Ghost Islands

Eight of the Eeriest Abandoned Places on the Seas

There are uninhabited islands and abandoned islands, and then there are these: ghost islands, with a past that sinks over you like a specter. There are mostly sad reasons these islands aren’t inhabited, like Poveglia Plague Island.

Poveglia served as a plague quarantine station for Venice from 1793 to 1814, and some rumors state that 50% of the soil is composed of the remains of the dead. A mental hospital was later opened, and remains in ruins in the overgrowth of ivy. It's also not the only ghost island in the Venice area, which is spotted with these abandoned relics of eras gone by.

Other islands were abandoned due to war, starvation, industrial decline, border disputes, and there’s even one that sank too much to live on. Read about all eight at Atlas Obscura.