What is a leper colony?

Answer by  jan13 (25)

Lepers are people who are ill with leprosy. This disease makes their flesh rot away from their bones; as a result lepers smell bad and are extremely unpleasant to look at. Leper colonies are places where these poor folks live together away from the eyes & judgments of others.

Answer by  Tessninky (224)

These were used mainly in the Middle Ages and they were islands usually run by monastic societies in which people infected with leprosy would be taken to live and die on. People feared leprosy because they did not understand the condition in the Middle Ages and didn't know how to treat it. So they took the infected to an island.

Answer by  nuttree (1596)

It is an isolated place that houses people with Hansen's disease, or Leprosy. This terrible, disfiguring disease, was mistakenly thought of as contagious; sufferers were barred from general society.