To think I'm having after effects of visiting a haunted place? believers and non-believers please!

[user1464861179]

I know it sounds ridiculous but please bear with me.

About a month ago DH and I talked an Italian skipper into taking us to an abandoned island off the coast of Venice. There are huge legends, myths and stories about this island, tons of documentries and "scariest places of earth" type programs but the island is off limits to anyone and difficult to access unless of course you can talk someone into taking you there.

Island has a history of military stronghold, plague victim hospital, mass plague burial pits when the disease spread out of control and later it was a mental asylum where supposedly a mad doctor carried out experiments on patients and later threw himself off the (now) bricked up clock tower. The island is completely abandoned since the 50s and totally inhabited. When DH and I went, we were literally the only people on the island. The skipper refused to join us saying he'd pick us up in 3 hours and if we were not there, he'd be calling the police!!

Anyway - DH and I ran around this island for 3 hours, explored the old aslum, took loads of photos, visited the supposed burial grounds, DH climbed up the clock tower (well as far up as he could get since the place is falling down!) and I felt absolutely fine - not spooked out at all.

Only thing was that whilst DH was messing up the clock tower, I heard footsteps heading towards the hospital where we were through the overgrown bushes etc outside. I stood and waited for what I assumed to be other tourists and nobody came. When I've researched the island since, footsteps are supposedly one of the first signs of things starting to go wrong. Nothing else happened however.

Anyway we got back on the boat, has pasta and prosecco - felt fine. Got home, showed everyone the photos - felt fine.

4 weeks later I'm dreaming of this island, not nightmares as such but wierdly atmoshpheric dreams that make me feel really, really sad and depressed. I can't explain it. During the day at work my mind keeps switching to the island/hospital and I feel an overwhelming sadness and depression when I think about it.

I'm having wierd dreams that people are standing beside my bed watching me sleep.

I don't believe in ghosts. Well - I'm starting to wonder ...

AIBU to be putting so much energy into this? I'm actually shitting myself that I've done something really terrible.

That's the programme I saw slinky. I can't imagine Francesco giving house room to a visiting ghoul or spectre

No idea OP. Like any burial ground, I would hope that people treat it with a certain amount of respect. When you say you were running around and climbing the clock tower etc., perhaps you feel in retrospect that you perhaps didn't? Why do you think you did something terrible?

The island has a very sombre history, and I'd suggest that you're just experiencing a normal, human reaction to having visited it.

There are a few organised trips there, though. I'm not sure it's quite as impossible to reach as your OP perhaps suggests (in case its piqued anyone's interest!)

If you do decide to purify yourself with the smoke from a smudge-stick, I'd suggest you do it outside. Light it and keep it moving to make it smoke (unless you happen to have a [banned in the UK] eagle-feather to hand to do it the traditional way) They frequently drop very tiny bits of burning sage everywhere.

Fuzzy's light bubble is a nice exercise for you.

What sort of pasta though?

Tennison

Did you pick nothing up on the island and bring it back with you? If so, get rid, far from your house.

Get sage, burn it around house and sprinkle salt in all corners of the house and do the bubble spell. If you are a suggestible person, this will help.

holidays chances are you walk over old burial grounds every day. You'd never go anywhere if we had full maps of all burial grounds ever created!

It sounds like you've spooked yourself a bit. I think it is possible to feel sadness and echoes of the past in places like that. You need to mentally clean out your mind. You can buy a crystal to help or have a bath and just try to have positive energy flow. Depressing places sap your spirit.

"Could you be feeling a bit of residual guilt for doing something 'naughty' ?"

What did she do that was "naughty"?

Somebody bought it for £400k in 2014. Bargain, but apparently it's going to cost upwards of £16m to restore. Does anyone know if the owner's planned anything for it yet?

User, I believe in a hell of a lot of weird shit but all of it has real-world explanations! You aren't haunted. You would have to be made of very cold stuff not to be affected by such an atmospheric & tragic ruin, especially with all the relics still lying around. So, okay, you're being haunted by the experience - your memories. Quite natural, I'd say; it proves you're a fully functioning human.

Do some woo spirit-banishing stuff if it makes you feel better :) Then go on another trip to another island with a more positive history.

And I bet the Italian skipper you "talked" into taking you played along with the mystery and scariness stuff too. Particularly if he told you it was "off limits" and difficult to get to.

I'm assuming that those suggesting sage etc are working along the same lines as people who make up "Monster Repellent" spray to reassure toddlers at bedtime?

Your brain is probably just reacting to the stories you've heard and the atmosphere of the place. It's perfectly rational and understandable. I'm sure I'd feel affected afterwards if I visited somewhere like that or Auschwitz or other sites of great suffering where some buildings remain.

I'm not one to believe in woo usually. I have visited one place that got my neck hairs standing though. I was house hunting and one house gave me a horrible feeling of cold dread. Mum and DH felt it too but didn't say until afterwards. I can't explain it.

It's only 'off limits' due to safety! Decaying staircases and foundations.... Health and safety and all that!

Are you writing a book?

Please do write a book, you have set the scene now.

Did the Italian skipper go silent and pale, and cross himself when you mentioned it? Explain that no-one would ever take to 'that place', but then agree to all reluctantly and grudgingly, pushing back his cap and muttering about curses and calling the police? I bet he does that routine three times a day. He'd only give you three hours as his next tour was probably booked.

The skipper refused to join us saying he'd pick us up in 3 hours

How often do you expect a complete stranger to join you sightseeing? Do you think he might have had other things to do?

I'm sorry, I'm ribbing you a bit OP, but your OP is filled with filmic stuff and hints of woo.

I've felt ' in the atmosphere of somewhere (or after some films )for ages afterwards. When somewhere has such a history I don't think it's surprising if you are quite sensitive and tuned into emotions and feelings. If you've been told a lot about the troubles of the inhabitants, it has probably got you thinking/dreaming and imaging what went on andthe atmosphere and mood spill over into everyday life. Well that's my take. We went for a walk on the 'cursed' island of lokrum in Croatia. It didn't feel remotely creepy though - just beautiful views and general gorgeousness. Hopefully the mod will begin to lessen soon. I imagine it feels a bit disconcerting

I was house hunting and one house gave me a horrible feeling of cold dread.

I'm really familiar with this feeling. I still say you shouldn't buy a place that makes you feel like that.

Over the years of doing up old wrecks, I now know what the 'feelings' are caused by. Primary culprit is dry rot. It has a distinctive, stale smell but not particularly noticeable if the place has been cleaned & aired. Damp is culprit #2. Next up: rodents. Most people recognise that smell, but would have to think hard before identifying it. Then there's weird shit you can't fix, like ultra-low frequency sound which can (scientifically proven) cause people to 'feel' a presence near them, see things out of the corner of their eye, and all that. Final common culprit is static electricity, which would mean the place needs rewiring. Since neglected places are often damp as well, there can be random electrical charges running wild.

We have instincts for good reasons, and none of them are supernatural.

Well on the link someone else posted it says that while they explored their skipper prepared an al fresco lunch of risotto and seafood to have before leaving the island. With wine and biscuits!

OP wuz robbed!

First. You should run ghost tours, you'll make a fortune.

OP, Is your DH is a photographer and has a blog page? And you were staying with friends in Venice?

Someone needs to stop watching scary movies!

Get a grip OP

Before reading your OP: no.

After reading your OP: no.

Interesting story though.

I don't think you're being haunted op, but I do believe that such places can have quite a profound psychological impact on you if you know their history.

I visited a place in France called Oradour-sur-Glane where the Nazis massacred several hundred people - including women and children in a church. The bullet holes were still visible. I was overcome by sadness and had to sit outside while dh was in the church. The weirdest thing for me was that there was no bird song - nothing apparently uplifting at all about it. It did leave me with feelings of mild depression for a while.

I don't regret visiting it but expect others would report similar feelings having visited Auschwitz, or any other place steeped in a history of such horror.

BTW the place you describe sounds like Shutter Island.

"I do believe that such places can have quite a profound psychological impact on you if you know their history."

It's called imagination and empathy.