Inside picturesque town so ‘haunted’ the locals refuse to speak its name after a series of tragedies
DEEP in the mountains of southern Italy, there lies a village so cursed that locals don’t speak its name.
The town of Colobraro has been the centre of horrifying stories about deformed births, car accidents and natural disasters.
It’s said police won’t punish visitors who speed through the town out of fear of being cursed.
The tales began in the early 1900s, when a cocky lawyer named Biagio Virgilio, who had never lost a case, made a big claim.
He reportedly said: “If what I say is false, may this chandelier come down.”
“These spooky things only happen to people who come here for the first time in their lives and who believe in the omen.”
The bad luck tale was exacerbated by rumours of “masciare”, or witches, who were believed to have magical abilites – and Colobraro became a “witches lair”.
Those who thought they were under a curse would ask the masciares to heal them.
The “witches” used a mix of salt, coal and water and would rub it on the affected person’s forehead before throwing the contaminated water on a crossroads.
Whoever then walked across the roads was believed to be struck down by the curse.
In years following, tales of babies born with two hearts and three lungs spread panic through the surrounding villages.
Even those in neighbouring villages call it “Cudd Pais”, which means “that village” – and quickly knock on wood to deflect bad luck.
Car wrecks, landslides and more have also struck the picturesque village – but the curse seems to only affect visitors.
As soon as he uttered the words, the chandelier above his head plummeted down and killed him – and Virgilio became synonymous with bad omens, casting a wicked hex upon the town.
Local Elena di Napoli told The Italian Tribune: “Of course, considering my ancestry I am immune to the jinx.
Other locals don’t believe in the hex, like Matteo, who told the BBC: “Don Biagio Virgilio? Of course, I do remember him! The misfortune? Folks made it up. He didn’t bring bad luck.”
Even the village’s name has an eerie background – it comes from the word “coluber”, which means snakes, and some locals say it’s a place “where evil presences live.”
Despite the terrifying tales, visitors are lured to the village each year where locals show off the town’s history.
Each August, Colobraro hosts a street show filled with witches, masciare, werewolves and more.
And any visitors who dare make the trip for the event are given a special amulet to protect them against the curse.
Another Italian island is thought to be the world’s most haunted, and is even nicknamed the “Island of Ghosts” due to its grizzly past.
People were dragged kicking and screaming to the island if they showed even the slightest symptoms of the Black Death, according to local tales.
The 18-acre plot was also used as a mass burial ground, where some 160,000 victims are thought to have been burned to stop the spread of the disease.
It has been said that even to this day, human ash from these cremations make up more than 50 per cent of the island’s soil.