!

Thanks for the informative post! I had heard mentions in other posts and had ideas about googling it, however that requires me to leave ATS, and that is frowned upon.

reply to post by tanda7

I was stationed in the Coast Guard 46ft Aton out of New London Ct from 85-88 and one of our jobs was day boards on Plum Island. We would service lights and reflective tape the boards for navigation. Even being in the Coast Guard we were escorted the whole time. There were stories of nuclear chickens and hybrid genetic experiments that were passed around. The chickens were said to have a beak and 4 legs walked like a dog and had teeth similar to the picture. Just thought I would add my personal experience to the mix. I was attached to the aton station where the USCGC Redwood moored. Which was a 156ft buoy tender for long Island sound. We were the support and was stationed to the 46 ft utility boat for river and shallow water buoys/dayboards. Plum Island was definitely a get on get off site.

reply to post by tanda7


Poor doggie. If that can "get out" so can any disease they may have infected it with.

I'm going to relate a personal story about a lab I used to visit and collect stainless steel shelving from to sell as scrap metal. It was on our dumpster route, just another silicon valley company… we did not know it was a lab. All we knew was shelving made of non ferrous stainless was out back from time to time free for the taking. Into the truck bed it went, fetching cash money per pound at any recycling facility.

We always noticed the cats. They scattered as we pulled in, scampering away from the headlights and the sudden intrusion. Being after dark, the lab was closed and we thought they were just feral that frequented the area, maybe someone was feeding them. One night we pulled in as usual to check behind the building for shelving and there was an employee coming out. He didn't mind us being there (it was a different world back then) and asked us what we did with the shelving.

"We scrap it."

"Oh, okay", came the reply. "You know what this place is?"

We looked stupid for a bit and he explained it was a testing lab that experimented on animals (mostly rats). He didn't mind us taking the racks they were glad they didn't have to dump them. He thought we should know that the racks were for holding cages the animals were kept in and even though they sterilized them before putting them out back there was somewhat of a risk of "catching something". We thought well you guys disinfect them so whats the problem? No he said, have you seen the cats that hang around? They are here for the rats and guinea pugs and what not we use for testing. We don't test chemicals or make up he said, we test diseases.

Even though they try their best to contain them he went on, some of the critters get out and the cats hang around eat them and thats why they were there.

Shudder we go… A cat meows somewhere nearby. We look around and then at him and he nonchalantly says, just thought you might like to know. He waved us good bye.

I always wondered about that. A lab that attracts cats because there are so many diseased critters escaping from it… in the middle of urban sprawl, Silicon Valley, California.

When I see the stories of Plum Island and I see that dog washed up on the beach I go, uh huh.

reply to post by intrptr

Ni-i-i-ice. Good punch line to a Great OP.

reply to post by tanda7


I have been interested in that particular place for some time now. I will tell you this if and when the island does come up for public sale i imagine whoever purchases the place will get more than they bargained for. Don't know what kind of exterminators they will need to get rid of whatever "They" have created and then lost!

reply to post by andy06shake

I will tell you this if and when the island does come up for public sale i imagine whoever purchases the place will get more than they bargained for.

That statement made me curious about the real estate. Using google maps I took a look around the island.
The old Fort Terry buildings seen in the first photo of the OP are still there. Now complete with heli pad.
They have their own water treatment facilities.
The old big gun turrets.
But also some strange things in the forest.
For example these dead trees at the end of this dirt road. Toxic dumping?
Also these things in the forest.
I imagine once cleaned up this will be considered prime real estate. Personally I would love to see some of the old military bunkers re-purposed.

reply to post by tanda7


I'm certainly in agreement with you as to repurposing old buildings/bunkers. But stuff living there considering you don't know what will come crawling or slithering through your window and doors in the middle of the night. LoL

a reply to: tanda7

plum island is a facinating place. i'm glad i don't live next to it.