The Houska Castle, located north of Prague, is an enigmatic location with little-known history and innumerable legends. In Lyminster, people tried to find the bottom of the local hole by tying the six bell ropes of the church together. 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 was founded by Czech king Pemysl Otakar I in the 13th century. The Nazis were famously fascinated with the occult. Earthquakes dont open giant cracks miles deep or with lava pools. As of 2020, it was owned by his descendants. Mysterious, magical, cursed or hellish. Years later upon its renovation, skeletons of several Nazi Officers were discovered. No modern discussion of weird bottomless holes would be complete without at least mentioning it. Several other tales are also associated with the pool including that it was the source of the winds on the moor. It is not far from Prague (cca 50 km) in the Central Bohemian region. The locals ignored the finding. Myths, tales, and mystery surround the 13th-century castle. The most well-known story stemming from the legends of Houska Castle is that of the convict. Hindi News Photo Gallery Bizarre News The Houska Castle Czech Republic mysterious Bottomless Pit is Gateway to Hell ' ', . They tried to fill the hole with stones, but to no avail because it seemed never-ending, a true bottomless pit. Within seconds, however, he cried to be raised up. Secondly, the castle has no fortifications, no water source, no kitchen, and, for years after it was constructed, no occupants. If you search for bottomless hole on the internet, youll find this crazy story incorporating the usual tropes with modern supernatural ideas. But in this case it has nothing to do with food. It was reported that a beam of black (cant call it light) was seen emanating from the hole. They would logically attempt to plumb it with an available oar or long tree branch or sapling. 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. Ottokar II built this castle as an administration center. The Scientific Monthly , 84: 6, 302-308. Houska Castle welcomes thousands of visitors every year to showcase . Even Thoreaus famous Walden Pond was rumored to be bottomless. Despite the discovery of the skeletons, it remains a mystery as to why, and when they were killed at the castle. 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. Located around 30 miles north of Prague, Houska Castle is well preserved, retaining much of its Gothic stylings, including an intact chapel. The name comes from the old Saxon word nicor meaning water spirit or monster. Sinkholes, Bottomless Lakes, and the Pecos River. Within no time, they heard a desperate cry. As such popular stories go, some people naively assume its real. The physics of such a hole is quite weird. It can be difficult to measure a true bottom if a cavern extends into a deeper karst system. 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. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 18:46. Its not clear if the knuckers made the holes or just found them convenient to occupy. If there were no air in the hole, however, things would go MUCH faster. The location has no strategic value and is not situated near any trading routes. Locals reported seeing black winged creatures coming up out of the pit and attacking people. There are a few reasons why bottomless holes or lakes cant exist. A truly bottomless hole would go through the earth and come out the other side an impossibility to create and a physical conundrum in terms of falling into it. Most castles have a some kind of valid purpose behind them and are built in the best interest of the people around them. So, holes that deep will often collect water. There are several examples of holes being associated with both the devil and the appearance of being bottomless. 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. In other ghostly tales, a headless black horse is said to gallop through the surrounding area. The earth occasionally does open up dramatically such as when huge sinkholes collapse. Houska Castle has become one of the Czech Republics most famous landmarks. As the first gothic-style castle known to exist here, Hrad Houska was constructed between 1270-1280 during the reign of King Otakar II. More recently, mysterious holes are endowed with speculative suggestions that they are wormholes or entrances to another dimension. 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. They are used as a handy disposal method, a perfect death trap, and sometimes, for the villains demise in a dramatic last scene. It was originally constructed in the 13th century, between 1253 and 1278, during the reign of Ottokar II of Bohemia. Its a dangerous feature. 300-million-year-old wheel found in a mine in Ukraine! According to legend, the castle which stands today was built over the Houska pit, in order to conceal the gateway to Hell. Next page Madonna pond was said to be haunted by the coach and horse that fell in, never to be retrieved. Manage Settings According to Bohemian chronicler Vclav Hjek, the first known structure near Houska Castle was a small wooden fort. It would only be fully restored more than a century later in 1823. Houska Castle is thought to be one of the most haunted locations in the world. Indeed, to this day, visitors claim to hear screams and scratching noises from beneath the chapel floor. Before Houska Castle was built, archaeologists have also found evidence of a wooden structure existing there in the 9th century. Bale Lake was also rumored to hold a dragon. 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. 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. [1] It is one of the best preserved castles of the period. There is a story that famous undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau saw it and never told anyone additional details. 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. Started in 1970, the drilling of this hole in the Kola peninsula of Russia, near the Norway border was shut down in 1992. Houska Castle did trade hands between various nobles and aristocrats in later centuries, however. 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. After World War II, the castle was returned to its rightful owners, the descendants of koda's president Josef imonek. According to local legend, below the stone floors . The rescuing hug the strange case of twins Brielle and Kyrie Jackson. Scholars have since discovered cracks in Hjek's histories, and any evidence of Oronto's existence is rather dubious. Blue holes in a more geological context are karst features documented for over 100 years. When the prisoner, who was a young man, was pulled back up to the surface he looked as if he had aged decades in the few seconds he was in the pit. Lake Ronkonkoma is Long Islands biggest and deepest lake. Priests were said to send the demons from exorcisms into black dogs which were subsequently drowned in the bog. 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. Get notified of the best booming posts weekly. Houska Castle. Upon completion, he offered prisoners facing the gallows a full pardon if they entered the endless abyss and reported on what they saw. The Nazis were said to have conducted experiments[7] into the occult. He recognized the rumor as a folklore motif common in New England. The president of koda Auto would have to abandon it during World War II, however, when the Nazis invaded and took control of the fortress. 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 was placed in an asylum, but died two days later from an unknown cause. To fall into the pit is symbolic of the descent into hell and damnation. (1896). Go, or I will swallow you up and no one tried since. The bottomlessness of the various pits, lakes and bogs worldwide is not physically accurate but the concept of the unknown abyss is an essential feature of a mythological and enchanted landscape. In accordance with the castles paranormal origins, one highly significant feature of the castle is its defences. Blue holes: Definition and genesis. Blatce, Czech Republic Houska Castle (Ghost Hunters International) Most castles are defensive fortifications, meant to keep people out. The Dinglehole is a tiny pond in Millis, MA, that also holds the bottomless attribution. A knucker hole in Burgesss Field, Binstead, Sussex, England was once pumped dry. Flagstaff, Arizonas Bottomless Pit is a karst feature. The castle is very well-preserved for a castle from that period. Today, Houska Castle remains one of the most haunted places on Earth. houska castle pit explorationbulgarian beauty standards. 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. 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. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. This melting of permafrost forms whats called thermokarst. The fact that this beast is using its left hand to shoot its arrow is even more unnerving, as left-handedness was associated with Satan in the Middle Ages. The weight of the line (at least 40 pounds) would mask the feeling of a weighted end hitting bottom. The supposed hole at the castle is supposedly beneath the floor of the chapel. A young and healthy man upon descending, his hair had turned white when he emerged with his face having aged decades in mere moments. 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. June 4, 2021. They hoped the . The castle's chapel was dedicated to Archangel Michael. Houska Castle, located in Czech Republic, is a castle that was built over a hole so deep, that nobody could see the bottom.