Legend says the sunken Isle of Caprice will rise from the water again. Is that possible?

A sunken island just four feet from the water’s surface has long captivated South Mississippi.

And according to local legend, the Isle of Caprice is set to rise again. But can that really happen.

Off the coast of Biloxi, between Ship and Horn Islands in the Dog Keys Pass, lies the sunken Isle of Caprice.

Once known as Dog Island, the property was home to bootleggers, a casino and a coastal resort before disappearing beneath the waves. According to an old Native American tale, the island intermittently rises and sinks.

The first alleged accounts of the Isle of Caprice date back to French explorer Pierre Le Moyne D’Iberville in 1699, who noted a small group of islands between Ship and Horn Islands. British and American surveyors recorded an island above the waves a century later, which may be the earliest known references to the island.

The island’s physical existence was first verified through an 1847 map designating it as a government and military reserve. According to local lore, the inlet housing the island was referred to as Dog Keys Pass after a dog was found in the area following a hurricane. However, in 1859, the island vanished for the first recorded time after enduring several storms.

During the latter half of the century, Horn Island had shifted more than 2 miles to the west. This significant change altered sand erosion, deposition, and currents in the Dog Keys Pass, creating a sediment basin suitable for the formation and sustenance of an island. Thus, in accordance with the legend, the island reemerged from the depths along the Gulf Coast before officially appearing on a map in 1908.

By 1924, the island had grown to almost 2 miles in length and a quarter-mile in width. Due to its location in the Dog Keys Pass, it was now referred to as Dog Island. Reports from the era indicated the growth of sea oats along the mostly barren island’s sandy shores.

Meanwhile, the enactment of Prohibition in 1920 by the federal government led to a decline in tourists visiting the Mississippi Coast. This, coupled with strict gambling laws in the state, negatively impacted the local economy.

In an effort to revive it, Colonel Jack Apperson, the builder of Biloxi’s Buena Vista Hotel, collaborated with local entrepreneurs Walter “Skeet” Hunt and Arbeau Caillavet to develop a resort on Dog Island. For $183.75, Hunt purchased a deed to the island before quickly renaming it the Isle of Caprice.

In the summer of 1925, the resort was completed, featuring a main building, cabanas, boardwalks, a pavilion, and various amenities.

Beyond the reach of federal government’s jurisdiction, the island became an immediate hit with locals and tourists alike. Swimming contests, gambling, alcohol, fishing, picnics, and other recreational activities contributed to the resort’s expansion over the following years.

However, the Great Depression hit hard in 1929, completely halting the tourist boom to the resort. A fire destroyed the main building in 1931, by which time it had become a ghost town.

The removal of sea oats by locals stripped the sandy beaches of their limited protection against wind erosion. Several storms and hurricanes further eroded the island.

By 1932, the Isle of Caprice was submerged once again, with only a small water pipe protruding from the seabed as a visible remnant. The locals began to ponder when the island would reemerge.

According to the legend, the island reappears every 60-75 years, and usually remains visible for around 20 years before it disappears once more.

Over 90 years later, the Isle of Caprice still rests beneath the Gulf of Mexico, with only four feet of water separating it from the surface. However, the Isle of Caprice is well overdue for a comeback.

The descendants of Walter “Skeet” Hunt still pay annual taxes for the property that they inherited on the sunken island, hoping to reclaim it some day.

Considering global warming, rising sea levels, and the unpredictability of weather and ocean patterns, it is unlikely that the island will resurface anytime soon. Nevertheless, these same weather and ocean patterns are capable of greatly altering the sea bed and the Gulf Coast islands. Despite being overdue and unlikely, it remains technically possible for the island to return, just as it did over a century ago.