Poveglia Island, Venice

Poveglia Island, a small and abandoned island in the Venetian Lagoon.

Poveglia Island has a dark and troubled history that spans centuries, and some say it is the most haunted location in the world.

Poveglia Island was first mentioned in 421, when people from the mainland fled there to escape the barbarian invasions that were ravaging the Roman Empire. The island remained inhabited until 1379, when Venice was attacked by Genoa and the residents were moved to a safer location. The island was then left deserted for hundreds of years, until it was used as a fortification in 1645.

But the most gruesome chapter of Poveglia Island's history began in 1776, when it was designated as a quarantine station for people suffering from the plague and other infectious diseases. Thousands of sick and dying people were brought to the island, where they were either isolated or burned alive. Some estimate that over 160,000 people perished on the island during two major outbreaks of the plague in 1348 and 1630. The ashes of the victims are said to make up more than 50% of the island's soil.

In 1922, Poveglia Island became the site of a mental asylum, where patients were allegedly subjected to horrific experiments and torture by a sadistic doctor. According to legend, the doctor eventually went mad and threw himself from the bell tower, which still stands today.