Kashkulak cave (Khakassia), photos and reviews of which we will give in this article, enjoys controversial fame. All sorts of esotericists and occultists call it a "place of power." The upper tier of this natural karst formation was indeed used in antiquity as a pagan temple, where sacrifices were made. But the cave is primarily of interest to speleologists. She needs protection from those who want to burn ritual fires, because rare species of bats live in her depths. Soot damages stalagmites and other cave formations. But in Kashkulak or, as it is called here, the Abode of the Black Devil, the folk trail does not overgrow. Both organized excursion groups and separate teams of speleologists come here. Let's take a virtual trip to the Kashkulak cave.
Location
The name of this natural formation comes from two Khakas words. "Hos Hula" meansjust two ears. It is still not clear why such an incomprehensible name has developed. The Kashkulak cave is located in Khakassia (Russian Federation), on the northern slopes of the Kuznetsk Alatau. In more detail, then on the southeastern spur of Mount Nash Kulan. This is the Kashkulak massif, which is in the Shirinsky district of Khakassia. The cave, in addition to the Khakass name Khos Khulakh, has others. It is called the Abode of the Devil, as well as the Temple of the Black Shaman. There are many legends associated with this last character. It is believed that people "with a sensitive psyche" are faced with an invisible force lurking in the underground galleries. They are seized with panic horror, and they see hallucinations. And all of them are the same: a certain man with burning eyes in a high furry hat drives uninvited guests out. Other opinion scientists - paleontologists, geologists, speleologists. They see no devilry in the cave. Probably, these academics either have an insensitive psyche, or an underdeveloped imagination.
Kashkulak cave: how to get there
Between Achinsk and Abakan on a branch of the Krasnoyarsk railways there is a Shira station. This urban-type settlement is the administrative center of the Khakassia region of the same name. Twenty kilometers from Shira is the Kashkulak cave. How to get to it - not everyone will explain. Not because they don't know, but because the local people want organized excursions to the dungeon, without burning fires and drinking vodka. Such trips will be readily accompanied by a guide from the local travel agency. To KashkulakskayaThe caves can also be reached from the resort village of Zhemchuzhny, which stands on the shore of a wonderful lake. From Shira, you should get out in the direction of the city of Kommunar. A good asph alt road leads to the Black Lake, only you need to drive along it only twelve kilometers. Further, at the crossroads, the main highway turns right, towards Maly Kobezhikov. And the path to the Kashkulak cave lies straight ahead, following the road sign "Malaya Syya". After six kilometers there will be the settlement of Topanov. In the village, turn left and drive nine kilometers to the south. The road is country, but after rain it turns into a swamp, which only an SUV can overcome. This is another argument in favor of an organized excursion from the Shire. From the car park you will have to walk along a well-visible path about two hundred and fifty meters.
Scientific point of view: what is the Kashkulak cave
Where is the entrance to the underground galleries, scientists have known since the beginning of the twentieth century. In the scientific literature, more precisely in the works of A. M. Zaitsev (1904), this cave was named Turimskaya - after the river Tyurim, which flows near. From a scientific point of view, it is a typical karst formation. For millennia, waters washed away soft rocks until voids formed. In underground galleries, all forms of cave formations are observed - stalactites, stalagmites, outgrowths, limestone influxes. The total length of these labyrinths is eight hundred and twenty meters. The depth also does not bring the Kashkulak cave into the category of champions - fortynine meters. The underground gallery enjoys great fame among archaeologists. The cave consists of three tiers, which are connected by almost vertical twenty-meter wells. The topmost of them was used by people more than two thousand years ago.
Speleologists about the Kashkulak cave
In the fifties of the twentieth century, underground galleries were studied in detail by scientists. They revealed the presence of three tiers. Tours are led to the upper one. It cannot be said that the route was difficult. This tier was used by the ancient Khakass for ritual purposes. The entire tier is heavily smoked with bonfires. And this only adds to the sinister glory that the Kashkulak cave already has. Cave of the Black Devil - this is the name given to the underground gallery by modern tourists. Yes, and they named the grottoes of the upper tier accordingly - the Lost Pagoda, Obscurantist, Temple. As for the last name, an explanation is needed. In this grotto there is a light stalagmite in the form of a phallus. Ancient civilizations revered this symbol of fertility and vitality. Probably, here in ancient times there was a temple where sacrifices were made (including human ones). Until the seventies, archaeologists worked here, who removed many fragments of skeletons. In the upper tier one can see sinter calcite formations. It is difficult to get into the middle tier, as the name of the grottoes says - Enthusiasts, Skeleton. The difficulty category of these levels is 2B. During rains and high groundwater, being on the lower tier, in the Obvalny grotto, is also dangerous, since it is flooded.
Modern superstitions
The most amazing thing is that the Kashkulak cave began to enjoy the fame of "the most terrible place on earth" relatively recently. For so many centuries people have been hiding here from bad weather, and none of them had hallucinations. Solovyov's partisan detachment, which during the Civil War tried to defend the old government and made the Kashkulak cave its base, was also exterminated by a non-Black Shaman. Until the fifties, none of the local residents who periodically looked into the cave heard the mysterious sounds of a tambourine rushing from somewhere below. Bad fame came to the underground gallery along with scientific expeditions. The scientists tried to keep their findings secret. And this atmosphere of mystery gave rise to a lot of legends around the expeditions. Now idle tongues will readily tell you about how "an unknown force threw out archaeologists" from the cave. They will tell a story about a missing group of cavers of twenty-nine people, from which only two girls got out, and even then they went crazy and died within a year in a mental hospital.
Business of "White Wizards"
When the fashion for psychics and the occult sciences came to Russia, the Kashkulak cave (or the Devil's Abode, as it is now more commonly called) gained great fame. They started talking about it as a "place of power" and a secret temple of Khakass shamans. The Russian "sorcerers" did not stay away from the gold mine, which the cave has now turned into. Those whothey call themselves that, proclaim that only they, “having pure thoughts”, can do their practices there. The local population, as well as travel agencies and caver groups, have regular skirmishes with these psychics and neo-pagan occultists.
Swami Baba's Cave
In the year 2000, tourists who came to the entrance to the underground galleries found signs of civilization in the surrounding forest. Yes, even what - Hindu, but with an admixture of Orthodoxy. Crosses were interspersed with figures of Shiva and mantras written on shreds of fabric. It turned out that the Kashkulak cave turned into the monastery Ashram Sai Lingeshwar, which is translated from Sanskrit as "The Abode of Universal Peace and Truth." The brahmins of the new sect, whose leader was Swami Sathya Sai Daas, claimed that this place was indicated to them from above so that they would protect it from the destructive influence of people. But for a certain fee, the clergy could let "vain tourists" disturb the "Calm of Peace". Most likely, the "Brahmins" shared the cash receipts with the local administration, since the authorities did not react in any way to the complaints of cavers and local guides. It took three years for the adherents of the new religion to be escorted from the tourist site.
Modern myths
It's amazing how gullible modern man is. Legends are composed not only by local "shamans" who are interested in attracting more tourists to the cave, not only by occultists and psychics, but also by those who call themselves atheists. Revolutionary loversromantics claim that Arkady Golikov, the commander of the “red” Chonovites, received the nickname Gaidar in the Temple Grotto. According to the faithful Leninists, the Kashkulak cave is the place where Kolchak's gold is buried. And about the death of Solovyov’s partisan detachment, they say that the leader of the “whites” offended the shaman, for which he paid. All these new myths are connected by one thing - the vagueness of the sources of information. A story about the horrors and secrets of the cave usually begins with the words: "The old-timers say …" or "The researcher, who wished to remain anonymous, said that …".
The true value of the Kashkulak cave
These karst underground voids are of interest to speleologists. The middle and especially the lower tiers have not yet been fully explored. In addition to the value of a natural landmark, the Kashkulak cave is of interest as an archaeological site. Excavations revealed that the grottoes of the upper tier were used by people over the past two thousand years. Of particular interest is the Temple underground hall. In it, archaeologists found not only a lot of animal and human bones, but also several whole skeletons. Who these people were: the victims of pagan rituals, the dead buried in a holy place, or simply lost travelers, is hard to say now.
Tourist facility
Kashkulak cave, the photo of which you see, has attracted the curious for a long time. But the inaccessibility of this place, as well as the difficulty of passing through underground galleries, often caused accidents. Of course, you can go into the cave yourself. But deep, almost sheerwells pose a danger to life. Since the beginning of the 2000s, organized excursions to this tourist site have been established. The group is recruited in the resort villages of Shira and Zhemchuzhny. Tourists are accompanied by an experienced speleologist guide. The tour includes a transfer to the cave and equipment rental (flashlights, helmets).
Believe it or not?
What is the Kashkulak cave in Khakassia really? Reviews are drastically different. Some tourists claim that this is an ordinary cave. A gloomy feeling exists only in the upper tier, where the walls of the grottoes are covered with soot from fires and do not reflect light. If you go a little further, then you will meet stalactites, stalagmites and other limestone formations. Other tourists, with a fine mental organization, claim that they experienced attacks of causeless fear and panic in the cave, heard the sounds of a tambourine and saw a tall figure of a man in a shaggy hat and with burning eyes.
