The Haunted Mansion. The Tower of Terror. Expedition Everest. The most Magical Place on Earth is no stranger to giving guests a scare. While the most disturbing attractions in Disney history have largely disappeared to the land of lost legends (such as the unusually-violating ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter or Typhoon Lagoon’s nightmare pool, Shark Reef), one bone-chilling experience has stood the test of time from opening day.
Thing is, most guests have never even visited it.
Tom Sawyer Island.
Photo: Jett Farrell-Vega
For those unfamiliar, Tom Sawyer Island is the small mass of land across the Rivers of America from Frontierland. It is only accessible by raft and only opens during specific hours during good weather. It’s such an out-of-the-way place that despite thirty years of Disney trips, I’d not stepped foot on it since childhood.
After writing the recent Introvert’s Guide to Walt Disney World (Tom Sawyer Island is a superb refuge from Magic Kingdom crowds), I decided to pull on my explorer’s boots and take a trip to revisit the island, and it was during this reconnaissance mission that I noticed something I’d never realized before.
Tom Sawyer Island might be the scariest attraction in Disney World.
There’s no drops, ghouls, or drooling xenomorphs. Tom Sawyer Island wins this accolade a different way. If one really pays attention, Tom Sawyer Island maintains its mysterious air by preying on base human fears—true phobias that cross the line from fantasy into reality. Indeed, we found five different opportunities on Tom Sawyer Island to plunge into the swirling cauldron of your deepest trepidations—one of which truly can test the mettle of even the most seasoned guest.
One caveat to be aware of: to fully experience the raw terror that is Tom Sawyer Island, time your visit on a weekday in the off-season so that as few people as possible are on the island with you. You’ll thank me (or hate me) later.
Care for a little eerie atmosphere? Pop in a pair of headphones and listen to this while you read.
1. Fear of drowning in a muddy abyss – The Rivers of America
Your journey begins on a dock. You leave the chipper banjo-strumming of Frontierland behind, wooden planks creaking beneath your feet, and step onto a raft. A cast member smiles warmly as you’re ushered onboard with other explorers, but something about that toothy smile unsettles you as you hear the screams of guests plummeting into a watery void on nearby Splash Mountain.
Image: Jennie Park, Flickr (license)
You’re packed in like sardines until the raft is brimming with bodies. Such a rickety craft doesn’t appear seaworthy under such capacity, but you trust the still-eerily-smiling driver as they push off from the dock and guide your vessel in a dance across the water with other rafts coming and going. Offhandedly, you observe that one raft bears the rather ominous moniker Injun Joe, but your attention is stolen by the water.
The muddy, churning water. It’s not so much a river as a soup where mysterious shapes appear and vanish like specters. As you stare, the waters become not-so-much Rivers of America as the Dead Marshes from Lord of the Rings. Every so often, whether it be a piece of trash or a gaping catfish, something drifts up from the bottom then disappears.
Oh… and while this has never happened at Disney World, did we mention that in Disneyland, on two different occasions, guests drowned while trying to swim across the Rivers of America after having hidden on Tom Sawyer Island after park closing?
You pry your eyes from the murky waters to notice something rather odd. Are those nets under the bridge leading to Splash Mountain? Whatever do they need those for?
Captain Hook will be displeased…
Because you’re just so lucky, a different kind of shadow slips by in the water: long, scaly, with a grin far toothier than the suspiciously cheerful boat captain. A sickening crunch causes you to jump, but it’s only the mouse-ear wearing grandmother behind you eating Takis. Still, as the alligator slips back into the water, you realize the warning signs on the dock aren’t just Disney magic.
2. Fear of snakes, spiders, and malevolent wildlife – The entire island
You do your best to ignore the ominous “Welcum” sign on the dock (flanked by another alligator and snakes sign). Overall, the island seems rustic, peaceful, charming even. Following the path, you enter Harper’s Mill. Though all seems normal as the millstone rumbles below, you’ve the most peculiar feeling that you’re being watched.
Photo: Jett Farrell-Vega
A yellow-eyed owl peers into your very soul. You continue on your way just a little faster.
You pass another alligator and snake sign and take some time to observe the local wildlife—ducks, ibis, an enormous spider you nearly walk face first into.
Image: John Flannery, Flickr (license)
Now, I’ll digress to admit not every guest might be so fortunate as to see a Golden Orb Weaver or Black and Yellow Argiope spider, but don’t worry. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they can’t see you!
Near the playground, you pass yet another alligator and snake sign. You’ve faced your fear of being mauled by a gator, but just how many snake signs do they need? While it’s extremely rare for guests to come across snakes on Tom Sawyer Island, it isn’t unheard of. You find yourself stepping just a little more lightly. As you continue your explorations, you realize quickly that Tom Sawyer Island gives a clear vibe that even the animals have it out for you here. Don’t believe me? Just peek into the stable at Fort Langhorn.
If that’s not murder in that hen’s eyes, I don’t know what is.
3. Fear of death by rickety bridge – The Barrel Bridge
At a fork in the road, a sign reads “Tom and Huck’s Way” pointing one direction and “The Other Way” pointing towards the main path. Intrepid adventurer you are, you take the path less traveled and venture out onto what looks like a simple rope bridge.
Your first step is wobbly but fine. As you continue further though, the ground sinks beneath your feet.
The entire bridge is floating on a row of barrels. A net of webbed rope keeps you from teetering into the water, but with each tottering step, your memory reverts to every movie you ever saw where an old bridge snapped beneath the hero’s feet.
At that moment, two gleeful young boys run onto the bridge behind you, ruddy-faced and giggling. They bring to mind the island’s namesakes, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. You attempt to continue when the little rascals reveal their true colors.
Gleefully, the boys stomp on the barrels, rocking the bridge until you’re not so much on a bridge as a capsizing boat. You press towards the shore, but the boys pursue, and the closer they get, the more the bridge lurches. You imagine seeing that familiar reptilian grin peering up from the water, glassy eyes waiting for you to plop into the drink.
At last, you reach the other side. The nefarious boys bolt past. This time, you’ve the sense to take the “Other Way”.
4. Claustrophobia – The Escape Tunnel and Mystery Mine
You overcome your fear of death-by-plummeting-through-a-bridge and cross the river to Fort Langhorn. Across the water, shrieks echo from Big Thunder Mountain which do nothing for your nerves.
The fort is charming enough, but even here, things seem off. A grinning ranch-hand snores in the corner. Cows and horses shift in their stalls. That chicken continues to stare daggers your way.
Your attention steals to a sign: Escape Tunnel. The door next to it doesn’t appear to be child-sized. Curious, you venture inside.
As you descend the stairs, your eyes have trouble adjusting from the bright Florida sun. Despite scattered lanterns, darkness encroaches like a wet sack. The further you walk, the closer the walls draw. The underground rumbles like a crypt. It’s not that long of a tunnel, but with every step, the walls loom closer and closer and…
Back in the sun once more, you make your way back to the main island. Another cave entrance catches your attention. Mystery Mine.
Once again, you descend into the darkness. Your quest isn’t without purpose. You’re mastering your fear for the greatest of Tom Sawyer’s tests still to come.
The Mystery Mine is darker than the Escape tunnel, the path just as narrow. Disoriented by the thick black, you make your way from lantern to lantern, wondering what might happen if you were to venture into forgotten corners of the mine. Despite the mine’s bounty of gold and jewels, it crosses your mind that you might be lost. Certain sections of the path look narrow enough to be impassible for a guest of more luxuriant girth. Perhaps this is no mine at all. Perhaps the mystery is that it’s a tomb. Your tomb.
You emerge on the other side, satisfied that you survived the challenge. You’ve conquered the Rivers of America, the insidious wildlife, the barrel bridge, and the mysterious depths…
However, one last challenge awaits on Tom Sawyer Island, and it’s this particular oddity that potentially earns the island a spot as scariest attraction in Disney World.
5. Fear of being murdered in the dark – Injun Joe’s Cave
As you near the close of your journey on Tom Sawyer’s Island, you come across a sign you haven’t seen before…
“Injun Joe ain’t been seen in these parts for along time. His cave is deserted! P.S. Ifn you want to, maybe you could wurry just a little bit. Tom.”
The mouth of a final cave looms, a great maw descending into the unknown. It’s been a long time since you’ve read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, so you can’t remember who Injun Joe is. Admittedly, it sounds like a name fitting for a serial killer.
You: Gee, Injun Joe, why do you live in such a dark, brooding cave?
Injun Joe: Oh, I just really love the quiet and mmmmmMMUUURDERING PEOPLE.
A Google search confirms your suspicion. Apparently, Injun Joe is a grave-robbing sadist with a penchant for carving up widows.
The island is quiet. Not a sound echoes from within. You step into the void of Injun Joe’s cave.
As before, your eyes fail to adjust to the rapid shift from light to dark. You follow the lanterns, but something seems very different about Injun Joe’s cave. First, there are far more twists and turns where you find yourself weaving off the main path. It wouldn’t be difficult to get lost in here. There are also far more black, shadowy corners.
Corners where a machete-wielding psychopath could lie in wait.
The walls seem to wail in haunting tones. The thought crosses your mind that if you run into another park guest, you might run shrieking back to the entrance. You pass a hellish red door, barred like a prison cell. Why is there a prison cell down here? You pray this isn’t the day Disney decided to add Injun Joe to the cast of regular characters. It’s not October, is it?
Knock-Knock… Who’s there… MURDER!
Spotting blue light ahead, you hurry towards the hopeful warmth of the sun only to find yourself in a forbidding chamber. Giant skulls leer down at you, glowing with unholy light. Unseen rats skitter in the darkness. The tunnel walls are relentless, ever narrowing. You imagine footsteps, the breath of a hidden stranger, the possibility that every corner might hold the homicidal Joe. You feel the cold sweat of true fear.
If the horrors haven’t been smeared on thick enough, you come to another cavern—a bridge spanning the gaping mouth of a bottomless pit. The chamber feels less and less like Tom Sawyer’s Island and more like Tolkien’s Mines of Moria.
You shall not pass!
Just like Tom warned, you’re moving a little faster, and a little faster. Have you lost your way? Is that someone behind you?
As you turn the corner, you freeze… a figure stands in the dark, a looming, broad-shouldered silhouette.
Courage escapes you. Your knees shake. It’s him.
Injun Joe.
A scream hangs on your lips.
“Mikey, will you hurry up! Your Dole Whip is melting!!!” the woman shouts, tromping past you with a quick scowl like she doesn’t approve of your staring.
You take a moment to verify that you haven’t soiled yourself and take your final steps back into the sun, a survivor of Injun Joe’s cave.
Have you faced Tom Sawyer’s Island? What’s your best story of Disney’s scariest attractions?
