Its impossible to discuss bottomless pits without invoking the idea of gates to hell. Located in a rift valley, the average depth is over 2000 feet with the maximum depth measured at 5,387 feet. Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds, Submarine Canyons and Other Topographical Phenomena: A Catalog of Geological Anomalies. You will have to walk from the parking for about 10 minutes to the castle. In addition to its curious location, Houska Castle was built without stairs leading from its two upper floors to the courtyard. Your email address will not be published. Spirits and beasts from the underworld escaped to torment the locals. Thus, by constructing the Gothic building's defensive walls facing inward, they were able to keep the demons trapped in the lower level's thickest walls closest to the hole of the castle. Bottomless Lakes State Park in New Mexico is over 1600 acres of land with eight lakes available to visitors. It was reported that a beam of black (cant call it light) was seen emanating from the hole. The prisoner's traumatizing descent allegedly saw him driven into an insane asylum, where died within days. This is likely not true as brown trout and char live in the lake. Oronto made Houska Castle his primary base for some time. 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. In Sompting, local lore of the 1940s described a very dangerous bottomless hole that swallowed a cart horse and all. (1896). There are numerous mysteries associated with Houska Castle such as why was it built in a place with no strategic importance and without any source of water - away from all trade paths? The first of the prisoners who agreed to the terms in order to escape a more severe punishment, was lowered down into the endless pit. And, I try to connect them to their geological foundations. In 1897, it was purchased by Princess Hohenlohe and in 1924, the times of the First Republic, bought by the President of koda, Josef imonek. The rumor was that the natives called the seemingly shallow pond the black swamp and considered it the home of evil spirits. It was built atop a cliff in Prague's countryside, mysteriously isolated from all trade routes. The Youdig also was home to ghost lights that may be a result of an unknown reaction of swamp gases, though locals thought of them as spirits or fairies that lured people to their doom. from Prague to Houska..you will get the route..basically leave Prague on D8 up to Nova Ves, turn off to Melnik and continue on 273, 259 to Houska.70 kilometres, an hour and a bit. Houska Castle is an early Gothic castle in the municipality of Blatce in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. The seemingly bottomless hole swallows all the seawater that flows in, appearing to drain the ocean! ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The castle was not built as a residence or as a protective sanctuary, but was instead built because the hole was thought to be a gateway to hell. Quicksand is also an occasional hazard here. [6][4], During World War II, the Wehrmacht occupied the castle until 1945. Mammoth cave in Kentucky has a bottomless pit that is 105 feet deep. 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. Though the building has a long history, the land on which it stands and the legends suggesting it covers a portal to hell are even older. Secondly, the castle has no fortifications, no water source, no kitchen, and, for years after it was constructed, no occupants. Harrington, E.R. When the hole gets blocked it may temporarily hold water until the plug comes loose and the hole drains. It lies about 47 km (29 mi) north of Prague. Naturally, locals would be concerned about the depth of an open hole or pool that they might fall into. In The Mabinogion, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest [1877] it was said that fish in the lake are deformed and odd and that birds do not visit it. William Corliss, a collector of anomalies wrote that the accounts of such pits smack of sensationalism and must be taken with several grains of salt. First, a less formal connotation is used to describe a deep pond that seems out of place in the wildlands of southern New Jersey. Get notified of the best booming posts weekly. For more on that location, see a previous feature here. Photo: ladabar / flickr / CC-BY-NC 2.0. Besides this, it is thought to be one of the most haunted sites on Earth. 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. Divers enjoy exploring the blue holes but, as with any cave system, underwater caving can be treacherous. Some have water. The Czechs do have quite a black sense of humor. When the castle was built, the crack in the limestone was covered with thick stone plates and the castle's chapel was constructed on top of it in order to seal the hole to Hell. In 1990, Rich Buhler, a radio host for Christianity Today, tracked the story back to the propaganda article that was based on a made-up story. Fearful of turning into these demonic entities themselves, villagers avoided the rocky entrance. Vouliagmeni is a lake in Greece that was said to suck people in via a whirlpool, or they could be nabbed by the evil fairy folk living at the bottom. These features are called cenotes and are not uncommon. A local paranormal group approached Jack for more information. This is entirely unsubstantiated, and the bay is not bottomless but has a strong current that may have prevented accurate line measurements. The most famous blue hole of New Jersey is in Winslow, one of many pools that appear in the sandy Pine Barrens coastal plains. Located north of Prague, the castle sits on a forested hill, perched atop a limestone cliff, and is fabled to be built upon the gateway to Hell. A depth of 745 feet is seriously impressive. Legend has it that the castle, dating back to the 13th century, was built over the Gates of Hell and meant to keep evil spirits from escaping into the world. Situated on a clifftop and surrounded by dark legends and unsettling accounts, the Houska castle is one of the most feared castles in the world. 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. It is not far from Prague (cca 50 km) in the Central Bohemian region. It was as if the purpose of the castle wasn't to keep invaders out but rather to keep something trapped within. Blatce, Czech Republic Houska Castle (Ghost Hunters International) Most castles are defensive fortifications, meant to keep people out. Houska Castle is one of the best-preserved castles in the region and is 29 miles north of Prague. Houska Castle is thought to be one of the most haunted locations in the world. Ottokar II of Bohemia, Czech king and warrior, known as the Iron and Golden King. The Demonic Abysse of Houska Castle 2016. When he told them the paranormal tales were nonsense but the real hole was a typical mine shaft, they ignored him. His hair had turned white his skin now wrinkled. Join. That is usually more fiction than reality. Although not one of the largest or the most beautiful castles in the Czech Republic, with no huge parks nor the oldest chapels, Houska Castle has become a favourite destination for many adventurers and travellers alike. The castle has been open to the public since 1999. Also, Mel Waters was a made-up name. The ocean, while clearly deeper, at least moved, ebbed, and flowed. The castle's chapel was dedicated to Archangel Michael. 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. Its only about 20 feet deep, the water is recirculated. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of openings and water bodies were said at one time or another to be bottomless. Many of the world's so-called gateways to hell amount to nothing more than a creepy setting with a really spooky urban legend attached, but then there's Houska Castle, a 762-year-old gothic castle that was built to seal shut what locals believe is the real-life entrance to the underworld. Thus, people assume it has no bottom at all. Hydrogen sulfide gas in the water is toxic and can cause dizziness and nausea, disorienting divers. The dark hole is universally scary. Houska Castle is generally known as the most haunted castle in all of Bohemia. Some caves or shafts are rumored to drop off into a huge cavern. Lake Monster Traditions: A Cross-Cultural Analysis. There was even a claim of metals changing form in the hole. Michel Meurger wrote about the tradition of lake monsters in Europe and North America. The Spruce Hole in New Hampshire is an ice age bog now recognized as unique by the National Park Service as a Natural Landmark. The Legend of the Unfathomable Waters. The Swedish Commander at the time, Oronto, was known to be a cruel man, who gave his men specific orders to plunder everything they could, as well as giving them free reigns to practice rape as sport. The area in which the castle was built isnt all that strategic. Lake birds may not be common because of the high cliffs surrounding the water making the lake feel very enclosed and isolated. Houska Castle in World War II [6] Animal-human hybrids were reported to have crawled out of it, and dark-winged, otherworldly creatures flew in its vicinity. 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. Its a dangerous feature. (13.06.2020) . Houska Castle, which was built in the early gothic style, is the best-preserved castle of the early 13th century in Bohemia and the rule of the Golden and Iron King Pemysl Otakar II. Houska castle is one of the best-preserved castles of the early Gothic era in Czechia, however partially rebuilt in the renaissance era. Locals thought the experiments were resulting in the strange noises and lights that could be frequently seen and heard around the Houska pit. 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. 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. Himmler was adamant that by harnessing the powers of the occult, the Nazis could achieve world domination. 108/5 1 . . . 70160. The walls of the chapel are covered with some of the . So why was this random fortress built? The chapel in the castle was built over the bottomless well or so the locals claim and it is here that the gateway to hell is said to be located. No luck. 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. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Two qualities of a lake indicated the almost certain presence of a legendary monster first, dark water, and secondly, it was deemed unfathomable. 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. 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. So why was this random fortress built? It was said he toiled night and day to discover an elixir for eternal life. Houska Castle. Madonna pond was said to be haunted by the coach and horse that fell in, never to be retrieved. According to Bohemian chronicler Vclav Hjek, the first known structure near Houska Castle was a small wooden fort. [1] It is one of the best preserved castles of the period. The Bohemian noble families of Berka z Dub. While Nazi Germany took countless castles and plundered the nations it invaded during the war, the appeal of Houska Castle remains debatable. He succeeded in measuring the depth himself at 102 feet. Hohek's Castle was built between 1253 and 1278. It represents something dark, spooky, and unnatural. Objects thrown into the hole arent recovered. This melting of permafrost forms whats called thermokarst. Storytellers supposed that the loch bottom had hidden caverns that connected to the ocean to the northeast thus providing a passage for one of the worlds most famous lake monsters. Centuries-old legends may be able to answer that question. Houska Castle wasn't near any water, wasn't strategically important, and didn't seem to have anyone living in it. Houska Castle, Czech Republic By Deb Daniel Jansonsin Ghosts and Hauntings, Haunted Locations Approximately 47km from Prague, sits a large and menacing structure called the Houska Castle. The castle is perched on a rock and encircled by mountains, forests, and wetlands. 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. But stagnant waters made us uneasy with their silence. 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. The castle was supposedly constructed in the middle 13th century to surround and cover the hole to hell that had spontaneously formed. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 18:46. Prisoners were lowered into the crevasse to see what was down there and were promised release if they exited safely. Houska Castle, located in Czech Republic, is a castle that was built over a hole so deep, that nobody could see the bottom. Houska Castle LOCATION: CZECH REPUBLIC Residing in the northern region of Bohemia, Houska Castle seems to be something out of a horror story. Haunted? The locals ignored the finding. One of the most prominent legends surrounding Houska Castle may provide the answer. Houska Castle was likely built on the orders of Ottokar II of Bohemia who wanted it to serve as an administrative building where other royal properties could be managed from. To fall into the pit is symbolic of the descent into hell and damnation. It was renovated in the 1580s, fell into disrepair by the 1700s, and was fully restored in 1823. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}502928N 143726E / 50.491N 14.624E / 50.491; 14.624. If you search for bottomless hole on the internet, youll find this crazy story incorporating the usual tropes with modern supernatural ideas. A single survivor reports that the black clad men have lead prisoners back to Houska Castle where they are being used as slaves, helping the strange men assemble towers of steel. When the construction of the castle began, it is said that all the villages prisoners who had been sentenced for gallows were offered pardons if they agreed to be lowered by rope into the bottomless pit and then to tell them what they saw. Adding to the evil in this old fortress, the Second World War saw the invading Nazis set up base in Houska Castles upon hearing the stories of it. It lacked defenses, most of which were built facing inward, and didn't even have stairs. Priests were said to send the demons from exorcisms into black dogs which were subsequently drowned in the bog. Due to groundwater extraction, these spring-fed pools may eventually shrink or dry up. Upon completion, he offered prisoners facing the gallows a full pardon if they entered the endless abyss and reported on what they saw. GHI investigates the Czech Republic's Castle Houska, a structure supposedly built to keep something in. Even Thoreaus famous Walden Pond was rumored to be bottomless. Bonaparte, M. (1946). It had a constructed stone wall around it. Himmler has been accredited as the initial founder of Esoteric Hitlerism, and its said that many high ranking Nazi officials, including Hitler himself, would attend secret ceremonies to try and harness supernatural power. It was built in the early part of the 13 th century, believed to be on the order of Ottokar II of Bohemia. It wasn't near any water, wasn't strategically important, and didn't seem to have anyone living in it. In this special Halloween season bonus episode, Ryan brings us just outside the North of Prague in the Czech Republic, to a 13th century castle with an ominous and extremely dark history. Little of the above information has much credibility and may all be just tall tales. A knucker hole in Burgesss Field, Binstead, Sussex, England was once pumped dry. In the midst of the Thirty Years War (1618 1648), the control of Houska Castle was taken over by the Swedish Army. We find many legends of bottomless lakes associated with a resident monster. The investigation at Houska Castle (which today is more of a castle mansion than a . Corliss, W. (1988). Groundwater can be found typically within 300 feet of the ground surface. [8][unreliable source?] Its impossible to discuss the bottomless pit or pool without its connection to hell. Houska Castle is located in the eastern part of the Kokon Forest, 47 km north of Prague and about 15 km from Bezdz, another ancient iconic castle of Central Europe. Locals were said to fear the endless abyss so much, they believed that they would be turned into the demonic creatures it spawned themselves. Waters said he used rolls of fishing line to measure it. The water conceals the ultimate depth. Their geological origins are diverse. Skeptoid Media, 2 Jun 2009. https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4156. It is fabled that the hole was so deep that no one could see the bottom of it. Houska Castle includes a Gothic chapel, a knight's drwaing room and a green chamber with late-Gothic paintings. Originally constructed in the 13th century during the reign of Ottokar II of Bohemia, the gothic castle is located about an hour north of Prague. 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. Its also pretty fun to imagine they are the gaping mouth of a subterranean creature or that the earth itself is a living thing that would eat us. There are a few reasons why bottomless holes or lakes cant exist. And the second type is a tropical karst feature initially identified in the Bahamas. According to legend, the castle which stands today was built over the Houska pit, in order to conceal the gateway to Hell. Its likely that attempting to feel the bottom fails because of either the upwelling water or the soft mud floor. MYSTERIESRUNSOLVED & MRU MEDIA, 2019-2022. They hoped the . A young and healthy man upon descending, his hair had turned white when he emerged with his face having aged decades in mere moments. 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. As the gothic structure today attracts thousands of visitors each year, its reputation has been tainted as one of the most haunted locations anywhere in the world. The holes may also release a large volume of methane gas suddenly. Pete Collman and Travis Dow's Bohemican Podcast, covering Castle Houska. According to local legend, below the stone floors . These screams may be coming from the prisoners of war that were held captive there, or the local villagers that were taken down into the Houska castle pit by the flying demonic entities. Again, we see the idea of a sucking current that could capture swimmers. 300-million-year-old wheel found in a mine in Ukraine! The location was never specified, and it was never found. [7], The pit in the lower levels of the castle is said to be a gateway to hell. Houska Castle. Houska Castle, also known as Hrad Houska, is located about one hour's drive north of Prague, Czech Republic. (1995). Glacial lakes can be particularly steep-sided and deep. The location of the castle is also peculiar. The legend of Bale Lake in Wales tells of the voice of the lake crying out Line cannot fathom me. If there were no air in the hole, however, things would go MUCH faster. Many have speculated that the castles chapel was specifically built directly over the mysterious bottomless pit in order to seal the evil in and keep the demonic creatures from entering our world. sacramento obituaries 2021; apartments on aldine mail route Houska 1, 471 62 Doksy, Czechia. In what is now the Czech Republic there is a castle known as the Houska Castle. According to folklore, Houska Castle was constructed over a large hole in the ground which was known as The Gateway to Hell. This Massive Castle Was Built In Order From Keeping Something From Getting Out The Most Haunted Place In The World The Czech Republic's Houska castle is said to be one of the strangest places on the planet. Bottomless? Houska Castle. When the construction of Houska Castle began, the intrigue of the locals got the better of them. In 1989, religious network Trinity Broadcasting (TBN) reported the story framed as Scientists Discover Hell. Workers on a drilling project in an unnamed place in Siberia sunk a hole 14.4 kilometers (8.9mi) deep before breaking through to a cavity from which they heard and recorded screaming voices and measured searing heat. Bale Lake was also rumored to hold a dragon. Houska Castle is said to be the gateway to Hell. The famous well to hell hoax came with a soundtrack of voices of the damned. 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. One night a nearby castle is annihilated by a massive iron monster armed with a terrible cannon. It is believed that the castle was built only to keep the evil in. Locals believed this was a gateway to Hell from which demonic beings emerged to feed on villagers and drag them back into the abyss, never to be seen again. Haleakala volcano in Hawaii has its own Bottomless Pit. Whatever is down there is unknown but undoubtedly unpleasant. 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. Hjek also recounted local folklore that described the emergence of a crack in the cliff. The bottomless pit is a well-known supernatural trope that frequently includes additional features such as having bizarre inhabitants, emitting strange sounds, or having supernatural properties. Ive tried using a well probe to test for depth and you start to lose that feeling of hitting bottom at about 300 feet. Indiana State University Folklore Archives. Continue with Recommended Cookies. Houska was built by Pemysl Otakar II as a remarkable royal castle, but was soon sold to a noble family, which continued to own in until after WWI. PORTAL TO HELL | Exploring Houska Castle, Czech Republic 286,245 views Dec 16, 2018 7.6K Dislike AmysCrypt 222K subscribers Houska Castle is said to be built on top of a Portal To Hell. (1957). The most famous legend was that of the King of the lake and his mermaid nymphs that lived there. Exaggerated legends say that one who made it out was aged 30 years after only being in the hole for a short while. Its not clear if the knuckers made the holes or just found them convenient to occupy. Gas release may also account for the tales of the swamp boiling and bubbling. A creepy mask displayed on the lower level rooms of Houska Castle. 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. . The location of the castle was chosen because of this. The Houska Castle, located north of Prague, is an enigmatic location with little-known history and innumerable legends.