Poveglia Island — Italy's Most Feared Island Sealed From the Public

Poveglia Island sits in the Venice Lagoon between Venice and Lido in Italy. The small island has served as a quarantine station for plague victims, an isolation facility for those with contagious diseases, and from 1922 to 1968 as a psychiatric hospital. Historians estimate that over 160,000 people died on the island across these periods. The island has been closed to the public for decades and Italian authorities have consistently refused requests to open it for investigation or tourism. The few people who have gained access—including journalists and paranormal researchers—report an overwhelming sense of dread, disembodied screaming, and in several cases complete psychological breakdown requiring evacuation. Fishermen who work the surrounding waters avoid the island and reportedly refuse to eat any fish caught near its shores. Local legend holds that the ground of Poveglia is composed in significant part of the compressed ash and remains of plague victims who were burned there. A psychiatric doctor who worked at the hospital reportedly jumped from the island's bell tower, which still stands. In 2014, the Italian government briefly offered a 99-year lease on the island, but the winning bid was rejected and the island has remained inaccessible. It is consistently listed among the most haunted and forbidden locations on Earth.