Kashkulak cave in Khakasia: reviews and photos

Kashkulak cave (Khakassia), photos and reviews of which we will cite in this article, enjoys a contradictory glory. All sorts of esotericists and occultists call it a "place of power." The upper tier of this natural karst formation was actually used in antiquity as a pagan temple where sacrifices were made. But the cave is primarily of interest to speleologists. It needs protection from those who want to burn ritual bonfires, because in its bowels there live rare species of bats. Soot is harmful to stalagmites and other cave formations. But in Kashkulak or, as it is called here, the Abode of the Black Devil, the people's path does not grow. Here come as organized excursion groups, and individual teams of speleologists. Let's also make a virtual trip to the Kashkulak cave.

Location:

The name of this natural formation came from two Khakass words. "Khus Khulakh" means only "two ears". Until now, it is unclear why such an incomprehensible name has developed. The Kashkulak cave is located in Khakassia (Russian Federation), on the northern slopes of the Kuznetsk Alatau. If in more detail, on the southeast spur of Our Kulan Mountain. This is the Kashkulak massif in the Shirinsky district of Khakassia. At the cave, besides the Khakass name Khos Khulakh, there are others. It is called the Monastery of the Devil, as well as the Temple of the Black Shaman. There are many legends connected with this last character. It is believed that people with "sensitive psyche" face an invisible force, hidden in underground galleries. They are panic-stricken, and they see hallucinations. And all - the same: a man with burning eyes in a tall shaggy hat drives uninvited guests out. A different opinion scientists - paleontologists, geologists, speleologists. They do not observe any devilry in the cave. Probably, these academics have either insensitive psyche or insufficiently developed imagination.

Kashkulak Cave: directions

Between Achinsk and Abakan there is a Shira station on the branch of the Krasnoyarsk railways. This urban-type settlement is the administrative center of the same-name district of Khakassia. Twenty kilometers from Shira and located Kashkulak cave. How to drive to it - not everyone explains. Not because he does not know, but because local people want the excursions to the dungeon to be organized, without burning bonfires and drinking vodka. Such travel will readily accompany the guide from the local travel agency. Before the Kashkulak cave can be reached from the resort village of Pearl, which stands on the shore of a wonderful lake. From the Shire, one should get out towards the city of Konstanca. A good asphalt road leads to the Black Lake, but only twelve kilometers is needed. Further, at the intersection, the main highway turns to the right, to Little Kobezhikova. And the path to the Kashkulak cave lies directly, along the road sign "Malaya Siya". In six kilometers there will be a settlement of Topanov. In the village, turn left and drive about nine kilometers to the south. Road country, but after the rain, it turns into a swamp, which can only be overcome by an off-road vehicle. This is another reason for an organized excursion from the Shira. From the parking lot will have to walk along the well-visible path of two hundred and fifty meters.

Scientific point of view: what is the Kashkulak cave

Where the entrance to the underground galleries is located, scientists became aware from the beginning of the twentieth century. In scientific literature, more precisely in the writings of A.M. Zaitseva (1904), this cave was named Turimskaya - by the name of the river Tyurim flowing near. From the scientific point of view, it is a typical karst formation. For thousands of years the water has been blurred by soft rocks, until emptiness is formed. In the underground galleries, all forms of cave formations are observed: stalactites, stalagmites, outgrowths, limestone deposits. The total length of these labyrinths is eight hundred and twenty meters. The depth also does not lead the Kashkulak cave to the category of record-holders - forty-nine meters. Great fame is enjoyed by the underground gallery of archaeologists. The cave consists of three tiers, which are connected by almost vertical twenty-meter wells. The uppermost of them was used by people even more than two thousand years ago.

Speleologists about Kashkulak cave

In the fifties of the twentieth century, underground galleries were studied in detail by scientists. They also identified the existence of three tiers. In the upper drive excursions. It can not be said that the route was difficult. This tier was used by ancient Khakas for ritual purposes. The entire tier is heavily soothed by bonfires. And this only adds to the ominous glory that the Kashkulak cave already has. Cave of the Black Devil - a name given to the underground gallery by modern tourists. Yes, and the grottoes of the upper tier, they called appropriately - The Lost Pagoda, the Mrakobes, the 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 church where sacrifices were made (including human ones). Until the seventies there worked archaeologists, who extracted many fragments of skeletons. In the upper tier you can see the calcite calcareous formations. It's hard to get into the middle tier, as the grotto name - Enthusiasts, Skeleton - says. The complexity category of these levels is 2B. During rains and high groundwater, it is also dangerous to be on the lower tier, in the grotto of Obvalnoye, as it is flooded.

Modern superstitions

The most surprising is that the Kashkulak cave began to enjoy the glory of "the most terrible place on earth" relatively recently. For so many centuries people have been hiding here from the bad weather, and none of them had hallucinations. Partisan detachment Solovyov, who tried to protect the old regime during the Civil War and made the Kashkulak cave his base, was also exterminated not by the Black Shaman. Until the fifties, none of the locals, who periodically looked into the cave, did not hear the mysterious sounds of the tambourine, which came from somewhere below. Ungrateful fame to the underground gallery came along with scientific expeditions. Scientists have tried to keep their research secret. And this atmosphere of mystery gave rise to a lot of legends around the expeditions. Now idle languages will readily tell you about how "an unknown force threw archaeologists" out of the cave. Tell a bike about a missing group of speleologists from twenty-nine people, from which only two girls got out, and even those who went mad and died within a year in a mental hospital.

Business of "White Warlocks"

When the fashion for psychics and occult sciences came to Russia , the Kashkulak cave (or the Devil's Cloister, as it is now more often called) became famous. They talked about it as a "place of power" and a secret temple of Khakass shamans. Do not stay away from the gold vein, which now turned into a cave, and the Russian "sorcerers". Those who call themselves so, proclaim that only they, "having pure thoughts," can make their practices there. The local population, as well as travel agencies and speleologists groups, regularly encounter clashes with these psychics and neo-pagan occultists.

Swami-Baba's Cave

In the two thousandth year the tourists who came to the entrance to the underground galleries discovered signs of civilization in the surrounding forest. And what a Hindu, but with an admixture of Orthodoxy. The crosses alternated with the figures of Shiva and the mantras painted on scraps of cloth. It turned out that the Kashkulak cave turned into a monastery of the Sai Lingeshvara Ashram, which is translated from Sanskrit as the "Abode of Ecumenical Peace and Truth". The brahmanas of the new sect, led by Swami Satya Sai Daas, claimed that this place was indicated to them from above, so that they protect it from the disastrous effects of people. But for a fee, clergymen could let "fussy tourists" disturb the "Abode of Peace". Most likely, the "brahmanas" shared the box office with the local administration, since the authorities did not react to the complaints of speleologists and local guides. It took three years for the followers of the new religion to escape from the tourist site.

Contemporary 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 occultists and psychics, but also those who call themselves atheists. Lovers of revolutionary romance say that Arkady Golikov, commander of the "red" Chonov, was nicknamed Gaidar in the Temple grotto. According to the faithful Leninists, the Kashkulak cave is the place where Kolchak's gold is buried. And the death of partisan detachment Solovyov tells that the leader of the "white" offended the shaman, for which he paid. All these new myths connect one thing - the vagueness of information sources. The story of the horrors and secrets of the cave usually begins with the words: "Old-timers say ..." or "A researcher who asked to remain anonymous, said that ...".

The true value of the Kashkulak cave

These karst underground cavities are of interest to speleologists. The middle and especially the lower tiers have not yet been fully investigated. Besides the value of a natural sight, the Kashkulak cave is of interest as an archaeological site. Excavations revealed that the grottoes of the upper tier were used by people for the past two thousand years. Of particular interest is the Temple underground hall. In it, archeologists have found not only many animal and human bones, but also several whole skeletons. Who were these people: the victims of pagan rituals, dead people buried in the holy place or simply lost travelers are difficult to say now.

Tourist object

Kashkulak cave, the photo of which you see, has attracted curious people 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 to the cave yourself. But deep, almost vertical wells pose a danger to life. Since the beginning of the 2000s, organized tours to this tourist site have been organized. The group is recruited in the resort towns of Shira and Zhemchuzhny. Tourists are accompanied by an experienced guide-speleologist. The excursion includes a transfer to the cave and rental of equipment (flashlights, helmets).

Believe it or not?

What is actually Kashkulak cave in Khakassia? The reviews are completely 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 the fires and do not reflect light. If you walk a little farther, stalactites, stalagmites and other limestone formations will meet there. Other tourists, with a subtle emotional organization, say that they experienced in the cave attacks of unreasonable fear, panic, heard the sounds of a tambourine and saw the tall figure of a man in a shaggy hat and with burning eyes.