In the early 1930s, a doctor climbs a bell tower. Driven insane by… something… the doctor reaches the tower’s edge and falls to his death. His was only one of many horrific casualties that make Poveglia Island one of the most haunted places in the world.
Poveglia, which sits in the South Lagoon near Venice, has been inhabited, either willingly or unwillingly, for centuries. Due to its isolated location, the small island seemed a natural solution to those suffering from contagious disease. When Bubonic Plague swept through Europe in the 1300s, Venice quarantined the sick and dying to Poveglia. So fearful were the people of getting sick, they burned the dead—and even some who still clung to life—in great bonfires on the island. Unfortunately, the scene played out once more 300 years later with the arrival of the Black Death.
Some estimates put the number of people who died on Poveglia at more than 150,000. So many that a local saying claims that 50 percent of the island’s soil is actually human ash.
Such a horrific history led to a great fear of the island amongst the locals. It was said that if an evil man dies, he wakes up on Poveglia. Yet, the island was once again pressed into service in the 1920s when an asylum was built to house the mentally ill. Not surprisingly, many terrifying events were reported.
Poveglia’s patients said they were often kept awake at night by the sounds of disembodied screams from the darkness. Restless spirits seemed to be as commonplace as the living patients and staff. Yet, one of the worst stories comes not from ghosts, but from one twisted doctor. The sadistic man performed gruesome experiments on the asylum’s patients, including lobotomies with hammer and nails without anesthetics.
It was that doctor that met his own end with a long fall and sudden stop at the base of the bell tower. Some say he simply committed suicide. Others claim that the doctor was attacked by apparitions—perhaps his victims—and thrown to his death. One nurse reported that she came upon the doctor after his fall, and he was still clinging to life. Then, from nowhere, he was covered with a mysterious fog that stole the man’s last breath.
In the late 1900s, Poveglia was finally abandoned. From time to time, the island has welcomed official visitors, such as a construction crew that was meant to restore the old hospital. One day, the workers suddenly stopped their work and fled, refusing to return. There have even been attempts to sell the island. Who wouldn’t want their own private island close to Venice? All you need to worry about is being driven mad by the ghosts of thousands of unfortunate souls doomed to haunt one of the most cursed places in the world.