The forbidden island of the lagoon

We might consider hiring a boat and jumping across to Poveglia if the Italian government didn't heavily fine anyone who sets foot on its docks. This small island in the Venetian lagoon carries a worldwide reputation as a cursed spot that fills internet forums with stories of demented doctors and nighttime screams. Local fishermen tend to glance sideways at the islet when they pass nearby, though many prefer not to mention the subject. Official bans make the imagination fly much faster than the gulls.

One hundred thousand bodies underground

Historical records place a quarantine zone and a massive cemetery on the island during the Black Death epidemics between the 14th and 17th centuries. Figures speak of more than one hundred thousand people cremated or buried haphazardly to halt the advance of the disease through the Venetian canals. If you measure the land, it's hard to imagine how so many bodies could fit beneath the surface without the ground giving way. The sea still washes up bones onto the nearby shores from time to time, a rather earthly reminder of what happened there.

The twentieth-century psychiatric hospital

Last century brought another layer of concrete and pain with the opening of a psychiatric hospital in the already existing buildings. Local legends claim that a doctor at the centre performed atrocious experiments on patients before losing his mind and plunging to his death from the bell tower. We would try to review the medical archives of the era to check whether that doctor actually existed or if he's a noir novel character. The tales speak of bells ringing at midnight even though the bell tower has been mute for decades, something that probably has to do with the echo of the water against the walls or the wind whistling through the broken bricks.

Would you pay the fine to spend a night in the ruins?

Left wanting more? Take a look around the case file archive and follow us on Instagram (@ghost_beers), where we share updates on every case.