Houska Castle - Jason Roberts Any fissures or small hole on the surface can look deceptively deep because a narrow space does not allow light to penetrate far, so it looks scary. The black magic practitioner allegedly toiled nightly in his laboratory in an effort to create an elixir for eternal life. And the second type is a tropical karst feature initially identified in the Bahamas. The audiotape of the voices may have come from a horror movie. But even today, over seven hundred years after the pit has been sealed, visitors still claim to hear the scratching of creatures from the lower floors at night, trying to claw their way to the surface. To coincide with the varied nationalities that once held the castle voices and screams in different languages are often heard throughout the castle at night. Upon completion, he offered prisoners facing the gallows a full pardon if they entered the endless abyss and reported on what they saw. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. houska castle pit explorationdr phil what happened to colin. Mylroie, J.E., Carew, J.L. 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. The holes may also release a large volume of methane gas suddenly. 300-million-year-old wheel found in a mine in Ukraine! In the 1930s, the Nazis conducted experiments in the castle of the occult variety. The Youdig marshland of Yeun Elez in Brittany, France is loaded with legends and lore as a bottomless bog. Prisoners were lowered into the crevasse to see what was down there and were promised release if they exited safely. While evidence is scant, some say that a Swedish mercenary and practitioner of black magic named Oronto inhabited Houska Castle in the 1600s. Get notified of the best best booming posts weekly. They acquired their name when local herdsmen could not discern the bottom via ropes. This folklore was also the basis for the Doctor Who graphic novel Herald of Madness (2019), which is set at Houska Castle and was first published in Doctor Who Magazine 535539. Nestled away deep in the Czech countryside, Houska Castle was built near the top of a cliff around one hour from the city of Prague. An oil well in Qatar achieved a longer borehole length at 40,320 feet (but did not exceed the Kola reach in depth below sea level) in 2008. They tried to block it with stones, but the abyss allegedly gobbled up anything they dropped into it, refusing to be filled. The Gateway to Hell: The Terrifying Stories and History of Houska Castle This wooden structure was mentioned by Vaclav Hajek in his Czech Chronicle which was published in 1541. The Houska Castle Bottomless Pit, the gate of the hell Formed during times when sea level lower, they were then flooded and may be isolated in inland areas or open to the existing marine environment. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Dog rescued after disappearing down a sinkhole, the bottomless pit has also become a media horror trope, The lake dried up in 1866 and again in 1869 and 1976, Bottomless Lakes State Park in New Mexico, Knucker or knacker holes are bottomless ponds that do not freeze or dry up. Madonna pond was said to be haunted by the coach and horse that fell in, never to be retrieved. Houska Castle, Gateway to Hell - Pinterest Mike Dash suggests that the widespread legend of bottomless holes and lakes was an indicator of the limits of geographical mobility a century or more ago. Waters said he used rolls of fishing line to measure it. According to Castles Today, some believe they needed to secure the 13,000-manuscript library of SS leader Heinrich Himmler, who was obsessed with the occult and believed that its power would help the Nazis rule the world. When the construction of Houska Castle began, the intrigue of the locals got the better of them. Locals were terrified of the half-human hybrids that began to crawl out of the hole at night and tear livestock apart. If bottomless represented the unknown, its a very small leap of thought to assume there were monsters in this abyss. There was a gruesome legend where a father killed his son and then also drowning himself. how to walk a human a dogs guide. Marie Bonaparte noted the idea of unfathomable was applied to still waters, not the ocean or rivers. The deepest natural pits in the world include the Devils Sinkhole, Rocksprings, Texas at 400 and Deans Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas at 650. He had been so disturbed by whatever he had seen in the pit, that when he reached the surface, he was still screaming. Houska Castle - Haunted Salem As of 2020, it was owned by his descendants. There are countless tales of bottomless lakes, pools, and bogs. 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. Bottomless Lakes State Park in New Mexico is over 1600 acres of land with eight lakes available to visitors. If you dont die from the sheer bottomlessness of it all, you will encounter whatever nasty thing exists in the dark, forsaken void. Slavic tribes migrated to the area that is now Czechia as early as the sixth century C.E. Standard admission is 135. GHI investigates the Czech Republic's Castle Houska, a structure supposedly built to keep something in. TIL that Hauska Castle has been constructed over a large hole in the Dark Legends Of The Houska Castle - Prague Monitor The most famous blue hole of New Jersey is in Winslow, one of many pools that appear in the sandy Pine Barrens coastal plains. There is a story that famous undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau saw it and never told anyone additional details. Houska Castle. Started in 1970, the drilling of this hole in the Kola peninsula of Russia, near the Norway border was shut down in 1992. Thors well is a spectacular feature along the Oregon coal near Yachats. Does Houska Castle Have a Gateway to Hell? - Weird World 7 Real Places That Are Possible Gateways to Hell - Ranker When the first person was lowered, he began screaming after a few seconds, and when pulled back to the surface, he looked as if he had aged 30 years. The locals ignored the finding. More recently, mysterious holes are endowed with speculative suggestions that they are wormholes or entrances to another dimension. #OnThisDay 1973: Nationwide reported from a spooky Welsh lake. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. Local geologist Jack Powell had heard the radio show. Though the hole is often referred to as the gateway to Hell, its also referred to as the Houska Castle pit. Houska Castle - YouTube This list now takes us to a remote part of the Czech Republic's countryside and to an actual port to Hell. The most famous of all the legends is that the castle was built as a defense against a bottomless pit in the ground, known as the Gateway to Hell. Toggle navigation. 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. In the 18th century, it stopped serving as a noble residence and fell into a state of disrepair before being renovated in 1823. Eager to know what was below the surface of the Houska pit, local authorities agreed to pardon prisoners if they agreed to be lowered by rope into the gateway to hell. 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. We have a really hard time creating a super-deep hole because it needs to be reinforced and cooled. Archaeological evidence shows Celtic tribes inhabited the land far before the Middle Ages, and Slavic tribes migrated to the region in the sixth century. The castle walls are adorned with numerous fresco paintings that depict St. Christopher, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and a half-animal, half-human hybrid hunting a villager. The name comes from the old Saxon word nicor meaning water spirit or monster. Next page For a start, how would a bottomless hole hold water? The Nazis were said to have conducted experiments[7] into the occult. Tales are told of swimmers pulled to their doom by whirlpools or some other underwater force. Gases were once emitted from this vent during past eruptions. Thus, people assume it has no bottom at all. Some have water. Houska Castle Czechia Nazi Occult Experiments Gateway To Hell Due to groundwater extraction, these spring-fed pools may eventually shrink or dry up. The earth occasionally does open up dramatically such as when huge sinkholes collapse. Quicksand is also an occasional hazard here. Dash, M. (2020). They immediately started to pull him out. The location was never specified, and it was never found. 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. Hydrogen sulfide gas in the water is toxic and can cause dizziness and nausea, disorienting divers. Hjek also recounted local folklore that described the emergence of a crack in the cliff. Houska castle was built with no fortifications, no water, no kitchen, near no trade routes, and with no occupants at its time of completion. Its in the middle of nowhere. Despite Oronto's death, locals continued to avoid the area. Houska Castle, Episodes 1 & 2. Nazi experiments took place within its walls during World War II. He was placed in an asylum, but died two days later from an unknown cause. Today, visitors have claimed to be able to hear the scratches of these entities from beneath the floorboards of the chapel, as they desperately try and claw their way back into the world. The gateway to hell a bottomless pit under Houska Castle. He was said to have amassed a collection of over 13,000 pieces of material, many of which were stored at Houska Castle. The glacial cirque black lake bottoms out at about 190 feet (58 m). Locals were said to fear the endless abyss so much, they believed that they would be turned into the demonic creatures it spawned themselves. houska castle pit exploration - darmoweszablonycanva.pl Version B) The year is 1945 and the German war machine is crumbling. Divers enjoy exploring the blue holes but, as with any cave system, underwater caving can be treacherous. Eventually, equipment fails at the pressure and heat at about 12 kilometers. Dunning, B. The castle today is littered with unsettling decorations. Bonaparte, M. (1946). 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. Czech poet Karel Hynek Macha visited Houska Castle in 1836, and spent a night there during his walking tour of the region. Skinner, C.M. Blatce, Czech Republic Houska Castle (Ghost Hunters International) Most castles are defensive fortifications, meant to keep people out. The Frightening Legend of Houska Castle - Prague Morning Ive tried using a well probe to test for depth and you start to lose that feeling of hitting bottom at about 300 feet. Built in the latter half of the 13th century, it is thought to have been constructed on the orders of Ottakar II, known as the Iron and Golden King. MYSTERIESRUNSOLVED & MRU MEDIA, 2019-2022. Gas release may also account for the tales of the swamp boiling and bubbling. There are many names that describe this curious castle. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Eventually, the hole was characterized by its promoters as a top-secret government project involving an underground alien base. Possibly. Houska Castle is an early Gothic castle, 47 kilometres north of Prague, in Czechia. 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. Built in the 13th century by Bohemian settlers, the layout and history of Houska Castle suggest something sinister lurks there and legend holds that it sits atop a gateway to Hell. The castle was supposedly constructed in the middle 13th century to surround and cover the hole to hell that had spontaneously formed. 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.. The lake that has no bottom. The Demonic Abysse of Houska Castle 2016 - Fortean Herald Press But in this case it has nothing to do with food. A Lifers PTY LTD venture. Houska Castle has become one of the Czech Republics most famous landmarks. Corliss, W. (1988). The famous well to hell hoax came with a soundtrack of voices of the damned. It was built atop a cliff in Prague's countryside, mysteriously isolated from all trade routes. The Central Bohemian town of Mlnk. 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. Objects thrown into the hole arent recovered. 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. The strangest of these paintings depicts a creature with the upper body of a human woman and the lower body of a horse. There is mention in places that a natural crevasse existed at the site and people disappeared (Fallen in or dragged in? Oddly, the original construction omitted stairs from the courtyard to the upper floors, and most of the structure's defenses were built facing inwards. The castle is perched on a rock and encircled by mountains, forests, and wetlands. There were other clear hoax indicators for this story. Another person who claimed to know its location, a man who called himself by the assumed name Red Elk also never demonstrated any genuine evidence of the hole even though he said he had visited it for decades. [12], Houska Castle was featured on an episode of Ghost Hunters International which aired on SyFy on 22 July 2009. Wikimedia CommonsSkeletal remains of Nazis were purportedly found in the courtyard of Houska Castle. The water conceals the ultimate depth. The castle is built upon a fabled bottomless pit from which winged creatures and half-man-half-beasts allegedly exited . If those methods fail, then, seemingly by default, the opening is declared bottomless. Its only about 20 feet deep, the water is recirculated. Now before this castle was even built the people who lived . It was filled only to be restored to its original condition the next day. Oronto made Houska Castle his primary base for some time. [1] It is one of the best preserved castles of the period. Legends and science of bottomless holes - SPOOKY GEOLOGY 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. There are countless holes in the ground. The area in which the castle was built isnt all that strategic. It is not far from Prague (cca 50 km) in the Central Bohemian region. This melting of permafrost forms whats called thermokarst. 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 - The Little House of Horrors These internal defences point toward the courtyard. By 1700, Houska Castle fell into complete disrepair. Hrad Houska Nature Hiking Adventure An old Gothic style castle that is perfectly hidden in the deep forest and riddled with mystery, come if you dare! Address: Hrad Houska 1, 471 62 Doksy, Czechia Phone: +420 728 351 101 Website Public transport to the castle is limited, so one of the best ways to reach the castle is to hire a car for the day. No bottom can be seen but there is debris that chokes the hole about 65 feet down. The gateway to Hell is allegedly so deep that one can't see the bottom. He reigned from 1253 to 1278 and ordered the castle to be made as an administration centre for his royal estates. This has raised doubts as to the castles intended purpose, but if it wasnt built to be a fort or residence, why was it built at all? The Houska pit was attributed as the source of strange visitations. Some say he had his books secured at Houska Castle and that the Nazis conducted rituals and experiments while they were there to see if they could harness the power of Hell for themselves. 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. According to legend, the castle which stands today was built over the Houska pit, in order to conceal the gateway to Hell. Even today, some people remain imaginative enough to think that they found some secret military project, an ancient city or even evidence of a Hollow Earth. Houska Castle has been open to the public since 1999. The Demonic Abysse of Houska Castle 2016. The Prague Daily Monitor reports that many visitors are baffled by its counterintuitive architecture and unnerved by the fresco paintings in the chapel. 108/5 1 . . . 70160. Filling a sinkhole often doesnt work because the fill material collapses into a bigger opening. Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. The castle was built in 1253-1278 and was upgraded to a Renaissance style castle during the 1500's. 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. One of the most prominent legends surrounding Houska Castle may provide the answer. Its highly likely this was a glacial feature but without a detailed location, I cant tell. Besides this, it is thought to be one of the most haunted sites on Earth. Centuries-old legends may be able to answer that question. It is believed that this was ordered to be built by Otto Karll of Bohemia, who reigned as ruler from 1253-1278. Castle Tour 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. Renovations to modernize the castle after the Renaissance began in the 1580s, with various nobles and aristocrats inhabiting the fortress across the ages. A famous bottomless pit that was said to have released demons and monsters was situated beneath Houska Castle in the Czech Republic. 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. Before Houska Castle was built, archaeologists have also found evidence of a wooden structure existing there in the 9th century. 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. It was as if the purpose of the castle wasn't to keep invaders out but rather to keep something trapped within. Photo: ladabar / flickr / CC-BY-NC 2.0. Lake Ronkonkoma is Long Islands biggest and deepest lake. Two qualities of a lake indicated the almost certain presence of a legendary monster first, dark water, and secondly, it was deemed unfathomable. Glass pains were installed during the castles construction, but walls were also built behind them, preventing them from being used. In accordance with the castles paranormal origins, one highly significant feature of the castle is its defences. PDF in Czech: "The Mystery of Castle Houska" Bachelor Thesis by Dana Kolov. Learn more about your ad choices. HALLOWEEN SERIES | Houska Castle: The Gateway to Hell Its likely that attempting to feel the bottom fails because of either the upwelling water or the soft mud floor. King Ottokar II of Bohemia had the gothic structure built sometime between 1253 and 1278. Locals avoided the area near Houska Castle even when it lay completely abandoned. Was Houska Castle really built over a cave of sorts? - Quora 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. Within seconds, however, he cried to be raised up. 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. 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. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,50],'inquisitivewonder_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_1',162,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-inquisitivewonder_com-medrectangle-3-0'); If youre lucky enough to observe Houska Castle from the outside, youll notice some quite peculiar additions. They would logically attempt to plumb it with an available oar or long tree branch or sapling. 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. Houska Castle includes a Gothic chapel, a knight's drwaing room and a green chamber with late-Gothic paintings. Its not clear if the knuckers made the holes or just found them convenient to occupy. It is an early Gothic Castle that was built in 1253-1278 during the reign of Ottokar II of Bohemia. Again, we see the idea of a sucking current that could capture swimmers. Secondly, the castle doesnt appear to have been built to withstand battles. 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. Scholars have since discovered cracks in Hjek's histories, and any evidence of Oronto's existence is rather dubious. 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. Naturally, locals would be concerned about the depth of an open hole or pool that they might fall into. The Dozmary Pool in Bodmin Moor, Cornwall was said to have an outlet to the sea which was 10.5miles (16.9 km) away. Visit Houska Castle (Hrad Houska) in Doksy | Live the World So why was this random fortress built? 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. Knucker or knacker holes are bottomless ponds that do not freeze or dry up. It was reported that a beam of black (cant call it light) was seen emanating from the hole. The Spruce Hole in New Hampshire is an ice age bog now recognized as unique by the National Park Service as a Natural Landmark. In order to try and unlock the power from beneath the foundations, its said that he practiced numerous rituals, which included animal sacrifice. It is believed that the castle was built only to keep the evil in. Considering this claim that he measured a depth to 15 miles, we know Waters is bluffing. Firstly, most of the windows are not in use. (1896). The Houska Castle, located north of Prague, is an enigmatic location with little-known history and innumerable legends. Some people trying to explore the underwater caves have perished. It lacked defenses, most of which were built facing inward, and didn't even have stairs. COPYRIGHT UNSOLVED MYSTERIES & PARANORMAL ACTIVITIES, 2017-2018. Mel's Hole, Devil's Holes, and Other Paranormal Pits in the Earth Some water bodies eventually have dried up enough to lose the mystique. Said to conceal a portal to hell. A large gash in the limestone rock opened up a "bottomless pit" sometime in the 12th century. Houska castle is one of the best-preserved castles of the early Gothic era in Czechia, however partially rebuilt in the renaissance era. Houska Castle is one of the best-preserved castles in the region and is 29 miles north of Prague. 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 . Rather than having defences on the outside to try and stop people getting in, all of its defences were built on the inside, as though they were built to try and keep something in. 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. These legendary spots might hold healing waters or a dragon. A knucker hole in Burgesss Field, Binstead, Sussex, England was once pumped dry. Most Haunted Live visited the castle on March 26, 2010. Of geological interest, the area here is limestone so we could speculate that a natural karst feature was the inspiration for the hole. Is there any evidence of the houska castle "gateway to hell - Quora Its the freeway to hell at the center of the earth. As such popular stories go, some people naively assume its real. houska castle pit explorationbulgarian beauty standards. Visitors have also reported seeing a line of ghostly people, all chained together each one with an injury or disability walking towards the castle. Legends and Romances of Brittany.