In the northern part of Italy, in the Venetian lagoon near the island of Lido, there is the abandoned Poveglia island. In the past, people lived there, but after a series of mysterious deaths and accidents, local residents began to massively move from it.
From afar, the island seems quite cozy and inhabited: this is confirmed by green vegetation, a beautiful embankment and an elegant spire of the church bell tower. But as soon as a person steps on his land, he begins to experience a strange discomfort.
Island history
From the surviving documents it is known that the first mention of this place dates back to 421, when it was settled by the inhabitants of Padua and Este, who were hiding from the barbarians. After 900 years, fortifications were built on Poveglia Island, which have survived to this day.
When Europe faced one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse - the plague, seriously ill people began to be sent to the island in order to save the healthy inhabitants of Venice from the risk.
Their families were brought along with sick people, even if they were completely healthy. Being sent to this place meant certain death. The corpses were simply put in the so-called mass graves and burned.
According to the available data, about 160 thousand people found their last refuge there. The souls of the dead supposedly became ghosts that now inhabit Povelja.
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The island's bad reputation is also added by the stories of local residents about the chilling experiments to which the patients of the psychiatric hospital, which were there from 1922 to 1968, were subjected.
According to some information, behind such terrible experiments on people was the chief physician of this institution, who went crazy and jumped from the bell tower.
Lovers of all the paranormal consider this island one of the scariest places on the planet.
Island now
This place has several names: "the gates of hell", "home of restless souls", "dump out of pure fear." The Venetians are making a lot of efforts to refute the terrible rumors about the island and when asked about it, they only sweetly say that this is a wonderful place to relax.
However, there are not many people who want to spend their holidays on Povelje, as today this place also looks quite creepy - dilapidated houses, shattered stone stairs and thickets of wild grapes. But fans of mysticism and everything supernatural will like this place.
SEMENOVA KSENIYA