An island off the coast of Italy has a dark, twisted past

Updated


Poveglia island off the coast of Venice has a mysterious past. Many are terrified of the island because of the rumors and ghost stories that surround it.

Poveglia was used as a quarantine colony during the Bubonic Plague. Over 160,000 people who displayed plague-like symptoms were sent to Poveglia to die.

SEE ALSO: This island of dolls will give you nightmares

Venice's mentally ill residents were sent to an asylum on the island in the 1900s. Some believe a sadistic doctor experimented and tortured patients there. The doctor later went mad and killed himself by throwing himself off the bell tower.

Today, the island is abandoned and believed to be haunted by all the souls who died there.

Five tourists tried to spend the night on the island in 2016 but were later rescued after a sailboat overheard their screams.

So instead of trying to visit the abandoned haunted island, you can just watch the upcoming movie, 'The Plague Doctor' based on the mysterious, haunted island's dark and twisted past.

RELATED: Think Poveglia island is creepy? Check out the rest of the world's most haunted places

Advertisement