Welcome back everyone - today we are going to look at a country that always comes up
in conversations about food, history and culture - Italy.
It doesnt get talked about as much as a scary place though.
With this video - I am to change your view of Italy - youre gonna see a dark side to
it today, and I hope youre ready for the stories to come.
I am.
Im Danny Burke and this is the Top 10 Scary Italian Urban Legends.
Starting off at number 10 we have The House That Kills.
Along the Venice canals there are expensive houses that are snapped up whenever they go
on the market - well, all except one.
Its name is Ca Dario - sometimes called the House That Kills.
It was built in the late 15th century for Giovanni Dario, secretary of the Venitian
Republic senate.
When he died, the house was inherited by his daughter and her husband.
After a while, the husband lost all his possessions and was stabbed to death - while the daughter
killed herself by drowning in the canal.
They had a little boy and who ended up being killed by assassins.
The Ventitians were shocked by the 3 violent deaths and started to think the house was
cursed as it was built on an ancient cemetery.
Others said it was the inscription on the ground floor which read -Giovanni Dario, in
honor of the city genius- … in Italian though, this is an anagram of -Who will live in this
house will be ruined- … in the 19th century, a descendant of the family sold it to a rich
diamond merchant who quickly lost all of his wealth and died shortly after.
The next owner died mysteriously in the house with his lover, perhaps in a murder suicide.
Death seemed to follow every owner after.
There was a suicide, then a car crash, then a murder, another suicide, another car car
crash, and then a suicide again and then a heart attack.
After all of that, its no surprise that locals are convinced that the Ca Dario is a cursed
house.
Even those who don't believe in curses have stayed clear of The House That Kills.
Heres a little modern one for you guys now at number 9 with Waterblades.
A number of years ago, across Northern Italy, a panic began to spread about a man known
only as Waterblades.
He was said to be an evil genius psychopath would visit waterparks attended by children.
When nobody was looking, he would then install blades in the waterslides of the park.
On some he would leave small blades that would just cut the people who rode them - but that
was just a test.
He would then build up to bigger and bigger knives - putting them in places to cause maximum
damage.
Legend says that people were left horribly disfigured for life after slashing themselves
on the rides.
According to the story, the knives were always found - but never Waterblades himself.
Some people are glad that this is now a think of the past but for others - the damage is
already done.
People have been scarred for life and now everyone lives in fear of when Waterblades
will return to leave on a knife on a whole new ride, for people who never saw it coming
…
Moving on to number 8 now we have the Casa delle Anime.
This house in Voltri, Genoa has a reputation as one of the most haunted houses in Italy.
Many years ago, it was run as an inn by a family who all suffered from severe mental
disorders.
Legend says they would invite passing guests to stay for the night - sometimes even for
free.
This was all just a tactic to get them inside.
Once they were asleep in their beds, the family would murder them, take their money and then
throw their bodies into a pass grave.
They say the souls of the victims are bound to the house and roam around it during the
night making unearthly noises.
For many years after this familys time there, the house lied empty - no doubt the stories
had something to do with it.
A new family finally moved in after the 2nd world war - and they witnessed a very creepy
event.
They said they always saw a young girl walking around the house, dressed in white - asking
if anyone had seen her love.
Locals believe the girl was engaged to one of the victims and after he never returned
to her, she went to look for him.
Now, she is doomed to wander around the house, looking for her lost love forever.
Moving on to number 7 we have The Museum of Purgatory in Rome.
In a small church in rome lies a single room known as the Museum of Souls in Purgatory.
For those of you who don't know, Catholics believe purgatory is the placed between heaven
and hell - where souls are trapped before they can advance to heaven.
Its known as a place where people will go and pray for their loved onces to advance
to a happy afterlife.
However, things have got creepy over the years with recorded instances of trapped souls who
have appeared to visitors and personally asked them for help.
At first, it was just eyewitness accounts - but then physical things started happening.
There have been photos showing apparitions, imprints on sleeves and perhaps most creepy
of all - handprints burned onto the pages of prayer books.
If you were trying to get to heaven and avoid hell - perhaps youd make yourself known just
as much …
At number 6 now we have The Witches of Monte Matanna.
Were heading to Tuscany for this a story they may repel or attract you - depending on what
kind of person you are.
This is a mountain in the Italian alps which offers hiking by day - and witch hunting by
night.
For centuries, local legends say the area was a retreat for witches to perform their
human sacrifices and occult rituals.
They say the only reason anyone even knew they were there was because shepherds would
see flames and bright streaks of fire upon the mountainside.
Today, you can see a strange shaped rock that they are thought to have used as a table - not
in the senese you or I know - more a sacrificial table.
Why did the witches return to this location?
Well, again, local legend says they hid all of the wealth and treasure there before moving
on to another life.
Now, people go searching for the witches treasure.
However, there is a problem for any witch slash treasure hunters out there - its guarded
by something - a ghostly spectre holding a huge scythe - exactly like the grim reaper.
If you find the treasure and managed to avoid getting sythed by a witch's ghost - I guess
its all yours …
Moving on to number 5 now we have Poveglia Island.
Just off the coast of Venice you can find Poveglia Island - a place that many locals
will never go near.
Back in 1348, it was used as a quarantine colony for people who had caught the plague,
known as the Black Death.
People were sent there to die, with no hopes of being cured.
Some people believe that so many people were burned and buried there that the soil on the
island is now made up of 50% human ashes.
By the 1800s, the island was being used as a mental asylum - where people were locked
up, rarely helped and often died in anguish.
They say that the psychiatrist who ran the mental hospital was a butcher and torturer
who tormented the patients for many years.
Eventually he went mad from the guilt and threw himself from the islands belltower.
He survived the fall his body lay broken on the rocks.
Thats when witnesses say he was a strangled to death by a -ghostly mist- that emerged
from the ground.
Some say this was the island itself - now intertwined with the dark energy of death.
Its no surprise that boats stay clear of Poveglia Island and visitors are few and far between
…
Moving on to number 4 we have Brolio Castle.
In Brolio there is a castle that has belonged to the Ricasoli family since 1141.
It was owned by Bettino Ricasoli until 1880 when he died of a heart attack in the castle.
His body was not buried right away, but kept near the altar of the crypt in the family
chapel.
During that time, rumours began to circulate about strange apparitions around the castle.
People caught glimpses of spirits walking about the castle as if they were still alive.
None of this had happened before the Bettino had died.
The wind began to blow harder than it ever did that time of year - opening and slamming
windows violently.
A swarm of moths invaded the chapel, forcing many of the mourners to flee.
However, this was all building up to one moment.
When they tried to lift the coffin - it was too heavy.
More people came but it wouldnt budge an inch.
It was like the whole thing was full of rocks.
Suspecting demonic forces, they fetched the local priest.
He arrived and placed his hand on the coffin, muttering words in Latin for a while.
When he had finished, to everyones amazement, the coffin was suddenly light again.
The priest claimed that all of the damned souls in the area had seen the coffin as a
safe place to hide and had come from miles around.
He had dispelled them from the coffin but unleashed them on Brolio Castle.
In the years since then, the souls are said to still wander the grounds - ready to torment
any visitors who disturb them …
Next up at number 3 we have The Capuchin Catacombs.
In this place lie the skeletons or preserved bodies of as many as 8,000 people - hanging
from the wall or in glass caskets for the world to see.
It was started by monks who would preserve their own so that they could pray with them,
not for them.
Then, locals began to pay the monks for their families members to also be interned in the
catacombs so that they too could visit and pray with them.
Monks, priests, teachers, professionals, men, women and children are all placed in different
categories - hung up on niches or shelves.
The Capuchin Catacombs stopped taking bodies in 1920 - one of the final internments was
that of two year old Rosalia Lombardo.
She died of pneumonia.
An embalmer used a secret technique to preserve her body over the past 100 years.
Visitors are amazed to see just how like like she looks after all this time.
Sometimes though, she is said to have opened her eyes.
Scientists say this is just a trick of the light but those who have seen it would argue
otherwise.
They believe that the energy of the Catacombs have a dark power over the bodies that lie
there.
For a price, you can actually spend the night locked in the catacombs.
I don't know what kind of person would want to do that though - and I don't know what
they would do if one of the bodies slowly opened their eyes …
Next up at number 2 we have Villa Magnoni.
This is ominous looking house located in the otherwise picturesque Italian countryside
near the city of Cona.
These days, the house is almost entirely boarded up which has led many people to believe the
whole place is haunted.
One of the only stories that has survived over the years comes from the 1980s.
Back then, a group of friends reportedly visited the house and heard children singing in the
garden.
Great - they thought - I guess the place isnt haunted after all - there are kids playing
here!
When they went round to the garden though - the laughing stopped as soon as they turned
the corner - there was nobody there.
Then, they looked up to the house and scanned the windows - they were all either empty or
boarded up - except for one of them at the top.
In that window they saw a woman.
She was wearing all white - her eyes wide open - and she was screaming.
She screamed so loud they could hear what she was saying - she was telling them to leave,
leave now.
The friends ran in fear and sped away in their car.
They crashed on the way home, killing 3 out of 4 of them.
Months later, the survivor returned to the house to investigate.
He searched inside the house and went up to the window where they saw the woman.
He froze - the room from which she appeared had no floor.
And finally at number 1 we have The Ghost of Palazzo Vecchio.
In the old city of Florence lies this luxury villa.
There once lived a man there called Baldaccio.
He was a medieval nobleman and brave warrior who was, ultimately, betrayed, wrongly accused
of treason and killed inside the Palace in 1441.
He was stabbed and thrown out of a window, probably on the orders of a rival nobleman.
His spirit remained in the palace, filled with rage at the people who killed him.
In the centuries since then, locals have learnt the set of rules to not anger the ghost of
Baldaccio.
After dark, you should not scream his name, you should not name him without a reason and
you must always speak with respect in a low, hushed voice.
The most famous sighting of Baldaccio happened in 2001 when he appeared in in the background
of a picture taken.
Experts said the photo had not been tampered with, only adding to the legend of the angry
ghost …
OK - thats Italy ticked off the list.
I always love talked about Italian food and culture so its interesting to have explored
the more creepy side that they often don't tell you about … where shall we go to next
with this series?
The choice is yours, Im listening, thanks for watching, Im Danny Burke and Ill see you
all in the next video.