Chichen Itza is an ancient Mayan city located on the Yucatan Peninsula. There is an occult reservoir from which even in the most terrible drought they did not take water and his name is the Well of Death. The reservoir is located near the Kukulkan Temple, the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, and is a funnel-shaped depression with a diameter of 60 meters.
Drought in Yucatan has always been a common occurrence, and rain moisture was quickly absorbed by porous limestone. The fate of the harvest was directly dependent on weather conditions. From the Spanish written chronicles, you can find out that girls, precious stones and gold were thrown into the well in order to appease the gods and get the long-awaited rain from them.
The first to mention the Well of Death in 1566 was the Spanish bishop Diego de Landa, who fought against the pagans on this peninsula. He wrote that the Maya have a strange custom - to throw a well of living people and believe that they do not die, although they disappear without a trace.
The bishop also wrote that the Maya, in addition to human sacrifices, threw gems and everything considered more or less valuable into the Death Well. The information about the innumerable riches interested many, but no one was able to get them - the great depth and many meters of silt became an insurmountable obstacle for treasure hunters.
Edward Thompson, who believed de Landa's notes, became so interested in the mysterious well that he secured an appointment as US consul in the Yucatan in 1855. This gave him the opportunity to combine business with pleasure: making money and studying the civilization of the ancient Maya.
Obsessed with the idea of studying the occult reservoir, Edward spent several decades and a lot of personal funds on this. By 1904, he had managed to bring in special equipment for digging the earth from the United States and install it over a depression.
The researcher hired local Indians to sort through the mud raised from the bottom, but apart from half-rotten branches, roots and stones, nothing could be found. When hope began to leave Edward, the Indians found two unusual balls in the mud. There was no longer any doubt - similar Maya resin balls were used for religious ceremonies.
Promotional video:
The next find was the skull of a young girl and several sandals. The bishop was right about the sacrifices and enthusiasm sped up the excavation process. The dredger lifted more and more remains of victims, vessels, wooden tools, obsidian knives, pieces of jade and much more. It was then that Edward Thompson realized that it was necessary to explore all the underwater depressions and crevices.
In 1909, a tireless explorer decides to go down to the bottom with two hired divers and undergoes a quick training. The Indians warned him that spirits and monsters might dwell at the bottom, but the newly minted diver was not superstitious. The Indians watched the first dive of three people with bated breath.
At the depths, we had to work in pitch darkness, taking objects by touch. As it turned out, the risks were worth rewards. Jade statuettes, golden figurines, rings and bells, weapons and household items of the ancient Mayans, gold relief discs depicting religious and military episodes from the life of the Indians were raised to the surface. The most important of the treasures is the golden mask and crown adorned with the Feathered Serpent.
On one of his dives, Edward forgot to open the air valves before climbing, and he was hit hard on the bottom of the pontoon. This blow caused the amateur archaeologist to nearly lose his hearing. The Indians whispered that this was the revenge of otherworldly forces for invading the kingdom of the dead and desecrating an ancient shrine.
Despite the tragedy, Thompson still made his dream come true - he revealed the ominous secret of the Death Well. The collection he collected was donated by the consul to the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.
In 1960, the exploration of the well was continued by the Mexican Davalos Hurtado. Thanks to more modern technologies for pumping water, many new artifacts and remains were raised from the bottom. As it turned out, not only girls were sacrificed, but also men, and even children. The finds made in Chichen Itza have allowed modern people to learn more about the customs of the ancient Maya, their lives and secret desires.
Now only tourists visit the well. Rumors say that if you throw a coin at him and make a wish, it will come true. But the real price for a performance can be much more than a piece of metal thrown at it …