Ep. 57 - Poveglia Island: The World’s Most Haunted Plague Island

Off the coast of Venice, Italy lies an island few dare to approach.

Poveglia.

Once used as a quarantine station during outbreaks of the plague, thousands were sent there—many never to return. Ships were held offshore. The sick were removed. And over time, the island became a place associated with suffering, isolation… and death.

But Poveglia’s story didn’t end with the plague.

Years later, it was used again—this time as a medical facility, where patients were separated from the outside world. And from that period, a disturbing legend emerged. A doctor. A tower. And a final act that still lingers in the island’s history.

Today, Poveglia remains abandoned. Access is restricted. Locals avoid it. And despite attempts to restore it, nothing has ever fully taken hold.

So what remains on an island built for isolation?

Is it history…

or something more?

🎧 In this episode of Veil of Echoes, we explore the history, legends, and lingering presence of Poveglia Island—one of the most infamous locations in the world.

🕯️ SHOW NOTES

•  Location: Poveglia Island, Venetian Lagoon, Italy 
•  Used as a quarantine station beginning in the late 1700s 
•  Associated with multiple plague outbreaks, including waves of the Black Death 
•  Later used as a medical/psychiatric facility in the early 20th century 
•  Subject of ongoing paranormal claims and urban legends 
•  Currently abandoned and restricted from public access 

🖤 LISTENER STORIES

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🎧 NEXT EPISODE

🔪 Ted Bundy Part 3 — The Final Chapter

The investigation tightens.
 Mistakes catch up.
 And for the first time—he loses control.

📚 SOURCES

•  Atlas Obscura — Poveglia Plague Island
•  History.com — Black Death
•  Smithsonian Magazine — Historical accounts of plague quarantines 
•  Venice Municipal Archives (historical references to quarantine islands) 
•  Various historical and cultural analyses of Poveglia Island 

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🕯️ New episodes drop every Monday (True Crime) & Friday (Paranormal) — where true crime meets the supernatural.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Beneath the ordinary world lies a veil, and behind it, the voices of the lost still whisper. We are your guides into the shadows, where true crime meets the paranormal.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

From chilling crimes to haunted histories, we uncover the stories that refuse to rest.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

This is Vale of Echoes. There are places the world leaves behind. Not because they were forgotten, but because no one really wants to remember what happened there. Poveglia Island was one of them.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

A small island in the Venetian lagoon, quiet from a distance, almost beautiful. But for centuries, people were sent there for one reason to never come back.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

The sick, the dying, the unwanted. Boats arrived in silence, smoke rising where no one asked questions. And beneath it all, the feeling that suffering never really left the ground. A quarantine island where fear came first.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

A hospital where the walls heard too much.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

And ruins still standing in the middle of the water.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

But what makes Bavaglia terrifying isn't just the ghost stories.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

It's the history underneath them. Because before people ever called it haunted, they called it necessary. And that may be the worst part.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Nothing on that island happened by accident.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

It was built to hold death. This is episode 57.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Povaglia Island.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Where the dead were sent and the living feared to follow. Welcome to Veil of Echoes, the podcast where true crime and the unexplained collide, where some stories are buried in history, and others never really leave. Each week we step into places, cases, and moments that continue to echo long after they should be over.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

I'm Zach.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

And I'm Bria. Before we begin, this episode includes discussion of death, disease, and historical accounts of suffering tied to quarantine and medical practices. Some details may be unsettling. Listener discretion is advised. If you enjoy immersive storytelling like this, make sure you're following Veil of Echoes on your favorite podcast platform. And it truly means more to us than you know. And as we head into this next chapter of the show, we're building something with you. A space for your stories.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

The moments that stay with you, even when you can't explain them.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

And we're calling it Echoes from the Veil. So if you guys experience something, something unexplainable, or something that never quite made any sense, please we want to hear it. You can send your stories to us at Veilove Echoes Podcast at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Or message us directly on TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook at Veil of Echoes Podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

And we'll be sharing your listener stories and giving shout outs to those who trust us with them. And before we step into tonight's story, there's something else we want your help with. We've been talking about giving our listeners a name.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

But we don't want to decide that on our own.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Because this, what we're building here, it's not just ours. It's yours too. So we want you to decide.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

What should we call you?

SPEAKER_00 4:18

The Veiled, the Echoes, the Unseen, Veil Walkers. Or something we haven't even thought of yet. Send us your ideas, comments, messages, or even in a review. And when we choose the name, we'll be shouting you out right here on the show.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

And starting next month, we're doing monthly giveaways.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

To enter, just leave a rating or review.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Take a screenshot.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

And send it to us. We'll be choosing multiple winners every month and featuring some of you here on our podcast. We'll also be having like cool um trivia games, stuff like that. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Theories, who has the best theory, stories. It'll be fun. Because we see you and we appreciate you. Now let's go to Italy, to an island most people refuse to step foot on. Povaglia Island sits just off the coast of Venice. Small, isolated, easy to miss. But for centuries, people knew exactly where it was. Because Povaglia wasn't just an island. It was where you were sent when something was wrong.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

By the late 1700s, it became a quarantine station. Ships suspected of carrying disease were stopped before reaching Venice. Held offshore, waiting, watching. The world quarantined itself from Korotana Joran. Forty days. That's how long they waited to see. Who would get sick?

SPEAKER_00 5:59

And during outbreaks, it didn't take proof, just suspicion. If there was even a chance, you were taken. Entire ships were isolated, passengers removed, separated, and once they stepped onto the island, they rarely left.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

This happened across multiple outbreaks, including waves of the Black Death. Historians believe tens of thousands were sent there over time.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Some died from illnesses, others never had the chance to fight it. Could you imagine just knowing you're being sent somewhere just to pretty much just die there?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Well, yeah, because even if they had suspicion and you weren't sick, you got sent there. And of course, as soon as you get sent there, you're gonna get sick because everybody there's sick.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

That's all that's sad. Bodies weren't returned. No funerals, no names. Mass graves, burning pits, and ash settling into the ground. That's fucked up. Awful.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Some believe the soil itself is made from what was left behind.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

From people. And over time, Poveglia became more than just a quarantine site. It became a place people feared. So do you think a place like that can hold on to what happened there? Well, yes, of course. Definitely energy. It wasn't really that big if you see pictures of it. Well, and knowing that, you know, no funerals were held for them, they were just buried in the house. They had no names, like they were nothing. That's ignorant.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

There's burn pits.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Yeah, what the fuck is wrong with people? Burn pits, like I mean, burn pits, that was the way to go when there was any disease going on. Which I mean I get it, because it destroyed the yeah, that this is a picture of it. It's not that big, but it's it's haunting a little.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Yeah, it's a lot of people going there over the years to be that small.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

How many at once? That's another question, because as we've seen in the sanatorium Wavery Waverly Hills, quarantining people doesn't work when you just package.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

And it's not even it says it's slightly smaller than Alcatraz Island. It's about 17 to 18 and a half acres in size.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah, that's not really a lot.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Canes it can Canes. It contains the ruins of a geriatric hospital, a mental asylum, and a tall church steeple. Well, the church alone makes it creepy.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yes. Yeah, on an island like that.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

We'd be a cool island for like six people to live on in their own houses.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

But tens of thousands? Holy shit.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Sad.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

You still need like some kind of store station on there.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Yeah. Eventually the boat stopped coming. The outbreaks passed, and the island was abandoned.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

No more quarantine. No more officials.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

No more reason for anyone to stay. But nothing was removed. The buildings remained. The graves remained. And everything that happened there stayed.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

And over time, people started noticing something.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

It didn't feel empty. Visitors described a heaviness, a silence that didn't feel natural.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Footsteps. Movement.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Voices carried in the wind. Not loud enough to understand, but enough to know you weren't alone. Years later, Poveglia was used again, this time as a medical facility.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Accounts very. But it functioned as a place for long-term care and isolation.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Patients weren't just treated there, they were kept there. Separated, removed, just like before.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

And like many facilities of the time, treatments were experimental.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Oh, and that's just awful.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Yeah, very. Some of those things they would do. Well, we don't know what we're doing, but we're gonna figure something out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Well, lobotomies, for example. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that was I still think they should use lobotomy on serial killers and requests and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Don't stop drilling.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

And often more about control than care. And over time, a story began to form.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Not confirmed.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

But repeated. A doctor working alone on the island.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Some say he began hearing things.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

And seeing things. And that it changed him.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

His methods became more extreme.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

More violent. So like an evil scientist, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Dr. Satan.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Yeah. At the center of the island, there's a tower. And according to legend, that's where it ended.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

He climbed to the top.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

And jumped. There are no records confirming it, but the story remains. Because whether it's true or not, places like that change people. Today, Paveglia is still abandoned.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Owned by the Italian government, accessed, restricted.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

No tours, no visitors. I would love to go see it though, but that's I mean I mean I guess it can we just drive by it?

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Can we come back?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Just get a get a drone. I'm gonna fly it over here and look around.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

But there have been attempts made to reclaim it, to rebuild it, and to repurpose it. But nothing lasts.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Even locals avoid it.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Not because they're proven anything, but because they don't want to. Because Poveglia was never just an island. It was a solution. A place created to separate the sick from the living. And places like that don't just reset.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

They hold on to what happened.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Layer by layer. Until something remains. So do you think places like this are haunted because of what happened there, or because we never stopped believing they were? Again, both. Both.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Yeah, that one seems like.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

I mean, for one, it was used as a plague quarantine. And there's people in a psychiatric hospital. Leading to over what? A hundred thousand I was gonna say dollars. Over a hundred thousand deaths.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

And it doesn't say how many, but there's people sent there that they just thought might have been sick. They didn't even test them. They were experimented on and died on this island.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

They were thrown bodies after bodies in burn pits.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

And I mean I can see then why people are hearing you what screams, moans, footsteps. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Pure torture over generations.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

So I mean, yeah, I believe deeply energy sticks to places like that, definitely in tragic events and shit like this.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

And it says Povaglia was abandoned because it became a place of death, functioning for decades as a quarantine station where countless plague victims were buried and mass graves, followed by the gruesome history of the asylum. Yes, it is forbidden for tourists to enter the island. There are no public transport routes to the island, and a special rare authorization from the city of Venice is needed to visit, or a private boat for a private tour. Alright, Venice. We're reaching out to you now. Right?

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Eh, Venice, how much for a tour? Yeah. Of Italy.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

I mean, I would like to see it. It's interesting. Interesting. Alright, Government of Italy, if you're listening, Vale of Echoes wants to come. Yeah. Let us come. Yes. And that concludes this episode of Vale of Echoes. If you enjoyed tonight's episode, make sure you're following the show on your favorite podcast platform. Leaving a rating or review helps our stories reach more listeners, and we truly appreciate your support.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

You can also follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for teaser clips, tarot style episode posts, and behind the scenes content.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

And if you have a story, something unexplainable, something that stayed with you, please send it to us. We're building something with you.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Echoes from the Veil.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Because some experiences don't end when they're over.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

And don't forget, we are starting monthly giveaways.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

To enter, just leave a rating or a review, take a screenshot, and send it to us. We'll be choosing multiple winners each month and featuring some of you right here on the show. And you can send these to our TikTok, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, or you can email us at failovechocast at gmail.com. And on Monday, we return to the Ted Bundy case.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

By this point, the pattern is undeniable.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Victims across multiple states, witnesses, and survivors.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

The investigation tighten. Mistakes start to catch up.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

And for the first time, Ted Bundy isn't in control. An arrest.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Then something no one expected.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

He escapes.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

And when he does, things don't just continue.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

They escalate. But what happens next is how it all ends. Until next time, keep your ears open.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

And the veil closed.