Poveglia - Nightfall on a Ghost Island

There's a remotely located island in the Lagoon of Venice that used to be the site of quite some peculiar things: In the 18th century victims of the plague were being buried here, from 1922 onwards there was a sanatory for mentally ill people. Since it has been closed down in 1968, the building continues to crumble down and and it's being taken back by nature, just like the rest of the island.

Poveglia certainly is one of the more obscure travel destinations. It can't be reached by ferry and thanks to the island's history many an internet hero writes about tortured souls allegedly haunting the place.

 Yes, there are several ghost storys about the island wandering the internet. Here it got first place on a list of TOP 10 MOST HAUNTED ISLANDS!, meanwhile over there someone talks about a mad doctor, who supposedly used his patients for gruesome experiments before he finally got possesed by ghosts and jumped off the church tower. Imagination knows no boundaries... Some even say you have to carefully avoid patrolling police boats if you want to get to the forbidden island.

Well, in reality Poveglia is more of a place that the youth of Venice occasionally (and unobstructedly) likes to visit with their boats, in order to escape the overcrowded city for a while to get some relaxation. Having a barbecue with friends for example. And since the island really only is accessible with private boats, thus normally being out of reach for tourists, you really have your peace here. There's still a certain special atmosphere, though.

I got myself a local Günter who kindly brought me over and showed me around. In the evening, when work was over, he had some time. After a few minutes navigating Venice's labyrinth of canals we crossed the lagoon's open water over to the island. Of course I took a lot of pictures so you can see for yourself.

Diashow... START!

Poveglia from a distance. Behind it you can see the Lido di Venezia, an extremely long island that separates this lagoon from the open adriatic sea.

Pier for larger ships... not like it's frequently being attended, though.

Welcome to Poveglia!

Special poles with nets for catching fish are being stored here. (Forgot their Italian names.)

Everything is overgrown with plants, especialy blackberry bushes.

So, who wants to go upstairs?

Old washing machines.

Those two pictures were shot by Günter. Thanks for that!

On the roof.

The blackberry bushes even reach up here.

Collapsed roof.

Looking through a hole in the floor.

Not a lot of light in here. Electricity bill hasn't been paid for some time after all.

Slowly it got dark outside as well, so we had to switch on the flashlights.

The island's bushes are full of rabbits by the way, so you could hear some rustling all the time even though you normally couldn't see them. I guess that only contributes to a haunted feeling.

REPARTO PSICHIATRIA - Psychiatric Department

 Inscription of the sanatory. No stencil graffiti, this is actually old.

In the meantime it had become pitch-dark, since all the thick vegetation surronding the buildings swallowed the last few rays of light that were left after sunset. Not exactly the best circumstances for taking photos. Our flashlight was limited in angle and photoflash looks horrible.
So what to do?
My solution was to set up my camera for long exposure time and then to proceed wildly brandishing the flashlight. Just quickly illuminating everything in the camera's field of vision to see what happens. I call it Fuchteling. And this is the result:

Peculiar...
Doesn't look as flat and boring as normal photoflash and has some eery vibe to it. So it kind of fits.

The "Indiana Jones-Room"

This tombstone for the plague victims is the last remaining proof for that part of Poveglia's history. Well, apart from a huge load of bones that should still be buried. Before that, the island was fist being used as quarantine station for ships. Later on all the victims from Venice were buried here and on other small islands, since it wasn't allowed to burn them. Rough translation of the Latin inscription:
"Don't dig! The epidemic's dead are resting here. 1793"

Fun Fact: The word "quarantine" originates from the Venetians. It's derived from Quaranta giorni, which means 40 days. That was the period travelers had to spend on an island like Poveglia before they were allowed to the city.

That doesn't look to bad, does it? Once again that flashlight mehod, this time just a few centimeters above the ground.

Well anyway, that's all for now. There were no really spooky encounters for me this time.
But! Günter actually has had one a while ago. Here's the proof:

:o)
bedsheet + UV light + long exposure time = ghost