It's not a secret for anyone that since ancient times people have endowed with some supernatural or healing properties not only objects, but also entire places that they called saints or sacred. Miracles of healing took place there, people had visions, hallucinations. Pilgrims have come to such places since ancient times.
However, on our ball, there are places with negative energy, which have become infamous. Basically, these were ravines, lowlands, caves, etc. Over time, other objects were added to them, due to their characteristics at the subconscious level, causing a feeling of danger and associations with the other world.
Some places were even considered by people to be the entrance to the other world or to the dark kingdom, but they still attracted crowds of the curious. Our today's selection is about such places.
Saint Patrick's Purgatory, Ireland. This is the name of a cave on a small island in the middle of Loch Derg in County Donegal.
Traditions said that Christ himself indicated to Saint Patrick the location of the gates of purgatory. The cave was considered sacred and promised atonement for sins for being in torment, but only a true believer could pass through it into the afterlife.
A medieval legend tells of the knight Owen, who dared to enter a cave in 1153 to take a heavy burden off his soul. He was greeted by fifteen monks in white robes and warned of the dangers of the dungeon.
When the knight confidently stepped forward, the ground opened under his feet and he fell into the scorching heat. Clawed demons dragged him amid the black puffs of smoke and heat, past sinners undergoing terrible torture. Owen realized that he was seeing hell and turned his prayers to the Lord …
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Flames immediately threw him onto a narrow bridge stretching over the burning abyss. The knight followed it and got to a flowering meadow, where he met several priests.
By broken paths, they took him to the mountain, from where the heavenly paradise was seen, shining like gold. The rays emanating from him touched Owen, and, enveloped in divine light, he experienced inexpressible bliss. And as soon as he thought about this feeling to last forever, he found himself at the exit of the cave. Owen realized that he had been in another world, without leaving his body shell.
According to the chronicles, the visions sent by the cave have always been associated with religious themes, so some fumes that cause hallucinations are excluded as such: what kind of fumes can be - with a narrowly focused theme?
Archaeologists and scientists are very interested in exploring one of the supposed entrances to purgatory, but the exact coordinates of the place have been lost, and the island has long been built up. Perhaps the cave is under the foundations of one of the buildings, or it was destroyed by time. Nevertheless, every year on the island you can meet pilgrims who come here to pray at the local church, which is believed to be built at the entrance to the cave.
Darvaza, Turkmenistan. This place like a crater is also called the "Gate of Hell" ("darvaza" in Turkmen means "gate"). But this is the name not of the crater itself, but of the village nearest to it.
And when she received it, no "Gates of Hell" were yet observed nearby. They appeared, like all the most terrible and beautiful in the world - thanks to human intervention. In the early 70s. XX century. geologists have discovered a promising gas field (in fact, they are not uncommon in Turkmenistan).
Drilling and mining began, but in the course of work the geologists stumbled upon a "surprise": an underground cave. An oil rig, equipment and transport fell into it, but, fortunately, there were no casualties. Natural gas, of course, began to flow from a hole in the ground. To prevent local residents from poisoning themselves with harmful compounds, it was decided to set fire to this gas in the hope that it would soon burn out and go out.
However, the crater has not yet died out, and is not even going to. The crater is 60 m wide and 20 m deep. An ominous bright flame sticks out its “fingers” day and night - but if it somehow does not touch it during the day, then in the dark the “gates of hell” manifest themselves in all their glory: the cavern looks like it came down in flesh and color from a medieval engraving.
Thousands of tourists come to look at the entrance to the underworld: their interest is fueled by the still unfulfilled decree of the new president of Turkmenistan on the need to fill the pit of fire.
Earlier, in 2004, the village of Darvaza was demolished by the order of Turkmenbashi. Maybe it's some kind of evil rock? One way or another, the "Gate of Hell" in Darvaz is deeply symbolic.
The most interesting thing is that, according to the locals, strange and mysterious things began to happen near the "gate" … Perhaps, by his intervention, a man called into life dormant evil forces?
Another gate is the Pluto Gate in Turkey. In 2013, archaeologists discovered on the territory of the ancient city of Hierapolis, near modern Pamukkale, the ruins of a place called "Pluto's Gate" or "Gateway to the Underworld."
Geographer Strabo, who lived in the 1st century. BC, wrote about them that “this place is filled with vapors, so dense and saturated that it is difficult to see the earth; any bird that flies there dies instantly. " Researchers suggest that the "portal to hell" was used for sacrifices.
Even in ancient times, pilgrimages were made to it. Pilgrims settled in the ancient temple, where they awaited visions and prophecies. There they were protected by toxic vapors that would kill any non-saint who tried to join them.
The inscription at the entrance to the cave refers to this legend. The deadly vapors are still there, carbon dioxide gases that can kill any living thing.
Nicaragua also has its own "Gates of Hell" - "Mouth of Hell": the Masaya volcano. It is located 20 km southeast of the city of Managua and originated more than two and a half thousand years ago.
Although outwardly it is not particularly different from other volcanoes, the Spanish conquistadors considered the volcano a place of evil and called it "Mouth of Hell" or "Hell's Throat." Moreover, the locals believed that an evil god lived in the crater, and in order to appease him, they periodically threw young girls to the bottom of the volcano.
They believed that such sacrifices would calm down the volcano and it would no longer erupt. (The most interesting thing is that it helped: the volcano was silent for hundreds of years, the eruption was only in 2008)
The conquistadors, believing in evil spirits and hell, called a priest, and with his blessing they erected a cross on one of the slopes, to which they paved the way. They believed that now no evil spirits would come out of the volcano's mouth.
Today the Masaya volcano is one of the tourist attractions in Nicaragua. This is almost the only volcano in the world, besides, it is also active, to the crater of which you can drive up by car. The bottom of the crater is always caustic gases, from which a sore throat makes you want to cough. Those who are lucky will be able to see a fiery hole at the bottom, which is framed by multi-colored soil. But the volcano does not open often.
In 2012, seismologists noticed some new activity of the volcano and therefore closed the observation deck near the cross, which is perfectly preserved. You can't go up there now. The recommended duration of stay near the crater is five minutes.
The sheer size of the crater gives you goosebumps and makes you think about the power of nature. Moreover, scientists quite officially call the Masaya volcano the center of paranormal phenomena. Luminous objects are not uncommon here, electronics fail, many start hallucinations.
Curiously, the volcano and the beliefs surrounding it gave rise to a talk by Monk Juan de Torquemada in which he cited the material existence of volcanoes as the reason why they could not be Hell or the entrance to it.
Sibyl's Cave. This is one of the most famous and most mysterious places in Italy. Located in the famous acropolis in Juma, the cave is a gallery of impressive dimensions: 131 m long and 5 m high.
In this place, according to ancient legend, lived the Kumskaya Sibyl, known as the majestic and terrible priestess of Apollo. According to legend, the girl asked God for as many years of life as the grains of sand could fit in her hand, but over time she became a victim of her longevity: the soothsayer asked to forget about eternal youth, so she gradually dried up and grew decrepit
The Sibyl's Cave has the appearance of a trapezoidal tunnel with six branches on the right side, it was often filled with volcanic gases that could explain the various visions of its visitors and ancient legends.
Some scholars believe that the cave of the Kumskaya Sibyl in ancient times was a military facility, and not a refuge and the location of the priestess. By the way, not far from it is Lake Avernus, which was also considered the entrance to hell among the Romans and Greeks.
Acheron River, Greece. According to ancient Greek mythology, Acheron is the river through which the carrier Charon carries souls from this world to the kingdom of Hades. This is what the ancient Greek myths say. And in Dante's Divine Comedy, the Acheron River encircles the first circle of Hell.
But this river exists not only in myths and other literary works, but also in the real world. The river flows in the Epirus region of Thesprotia, passing through the harsh, wild, rocky Kakozuli upland, the vice of a gloomy and narrow gorge 5 km long, the Epirus (or Kihira) plain.
After him, Acheron flows across the plain until it reaches the Ionian Sea. Perhaps it was the sight of the river, deep, wayward, chained in inaccessible gloomy gorges, that gave rise to legends that this is where the entrance to the underworld is.
However, as everyone has known for a long time, not a single myth was born out of nowhere. Greek and Roman mythology - how strange a combination of the material and the non-material that they make you take yourself seriously.
Mount Olympus, the home of the gods, is a real place, and why then can't the gate to hell be real?
Needless to say, tourists try not to swim here from one coast to another. Moreover, this mysterious place is still shrouded in modern legends. It is said, for example, that many curious people never returned from their trip to Acheron.
Gouska Castle, Czech Republic. This is a 13th century castle. While most construction projects have a logical explanation for their location, Gouska Castle is in a location that gives it no strategic value, no access to goods or resources, and not even a water source nearby.
The structure is oddly designed with little external defenses and many features that seem to be built to store something inside. Legend says that the castle was built over the entrance to Hell.
Locals witnessed strange flying creatures and long lines of tortured souls chained together and begging for mercy. Once the criminals were offered forgiveness in return for lowering them into the pit and finding out where it leads, but this project was never implemented.
Once the castle was built, stories of strange noises, screams, and the appearance of otherworldly monks continued. Gouska was occupied by the Nazis during World War II, who in their memoirs also noted the strange phenomena taking place in the castle.