Kashkulakskaya Cave, located in the Altai Mountains, in the Russian republic of Khakassia, has held a terrible reputation for several centuries now. This is a cult cave of the ancient Khakasii civilization. Here they would make sacrifices for their gods, including human offerings. Literally, “Kashkulakskaya” means “Black devil’s cave”.
Most of the time people who participated in multiple research expeditions of the cave, covered in human and animal remains, were well-trained. But everyone felt the same panic and terror for no reason when they were descending into the cave.
Sometimes everyone in the cave would toss aside all their equipment and sprint to the exit at the same time. And these were veteran speleologists, who had seen way more complex caves. Later, when they came to their senses, they could never explain what had happened.
Besides the feeling of discomfort and unexplained horror, other things that were just as strange would happen to the people who dared to venture into the cave. Something similar happened in 1983 to Constantin Baulin, speleologist and member of the staff of the Novosibirsk Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine. After several hours of work, everyone headed to the exit and Baulin was the last on the rope. And suddenly he felt someone staring at him and felt alarming horror that could not be compared with anything else.
Just for a moment, the scientist, as if led by someone else’s will, turned around and….froze with fear: a figure of an old man with swaying clothes and a wool horned hat appeared about 5 meters in front of him, and he was calling him. There was little distance between them, so the scientist was able to clearly observe his fiery eyes and his gentle beckoning movements.
At first, the scientist wanted to run away, but his feet did not comply and he even took several steps towards the vision. Suddenly he pulled the rope which connected him with everyone else and magically freed himself from the spell. The researcher went towards the exit and never returned to the cave again, but the image of the old man haunted his dreams long after that.
According to a local legend, the guardian of the cave (an ancient Khakassi shaman) lived in one of its chambers. Those who disturbed his peace would be punished by his appearance in their dreams and in reality as an old man with wild, hanging clothes, luring the brave souls deeper into the cave. Is it possible for all of this to be a hallucination?
There is some logic, yes. The hallucinations in the cave could be explained with the unusual surroundings and the effect of the closed, narrow underground space has upon one’s psyche. But why does the same hallucination appear for all the different people who ventured into the cave? It is very difficult to say.
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Still, there are numerous interesting observations that can shed light on this phenomenon. For example, equipment in the cave would always detect oscillations in the magnetic field.
Besides that, scientists determined that a very specific pulse runs through the cave. Sometimes it was just a single impulse, and sometimes it was detected as a whole “ray” of impulses. The amplitude of the signal was always the same. On certain days the signal didn’t appear, but the next day it reappeared again.
Some have theorized that the signal is artificial and comes from some sort of a beacon, hidden deep inside the cave. Scientists have determined that the signal becomes stronger in the presence of humans. When there were humans in the upper part of the cave, even bats living there, would become restless. Snails, brought there for experimentation, would not come out of their shells.
Strangely, human presence acts as a switch for this unusual activity. What could be hidden inside this ancient cave?
