How'd You Like to Buy the Most Haunted Place on Earth?

Gizmodo - (Venice)

Like ghosts? Then you'll love Poveglia, a small, deserted island in the Venetian lagoon that's going on the auction block next month. It's been called "the island of madness," "Hell," and "the most haunted place on Earth." You'd just love it to pieces.

No, but seriously, this place sounds scary. The trouble started back in the late 19th century when Poveglia served as a checkpoint for ships going to Venice. After a pair of ships carrying plague victims arrived in 1793, the island was sealed off and turned into a quarantine zone for people with infectious diseases, a role it served for over a century. It goes without saying that many of these people died on the island during this time, leading to the widespread belief that Poveglia is haunted. It didn't help when the place was converted into a hospital for the mentally ill in 1922. Rumor has it, the hospital was home to a number of crude lobotomies, performed by a doctor who'd been driven mad by the ghosts. He later flung himself off the bell tower.

NO WAY. Nope.

The real Carcosa is for sale in Italy and they think someone is dumb enough to buy it. A doctor that owned the place performed lobotomies and then flung himself from a bell tower...

Two places you don't want to be: Abandoned mental institutions and abandoned quarantine hospitals. Mix em together and you get: Poveglia.

A couple of summers ago, I went to George's Island in Boston Harbor, which has a haunted fort (Fort Warren). Me and a couple of friends decided to go through the fort, which is said to be home to "the Lady in Black". Probably came within two seconds of pissing myself. Point is...haunted places should be on the list of places not to go. Go to Disney instead.

Here's what Huffington Post has to say on Poveglia:

No one cares if you want to give yourself the willies; there are no boats that make regular stops at the island. The Italian tourism board prohibits visiting the island (on paper) and requires a lengthy application process, where you must obtain approval, before you can step your trembling foot onto the human ash-covered land. But as with most things, for the right price (about 200 euros), you can hire a dude to float you over there, no approval necessary.