Houska Castle — The Gates of Hell
Over time, many places have accumulated a reputation for mysteries, dark secrets and the supernatural.
Here’s the history of one such place: a place that for centuries has been associated with the darkest and scariest of places: Hell.
Houska Castle, 50 km from Prague, is one of the most intriguing places for lovers of the occult and mystery.
Built in the middle of nowhere, with no access to water and no apparent purpose or useful use, the manor is entirely built around a bottomless well, as if to hide something horrible from the outside world.
It was built in the 14th century by the Bohemian King Ottokar II and from that moment it passed from hand to hand, being renovated in a Renaissance style at the end of the XVI century until it ended up in ruins in 100 years later: in XX century the stories and legends surrounding this castle attracted the attention of the Nazis who then took possession of it.
Unlike other fortresses of that period, this castle was not designed to host the King or the royal family, in fact, not only it is not located in a particular strategic area, but it is not even on any trade route and is not in the close to residential areas.
Other peculiarities concern the defenses which were built towards the inside, instead of towards the outside like in every other castle, almost as if the castle had not been built to keep someone out, but rather to trap someone or something inside. There are no stairs from the upper floors to the internal courtyard, and the windows on the upper floors are blocked from the inside by thick walls, although from the outside they appear to be actual windows.
According to tradition, this structure seemingly made without a useful purpose, was built on the gates of hell; in fact, it seems that for centuries in Houska there was an endless chasm, a gateway for demons and various other creatures to the earthly world.
The local inhabitants, for centuries, avoided that area, except for a few daring onlookers who dared to enter the castle and who often never returned.
Above this chasm a chapel was then erected, obviously dedicated to the most powerful of the Angels of God’s army: the Archangel Michael.
The chapel is exceptional not only for its position and its function as a guardian but also for elements such as the frescoes that decorate the walls depicting demons trying to escape from the scene towards the user. The frescoes also depict a centaur with a bow and nocked arrows aiming at a man, which is very particular since centaurs are pagan mythological figures.
According to the inhabitants of the Houska area, when the chasm opened, winged creatures were spotted coming out and returning from it while livestock were being torn apart by what seemed like demonic beasts and some of those who lived near the place mysteriously disappeared.
In those times not everyone believed the stories of the inhabitants, especially the Duke of the region who believed they had gone mad and to prove it, he decided to send someone into the chasm to demonstrate once and for all that there was nothing down there.
The Duke, however, did not want to risk sending someone with family and relatives in case he was wrong and there was actually some danger inside the chasm. He then took some prisoners who had been sentenced to death and offered them forgiveness if they agreed to be lowered into the chasm.
Many of the prisoners accepted, confident that they would be free, but they were wrong.
While the youngest of them was lowered down, the others waited in silence, nervously, while the duke trembled.
Moments later terrible screams echoed in the darkness.
The Duke’s men hastened to lift the prisoner up; what they saw shocked everyone present.
The one who had been lowered now had white hair and had aged several dozen years. The boy mumbled something about a world full of nightmarish creatures at the bottom of the chasm, but no further information could be obtained because the man lost his mind and died a few days later.
None of the other prisoners dared to lowerthemselves.
The Duke then ordered the chasm to be closed, but whatever was attempted to be used ended up being sucked in, so the Duke went to the king asking for a fortress to be built there.
Heavy stone slabs were used to cover the chasm and the chapel was built over it.
From that moment on, the inhabitants of the nearby villages avoided approaching the fortress, but the fame attracted some particular characters who decided to reside there.
In fact, in the early 1600s, a Swedish mercenary named Oronto occupied the castle to make it his residence. Oronto dedicated himself to black magic practices and attempted to create the elixir of life to achieve immortality, locking himself up every night in his alchemical laboratory.
He believed he could use the castle’s dark energy as a sort of ingredient.
His habits and his work frightened the inhabitants of the nearby villages and one night two hunters murdered him.
In 1836 a poet, Karel Hynek Macha, was crossing the region on foot and had the courage to spend a night in the abandoned castle.
In a letter to a friend (Edward Hindel) he described a dream, or rather, a sort of vision, that he had while he was in the castle.
In the vision Macha had gone down into the courtyard and had noticed a strange hole in the ground and, curious, he had approached to look inside: at that moment he found himself surrounded by total darkness and found himself teleported into the future, in the year 2006 in Prague.
He saw the city totally mechanized and suffocated by smog: a nightmare full of darkness and suffocated by smog.
Wandering helplessly terrified in the twilight, he was approached by a little girl who told him that he was in for a “little misfortune.”
Afterwards, he found himself walking in the night among some sandstone hills (as he defined them), full of holes from which a disturbing yellow light emerged which for some is incredibly similar to modern housing development and which therefore recalls the large condominiums that today stand out on the outskirts of Prague.
Unfortunately, the poet died shortly after his visit to the castle.
All of this has led some to believe that Houska Castle may not just be a portal to hell, or at least not the hell we imagine.
Some believe that the portal can lead to another dimension full of fire, smoke and demonic creatures that may not be hell per se, but a parallel world that has undergone an apocalyptic event of such magnitude that it opens the portal.
It was these stories that attracted the attention of the Nazis during the last century.
From 1939 to 1945, the castle was occupied by the Nazis and was the site of some occult experiments.
Unfortunately, the records and evidence of these experiments were destroyed when the Nazis had to abandon the fortress at the end of the war.
The Nazis had also mined the perimeter of the fortress: a bit exaggerated if there had been nothing special about what they were doing in there, don’t you think?
It seems that some of the few books that the Nazis confiscated, many of which related to the occult, were found inside Houska Castle.
There is therefore no trace of what the Nazis did inside the castle, however during the latest restorations, skeletons of Nazi soldiers who had been executed by their own comrades were found under the floor, or at least, so it seems.
Despite its fame, the castle was opened to the public in 1999 and can still be visited.
Yet the rumors about the castle still persist, after centuries.
Visitors report hearing inhuman screams and scratching sounds under the floor of the chapel as if someone or something was trying to break out.
Locals who work nearby claim to have seen things and creatures in the woods around the castle, including winged creatures, half-human, half-dog beings.
Furthermore, dead birds often fall in the yard.
Houska Castle is, however, home to other mysteries as well as the gateway to hell.
Many visitors, in fact, claim to have had supernatural encounters, from ghosts following people into runners to curious animal-like presences.
Keepers claim to have seen the ghost of a headless man several times with blood pouring from his fatal wounds.
The workers who renovated the castle also heard voices and saw things that left them disturbed. In particular, a worker had heard a voice coming from inside the walls of the chapel and speaking a language unknown to him: at that point, terrified, he ran away.
However, he remembered one word in particular, among those he had heard: the word is Seràph which indicates a celestial being mentioned in the Old Testament and who according to Christians belongs to the order of angels closest to God.
Both custodians, tourists and paranormal researchers say that, as legend has it, the castle is guarded by a figure dressed in black, with a black cloak and hood, without a face: he is not evil, he only fulfills to his duty as guardian.
We don’t know what truth there is in these stories, but one thing is certain:
the peculiarity of this castle makes it one of the most mysterious and dark places in the world.
