Explore published stories from Veneza, Vêneto, Itália and nearby.
In the Venetian Lagoon, Poveglia was a community, quarantine station and care facility. A documented outbreak killed 12 sailors in 1793; centuries later, pictures from another lazaret and television turned the island into a supposed mass grave. Maps, archives and today’s struggle for public access reveal a more complex history.
497 km · Estrasburgo
In the summer of 1518, people in Strasbourg began dancing in a way that alarmed the city. Its council recorded medical consultations, pilgrimages and a public ban. Centuries later an unnamed woman acquired the name “Frau Troffea”, and reports of many deaths appeared. This dossier follows the sources to separate the documented episode from the legend.
543 km · Klingenberg am Main
In Klingenberg, a student with a history of seizures underwent months of exorcism and died of malnutrition in 1976. This dossier traces interrupted care, the trial of her parents and priests, the exhumation legend, and the later use of recordings while separating evidence from belief.
554 km · Čachtice
In present-day Slovakia, a medieval fortress became the place of Countess Erzsébet Báthory’s confinement. This dossier follows her estate management, the 1610-1611 inquiry, the fate of servants, her will and the much later emergence of the blood-bathing story.