Gaiola Island is located offshore in the Gulf of Naples in southwestern Italy. It looks like one of the many beautiful islands that dot the clear blue water of the Tyrrhenian Sea. This bright and sunny island has a dark history that has given it a ‘cursed’ reputation. As per urban lore, whoever owns the island ends up facing misfortune. The first known owner of the island was Luigi Negri who bought the island in the late 1800s. He built a villa on the island which still stands there. Soon after buying the island, Negri lost all his fortune.

In 1911, Gaspare Albenga, a ship captain, showed interest in buying the island but he died when his ship crashed. The island’s next rich owner was a Swiss man Hans Braun, who bought the island in the 1920s. Soon he was found dead and wrapped in a rug. Later his wife died by drowning in the sea. The island’s next owner, Otto Grunback, died of a heart attack when he was staying in the island’s villa.