Sannikov Land (Russian: Zemlya Sannikova) was a non-existent polar island said to be located north of Russia. Despite not existing, it was the site of the Great Twisting, a failed Spiral ritual that was attempted sometime between 2009 and 2011. During the ritual, as well as immediately after its failure, Sannikov land was tangible and could be navigated to. It had a warm climate, mountains, and jungles.
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Arctic explorer and sea captain Eduard von Toll, as well as his ship the Zarya, went missing during a search for Sannikov Land in 1902. However, in 1925 von Toll and his crew were seen in Brazil during Percy Fawcett's search for the Lost City of Z.[1]
On October 4th, 2009, Deborah Madaki received a letter from Gabriel, a fellow student from a sculpting class she had taken. He claimed to have found a job in Sannikov Land and asked if she would join him as an assistant. She did not respond to his request and soon after was imprisoned for the murder of another classmate, Mary Randall.[2]
Sometime between 2009 and 2011, Sannikov Land became tangible and was the site of an attempted Spiral ritual, the Great Twisting. The ritual involved the Distortion's door in the centre of an architecturally impossible building, which was intended to confuse and terrify one thousand onlookers. With the help of Peter Lukas, Gertrude Robinson travelled to the Sannikov Land with her assistant Michael Shelley. Robinson gave Shelley a map and instructed him to enter the Distortion's door and follow written directions; Shelley's success in doing so caused the Distortion to become Michael, Shelley to be consumed, and the ritual to fail. Shortly after, Robinson left Sannikov Land and the island became intangible once more.[3]
Gertrude Robinson and Michael Shelley's trip to Sannikov land was mentioned in a statement regarding Robinson and her archival assistants.[4]
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In Real Life[]
Sannikov Land was a phantom island supposedly located north of Russia. It was first "sighted" in 1809 by polar explorer Yakov Sannikov and named after him. In 1886 it was again "sighted" by Eduard von Toll, who then led an expedition on the arctic ship the Zarya. von Toll left the ship after it became trapped in ice and was never seen again.
After a search for Sannikov Land carried out in 1937 could not locate the polar island, it was declared a phantom island and was no longer marked on maps.
Some modern geographers theorise that Sannikov Land did exist at one point, but was destroyed by coastal erosion and became a sand shoal. The more commonly accepted theory is that sightings of the island were actually miraged images of Bennett Island, which frequently occur in the Arctic.[5]