It is located on the southern slope of the picturesque Demerzhdi Mountain. Unlike many Crimean mountain ranges, it consists not only of vapnyak, but also hard rocks. Vapnyak is blown away by the wind, but the rocks remain, creating amazing sculptures that look like people, animals and even unearthly creatures. They seem to change their appearance depending on the lighting, and the wind sings ominous songs, sweeping between them.
There are two variants of the origin of the name of the valley. The leader of the nomads decided to set up a smithy on the mountain, he drove strong men from the villages to work in it. Since then, black smoke has been streaming along the slopes of the mountain, and a flame burned above it. It destroyed gardens and vineyards, dried up rivers and lakes. Famine and pestilence began in the villages. The villager Catherine came to the leader, begged not to destroy her people, to put out the fire in the smithy.
But he just laughed and kissed her. The girl pushed the villain away and he killed her by dropping a dagger into her throat. The mountain could not endure such atrocity, flames burst out of the top and huge boulders rolled, the slopes trembled and fog enveloped everything. When he dispersed, people saw many statues that looked like running people. The largest pillar, 25 m high, resembled a leader and was named "The Giant". Nearby was a boulder that looked like a woman's head, it was named "Catherine's Head".
The second version says that tourist groups staying overnight in the valley were visited by various visions, and panic was seized by the howling of the wind.
Scientists believe that the Valley of Ghosts is a typical anomalous zone, and the hallucinations of tourists are caused by plants - endemics that grow only here. The valley has become a place of pilgrimage for people with extrasensory abilities, who specially come to gain energy from stone sculptures.