Plague Island. Shutter Island - A nation that has forgotten its past has no future. Island for the mentally ill

The mystery of the ghostly island off the Italian coast is indeed one of the most terrible. Poveglia is near Venice, Italy, and its dark shores are littered with smooth human bones. It must be so scary there that no tourist has ever dared to set foot on the island.

When the plague struck Italy in 1576, thousands of corpses filled Venice and there was a terrible stench.

The rotting corpses had to be stored somewhere, and drastic measures had to be taken.

The dead were taken to the island, and thrown into large pits, or burned in huge fires. But when the plague began to rage even more, people panicked, and those who showed signs of the Black Death were dragged out of their houses with screams.

These living victims, including children and infants, were taken to the island of Poveglia and thrown into pits of rotting corpses, where they died in agony. Over 160,000 bodies have been taken to the island over the years.

The entire island is still covered in a layer of ash from the remains of charred bodies. Soon, the locals began to see strange things and hear strange sounds coming from the ghostly island.

Despite the notoriety, in 1922, a psychiatric hospital was built on the island. Patients immediately reported seeing ghosts with signs of rotting from the plague and hearing strange whispers echoing off the walls. But no one believed them because they were already seen as crazy and insane.

The hospital was in charge strange doctor, who was interested in doing experiments on his living patients in an attempt to figure out what caused the insanity. His methods were crude, to say the least. Lobotomy was performed using a hand drill or hammer and chisel. Crazy patients were taken to the tower of the hospital, where they were subjected to terrible torment.

After several years of doing these horrific experiments, the doctor himself began to see ghosts afflicted by the plague. It is said that the ghosts rose from their graves, seized the doctor, and dragged him to the top of the bell tower. There they tortured him and forced him to throw himself off, and the doctor fell to his death.

As he lay on the ground, writhing in agony, breathing his last breath, a mist swirled around him, entered his body, and suffocated him. Rumor has it that the mentally ill, immured his body in the bell tower. There his spirit remained, wandering around the empty tower, to this day, and on quiet nights you can still hear the awesome sound of bells resounding over the bay.

A quarantine station, a common grave for victims of the plague, and more recently, by historical standards, a shelter for the insane - tiny island Poveglia, hidden from view in the Venetian lagoon, has managed to acquire many unpleasant legends over the course of its long existence. But today it stands empty: a dismal collection of dilapidated and dilapidated buildings, eaten away by nature, slowly fading into oblivion, along with their secrets, just two miles from luxurious palaces Big Canal.

Terrible legends about the island of Poveglia appear like weeds and are taken on faith by everyone as a true story. It is said that Poveglia was twice the last refuge for thousands of patients during the black plague epidemics, that its soil is 50% composed of the ashes of burned corpses, that local fishermen bypass the island, afraid to find in their nets a catch of human bones polished by waves, which in In the 20s of the last century, horrific experiments were carried out on mentally ill people here, that the head physician of the psychiatric hospital eventually went crazy from his deeds and committed suicide by jumping from the island bell tower, and a completely mystical version suggests that Poveglia is densely populated the spirits of tortured victims. During the entire existence of the island as a place of exile, it is estimated that about 160,000 people died on it.

The island has many nicknames: "the gates of hell", "the garbage dump of pure fear", "the haven of lost souls". The Venetians are doing everything possible to refute the terrible rumors about Poveglia and cool down the interest in the island on the part of lovers of the mystical. They claim that they are not at all afraid of this place, and in discussions of its history they bypass the topics of a psychiatric hospital and plague epidemics. Not so long ago, an article in one of the popular Venetian magazines says that the hospital buildings that dominate the territory are nothing more than former houses recreation for the elderly.

But as long as the island remains inaccessible to tourists and its mysterious buildings slowly destroy the hard facts, rumors will spread like the wind.

Guide to the island of Poveglia

The first thing you will see when approaching Poveglia is the bell tower. It is the most visible and one of the oldest structures on the island, apart from the ruins of a 12th century church abandoned and destroyed hundreds of years ago. In the 18th century, the tower turned from a bell tower into a lighthouse, and now it is used only as a guide. It was from her, according to legend, that the mad doctor mentioned above rushed.

Following further, you will see a strange octagonal fortification, erected directly near the island - this is the so-called "crystal or octagon". It was built in the 14th century to repel Genoese attacks by the Venetians.

Having passed one of the sides of the octagon, you find yourself in a narrow strait, above which, lost in a dense overgrowth of trees and bushes, rises the main building of the former psychiatric hospital. Of course, according to the Venetian authorities, the building could have been used for other purposes, but its gloomy appearance does not in any way be conducive to ideas about a rest home for the elderly. However, in one historical documentary book it is said that in last years it was used as a homeless shelter.

The house was abandoned in 1968, since then the island of Poveglia has been empty. Twenty years ago, in order to prevent complete destruction, the construction team hastily erected scaffolding, and left them like that, which adds even more expressiveness to the already gloomy look. By the way, look at the photo below, if the fishermen are so afraid of this place, then who puts the nets here, evenly spread along the concrete wall?

The Poveglia island performed the function of a shelter for the poor and disadvantaged only in recent years. The first and main purpose of its existence is a quarantine station for sea travelers, one of three in the Venetian lagoon. Lazzaretto Vecchio, the first institution of its kind, opened in 1403, is just around the corner from Poveglia.

The emergence of Lazzaretto (infirmaries) was due to urgent need. Plague and other diseases rampant in medieval Europe, especially in large shopping malls, which was Venice, presented a huge problem. And while no one in those days had a clue about germs and infectious diseases, people knew that isolating infected travelers and sick people could either prevent or lessen the severity of an epidemic.

According to Venetian law, travelers had to endure a forty-day quarantine in one of the Lazzaretto before continuing their journey and disembarking in the city. But this did not necessarily mean that a person would become infected and remain on Poveglia to wait for his death. Rather, the opposite is true. Their stay was more like a forced isolation: boring, although not always unpleasant. Most travelers were accommodated in separate rooms, ate well and often drank.

But during the outbreaks of the black plague, one of which covered Europe in the 16th century, Poveglia really turned into hell. Everyone who had already become infected was exiled to the island, whether it was a commoner or a member of the nobility. It also happened when not only the sick, but also all healthy family members were sent to a terrible exile. Thanks to such emergency measures, the death toll in Venice amounted to only a third of the population, while mainland Italy lost two-thirds.

In the midst of an epidemic, dying in in large numbers people were put into common grave pits and burned. Undoubtedly, those are present on the island of Poveglia, although no one undertook to establish their location. Local historians believe that the part of the island reserved for growing crops was just used for such purposes, and the soil there consists of 50% of the ashes of burned corpses.

Here are the finds that were revealed to builders digging the foundation on neighboring island Lazzaretto Vecchio...

But let's get back to the horror stories about the lunatic asylum built in 1922 and its inhabitants. At least some of the buildings were indeed set aside for a hospital, as evidenced by the following inscription and window bars, almost completely absorbed by ivy and shrubs.

A vague feeling of a hospital presence is added by the interior decoration of the room: dull, peeling paint, bunk beds and cornices torn from the walls. Complementing the picture is a small chapel with moldy walls and broken benches, located in the same place.

Poveglia (Italian: Poveglia) is one of the most famous islands Venetian lagoon, northern Italy.

Wiki: en:Poveglia de:Poveglia es:Poveglia it:Poveglia

This is a description of the attraction of the island of Poveglia in the Province of Venice, Venetom (Italy). As well as photos, reviews and a map of the surroundings. Find out the history, coordinates, where it is located and how to get there. Check out other places on our interactive map, get more detailed information. Know the world better.

5 editions in total, last 4 years ago by Kashey from Podolsk

A small island between Venice and the Lido, Poveglia is one of the most famous and darkest in northern Italy. It is full of terrible events and shrouded in the most incredible, mystical rumors.

However, the mystery of the ghostly island of the Venetian lagoon is really creepy. It all started in those days when the ruthless "black death" walked around the country, devastating settlement after settlement. Then Poveglia became a kind of quarantine zone, where the plague patients were exiled.

It is said that during that period about 160,000 people were buried on the island, and many of the souls of the dead, turning into ghosts, are still wandering around the gloomy island.

In addition, the gloomy reputation of Poveglia is supported by a psychiatric clinic that opened here later, in 1922. Her patients assured that they saw the souls of the dead, whose bodies were mutilated by the plague, heard whispers and strange echoes. But who will believe the crazy?

At the same time, the doctor who treated the patients of the clinic actually conducted experiments on them, tortured them and doomed them to terrible torments. However, the fate of the local psychiatrist ended no less tragically than the fate of his wards. When they tried to arrest him, he jumped out of the belfry window.

Since then, the island has remained abandoned for about half a century, even the fishermen tried to swim around it. But in 2014, Povella caught the attention of Italian businessman Luigi Brugnaro, who even purchased it. The Italian decided that the creepy island is a great investment, and now he expects to develop it in order to subsequently attract tourists.

Meanwhile, notoriety Italian island continues to be saved. According to researchers paranormal activity Pavella is one of the most horrible places on the planet. For a long time, none of the people who visited here could hold out on the ill-fated piece of land for more than a day.

A quarantine station, a common grave for victims of the plague, and more recently, by historical standards, a shelter for the insane - the tiny island of Poveglia, hidden from view in the Venetian lagoon, has managed to acquire many hard-hitting legends over the course of its long existence. But today it stands empty: a dismal collection of dilapidated and dilapidated buildings, eaten by nature, slowly fading into oblivion, along with their secrets, just two miles from the luxurious palaces of the Grand Canal.

But as long as the island remains inaccessible to tourists and its mysterious buildings slowly destroy the hard facts, rumors will spread like the wind. We will try to share the truth and legends, from which the locals only shrug their shoulders dismissively.

Guide to the island of Poveglia

Following further, you will see a strange octagonal defensive structure erected directly near the island - this is the so-called "crystal or octagon". It was built in the 14th century to repel Genoese attacks by the Venetians.

Having passed one of the sides of the octagon, you find yourself in a narrow strait, above which, lost in a dense overgrowth of trees and bushes, rises the main building of the former psychiatric hospital. Of course, according to the Venetian authorities, the building could have been used for other purposes, but its gloomy appearance does not in any way be conducive to ideas about a rest home for the elderly. However, one historical documentary says that in recent years it has been used as a homeless shelter.

The emergence of Lazzaretto (infirmaries) was due to urgent need. Plague and other diseases raging in medieval Europe, especially in large trading centers, which was Venice, represented a huge problem. And while no one in those days had a clue about germs and infectious diseases, people knew that isolating infected travelers and sick people could either prevent or lessen the severity of an epidemic.

At the height of the epidemic, the dying in large numbers were piled into common grave pits and burned. Undoubtedly, those are present on the island of Poveglia, although no one undertook to establish their location. Local historians believe that the part of the island reserved for growing crops was just used for such purposes, and the soil there consists of 50% of the ashes of burned corpses.

Here are the finds discovered by builders digging foundations on the neighboring island of Lazzaretto Vecchio...

The boundaries between the inner and outer space have been practically erased by time: the ceiling beams have collapsed, the ceiling and window openings have been covered with a dense wall of vines.

The floor of one of the rooms is one and a half centimeters covered with a dense carpet of book pages. Strange…

A clever play on words...

In addition to the living quarters, Poveglia was also home to a hospital facility, as evidenced by domestic facilities such as an industrial kitchen and a laundry room.

A little further away, behind the hospital walls, there are several houses, probably for staff accommodation. It may very well be that one of them just belonged to the "crazy" doctor.

This staircase is located in a building filled with some kind of sinister and frightening industrial equipment, the purpose of which is difficult to explain. It leads to the roof, where through the windows of small observation towers opens incredible beautiful view to the bay.

Some Russian travel writers mentioned this island in their stories.

Island location map.

Poveglia Island

The uninhabited island of Poveglia is located near Venice and is guarded around the clock by maritime patrols. Local fishermen call it Blood Island. Swimming to its shores is strictly prohibited. On the island itself there is a ghost town with dilapidated buildings.

The first mentions of this island date back to 421, when the inhabitants of Padua and Este fled here, fleeing the invasion of barbarians led by the Ostrogoth king Totila. On the island, the refugees found a safe haven, their village grew and prospered.

In 1379, during the war between the Venetian and Genoese republics, the island of Poveglia was fired upon by the Genoese fleet. Then the government of Venice gave the order to build a permanent fortification on the island to protect the entrance to the lagoon, while the inhabitants were forcibly relocated to other places.

At the end of the 18th century, the island became a quarantine station for sailors. Before landing in Venice, they were placed there for a forty-day quarantine. Such a procedure was necessary and carried out in order to combat the epidemic of bubonic plague in Europe.

Plague fight

Even in the Middle Ages, the island of Poveglia began to be used as a place of exile for plague patients. Because of the fear of the spread of the epidemic, the authorities exiled tens of thousands of citizens there who had even the slightest signs of the disease. For humans, this was a death sentence. There were no exceptions for anyone: neither for commoners, nor for representatives of the nobility and their families.

Fact: "The corpses of people who died on the island were burned there in the flames of giant bonfires."

The plague came to Venice repeatedly. In 1575-1577, 50 thousand people died from the epidemic, which accounted for more than a quarter of the city's population. Then it was decided to bring both the dead and those who could be a carrier of the disease to the island of Poveglia. Living people, including children and babies, were taken there and thrown into pits next to the rotting corpses. Sometimes they were burned alive along with the dead.

In 1630 the bubonic plague came to the city again. On the island again began to bring and burn people. With such cruel measures, the authorities tried to stop the spread of the disease. This made it possible to ensure that the total number of victims in the city was only a third of the population, while the whole of Italy lost two-thirds.

Fact: "In just a few centuries, more than 160,000 people died and were burned on the island."

cursed place

According to local residents the land on the island of Poveglia is mixed with ashes and ashes, and its top layer practically consists of the remains of human bodies. Fishermen, if possible, avoid its environs, since from time to time charred and polished human bones still get into the nets.

This place has given rise to many rumors and legends. No one dared to erect buildings on this long-suffering land. In 1527, after the first outbreak of the epidemic, the Camaldolian monks were offered land on the island for practically nothing, but they refused. In 1661, the authorities attempted to rebuild the village for the descendants of the once resettled inhabitants of the island, but they also refused to move.

In 1777, the island of Poveglia became a checkpoint for goods and passenger ships. In 1793, several cases of plague were again recorded on ships, and carriers of a dangerous disease were kept on the island. In 1814, in connection with the cessation of outbreaks of the plague, the island was no longer used as a quarantine zone, and the infirmary on it was closed. The island became uninhabited again for more than 100 years.

Mysticism on the island of Poveglia

In 1922, by order of the authorities of Venice, the buildings preserved on the island were converted into a hospital for the mentally ill. Later, mentally healthy people, enemies of Mussolini's fascist regime, began to be exiled there.

However, in normal mode, the hospital did not work for long, as soon a series of terrible events began on the island. So the chief doctor had pronounced sadistic inclinations and began to conduct cruel experiments on patients - for example, hand drills and hammers were used for lobotomy, while all operations on the skull were carried out without anesthesia.

Soon after the opening of the hospital, patients began to talk about constantly hearing incomprehensible whispers, groans and cries coming from the walls of the hospital. Many on the island saw ghostly people who seemed to be burned and turned into a pile of ashes. At first, the stories of the patients did not attach any importance, but soon the clinic staff and the head doctor himself began to observe the shadows and voices of the victims of the plague who died in agony.

A few years later, the head physician of the hospital died under strange circumstances. He suddenly climbed onto the bell tower and jumped down. One of the nurses who witnessed the disaster testified that after the fall, the doctor was alive and died not from bruises, but from a strange white fog. This fog rose from the ground and entered the body of the unfortunate man, depriving him of his life.

The deceased doctor was buried by the forces of the patients of the hospital: his body was laid with bricks in the wall of the bell tower. After that, the hanging bell began to suddenly ring on its own at night. Concerned, they turned to the authorities for help. The bell was removed, but sometimes at night its ringing was still heard.

The clinic existed on the island of Poveglia until the 1960s. After its closure, the authorities prohibited the construction of any structures for tourists on the island.

Present day

The bell tower and dilapidated buildings of the hospital with bars on the windows, old beds and fragments of household and medical equipment have survived to this day on the island.

From time to time amateurs come here thrill. They say that birds and insects are not heard on the island, while from time to time groans and screams are heard near the buildings, and vague shadows flicker in the air. People experience oppressive sensations of constant surveillance, which gradually develops into a desire to escape from here. Sometimes in photographs taken on the island, one can distinguish mysterious dark silhouettes resembling human figures.

In 2007, several Americans visited the island of Poveglia. They said that after landing Cell phones immediately turned off and off. Tourists in the dark approached the buildings and took a few pictures. Suddenly there was a terrible scream. They immediately rushed to the boat. In the photographs taken, they found the silhouette of a person they had not seen near the buildings. This silhouette was transparent, and through it you could see the details of the landscape.

Romantic Venice also has its own mystical places. Not far from the wonderful canals of the city is the island of Poveglia, not in vain dubbed the "symbol of horror."

This story originates at 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 contagious disease turned out to be more powerful.

In the XIV century, during the second epidemic of the plague, or the Black Death, hopelessly ill 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 bury, 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 in total about 160 thousand unfortunate people died here.

In 1922, a psychiatric hospital was opened on a creepy island. It was then that a real nightmare began here - patients complained of wild headaches, and at night ghosts appeared to them dead people, patients heard wild screams and cries ...

And in Venice there were rumors that the chief doctor of this hospital was unwell himself and was experimenting on the mentally ill - he was testing forbidden drugs and sophisticated medical techniques on them, and under the bell tower of the hospital he was performing a lobotomy using 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 off that same tower.

In 1968, Poveglia was completely abandoned, now no one lives here, the hospital bell tower serves only as a guide, and even fishermen try to stay away from cursed island- they are afraid to inadvertently catch human bones instead of fish.

The island has many nicknames: "gates of hell", "habitat of lost souls", "garbage dump of pure fear". The Venetians are doing everything possible to refute the terrible rumors about Poveglia and cool the interest in the island from mystical lovers.

They claim that the island building served only as a rest home for the elderly. However, in its dilapidated premises there are still hospital beds and pieces of medical equipment...

In recent years, rumors have been added to the ancient gloomy legends that not everyone who went to mysterious island managed to get back. Is the "Refuge of Lost Souls", as the island of Poveglia is often called, collecting its bloody tribute again?

In 2014, the Italian government resumed discussions about the ownership of the island. They still do not want to buy or rent it. Perhaps soon a special hotel will appear here for tourists who want to spend the night visiting ghosts, but this issue has not yet been finally resolved.

Plague Island. Shutter Island - A nation that has forgotten its past has no future. Island for the mentally ill

Guide to the island of Poveglia

Plague fight

cursed place

Mysticism on the island of Poveglia

Present day

Photo - Poveglia Island

Video - the mysterious island of Poveglia