Poveglia



SyFy Channel Scariest Places on Earth

This was a very hokey TV show showing nervous families spending time at scary places. But as hokey as it was, here are some of the places they visited, which all have some kind of horror or ghostly reputation.

By the way, why did the SciFi channel think they had to change their name to SyFy??



Poveglia

poveglia

Unfortunately, the island of Poveglia in the Venice lagoon is not open to the public.

One of its main uses was to isolate plague victims, both in Roman times and during the periods of the Black Death. It was used as both a lazaretto (quarantine station for maritime travellers) and as a plague pit. It is thought that somewhere around 160,000 people died or were buried here.

During plague times, bodies were brought here to be buried, and many plague victims were brought here while still living.

Because these people were not buried with the full procedures of the church, many people believe that their spirits still roam the island.

A small community existed here until around 1380, when is was abandonded during the "War of Chioggia" between Venice and Genoa.

In 1922 a mental hospital was built here and according to legend, one doctor tortured and killed many of the patients, before being thrown to his death from a bell tower. He survived the fall, but was "strangled by a mist that came up from the ground." The ruins of the hospital remain on the island.

Today, the island is home to farms, mainly vineyards.



Bunny Man Bridge

bunnyman



According to The Bunny Man Unmasked:

There is a story that a man dressed as a bunny haunts the residential neighborhoods around our nation's capital. Silly as this may sound at first, the Bunny Man has been a fixture of local legend for at least 30 years. By 1973 the so-called "Bunny Man" had been reported in Maryland, and the District of Columbia. His infrequent and widespread appearances tended to occur in secluded locations and usually tell of a figure clad in a white bunny suit armed with an ax threatening children or vandalizing property. By the 1980s the Bunny Man had become an even more sinister figure with several gruesome murders to his credit. Although he has been reported as far south as Culpepper, Virginia. his main haunt has been the area surrounding a railroad overpass near Fairfax Station, Virginia frequented by party goers, the now infamous "Bunny Man Bridge."



Waverly Hills Sanatorium

waverly

In 1910, a hospital was constructed on a windswept hill in southern Jefferson County, Kentucky, near Louisville that had been designed to combat the horrific disease of tuberculosis. The wind was important because doctors at that time believed that fresh air was a possible cure for the disease. In 1924, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium was built to replace the overcrowded original hospital. It opened in 1926 and was considered the most advanced tuberculosis sanatorium in the country. But with the state of medicine at that time, most of the patients who were admitted to Waverly Hills didn't come out alive.

There was an enclosed tunnel, called the "body chute" for the dead that led from the hospital to the railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill. A motorized rail and cable system was used to lower the bodies in secret to the waiting trains. This was done so that patients would not see how many were leaving the hospital as corpses.

Many legends of ghosts have sprung up around the hospital building and the body chute. Much of the research has been done by Keith Age and the Louisville Ghost Hunter's Society.



Hunedoara Castle

hunedoara

Hunedoara Castle is a 14th Century Gothic castle built on old Roman fortifications.
It occupies a strategic position on a rocky cliff overlooking Zlasti river.

Hunedoara Castle was the place where Dracula Prince (Vlad the Impaler) was imprisoned 7 years by Matei Corvin.

Vlad continued his habits during his imprisonment in the Hunedoara Castle. He beheaded mice and impaled them and he protected bats and talked with them. The guardians were horrified by his requests to get more flesh and blood with his dinner.










Go To Project Gutenberg





Contents © Copyright 2001 Author: Lee Briggs except where noted. All rights reserved.