The only day of the year when the ghosts of the departed and the spirits visit the earth. This is one of the original meanings of Halloween. In fact, this holiday is a wild mixture of pagan and Christian traditions, in which the funny is intertwined with the terrible. On the occasion of October 31, our portal recalled five eerie points in Europe, where there is a chance to get in touch with the other world. At least that's what they say …
Erzbeta Bathory Castle
Chahtitsy, Slovakia
48 ° 43'29 s. NS. 17 ° 45'39 ″ in. etc.
Countess Erzbeta (Elizabeth) Bathory became sadly famous outside her native Hungary, which at that time belonged to these lands. According to legend, in her large gloomy castle, she was engaged in warlock, tortured and killed young girls, and then took baths from their blood, trying to ensure her eternal youth by this. According to eyewitness accounts, she took the lives of several dozen to several hundred of her peasant women before the rumored authorities began to investigate. True, there are also opinions that the case was completely fabricated in order to "saw through" the untold wealth of Bathory. One way or another, the countess spent the last three years of her life practically walled up in the basement of the Chakhtitsa castle. It was subsequently destroyed. Now, according to the stories of visitors, restoration has begun in the ruins, and the entrance is closed. However, nothing prevents you from looking at this eerie place from the outside.
Capuchin catacombs
Palermo, Italy
38 ° 06′42 ″ s. NS. 13 ° 20'21 ″ in. etc.
In Italy, and throughout Europe, there is not one such place, but the catacombs in Palermo are considered one of the most impressive. This is a cemetery, but unusual - the bodies of the deceased are on display in the basement of the monastery. The catacombs have a special climate, so many of them were mummified by themselves. The dead are festively dressed - some in a uniform, some in a cassock, and some in a suit and tie. Some are standing, some form family or professional groups … The burial was stopped in the catacombs only closer to the middle of the 19th century. Before that, it was possible not only to inspect the cellars as a sightseer, but also to look out for a place for yourself - being buried by the Capuchins was considered, and is still considered, very prestigious.
Pripyat
Kiev region, Ukraine
51 ° 24 ′ N NS. 30 ° 03 ′ east etc.
The city of power engineers, built specifically to service the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, has become a whole memorial to one of the most terrible man-made disasters, which, according to some estimates, claimed tens of thousands of lives. Almost 50,000 people were evacuated in 1986, a few days after the accident. People left furniture, dishes, books, children's toys in their houses. All this still lies in houses, in stairwells and on the streets where the forest has grown and wild boars and wolves run. Graffiti depicting the silhouettes of children frighten visitors - now the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone can be visited with an organized excursion. Recently, it has been considered relatively safe to visit. But you still need to be very careful: "The consequences of radiation and radioactive contamination are a factor that excludes insurance payments under a traveler's policy," warns Mikhail Efimov, Insurance Director of Intouch Company.
Avebury
Wiltshire, England
51 ° 25′43 ″ s. NS. 1 ° 51'15 ″ W etc.
Avebury is the "elder brother" of Stonehenge, the largest in Europe (about 12 hectares) and a little less known complex of megaliths. As with other similar sanctuaries, scientists only very roughly guess who, when and why built it. The myths that megaliths are gates to another world, built by druids, are actually more boring than reality: radiocarbon analysis showed that Stonehenge, Avebury and other similar objects are hundreds, if not a thousand years older. There are mystical stories about Avebury. One of them says that once a local barber tried to destroy a pagan sanctuary and was immediately crushed by a stone. The other was that a ghost fair had been seen in Avebury. By the way, there are several more mysterious ancient roads, mounds and megaliths very close to Avebury.
Ossuary in Sedlec
Kutna Hora, Czech Republic
49 ° 57′42 ″ s. NS. 15 ° 17'17 ″ in. etc.
The interior of this chapel is entirely made of human bones. According to various sources, from 40,000 to 70,000 skeletons were used for the "decoration". In this way, medieval landowners solved the problem of overcrowding in the local cemetery as a result of wars and the plague epidemic. Like the catacombs in Palermo, the site remained very prestigious for burial for a long time. Monstrosities, a huge chandelier, the coat of arms of the owners and much more were built from the bones. The chapel can be freely visited by tourists.
