As you can expect from such an ancient region of the world, Italy has its share of eerie tales.
Though to create a list of them all would surely take years, and perhaps drive the writer to madness, here is a short introduction to two of its more... interesting places.
Many bubonic plague sites around Europe are eerie haunted locations.
Lake Resia
If you are a descendant of Italians who lived in the towns of Graun or Reschen in the 40s and 50s, you may have heard the disgruntled stories of their ultimate demise.
You see, at the time of their existence, the Italian government sought to introduce a new hydroelectric power facility - right on top of where they were located. Though serious protests were made, both towns were demolished and the area - totaling 677 hectares - was completely flooded, birthing the new Lake Resia.
However, a lone bell tower remained completely intact, protected by its status as a monument.
Nowadays you can visit this lake to see this surreal stone structure jutting helplessly out of the encroaching waves. Some say that on certain nights you can still hear its bell tolling, despite the fact that it was removed.
Are some of the old town denizens still lingering in the waters of Lake Resia?
Poveglia Island
Italy's Poveglia Island is reportedly one of the most haunted locations on the planet.
During the Black Plague, more than 160,000 people were outcast to the small, 18-acre landmass and burned (possibly even alive). The grounds are so packed with mass graves that even now the crashing ocean waves occasionally uncover a charred, rotting limb.
In the early 1900s, a mental asylum was built on Poveglia, which has only added to its frightening past. Many of the 'inmates' claimed they saw ghosts, but their cries were unanswered. In fact, one of the doctors decided to experiment on patients in gruesome and horrible ways, though he eventually went mad and jumped out of the bell tower to kill himself.
He did not die, however, but instead as he lay writhing on the ground in pain, a mist rose to strangle and claim him, a witness said.
Scared of haunted sites? Stay away from Italy.
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