Poveglia: World's Most Haunted Island Is To Be Auctioned

Poveglia, a small, uninhabited island in the Venice lagoon, minutes from St Mark’s Square, is among five prime properties, including a castle and a monastery, that will go under the hammer in an online auction to help cut Italy’s massive debt pile.

The 17-acre island was fought over by the Venetians and the Genoese in the 14th century - and still shows traces of being fortified - before it became a quarantine station for ships arriving at Venice in the 18th century.



In 1776 the island came under the jurisdiction of the Magistrato alla Sanità (Public Health Office), and became a check point for all goods and people coming to and going from Venice by ship. In 1793, there were several cases of the plague on two ships, and consequently the island was transformed into a temporary confinement station for the sick.

This role became permanent in 1805, under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, who also had the old church of San Vitale destroyed; the old bell tower was converted into a lighthouse. The lazzaretto was closed in 1814.



In the 20th century the island was again used as a quarantine station, but in 1922, the existing buildings were converted into a hospital for mentally ill and long-term care. The hospital is rumored to have hosted experiments on the mentally ill, including crude lobotomies, carried out by a director who was driven mad by ghosts before throwing himself from the hospital’s tower. This went on until 1968, when the hospital was closed, and the island, after being shortly used for agriculture, was completely abandoned. Presently, the island is still owned by the Italian state.



Because of the mass graves from the plague and the supposed atrocities of the mental hospital, the island is thought to be one of the most haunted locations in the world.



I remember this place from an episode of Ghost Adventures. A very creepy place for sure. I think this would be a tremendous opportunity for a millionaire/billionaire to buy this property to be used for paranormal research. You could bring researchers from all over the globe to live, study and investigate. Wire the entire island up with cameras, mics, emf and more running 24/7. This place would be perfect because of it's reputation, history and it is some what isolated being an island.

I know it will never happen, but that's what I would do. What say you?

That is pretty amazing. The history and all. Anytime a place is marked as insane asylum or the like it is creepy. And all those skeletons, to think they were people that hopefully enjoyed life.

I think it would be a great tourist attraction and a nice bed and breakfast kinda thing with a side of spooky. You can only check in at midnight, and the desk clerk dressed as a doctor. maids and staff dressed like orderlies, nurses and mental patients.

Have the eerie groundskeeper with a crooked leg, the sultry wife of the head doctor,

Oh the possibilities

whens the auction? lol

reply to post by tinner07


I like it. You could have some creepy looking boats to take you out to the island like Harry Potter.

Wow! I've been to Venice but never knew about Poveglia!
Hundreds of years cruel deaths and inhuman treatment: apparently the doctor that ran the mental hospital was a very twisted individual who liked to do all sort of medical experiments on the patients. He fell of the tower one night and died (people still don't know if it was an accident or not).

I wonder how much they are selling it for....

Thanks for sharing this, OP!

Interesting - thanks for posting!

For those who asked - the auction is in a month. As for the price...

A spokeswoman for Italy’s state sales agency declined to put a possible price on Poveglia but noted that barracks buildings had previously been sold for up to €3.8 million. Another 148 properties are due to be auctioned off this year, with the state hoping to raise €500 million.

source: www.telegraph.co.uk...


I wonder if the island will have any sort of historical protection, or if the new owner can pretty much do as he or she pleases with it...

I like it. You could have some creepy looking boats to take you out to the island like Harry Potter.

reply to post by jtrenthacker


Oh yeah, with one armed rowers. The story being that if any rower ever escaped he wouldn't make it far. A one armed rower would only go in circles so they amputated one arm from every rower.

Wonder if the remains are to be protected in the first place? One could assume that a buyer of the land would remove the remains(bones to be cremated, or other?) to make way for building plans.

Perhaps turning it into a museum of sorts, and or a memorial park, keeping the graves up-kept in a respectful manor and lost souls in rest. Not so sure about a haunted b&b or amusement "haunted house" land, due to concerns based on psychic's reception of "haunted" places, such as Pennhurst State School and Clovis Wolfe Manor. The claim they found that the ones turned into attractions just heighten activity. When in turn releasing of the lost would be the right thing to do as opposed to making them angry, causing more distress and to even attracting more restless entities. For an even better plan, with interest still allowed, as mentioned already however, would be a paranormal research institute, or similar rather than an attraction.

I also thought of Shutter Island, but apparently the author didn't get the idea from this island. Also, I'm just wondering, do you have any references about this? Or any sources? I'd love to read a bit more about it. I would go if given the chance. I actually spent the night on Emily's Bridge to prove to my friends that I wouldn't be murdered. They were terrified. I was nervous. Nothing happened. They still consider me very lucky. I consider that it was a camping trip, like many others.