In the northern part of India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, there is a place that rightfully deserves its ominous name - the Valley of the Seven Deaths. Few managed to get out of there alive. For almost a hundred years, people have bypassed it. Locals flatly refuse to take adventure seekers there. Visiting the valley is prohibited by local laws, and the coordinates of the lost place are kept secret.
DEAD MAN'S NOTE
The Valley of the Seven Deaths gained its fame in the middle of the 19th century. Somehow in the spring, one of the local residents, hunting in the mountains, was overtaken by bad weather. The sky instantly darkened with clouds, and it started pouring rain. The hunter barely managed to reach the cave in the mountainside.
When he lit a fire to keep himself warm, he discovered that he was not alone in the cave. In the far corner lay a human skeleton, dressed in an almost decayed military uniform. There was also an officer's bag. After rummaging through the dead man's belongings, the hunter found two flintlock pistols, some personal belongings and a calico-bound notebook.
Although the man was illiterate, along with his belongings he took a notebook with him, in the hope that someone would read to him what was written there. But, if some use was found for the contents of the bag, then the notebook turned out to be abandoned and forgotten. So for almost 50 years he lay in a hunter's hut. Fortunately, it was not used for kindling the hearth or for other household needs.
In the end, the notes somehow got to Graham Dickford, an adventurer and treasure hunter in India. Dickford, reading the pages faded with time, realized that he was holding the diary of the captain of the British colonial forces, Richard Butterfield.
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In pursuit of a legend
While Richard was serving as commandant of the local garrison, the locals told him a legend about the treasure of the Valley of the Seven Deaths - the lost treasures of the Rajah. Butterfield decided to get the treasure by all means. Together with ten soldiers, he went in search of the valley. For a long time and to no avail they wandered in the mountains. Random travelers who met along the way did not know anything about the right place. When hope was already lost, the detachment went to a deep narrow gorge, passing which, the travelers found themselves in the valley. They saw a perfectly round lake - apparently very deep, since the water in it seemed black and blue. On the other side were some ancient ruins. But there was no way to approach them, sheer cliffs surrounded the water from all sides.
The captain decided to make a raft and cross to the opposite bank on it. Fortunately, there were plenty of trees here. But it was getting dark, and they decided to postpone the work until the morning. Having settled down for a rest, the people had supper and fell asleep. Butterfield slept especially soundly that night. Upon awakening with the first rays of the sun, Richard found that his entire party had disappeared without a trace. At the same time, the fire was burning, water was boiling in the pot, all the things were in place, even the clothes of his comrades neatly folded on the shore. The feeling was that the soldiers decided to swim, and all at the same time.
Coming closer to the lake, Richard looked into it and jumped back in horror. A diary entry says that he saw in the depths a devil with burning eyes, whose gaze forced the captain to throw himself into the water. Only with an incredible effort of will, he forced himself to turn away and rush away from the lake. But the captain's health worsened, the skin burned and everything inside, dizzy, confused consciousness. He found a cave, took refuge in it, and died there.
TREASURE SEEKERS
When the captain's diary came to Graham Dickford, the search for the Rajah's treasures became the meaning of his life. He was able to determine the coordinates of the Valley of the Seven Deaths almost with accuracy and gathered a group of adventurers like him. In 1902, an expedition led by Dickford went into the mountains and disappeared.
A little time passed, and a man appeared in a mountain village with crazy eyes and torn clothes. It was Dickford who was immediately taken to the hospital. No one ever found out what happened in the valley. Unless, of course, you take into account the words of the madman, which he muttered in his delirium. He spoke of a large flying fire that had killed his friends, night ghosts killing with a gaze, obscure night shadows and flashes. The man's skin was completely covered with severe burns, almost all of his hair fell out on his head, and his beard was coming out in tufts. At the same time, he was in a fever and had a high temperature.
Three days later, the treasure hunter died in terrible agony.
NEW VICTIMS
Then the local authorities did not attach importance to the words of the crazy vagabond. But in 1906 it turned out that Dickford's expedition included a close relative of one of the influential officials. It was he who insisted that a group of scientists be sent to the Valley of the Seven Deaths to find out the reasons for the death of the group.
It was then that more intelligible information about the cursed place appeared. It turned out that a huge number of poisonous snakes live in the gorge in front of the valley, and some species live only there. In addition, the valley is replete with a mass of poisonous plants, and the water of the lake evaporates toxic gas, which, under certain conditions, poisons the surrounding air.
Once one of the members of the expedition lit a match to light a fire. Immediately after that, people heard a chilling roar, and flashes of fire appeared everywhere in the valley, which burned the skin, leaving terrible burns. Two participants, unable to bear the pain, rushed to the water, but, not reaching the shore, fell to the ground. The flames suddenly disappeared instantly. Having been able to move safely, people rushed to help the victims. But late, they have already died. The survivors said that when they found themselves on the shore of the lake, they felt dizzy, vomited and there was a deterioration in their general health.
The next expedition to the Valley of the Seven Deaths, which took place in 1911, suffered heavy losses. Five out of seven people died almost immediately, the rest, despite the horror that gripped them, continued to keep a diary, where they described in detail how everything happened. Five daredevils went down to the lake. On the shore, they suddenly began to circle around them at a breakneck speed, after which they collapsed dead to the ground. Two, seized with fear, rushed out of the valley. Where and how they died remained unclear.
Their diary was found by an expedition equipped to the Valley of the Seven Deaths in 1919. People had gas masks and special suits with them. In addition to the diary, the new group discovered seventeen human skeletons. The expedition included climbers who decided to get to the ancient ruins on the other side of the steep cliffs. But for this they had to take off their gas masks. Reaching the top of the cliff, they, erect to their full height, shouted with joy, waving their hands to those who stood below. And then suddenly at the same time, as if on command, they jumped into the lake, as if they had committed an act of suicide.
What was the cause of all these deaths is still unclear, but the authorities imposed a ban on such expeditions.
LAKE-FUNNEL
Some researchers are inclined to believe that the lake was formed in a crater from the explosion of a nuclear bomb dropped during the war between ancient civilizations, 25 thousand years ago. This version is confirmed by the legend about the Valley of the Seven Deaths. It says that these places were once the domain of a rich and powerful rajah. His army, led by seven sons-heroes, did not know defeat. They were able to capture all the surrounding lands. But this was not enough for the victors, and they declared war on Shiva and his heavenly army. The angry Shiva sent a fireball from the sky to the city, which hit the ground with a terrible crash, scattering into hundreds of bright suns. In the place where the ball fell, a funnel was formed, into which the city fell, and with it all the untold treasures of the raja. Centuries later, the funnel was filled with water, and a mountain lake was formed. Such wars are repeatedly described in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata.
Scientists believe that the water of the lake emits a kind of gas that has not only nerve-paralytic and hallucinogenic properties, but also flammable.
Galina BELYSHEVA