In 2016, the private island known locally as Craine's Tooth — a 340-acre landmass approximately 47 nautical miles southeast of Savannah, Georgia — was acquired by the Martyrs Foundation, a nonprofit entity controlled by American industrialist Edmund Martyrs III. Martyrs, whose estimated net worth exceeded $14 billion at the time of purchase, had built his fortune through defense contracting, pharmaceutical patents, and a network of private equity holdings spanning three continents.
Public records indicate the island was designated as a "long-term wellness research facility." No further permits were filed with county or state authorities. Satellite imagery between 2017 and 2019 shows the construction of at least seven subsurface structures, a private airstrip, and a deepwater dock capable of receiving vessels up to 200 feet in length.
What follows is a reconstruction of events based on testimony from ████████████, one of three known survivors, corroborated where possible by recovered documents, security footage fragments, and physical evidence collected by federal investigators.
The subjects — referred to internally as "candidates" — were sourced through a network of intermediaries operating in nine countries. The common profile was consistent: young adults between the ages of 19 and 27, no immediate family, limited social ties, history of institutional care or displacement. Many had survived significant prior trauma. This was not incidental. According to recovered internal communications, it was the primary selection criterion.
Candidates were approached with offers of paid medical research participation. Compensation packages ranged from $8,000 to $25,000 depending on country of origin. Transportation to a "secure facility" was arranged through shell logistics companies. Upon arrival at Martyrs Island, personal belongings — including identification documents — were confiscated under the pretense of biosecurity protocol.
Between March 2017 and August 2019, an estimated 87 individuals were transported to the island. Of those, federal investigators have confirmed the identities of 34. The remaining 53 are classified as unidentified.
Recovered documents describe a program referred to only as THE THRESHOLD. Its stated purpose, as outlined in a 14-page internal memorandum authored by Dr. ██████ Lyle, was to investigate "the perceptual and neurological phenomena observable in human subjects at the boundary of extreme physiological and psychological endurance."
The memorandum theorizes that prolonged, systematic suffering induces a measurable alteration in consciousness — a state the authors describe as "translucence." Subjects who reached this state reportedly exhibited a distinctive change in the eyes: a fixed, dilated gaze that researchers interpreted as evidence of perception beyond ordinary sensory limits. The document references historical accounts of martyrdom, ascetic practices, and near-death experiences as supporting evidence.
The facility housed three underground levels. Level 1 served as intake and observation. Level 2 contained isolation chambers — windowless concrete rooms approximately 8 by 6 feet, temperature-controlled, with variable lighting cycles designed to disrupt circadian rhythm. Level 3, which investigators were unable to fully access due to structural demolition carried out prior to the raid, is believed to have contained the final stage chambers.
Subjects progressed through phases lasting weeks to months. Each phase involved escalating conditions of deprivation, confinement, and controlled physical stress. Detailed logs recovered from a partially destroyed server indicate that subjects were monitored continuously via biometric sensors and high-resolution cameras. Every physiological response was recorded. Researchers were particularly focused on a cluster of neurological readings they designated as "Sigma Events" — sudden, anomalous shifts in brain activity that occurred in approximately 1 in 14 subjects during advanced phases.
Martyrs did not operate alone. Investigation revealed a group of 11 individuals — executives, academics, and at least two former government officials — who provided funding, logistical support, and, in some cases, direct participation. Internal communications refer to this group as "The Board." Meeting minutes recovered from an encrypted drive suggest the Board convened on the island at least four times per year for what they termed "review sessions."
During these sessions, subjects who had reached advanced stages of the protocol were presented to Board members. Several emails describe the atmosphere in clinical language, but one recovered personal journal — attributed to Board member ████████ — provides a more candid account:
Financial records show that Board members collectively invested over $230 million into the Martyrs Foundation between 2016 and 2019. These funds were routed through a series of holding companies registered in Delaware, the Cayman Islands, and Liechtenstein.
On September 2, 2019, an automated distress signal was transmitted from the island's communication array. Coast Guard vessels arrived approximately four hours later to find the above-ground structures partially burned. The airstrip had been rendered unusable by deliberate cratering. The dock was intact but all vessels were gone.
Three survivors were located in a service corridor on Level 1. They were severely dehydrated and disoriented but ambulatory. Two additional individuals were found deceased in what appeared to be a security station near the main stairwell. Both had sustained single gunshot wounds. Forensic analysis determined these were self-inflicted.
Edmund Martyrs III was not among those found on the island. A federal warrant was issued on September 14, 2019. As of the date of this document's filing, his whereabouts remain unknown. His personal aircraft — a Gulfstream G650 registered to Martyrs Capital Partners — was last tracked departing a private airfield in southern Florida on August 29, 2019. Its transponder signal was lost over the Caribbean approximately 90 minutes after takeoff.
Level 3 of the underground facility had been destroyed using controlled demolition charges. Investigators recovered fragments of medical equipment, shattered monitoring screens, and approximately 14 metric tons of concrete rubble. Trace biological evidence was identified but has not been matched to any known individuals in federal databases.
A partial backup of the facility's research database was recovered from a cloud server located in Zurich, Switzerland, accessed via credentials found on one of the deceased security personnel. The database contained 11,419 files, of which approximately 60% were corrupted beyond recovery.
Among the recoverable files: 3,200 hours of video surveillance footage, 847 biometric data logs, 193 internal memoranda, and a single 42-minute audio recording labeled only as "SIGMA_FINAL.wav". The audio file contains what appears to be a recorded session in a chamber on Level 3. For the first 38 minutes, only ambient sound and the subject's breathing are audible. At the 38:14 mark, the subject — who had not spoken in an estimated 19 days — begins to speak in a calm, continuous monologue. Linguistic analysis has been unable to identify the language used. The voice exhibits no signs of distress.
The recording ends abruptly at 42:07. The remaining content of the file is silence.
As of November 2019, the investigation remains classified under federal jurisdiction. Nine of the eleven identified Board members have been located. Two are confirmed deceased by apparent suicide — one in Zurich, one in Kyoto — within 72 hours of the island's discovery. The remaining seven are in federal custody awaiting trial.
Martyrs Island has been placed under restricted access by order of the U.S. Department of Justice. The subsurface structures remain partially sealed. A secondary forensic survey was scheduled for January 2020 but has been postponed indefinitely without explanation.
The three survivors have been placed under protective custody. Subject 09 has cooperated with investigators. Subjects 22 and 31 have declined to provide testimony. Subject 31 has not spoken since recovery.
No official statement has been issued by the Department of Justice, the FBI, or any other federal agency regarding the Martyrs Island investigation. No media outlet has published a report on the case. This document exists as one of four known copies.