Amazing Facts About The World's Loneliest House on Ellidaey Remote Island

Rosemary December 17, 2022 | 17:44

A picturesque house on a remote uninhabited island sounds like a fairy tale. It has been empty for more than 100 years. It is dubbed the world's loneliest house. What are interesting facts about the house?

What Is The Loneliest House In The World?

Loneliest House on Ellidaey Island - Photo Instagram

Photos of a tiny white house, standing all alone on a remote island, are currently going viral online and giving rise to mysterious theories. Dubbed the world's loneliest house, it is also being hailed as an introvert's dream residence.

A picturesque house located on a remote uninhabited island sounds like a fairy tale. But that really exists on the little-visited island in Iceland.

Video - The most isolated house in the world on Ellidaey Remote island:

Where is the loneliest house in the world?

Many netizens believe that such a house isolated from the world does not exist. They think this is just an edited image. But the truth is that there is a white house lying in the middle of an empty island for hundreds of years.

The loneliest house in the world is a single white-painted building located in the middle of Elliðaey, a small and remote island off the south coast of Iceland. This small island is part of Vestmannaeyjar, an archipelago of 15 to 18 islands. Today, the island is deserted, but it was once inhabited by five families. The last of these families left in the 1930s and the island has been uninhabited since then.

What are theories about the house?

Ellidaey - The most isolated house in the world

Rumours, questions and theories have swirled around this white house on the remote island for a long time now.

Many theories about the 'world's loneliest house' were spread over the years, but the truth has not yet been officially solved.

In 2020, a rumor spread on social media claimed that the abandoned land belonged to a billionaire who built a house in an uninhabited place, in the middle of the ocean in the event of a zombie apocalypse or war.

The house has become a hot topic of discussion on many social networking forums. Many argue that it is a paradise for introverts, or those who like to live alone.

The most popular theory is that the house and island are related to Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk. Netizens said he was given this small island by the government.

READ MORE: 15 of Weirdest Houses in the World

We found various news stories that made misleading claims about the building. One headline read: "Find out who lives in the only house on this remote island." Another said: "Mystery of world's loneliest house on remote island that has been empty for over 100 years." A third claimed: "The Lonely House on Ellidaey Island, Where Nobody is Sure of its Residents."

What is the fact?

In reality, the house does stand on the island of Ellidaey and is owned by the Ellidaey Hunting Association. Built in the 1950s, it serves as a hunting cabin and sauna for members of the association, which hunts puffins.

The island itself is populated with flocks of puffin which feast on the abundant supply of fish in the waters below, and the white house is actually a lodge constructed by the Ellidaey Hunting Association.

Despite puffins being an endangered species, they are not protected in Iceland and it is not illegal to hunt them. Last year, The Independentreported that trophy hunters were killing up to 100 puffins at a time on organised tours of the Nordic nation, with some trips costing up to £3000 ($A5000)

To make hunting trips easier, the group built the house as a base, which features a sauna fed off a rainwater collection system.

Although it looks idyllic, a lodge in the middle of nowhere has its draw backs.

According to various accounts that we found online, the Elliðaey Hunting Association constructed the lodge on the island in 1953. We also found information about how the hunters who stay at the lodge purportedly hunt puffins.

Newspapers archives from 1973 provided more details. During that year, the Arizona Republic reported that puffins, gannets, petrels, and razorbills were among the many birds that populated the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar). Ellidaey was described as a "rocky islet" with Iceland's largest gannet colony with an estimated 15,000 birds.

We have yet to find credible information that hunters use the building in the present-day to hunt puffins. None of the pictures uploaded to Google Maps showed any signs of hunting on the island. It's possible that the lodge was used by hunters in past decades, but now simply serves one purpose: touristry.

What are there inside the house?

Photo siasat

Inside the lonely house, there was absolutely no running water or electricity. It has a sauna, a rainwater storage system and a protective fence around it.

Because it has long been uninhabited, the area has become a breeding ground of seabirds, making it a nature reserve and protected area. Tour companies offer day trips for tourists wanting to take in the spectacular sights the location has to offer.

Is there anyone who visited the house?

YouTuber Ryan Trahan made the trip and filmed his experience so you know exactly what you’re getting into if you decide to follow in his footsteps.

Trahan first takes a taxi to a ferry on the mainland, which drops him off on an island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and from there, he takes yet another boat — with the help of two locals named Bjarni and Ragnar — to Elliðaey.