Go, or I will swallow you up and no one tried since. Houska Castle looks just like any other ordinary medieval castle but upon closer inspection, one can notice a few strange features. [8][unreliable source?] The infamous SS chief Heinrich Himmler, was so obsessed with pagan lore and occult teachings, that he made it his personal objective to collect as many books and manuscripts about witchcraft, the occult and the supernatural as he could. If you search for bottomless hole on the internet, youll find this crazy story incorporating the usual tropes with modern supernatural ideas. Houska Castle is said to be the gateway to Hell. Himmler was adamant that by harnessing the powers of the occult, the Nazis could achieve world domination. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Visitors have also reported seeing a line of ghostly people, all chained together each one with an injury or disability walking towards the castle. Located roughly 50 miles north of Prague, Houska Castle is an imposing 13th century gothic Mansion that looms over the Czech countryside. Blue holes in a more geological context are karst features documented for over 100 years. In Sompting, local lore of the 1940s described a very dangerous bottomless hole that swallowed a cart horse and all. Around the 1630s, the castle was believed to be occupied by a Swedish black magic practitioner named Oronto. The Prague Daily Monitor reports that many visitors are baffled by its counterintuitive architecture and unnerved by the fresco paintings in the chapel. This makes it clear that Houska Castle was not built as a protective sanctuary or a residence. The rumor was that the natives called the seemingly shallow pond the black swamp and considered it the home of evil spirits. In Lyminster, people tried to find the bottom of the local hole by tying the six bell ropes of the church together. The castle was built in an area of forests, swamps and mountains with no external fortifications, no source of water except for a cistern to collect rainwater,[5][dubious discuss] no kitchen, far from any trade routes, and with no occupants at its time of completion. While he was based there, its said that he was well aware of the stories of the paranormal phenomena that had been reported at the castle. Glass pains were installed during the castles construction, but walls were also built behind them, preventing them from being used. No modern discussion of weird bottomless holes would be complete without at least mentioning it. The location was never specified, and it was never found. (13.06.2020) . Fearful of turning into these demonic entities themselves, villagers avoided the rocky entrance. The Bottomless Lakes has resident monsters described as giant turtles. Legend has it that half-animal, half-human creatures used to crawl out from the pit at night, and those black-winged creatures used to attack locals and drag them down into the hole. houska castle pit shocking incidents and folklore at czech republic the gate of hell , Pete Collman and Travis Dow's Bohemican Podcast, covering Castle Houska. According to local legend, below the stone floors . Investigators who have tried to find a bottom have not been able to find one in the well. The castle today is littered with unsettling decorations. These claims date back to the castle's construction in the late 1200s, describing unearthly horrors emerging from the pit and wreaking havoc on the local population. Houska castle is one of the best-preserved castles of the early Gothic era in Czechia, however partially rebuilt in the renaissance era. Petr David, Vladimr Soukup, Lubomr ech, Learn how and when to remove this template message, | Haunted Castles Around the World |October 10, 2017, |This castle is believed to be the entrance to the underworld |TravelBook.de |Annette Schimanski |April 24, 2020, |Discover the dark history of Houska Castle |CzechTourism 2017, |The Most Haunted Places in Prague, Czech Republic |Prague Visitor Staff | September 24, 2019, |The Scariest Places in the World |Bob Curran, |Houska Castle Blatce, Czechia |Folklore says this medieval fortress was plopped atop a portal to hell to trap the demons below |29 January 2018, |This castle is believed to be the entrance to the underworld |Travel Book |Annette Schimanski |April 24, 2020, See the castle in Czech Republic, believed to be the gateway to hell with bottomless pit, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Houska_Castle&oldid=1142138997, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing translation from Czech Wikipedia, Articles lacking reliable references from February 2023, Articles with disputed statements from February 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Not only will you have most certainly encountered groundwater somewhere along the way, but the geothermal gradient would make the temperature at this depth very hot and melt the line. For more on that location, see a previous feature here. Required fields are marked *. So, holes that deep will often collect water. The holes may also release a large volume of methane gas suddenly. In what is now the Czech Republic there is a castle known as the Houska Castle. The castle was founded by Czech king Pemysl Otakar I in the 13th century. In the midst of the Thirty Years War (1618 1648), the control of Houska Castle was taken over by the Swedish Army. Falling into Mels Hole.Skeptoid Podcast. Gases were once emitted from this vent during past eruptions. Now this carving of what looks like a plaited loaf of bread on a pedestal in the castle makes sense, but I don't know if it's original. He had been so disturbed by what he experienced in the darkness that he was sent to an insane asylum where he died two days later from unknown causes. Mammoth cave in Kentucky has a bottomless pit that is 105 feet deep. According to local legend, it was meant to trap demons. Allegedly, SS leader Heinrich Himmler feared his extensive library of occultist manuscripts would be destroyed as the war increasingly threatened Berlin. They tried to block it with stones, but the abyss allegedly gobbled up anything they dropped into it, refusing to be filled. Treachery of the Long Knives Houska Castle did trade hands between various nobles and aristocrats in later centuries, however. Archaeological evidence shows Celtic tribes inhabited the land far before the Middle Ages, and Slavic tribes migrated to the region in the sixth century. No one had managed to sound the bottom because it was part of an extensive cave system that continued under the mountain. After about 20 hrs of falling, youd reach the center of the earth, but then get stuck in the core trapped in the gravitational center. Of geological interest, the area here is limestone so we could speculate that a natural karst feature was the inspiration for the hole. Tourists may visit the chapel with fading frescoes and murals "including pictures of demon-like figures and animal-like beings". If you're looking for a one way trip to the underworld, there's no shortage of alleged "gateways to hell" hidden all over the world. The victims would just vanish to never return again. how is microsoft excel used in medical billing and coding; midsomer murders stone circle location; crittenden county warrants; leyendas hebreas cortas Heres where is Houska Castle located on Google Maps: Your email address will not be published. Houska Castle welcomes thousands of visitors every year to showcase . Their geological origins are diverse. The black magic practitioner allegedly toiled nightly in his laboratory in an effort to create an elixir for eternal life. Macha described a vision in which his soul descended into the pit, and was then transported to a type of hellish mechanized future Prague 2006. Exaggerated legends say that one who made it out was aged 30 years after only being in the hole for a short while. As detailed below, the deepest hole ever made by humans was only half this depth. She noted a correspondent told her of Welsh legends where the lakes had their own personalities and resented being measured. Many of these ceremonies were thought to have taken place at Houska Castle. Hjek also recounted local folklore that described the emergence of a crack in the cliff. Possibly. The castle was originally constructed in the 13th century, between 1253 and 1278, under the reign of Ottokar II. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Excavations or exploration are strictly forbidden, under the pretense that bombs from World War II may still be hidden inside and might explode if tampered with. In Revelation 20, an angel throws Satan or the devil in the form of a serpent or dragon back into the pit and seals it. The views from atop the castle roof are spectacular. Then we'll return to the fascinating case of Doris Bither, who was the real woman behind the character of Carla Moran in the 1982 horror film The Entity . Some say it wasn't built to keep evil from entering but to prevent it from spilling out. The Legend of the Unfathomable Waters. http://visions.indstate.edu:8888/cdm/landingpage/collection/folklore. If bottomless represented the unknown, its a very small leap of thought to assume there were monsters in this abyss. Many people who have ventured into the castle have reported hearing scratching and screams from beneath the ground they walk on, especially as you get closer to where the pit lies. That is, people didnt travel so their yardstick for a big hole was that one in their vicinity. When we cant readily discern the depth, the hole begets additional legendary characteristics, including that of being bottomless. He said locals knew of the hole and would throw garbage in it. In Sompting, local lore of the 1940s described a very dangerous bottomless hole that swallowed a cart horse and all. He knew the claims were ridiculous and figured that the story might be based on an old gold mine shaft in a field northwest of Ellensburg. Mining created the Chuquicamata Copper Mine, in Chile at 2,790, the Kimberley Mine in South Africa at 700 and the Berkeley Pit, in Butte, Montana at 1700. Manage Settings There was a gruesome legend where a father killed his son and then also drowning himself. The castle was built as a fortification to shield the world from the forces of a demonic nature, but more specifically, its the chapel within the castle that covers the supposed gateway to Hell. It was reported that a beam of black (cant call it light) was seen emanating from the hole. After World War II, the castle was returned to its rightful owners, the descendants of koda's president Josef imonek. They acquired their name when local herdsmen could not discern the bottom via ropes. The castle is surrounded by the forests 30 miles north of Prague. The lakes of the Great Glen in Scotland are notable: Loch Ness has dark, peat-stained water as well. Standard admission is 135. Again, the lack of visibility in the lake is such that a person submerged 10 feet or more disappears from the view of the surface observer. With an undeniably eerie appearance, it's what's allegedly beneath it that's far more sinister - a bottomless pit that leads directly to hell. According to folklore, Houska Castle was constructed over a large hole in the ground which was known as The Gateway to Hell. The Houska Castle is located in the forests north of Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, which is bisected by the Vltava River. Indeed, to this day, visitors claim to hear screams and scratching noises from beneath the chapel floor. No one has seen one of these big craters form so its not clear if it happens explosively or gradually. Locals reported seeing black winged creatures coming up out of the pit and attacking people. He was said to have amassed a collection of over 13,000 pieces of material, many of which were stored at Houska Castle. Houska Castle, an early gothic, was built between 1253 and 1278, and although Atlas Obscura claims (no sources provided) the fortress was built as an administrative center for the king's estates, the folk legends surrounding the castle make for a chilling tale. The Youdig marshland of Yeun Elez in Brittany, France is loaded with legends and lore as a bottomless bog. I kinda doubt it. It had no source of water or fortification. Houska Castle wasn't near any water, wasn't strategically important, and didn't seem to have anyone living in it. It also appears to have no function of outside fortification. He began screaming in horror and begged to be pulled back up. Sorbian prince Slavibor. In the early 1900s, the bottom was not accessible for measurement so it was commonly said to be bottomless. pic.twitter.com/HToGtolrGH. Others will try a weighted line. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. It is believed that the castle was built to keep the evil in. When he told them the paranormal tales were nonsense but the real hole was a typical mine shaft, they ignored him. If those methods fail, then, seemingly by default, the opening is declared bottomless. and Moor, A.I. As a folklore motif, the unfathomable hole is ancient. There are a few reasons why bottomless holes or lakes cant exist. It might not be the largest or the most beautiful castle, and it does not have a large park, but it is a popular destination for many tourists and adventurers. The cirque lake, formed by glaciers, is a popular tourist location. Some say the Wehrmacht occupied this castle precisely to investigate whether the gateway to Hell was real, as feverish occultism had consumed its higher ranks. There are many names that describe this curious castle. The Houska Castle Bottomless Pit, the gate of the hell. Even though the lake is only at most 70 ft deep, this myth persists. After the war, the imonek family regained ownership of Houska Castle, and they still own it to this day. It is not far from Prague (cca 50 km) in the Central Bohemian region. We find many legends of bottomless lakes associated with a resident monster. Kansas has the infamous Stull Cemetery, Greece has the Cape Matapan Caves, and Indiana had the Demon House (until Ghost Adventures' Zak Bagans tore it down), and . And this castle was built in 1271, and the reason they built this castle in this location was to try to conceal a bottomless pit which many believed to be a gateway to hell or an entrance to the underworld. Houska Castle is an early Gothic castle, located 47 km north of Prague, the Czech Republic, close to the German border and surrounded by thick woodland crisscrossed with low peaks and rushing streams. Attempts to fill the hole failed. Located around 30 miles north of Prague, Houska Castle is well preserved, retaining much of its Gothic stylings, including an intact chapel. The famous well to hell hoax came with a soundtrack of voices of the damned. The only thing we do know is that there were the bodies of three Nazi soldiers buried on the grounds. This is suggestive of some evil entity or the lake itself as a living thing that takes sacrifices. According to folklore, Houska Castle was constructed over a large hole in the ground which was known as The Gateway to Hell. Houska Castle on Wikipedia. By 1700, Houska Castle fell into complete disrepair. [7], The pit in the lower levels of the castle is said to be a gateway to hell. Locals avoided the area near Houska Castle even when it lay completely abandoned. The first of these craters were discovered in July 2014. These internal defences point toward the courtyard. Villagers eventually tried to block the alleged "gateway to Hell" with stones, only to see the seemingly bottomless pit devour whatever they threw in refusing to be sealed. Marie Bonaparte noted the idea of unfathomable was applied to still waters, not the ocean or rivers. In 1639, a Swedish commander, black magician, and alchemist practiced there. Most Haunted Live visited the castle on March 26, 2010. There is no way you could measure such a deep hole in this way. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. The investigation at Houska Castle (which today is more of a castle mansion than a . According to the legends, the scratching of the winged creatures trying to claw their way to the surface can still be heard, phantoms have beenseen walking the empty halls of the castle and the Nazis specifically choseHouska Castle in order to harness the powers of hell for themselves. Houska Castle in World War II The legend of Bale Lake in Wales tells of the voice of the lake crying out Line cannot fathom me. Slavic tribes migrated to the area that is now Czechia as early as the sixth century C.E. He reigned from 1253 to 1278 and ordered the castle to be made as an administration centre for his royal estates. As such popular stories go, some people naively assume its real. June 4, 2021. To the famous castle from the middle of the 13th century, with the name: Houska. The danger is personified in a monster called the Lusca, a shark-headed creature with an octopus body who was said to live in the deep blue holes. Houska Castle, The Czech Fortress Used By Mad Scientists And Nazis The Eerie History Of Houska Castle, The Gothic Fortress Built To Seal A 'Gateway To Hell' By Cara Johnson Published April 7, 2022 Constructed near Prague in the 13th century, Houska Castle has housed mad scientists, Nazis, and perhaps even "demons." Waters said he used rolls of fishing line to measure it. It lies about 47km (29mi) north of Prague. Skinner, C.M. It is fabled that the hole was so deep that no one could see the bottom of it. The most well-known story stemming from the legends of Houska Castle is that of the convict. But it was also claimed to possibly be the location where the legendary King Arthur received the sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Houska Castle- located in the Czech Republic, bisected by the Vltava River is one such castle that has always lured lovers of secrets. Get notified of the best booming posts weekly. The Life and Travels of French Mesmerist Baron Jules Du Potet de Sennevoy, The Headless Earl of Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate York, The Science and Prophecies of Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, Couple Claims CCTV In Their Home Shows The Ghost of A Deceased Tenant, 1490: When a Meteorite Killed 10,000 People in the Chinese City of Ching-yang, Ancient Tomb Discovered Under Notre Dame Cathedral.