The Haunting of Poveglia Island
Giselle Morales (8)
Italy- we all know it, love it, and sure as heck love the food from there. Or at least I do but what if I told you it had a haunted island? Crazy right? Well that’s what I’m here to talk about to today.
The History of the Island
So every haunting has a reason, and this one is no different. According to walksofitaly.com Back in the 7th century, it used to be a tax free peaceful community that somehow avoided all the drama going on in the mainland. But then in the 14th century, the War of Chioggia happened which was pretty much a fight for maritime between Genoa and Venice. This forced the population at the island to relocate, abandoning the island, and it wasn’t until the 18th century that the island was once again put to use for storage.
Ok so we all know about the Black Death or the plague for short right? Well, in 1776 the island was used for customs control until the plague rolled around, in which then the island was used for quarantine. Yup, you read that right, send them to the island to keep the plague from spreading. Well- it technically wasn’t the first to be used for quarantine, but the other islands got full so they decided to use Poveglia for quarantine. Even after the plague had somewhat subsided, it still kept its role for quarantine for ships heading to Venice.
But In the 20th century, the island was used as a psychiatric hospital or in other words known as a mental hospital. And, as of today, the island is completely deserted and is government owned although there have been multiple endeavors to sell it to private owners.
The Start of the Ghost Story
Okay, so before we start, I would like to state that no one is really sure of what actually happened when the island was being used as a quarantine for the plague and let’s just say the rumors aren’t really helping, so just take this bit with a grain of salt.
However, with that being said, the island is said to be made of 50% human ash. At least that’s what one of the rumors floating around say or in other words walksofitaly.com says. Keep in mind that the plague killed 25 million people, and that’s only the numbers from Europe. Remember, the hospital on Povegila still had patients coming in, so they had to get rid of the bodies somehow. And during something as severe as a plague, they decided to burn them.
But walksofitaly.com shares a different story. Instead of being burned, they were left in plague pits, which is exactly what it sounds like – a pit for the deceased that had the plague to atleast make an attempt to keep it from spreading more then it already had.
Honestly, either option- burning or the plague pits are terrifying and options. Regardless, a lot of people lost their lives on that island.
The Psychiatric Era and Paranormal Claims
As I’ve mentioned before, after the plague, the island was used as a psychiatric hospital. Hold on, I’m gonna go a little off topic here. Have you ever seen The House on Haunted Hill? Well for those who haven’t- think of a doctor on an island doing his own experiments on his patients. Crazy, right? Well, according to thelittlehouseofhorrors.com/poveglia-island, story has it that on the island there was a doctor similar to this and instead of being killed by his patients he was pushed off the clock tower by some strange mist which later strangled him when he didn’t die from the fall. Heck apparently fisher men have claimed to hear screams and moans from the island or at least that’s what thelittlehouseofhorrors.com says.
Present Day
So in conclusion we may not know if the island is actually haunted because most fishermen absolutely refuse to go there. And, let’s be honest -the history of the island says a lot especially that part about the plague. So believe what you want, visit if you dare!
Here are all the sources I used in case you’re interested!
https://thelittlehouseofhorrors.com/poveglia-island