The UnXplained

An abandoned seaside villa

with a deadly reputation.

A nuclear wasteland

unfit for human life.

And a tropical retreat

that was once home to a witches' coven.

Our planet is covered with islands of all shapes and sizes.

But all across the globe, there are ominous islands

that are tainted with dark histories,

mysterious curses...

and unspeakable tragedies.

While their stories may vary,

these places all conjure a similar sense of dread.

Could it be that evil forces or even unholy entities

are what create these...

islands of the damned?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

This residential quarter in South Naples

dates back to ancient Greece and Rome.

2,000 years ago, this hillside district

was once a vacation destination for wealthy Roman nobles.

And today, it's just as prestigious.

It's home to some of the city's wealthiest residents

and its most opulent villas.

But among them is a desolate, abandoned mansion

that sits just off the coastline,

on a jagged outcropping called Gaiola Island.

Gaiola Island is unlike most areas.

It sticks out as a strange island,

right off the coast of Naples.

It's basically the size of a small estate.

Just a house and yard, really.

And it's just contained on these two outcroppings of rock.

You can see it right from the beach.

So you can get close to this,

but it's been abandoned for decades.

Located just a short 100-foot swim from shore,

Gaiola Island's a tempting location

for curious beachgoers to explore.

But don't be fooled.

According to local legend,

it's best to stay well away,

because many believe this long-abandoned island

has been damned

by a deadly curse.

Locals are terrified of this island.

Everyone who's owned this property,

whether they were on the island or not,

some type of tragedy occurred in their lives.

Whether it was losing a fortune or losing a family member

or going insane.

Whoever owned this island,

nothing but tragedy followed.

Gaiola Island's forbidding reputation began

in the late 19th century,

when a successful local businessman

decided to build there.

The first owner of the island was Luigi Negri.

He's the one that built the villa on the island

that is still there today but is abandoned.

He built it and then immediately went bankrupt.

It's not strange for a businessman to go bankrupt.

But in this case, it was a precursor

to a series of misfortunes that got worse and worse

over the course of the 20th century.

While Gaiola Island may or may not be responsible

for Luigi Negri's financial collapse,

others who dared to make the isolated property their home

would suffer far worse consequences.

Another owner of the island

is Hans Braun, a businessman.

As soon as he takes up residence on the island,

his luck turns.

His body's found wrapped in a rug.

He's died under mysterious circumstances.

Soon after that, his wife falls off the island and drowns.

It was at this point where people started thinking

there's something more going on here.

Something supernatural.

A string of tragedies would continue to unravel

on Gaiola Island.

German perfume dealer Otto Grunback

suffered a fatal heart attack

shortly after purchasing the property.

And madness and suicide put an end

to owner Maurice-Yves Sandoz,

a Swiss pharmaceutical industrialist.

Even Gaiola's most famous proprietor,

American oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty,

could not escape speculation

that the cursed island played a hand

in troubling events that surrounded his family.

Jean Paul Getty owned this island.

And of course, his fortunes are legendary,

but so are his misfortunes.

Jean Paul Getty's son commits suicide.

He has a younger son, at 12,

that contracts a fatal brain tumor.

And then, of course, there's the infamous case of his grandson,

John Paul Getty III.

John Paul Getty III was kidnapped by the Italian Mafia

and then, over the course of the negotiations for his freedom,

had his ear cut off.

Eventually, he was freed for a little over $2 million.

But he would go on to suffer the effects of that kidnapping

for the rest of his life until a string of addictions

caused him to become a quadriplegic.

Could Gaiola Island really have the power

to doom the lives of those who call it home?

And if there is an evil energy

imbued in the exclusive property,

just where did it come from?

While it's impossible to say for sure,

some attribute it to an old hermit called "the Wizard"

who was rumored to once reside there.

But others believe

the curse began more than 2,000 years ago,

in the first century BC,

when Gaiola Island was attached to the mainland

and part of a magnificent estate

that belonged to a cruel Roman politician

named Publius Vedius Pollio.

Publius Vedius Pollio was

a member of the cavalry and the Roman army.

And he adopted this area,

this gorgeous Posillipo area, for his own.

He had a 2,000-seat theater

and constructed an incredible villa

with gardens, fountains, sculptures,

and a spa complex.

Now, interestingly,

Pollio came from modest roots.

He was of slave stock himself.

And one would think this might make him

rather generously disposed to his own slaves.

But by all accounts, that was not the case.

He owned many slaves, and he treated them very poorly.

And in fact, whenever a slave displeased him,

the story goes that he fed them

to a pool of moray eels that he kept on the property.

Pollio was

a friend of Emperor Augustus,

which certainly helped his rise through the ranks.

Well, one day,

Augustus is visiting Pollio at one of his villas,

and a slave is pouring wine in these crystal goblets.

The slave spills the wine.

The goblet crashes to the ground and breaks.

Pollio grabs the slave

and goes to drag him to this pit of moray eels,

where he's to be devoured alive.

The slave scrambles away,

throws himself at the feet of the emperor

and is begging. And Pollio says,

"You can't beg for your life from the emperor. You're mine."

Augustus does not like this.

He breaks every crystal goblet in the entire house.

Soon after that,

Augustus took the villa and razed it to the ground.

And local legend has it that he cursed it.

And ever since then, there is a negative energy

that has certainly permeated the culture

and the minds of the people that lived there.

A century after Augustus destroyed Pollio's estate,

a massive earthquake leveled a large section of the property,

causing it to collapse into the sea,

forever separating Gaiola Island from the mainland.

Are the traumatic events experienced

by the former landowners of Gaiola Island

merely coincidence?

Or is the rocky outcropping actually cursed?

It's hard to say.

And with its history of epic misfortune,

it may be a very long time before someone is brave enough

to tempt fate and live there once again.

Once a place

is deemed cursed or...

has some aura of dread about it,

it's really hard to get rid of that.

Even if you move the people away

or you chase away the source of the rumors

or you tear down the buildings that were supposed to house

the tragedies that happened,

evil still remains.

About 500 miles south of Gaiola Island

is another, very different island of the damned,

an ancient place where some believe

giants once walked the earth,

ready to grab anyone

who ventured into their cursed underground lair.

Just south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea

is the island nation of Malta.

It's famous for its dazzling coastline,

stunning architecture,

and fascinating history.

But perhaps most remarkable are the massive prehistoric

stone structures that can be found all around the islands.

These Megalithic Temples of Malta are some

of the oldest freestanding structures on Earth,

and legend is...