Romantic Venice also has its own mystical places. Not far from the wonderful canals of the city is Poveglia Island, christened a "symbol of horror" for a reason.
This story dates back to the dawn of the Roman Empire, when plague victims were brought here to certain death in order to isolate them from society and extinguish the threat of an epidemic, but the infectious disease turned out to be more powerful.
In the XIV century, during the second epidemic of the plague, or the Black Death, hopelessly sick Venetians were brought to Poveglia, where, in terrible agony, they said goodbye to life. People were buried in one large mass grave.
According to old beliefs, due to the fact that the dead did not have time to be buried, the bodies were simply burned, so now the soil of the island is half human ash, with which the flame generously sprinkled everything around. They say that a total of about 160 thousand unfortunate people died here.
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In 1922, a psychiatric hospital was opened on the eerie island. That's when a real nightmare began here - patients complained of wild headaches, and at night they were ghosts of dead people, the patients heard wild screams and screams …
And in Venice there were rumors that the head physician of this hospital was himself unwell and was experimenting with the mentally ill - testing illegal drugs and sophisticated medical techniques on them, and under the bell tower of the hospital he performed lobotomy with the help of improvised means - chisels, hammers, drills …
According to local legends, soon the doctor himself began to see the ghosts of Poveglia, after which, in a fit of madness, he threw himself from that very tower.
In 1968 Poveglia was finally abandoned, now no one lives here, the bell tower of the hospital serves only as a landmark, and even fishermen try to stay away from the cursed island - they are afraid to catch human bones instead of fish.
The island has many nicknames: "the gates of hell", "the haven of lost souls", "dump out of pure fear." The Venetians are doing everything possible to refute the terrible rumors about Poveglia and cool the interest in the island from lovers of the mystical.
They argue that the island building was just a holiday home for the elderly. However, its dilapidated premises still contain hospital beds and wreckage of medical equipment …
In recent years, rumors have been added to the old gloomy legends that not everyone who went to the mysterious island managed to return back. Is the "Shelter of Lost Souls", as Poveglia Island is often called, again collecting its bloody tribute?
In 2014, the Italian government resumed discussions on the island's ownership. They still do not want to buy or rent it. Perhaps a special hotel for tourists wishing to spend the night visiting ghosts will soon appear here, but this issue has not yet been finally resolved.