Inside world’s ‘creepiest’ island with 160,000 abandoned corpses where tourists are banned from stepping foot

The world’s “creepiest” island that’s banned from tourist has a gruesome history, and is littered with hundreds of thousands of abandoned corpses.

The world’s “creepiest” island is littered with hundreds of thousands of abandoned corpses and intrepid travellers are barred from entering.

Poveglia sits just off the coast of Venice and is comprised of three small areas, each as creepy as the last.

One includes countless crumbling derelict buildings, one was once used as a military fort and the third is barely visible after being covered by overgrown plants.

And it is because of those unstable buildings that tourists are banned from setting foot on the spine-tingling patch of land.

Rare exceptions are made for official reasons, such as research or filming.

A scenic view of the abandoned Poveglia island in the Venetian Lagoon in Italy

The reason for the island’s spooky reputation is what is was used for in centuries past.

In the 18th century, Poveglia was used as a quarantine station during outbreaks of the plague.

People were dragged kicking and screaming to the island if they showed even the slightest symptoms of the Black Death, according to local tales.

The 18-acre plot was also used as a mass burial ground, where some 160,000 victims are thought to have been burned to stop the spread of the disease.

It has been said that even to this day, human ash from these cremations make up more than 50 per cent of the island’s soil.

A general view of the 19th century Venetian geriatric hospital on May 2, 2014 in Poveglia island in the Venice lagoon, Italy. Picture: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images.

A bed remains in one of the dormitories in the psychiatric ward of the abandoned Hospital of Poveglia on August 27, 2011 in Venice, Italy. Picture: Marco Secchi/Getty Images.

British urban explorers Matt Nadin, 40, and Andy Thompson, 54, filmed themselves visiting areas of the island that have been left untouched for decades in 2020.

Then duo posted the footage to their YouTube channel, Finders Beepers History Seekers, where they can often be found exploring abandoned and historic places of interest.

Matt said: “It was really, really eerie.

“You could tell even the taxi driver was scared, not just of the police but of the place itself, he couldn’t get away quick enough.

“The island is so full of dark, dark history, a hell of a lot of people died there and you really get a sense of the horrors that took place there while you’re walking around.

“They burnt all the bodies and left them where they lay. The island has never really been cleared properly or anything so everything has just been left.

“Later on, when it was turned into an asylum, and because people were shoved there out of the way of prying eyes, they started to do experiments on them, horrible, horrible stuff.

The island of Poveglia, with its ruined hospital and plague burial grounds, is said to be the most haunted location in the world. Picture: Marco Secchi/Getty Images.

The dark and derelict forbidding shores are only minutes away from the glamour of the Venice Film Festival on the Lido. Picture: Marco Secchi/Getty Images.

A ruined building lies crumbling on the abandoned and supposedly haunted Poveglia Island in Italy.

“Whilst we were there, we heard the bell toll and that was quite spooky, that did actually freak me out a little bit. It was like an omen or something.

“The whole place was just really weird and eerie although you could tell from the tiles and the archways it would have been a beautiful building originally.

“You could see that hardly anyone had set foot there for years because there is no graffiti or anything it’s all just natural decay.

“Nature has really taken over and it was really typical of a horror movie with all the vines and creepers.

“Definitely an experience I won’t forget in a hurry.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished with permission