Poveglia - The Island Haunted By The Dead and Mad

The most haunted island in the entire world? Poveglia Island has caused quite a bit of hoo-hah recently. Despite attempts to auction it off, it seems that its fate is back to square one – unknown. What will happen to this devilish island?

Poveglia Island – looks pretty pristine

Garnering quite a reputation over the years, Poveglia Island is not only known as haunted, but is also considered to be one of the most evil places on the planet. Located in the lagoons of Venice, Italy, few visit the island except to harvest the vineyards. The land is off-limits to the public and people who ask for a ride to the island are laughed at. Even fishermen stay clear for fear of catching human bones in their nets.

Zak Bagans is one of the few people ever to set foot on the island. The video below shares his experiences of his time on the island and his views about the auction sale held last month. He mentions that he was possessed and believes that the island carries immense negative energy.

Legend has it that victims of the plague were taken from their homes, kicking and screaming, to the island where they were isolated and then buried or set ablaze in large pits. Centuries later, victims of the Black Death were thrown onto the rotting corpses and similarly burned – at least 160,000 bodies were lost on the island.

Covered in charred remains, the soil of the island soon carried a thick layer of sticky ash upon its surface. Soon after, in 1922, a psychiatric hospital was built upon the island, complete with a large bell tower. Although patients reported hearing the cries of plague victims at night, their claims were ignored as the ravings of lunatics.

It gets a lot worse – one doctor began conducting experiments on patients in his attempts to find a cure for insanity. Performing lobotomies in the infamous bell tower, he tortured his victims; their blood curdling screams like daggers in the night.

After many years conducting his immoral acts, the doctor too began to see tortured plague ghosts leading him to jump (or be thrown) from the high bell tower down below. According to a witness (a nurse), he was not killed by the fall but by a mist that came out of the ground and choked him to death. The doctor is now believed to be bricked up in the bell tower and even today, its bell can be heard tolling.