including the church of St Vitale, a hospital, an asylum, and prison plus residential and office buildings. Popular culture Some time after the island had become a quarantine station for ships arriving at Venice in the 18th century, a plague was discovered on two ships. The island was sealed off and used to host people with infectious diseases, leading to legends of terminally ill Venetians waiting to die before their ghosts returned to haunt the island. A doctor allegedly experimented on patients with crude lobotomies. According to various reports, most recently by the Travel Channel, the doctor jumped from the bell tower in the 1930s after claiming he had been driven mad by ghosts. He later died. Decades later, nearby residents claimed to still hear the bell, although it was removed many years earlier. That report, titled "Haunted History", also states that some restoration work had started recently but that "abruptly stopped without explanation". The island has been featured on the paranormal shows Ghost Adventures and Scariest Places on Earth. The island was featured on a video by Yes Theory in 2019. See also Hoffman Island in the Lower New York Bay, off the South Beach of Staten Island, New York City Swinburne Island an artificial island in Lower New York Bay, east of Staten Island in New York City References External links Poveglia Island Paranormal Report Poveglia island history, ghost sightings, photos of the abandoned structures Satellite image from Google Maps The Island of Poveglia Is a Classic Italian Horror Story - Horror World Islands of the Venetian Lagoon Reportedly haunted locations in Italy