Poveglia – The island where death won't leave

Type: Haunted Location – Italy 

Off the coast of Venice, hidden behind the romantic veil of the lagoon, lies an island that locals prefer to avoid: Poveglia .

From a distance, it looks like any forgotten corner of Italy. A ruined church, a few wind-torn trees, and a heavy silence. But behind this facade hides a story so dark... that no sign will ever announce it.

It all began in the 14th century, when the Black Death struck Europe. To prevent its spread, Venice transformed Poveglia into a quarantine zone . The sick were sent there, often by force. Thousands died there, burned in immense mass graves. Some estimates speak of more than 160,000 corpses being dumped or cremated there.

The locals still say that the ground is composed of human bones and ashes . When a humid wind rises, it carries with it smells that the sea has never been able to wash away.

But the horror doesn't end there.

In the 19th century, the island became a mental asylum . Conditions were terrible. And worse was yet to come: a doctor allegedly conducted surgical experiments on his patients. He claimed to hear voices coming from the ground. Some say he was driven mad... and ended up throwing himself from the top of the bell tower. Others claim he was pushed .

The hospital closed in the 1960s. Since then, the island has been officially off-limits to the public .

The few adventurers who have tried to enter it all speak of the same thing:
No sounds. No animals.
Only inexplicable noises, feelings of suffocation, and shadows prowling around.
Even fishermen avoid casting their nets near Poveglia.

For historians, it's a place of tragic memory . For paranormal investigators, it's an epicenter of supernatural activity . And for the Venetians? A cursed place, quite simply.

Poveglia is not a movie set.
It is a scar still open to the sea.
A reminder that some places don't want to be forgotten...
…because they don't want to leave this world .