In minutes, a once-beautiful city became a ghost town. Now, it’s a haven for dark tourism. Montserrat is a mountainous island in the Caribbean and a British Overseas Territory. 

Plymouth was the capital until 1995, when a devastating volcanic eruption tore through the island and caused a mass evacuation. While residents did initially return to the town, a second eruption two years later destroyed much of the city and was the final nail in the coffin for its future. The Soufrière Hills volcano erupted in July 1995, sending pyroclastic flows and ash falling across much of the island.

Volcanologists had for years been warning of the devastation that would be caused by such an eruption, especially to the capital, which sat just under four miles away.

Soufrière Hills continued to erupt for weeks, and in late August, an explosion covered Plymouth in a thick layer of ash and turned the sky almost completely black. By December, 4,000 people – the entire population of Plymouth – had been evacuated.

While some returned a few months later, by June 1997, another massive eruption killed 19 people and saw pyroclastic flows destroy buildings and the island’s airport.

This event was the ultimate decider for Plymouth’s fate, and the city has never recovered since, being buried under 1.4 metres (4.6 feet) of ash and leading to its moniker of ‘the Pompeii of the Caribbean’.

Plymouth currently lies under a mountain of dust and ash. It became desolate after widespread evacuations, making the once magical place completely abandoned. 

Christopher Columbus first discovered Montserrat in 1493 during his second trip to the Americas, though he didn’t dock his ship. It wasn’t until 1632, when Irish exiles encountered the island, that Europeans began to settle it.

Many Irish people emigrated to the Caribbean during this period, subject to brutal oppression by Oliver Cromwell, a man widely described as England’s first dictator.

Montserrat is often referred to as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, given its large number of Irish settlers, and along with Labrador and Newfoundland in Canada, it is the only place outside Ireland where St Patrick’s Day is a public holiday.

Intrepid travellers can now experience the Caribbean island as it once was with a visit to Plymouth being allowed, but of course with a note of caution.