World’s ‘creepiest island’ where 160,000 corpses are buried and tourists are banned from visiting for one reason

A country that serves as a popular tourist hotspot, with around six million Americans vacationing there each year, is home to an eerie island that is outlawed for tourism.

The US is fortunate enough to sit between Canada and Mexico, two countries that boast a rich history, and then further below the latter you can find the Caribbean in all its beauty - less than an hour-and-a-half from Orlando, Florida, to the Bahamas.

However, the country in question is in mainland Europe, and around five percent of the US population identify themselves as having ancestors to have hailed from there, according to a 2021 report from the US Census Bureau.

I'm speaking of Italy, with 15,947,138 people in the US having stated they are of an Italian-American descent.

Yes, Italian tourism magazine, All Roads Lead to Italy, reports that an estimated six million Americans fly over the Pacific Ocean each year to visit its many historic sites - but there is one place they aren't allowed to see.

The 19th century Venetian geriatric hospital on Poveglia island in the Venice lagoon, Italy (Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images

That is the island of Poveglia, on the east coast of Italy, just 3.5 miles south of Venice.

It has been dubbed the world’s ‘creepiest island’ due to the fact it has 160,000 corpses buried on it, and due to its now dilapidated site, tourists have been banned from visiting it.

Poveglia is just seven hectares in size, which to put into perspective, the notorious Alcatraz Island, located off the coast of San Francisco in California, was 8.9 hectares in size.

However, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary held a maximum of 336 prisoners. Poveglia wasn't a prison, but in the late 18th century it began being used to quarantine people they suspected had the plague.

When other quarantine stations became full, it soon became a dumping zone for plague victims. When they eventually succumbed to the disease, they were buried in mass 'plague pits'.

Structures on the island are in a dilapidated state (Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images)

It served as a quarantine station up until 1922, when it was converted into a psychiatric hospital before it was subsequently closed down in 1968.

Around 160,000 people are thought to have died there and were subsequently buried and burnt.

A half century has passed and the buildings that occupy the island are now crumbling, and it has been ruled too dangerous for tourists to visit by local authorities.

However, British explorers Matt Nadin and Andy Thompson managed to gain access to it for their YouTube channel 'Finders Beepers History Seekers' in 2020.

Speaking in one video, Nadin explained: "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.

An eerie look inside the laundry room in one of the buildings of the 19th century Venetian geriatric hospital, located on Poveglia island (Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images)

"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.

"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."

Adding: "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."