Poveglia Island

Poveglia sits alone in the Venetian Lagoon, and its history explains why locals call it cursed. From 1793 the island served as a checkpoint for plague-ridden ships, and when the Black Death returned in force it became a mass quarantine station where the sick and dying were left together; estimates suggest tens of thousands of bodies were eventually burned or buried in its soil. In 1922 the buildings were converted into a psychiatric hospital that operated until 1968, and legend holds that one of its doctors performed crude lobotomies on patients before throwing himself from the bell tower, driven mad by the ghosts he claimed to see. Fishermen have long avoided its waters, saying nets pulled up more bone than fish. Italy closed the island to the public and it remains largely abandoned, sold at a private auction in 2014 without a single bid to renovate it as a resort.