Underground civilizations of the planet. The underground workshops are in full swing with tireless work. Any metals are melted there and products from them are forged. In unknown chariots or other perfect devices, underground inhabitants rush through tunnels laid deep under

11 708

Since the mid-twentieth century, humanity has successfully studied and developed near-Earth space. It is believed that the Earth has been explored and traveled far and wide by us, so we should not expect new discoveries here.

However, the faster modern civilization develops, the more questions our own planet poses to it. And people cannot yet resolve these issues. The technical equipment of earthly science is not yet so highly developed that it is possible to easily penetrate into all corners of the sky, land and ocean. But, most importantly, our consciousness is not yet ready for a large-scale study of earthly reality. We must understand and calmly accept the fact that next to us on our home planet there are other civilizations that we have already encountered many times.

The 21st century brings with it the rapid improvement of science and technology, thanks to which scientists are already beginning to explore previously inaccessible areas of the globe. These include - ocean depths, the underground world of the planet and the ice kingdom of Antarctica. And the most superficial acquaintance with these regions showed that in each of them a person can encounter forms of life unfamiliar to him, and possibly even intelligent civilizations, which we learn about from legends and myths created by folk art.

Part 1

Meetings with the unknown

Legends about meetings between people and the inhabitants of the Underworld exist among different nations. In Russia, the first documented reports of contacts with underground civilizations unknown to the Slavs are considered to be the records of the Novgorod Primary Chronicle under 1096 (11th century), which convey the story of the Novgorod governor Gyuryata Rogovich, who collected tribute from the peoples of the North subject to Novgorod. The chronicler narrates: “Now I want to tell you what I heard 4 years ago from Gyuryata Rogovich, a Novgorodian, who said this: “I sent my youth to Pechora, to the people giving tribute to Novgorod. And when my boy came to them, he went from them to the land of Ugra. Ugra, on the other hand, is people who speak an incomprehensible language, and they neighbor Samoyed in the northern regions.”

As it is further reported, the Yugras told the envoy of Gyuryata Rogovich an amazing story. Far in the north, on the shores of the White Ocean, there are mountains that rise with their peaks to the very sky. The path to these mountains is difficult and dangerous due to abysses, snow and dense forests, and the Ugras rarely reach there, to remote and deserted places.

But those who have nevertheless visited these mountains say that inside the stone mountain slopes they can hear people talking and shouting (“in those mountains there is a great shout and talk”). And when the unknown inhabitants living inside the mountains hear the presence of a person, they cut “small windows” in the rocks and call the stranger, and point with their hands at his weapon, and with signs they ask for it. And if a hunter gives them a knife or a spear, then in return he receives sable fur and expensive gemstones.

A large number of legends about underground inhabitants have come to us from medieval Rus'. The famous Russian ethnographer A. Onuchkov, studying the folklore of the Urals at the beginning of the 20th century, recorded messages from local residents about the mysterious people found in the Ural forests and among the rocks. The people of the Urals call them marvelous people. This is what they told the scientist. “Diva people” live in deep underground caves, but sometimes they rise to the surface of the earth and walk among people, but people do not see them. Their culture is high, and the light in their underground cities is no worse than our Sun.”

According to eyewitness descriptions, the Divyas are short people. They are beautiful and speak in a pleasant voice, but few hear them - those who have a clear conscience and who live according to Divine laws. Divya's people warn villagers about upcoming events, and help some in misfortune. Thus, witnesses from the Ural village of Beloslutskoye talk about a gray-haired old man from a wondrous people who, accompanied by the inexplicable ringing of bells at night, comes to the church and, standing on the porch, predicts his fate to everyone who appears here.

In the first decade of the 17th century, Russia experienced the Great Troubles, caused by the suppression of the royal Rurik dynasty and the interregnum that followed. The struggle of boyar groups for the royal throne went beyond the borders of the Russian state, and therefore there was a danger of Russia losing its national independence.

The Polish king, under the pretext of restoring the allegedly escaped Tsarevich Dmitry, son of Ivan the Terrible, to the Russian throne, organized a military intervention against Moscow. Detachments of Polish soldiers led by False Dmitry the First, and then False Dmitry the Second, invaded Russia. At the same time, Swedish mercenaries penetrated Russian territory from the north, trying to cut off the Novgorod and Pskov lands from Moscow.

The treacherous policy of the Russian boyars led to the fact that the Russian army was defeated in battles with the Swedes and Poles. The Poles captured Moscow, and the King of Poland, Sigismund, was already preparing to be crowned on the Russian throne.

At this most difficult time for Russia, Nizhny Novgorod The formation of a people's militia began to fight the Polish-Swedish occupiers. It was headed by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky. According to archival chronicles, before this, the Underground Elder appeared at Minin’s house, who told him to start collecting funds for the militia throughout Russia, and to invite Prince Pozharsky as the military commander of the militia.

The elder also handed over to Minin and Pozharsky certain documents containing new laws by which Russia would have to live after the defeat of the intervention. As you know, the people's militia liberated the country from the Polish-Swedish occupiers, but Minin and Pozharsky were pushed out of power and were unable to fulfill the order of the Underground Elder set out in these documents.

Tales of small underground people can be heard in the north of the Urals and Siberia. Here these people are called miracles. The Komi, living in the Pechora Lowland, tell legends about little men emerging from the ground and also predicting the future for people. According to the legends of local residents, at first the little men did not understand the human language, but then they learned it and showed people how to mine, smelt and forge iron.

The priests of Chud are called “Pana” here. They are keepers of secret knowledge and know about countless treasures hidden underground and protected by powerful spells. Even today, anyone who dares to approach these treasures either dies or goes crazy. Because the treasures are guarded by special servants of the priests - cinders. These cinders, formerly miracles, were once buried alive along with treasures. Until now, they faithfully serve near ancient treasures.

In 1975, a group of Soviet history students tried to find a treasure of chudi under an ancient stone on which mysterious signs were carved. In one of the northern chronicles of the 15th century, the guys found a spell that supposedly protects a person from cinders. They read this spell three times over an ancient boulder, but found nothing except two ancient silver medallions. And soon the student who was digging up the treasure was killed by a bear. A rumor immediately spread among the local residents that the master’s curse had overtaken the wicked man who dared to encroach on the treasures of the miracle.

Similar legends exist among European peoples. An example is the story recorded by English chroniclers of the 13th century about the appearance from underground of two small children with green skin and an incomprehensible fear of sunlight. That's what this story is about.

In Suffolk, UK, there is a village called Woolpit, which has an unusual and mysterious story. Its name translates as “Wolf Pits”, and the village’s coat of arms depicts a wolf and two children – a girl and a boy. It was here in the 12th century, 112 kilometers from London, that the last wolf of England died, falling into one of the many wolf pits.

Then a strange incident happened here. One day two small children appeared in the village. It happened on a hot August day during the harvest. They crawled out of a deep hole that was dug to catch wolves, which is why this unusual name villages. The boy and girl came out of the pit and headed towards the people. What was surprising was that the babies’ skin had a greenish tint, and they were wearing strange clothes, cut from an unknown material. The children were very scared and waved their arms as if they were driving away bees. With their appearance they confused the peasants, however, having come to their senses, the reapers took the children to the village and brought them to the landowner Richard Kane.

Having calmed down a little, the children began to speak in an incomprehensible language, in which hissing and whistling sounds predominated. They spoke in shrill, high voices. The residents did not understand a word, although in those days in England the villagers were familiar with all the languages ​​of neighboring peoples. Here they well remembered the Normans and Danes with Scandinavian dialects, heard the French language of the knights, did not forget the German-Anglo-Saxon dialect, recognized the Celtic dialects of the Scots, Irish and Welsh, and the priests knew Latin. When the children were taken to the village, they began to cry and refused to eat anything, although they were very hungry.

Richard Kane was very surprised by the appearance of the children, but having seen enough of them, he ordered the servants to prepare the best delicacies, but the children refused everything. So, they starved for several days, until one day the villagers brought into the house a harvest of beans, picked straight from the stems. The boy and girl were very interested in beans, but could not find their fruit. They seemed to know what it was and understood that it could be eaten. When one of the servants showed them where the food was, they began to open the pods and greedily eat the beans. For several months the children ate exclusively on them. Richard Kane turned out to be a kind man and allowed the children to stay in his castle.

After several months, the boy died. He was younger than his sister and could not adapt to local life. The child gradually withdrew into himself and refused to eat, so he soon fell ill and died. The girl survived and after baptism received the name Agnes. But religion remained something incomprehensible to her, and religious ones only caused inconvenience. Gradually she learned to eat ordinary food, and her skin lost its greenish tint. Agnes became blonde with blue eyes and fair skin. She adapted to life here relatively easily, grew up, got married, learned English language and lived for many years in Norfolk County. Ralph mentioned in his work that she was very headstrong and capricious, but despite this, her husband and children loved her very much.

Agnes remembered little about her origins. However, she said that she came with her brother from the Land of St. Martin, where all the Christian inhabitants were also green. According to her, there was eternal twilight and the sun never shone. She also said that their house was located “on the other side of a big river.” Agnes said that she and her brother came across the cave while tending a flock of sheep. Bells were ringing outside the cave, the children followed this sound and ended up in some cave. There, according to Agnes, they and their brother got lost and only after some time they found a way out. But when they left the cave, they were blinded by a bright light. The children were scared and wanted to go back, but the entrance to the cave disappeared.

The girl also added that the Land of St. Martin can be seen from a great distance, that it looks like a “luminous country on the other side of the river.” Agnes, with the permission of Richard Kane, tried several times to find a way back to her homeland, but was never able to do so. But this is not surprising, because by order of Richard, the hole from which the children emerged was filled up. He feared that armed people might come for his brother and sister. The girl knew nothing about this.

This story was recounted in two of their chronicles by Ralph of Coggeshall and William of Newburgh, who were authoritative chroniclers and historians of the Middle Ages, worthy of trust. The works were created around 1220. The unusual children of the bishop are also mentioned in the book of Bishop Francis Godwin, who was distrustful of this legend. He included it in his chronicle with reluctance. But Ralph of Coggeshall relied in his chronicle on the words of Richard Kane, in whose house Agnes worked as a maid. Many details indicated that all the facts presented were genuine. Ralph of Coggeshall lived in Essex, which was located near Suffolk. Therefore, he could communicate directly with other participants in the events.

Many people tried to unravel the mystery of the origin of the “green children” and the location of the rather strange Land of St. Martin; many different assumptions were put forward. According to one version, children could have come to Woolpit from copper mines, which used child labor at that time. The skin and hair of children from constant contact with copper could actually acquire a greenish tint. But then what about the material from which the children’s clothes were made, Agnes’s story, and the fact that they could not eat ordinary human food?

Bold versions were also expressed that the children could come from another dimension, underworld or even aliens who came to Earth completely by accident. Some researchers believed that the cave through which the boy and girl came to our world was something like a path that connected the Earth with another planet. Or the road that was laid between the past, present and future. Paradoxically, such a hypothesis explains everything, because if they came from another dimension, then only minor genetic changes would be enough for hair and skin to acquire a normal human color. “Green children” could well be a product of genetic engineering, which may exist in a parallel world to us.

American mathematician and astrophysicist Jacques Vallee published numerous testimonies from people about encounters with small black hairy men, who in France are called lutens. According to him, many of these little men live in the Poitou region, and local residents know well where the dwellings of these gnomes are located. In his book, Vale cites eyewitness accounts of the meeting with the Lutens.

An interesting event happened here in 1850. One day, returning to their village on the Egre River, several women witnessed a curious sight. Shortly before midnight, having crossed the bridge, they heard a loud noise and saw a picture from which “the blood froze in their veins.” An object that looked like a “chariot with squeaky wheels” was rushing up the hillside at amazing speed. Looking closer, the women saw that the “chariot” was being pulled by numerous black men. Soon the strange chariot “jumped over the vineyards and disappeared into the night.” The frightened peasant women abandoned their things and rushed home.

The belief in the existence of black men is not limited to any one region. Researchers from Europe, Asia, Africa, America and even Australia write about this. In Mexico they are known as Ikalov, which means “black creature” in the language of the Tzeltal Indians. Here they are described as small black hairy gnomes that live in caves, which local residents avoid.

There are legends that the Ikals attack Indians and kidnap their children and women. Sometimes gnomes are seen flying through the air, and on their backs “missiles” are clearly visible, which the little men skillfully control. According to Mexican Indians, people met Icals especially often in the mid-twentieth century.

IN modern Russia There is also a lot of evidence of human encounters with dwarf peoples. In August 1945, Voronezh fighter pilot Vasily Egorov was shot down by Japanese artillery over the territory Inner Mongolia two hundred kilometers from the front line.

He managed to leave the burning plane and parachuted down to the ground, finding himself in a small grove. Here he quickly found a stream running out from under a low hill and drank fresh cold water.

As a result of a slight injury, Vasily felt dizzy and nauseous. He lay down on the grass in the bushes and fell asleep unnoticed. He woke up with a strange sensation: his arms and legs did not obey him. Raising his head, Vasily saw that his entire body was wrapped in a strong translucent tape the width of a finger. Incomprehensible sounds were heard around him, reminiscent of birds chirping.

Vasily soon determined that this chirping was coming from... tiny people dressed in strange clothes and armed with knives. Later, having met hundreds of such little men from the Hanyangi tribe (as they called themselves), Vasily made sure that their height did not exceed 45 centimeters.

The Soviet pilot spent many years in the underground labyrinth of these amazing dwarfs. One day, during a severe thunderstorm, he came to the surface of the earth and lost consciousness. He was found by Mongolian herders and taken to the camp of Soviet geologists working in Mongolia at that time. Geologists transported Vasily to the USSR, and his identity was established there.

It turned out that in his homeland Vasily was considered dead. Only after a series of examinations did the Air Force command become convinced that this was indeed Vasily Egorov, a Soviet fighter pilot, holder of the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, who had shot down six enemy aircraft. But even Vasily’s relatives could not immediately identify him, since 14 years had passed since the Soviet-Japanese War! Vasily Egorov returned to his homeland in the spring of 1959!

Of course, no one believed his stories about life among the Lilliputians, but here’s what’s strange: during an X-ray of Vasily’s brain, carried out due to severe headaches, doctors discovered an almost overgrown triangular hole on the back of his skull. It became obvious that about 15 years ago the pilot underwent craniotomy and the trepanation was carried out in a way unknown to science.

Until the end of his life, Vasily Egorov lived on Voronezh soil. For a long time he was the best well builder in the south of the region, because he knew how to find water where others failed after failure.

Meetings with the inhabitants of the underworld do not always end so well for people. The library of the Peruvian University in Cusco preserves a report on the death of a French-American expedition, which in 1952 tried to descend into one of the Andean caves and make contact with its inhabitants. Scientists found an entrance to a cave in the vicinity of Cusco and entered it. They planned to stay underground for several days, so they took with them food and water for only five days.

Of the seven members of the expedition, after two weeks only one person was able to reach the surface - the Frenchman Philippe Lamontiere. He reported that the remaining members of the expedition died in a bottomless underground abyss. The Frenchman was terribly exhausted, suffered from memory loss and was infected with the bubonic plague. A few days later he died, and the doctors found a pure gold corncob tightly clamped in his hand!

The authorities, fearing the spread of bubonic plague in the region, blocked all known cave entrances in the area with stone blocks. But scientists did not want to leave this tragedy without consequences. Inca civilization researcher Professor Raul Rios Centeno tried to repeat the route of the missing expedition.

A group of his supporters found an entrance to the dungeon unknown to the authorities and tried to explore it. At first, people walked along a long, gradually narrowing corridor, reminiscent of a ventilation pipe. They soon noticed that the walls no longer reflected the rays of their flashlights.

Using a spectrograph, scientists found that the wall cladding contains large number aluminum All attempts to break off at least one piece of this material ended in failure. The casing turned out to be so strong that not a single tool could take it. Meanwhile, the corridor continued to narrow, and when its diameter decreased to 90 centimeters, the expedition had to turn back.

The discovery of a golden ear of corn in the hands of the deceased Philippe Lamontiere excited adventurers around the world. Rumors began to spread among them that the Incan treasures had been discovered, which they hid from Cortez's soldiers somewhere underground. These rumors were fueled by legends among the Peruvians about underground caves inhabited by snake people guarding the treasures of the Incas.

Over the course of several years, dozens of treasure hunters have disappeared in Peru as they recklessly descended underground in search of gold. Only a few managed to get to the surface, and even those, apparently, were damaged in their minds: they unanimously said that underground they met strange creatures that looked like both a man and a snake at the same time!

Part 2.

Facts confirm

The Flemish cartographer and geographer of the Renaissance, Gerhard Mercator (1512-1594), tells us about the existence of dwarf peoples on Earth in ancient times. In the scientific world he is known as a competent and trustworthy compiler of several geographical maps the world and its individual regions. So, in 1544, he compiled a map of Europe on 15 sheets, on which for the first time the outlines of the Mediterranean Sea were correctly shown and all the errors that had been preserved since the times of the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy were eliminated.

In 1563, Mercator drew a map of Lorraine and then the British Isles. His Chronology, published after these atlases, was a detailed overview of all astronomical and cartographic work of the 16th century. In 1569, Mercator published a navigational Map of the World on 18 sheets, which is still used to compile maritime navigation and aeronautical atlases.

But the most amazing map was drawn by Mercator in 1538. Today it is called the “Mercator Map”. It depicts the Arctic Ocean, in the center of which, on the site of the modern North Pole, there is a continent unknown to us - Daaria. It is an archipelago of four large islands, grouped around Inland Sea, in the center of which rises the island of Arctida with the world's highest Mount Meru.

According to ancient legends, on the top of Meru there once stood the City of the Gods - Asgard Daari, in the center of which stood a beautiful white marble temple. The inhabitants of Asgard created on the mysterious continent highly developed civilization. On their spaceships they visited planets of other star systems in the Galaxy, and from there aliens flew to Daaria with return visits.

Mercator's map was accompanied by detailed notes depicting all four islands of the archipelago. From the records it followed that the rivers flowing from the Inner Sea divided Daaria into four parts - Rai, Tule, Svarga and Kh. Arra. About 14 thousand years ago, an unknown civilization appeared here, which supposedly existed until the 6th millennium BC, when for some reason Daaria began to sink under water.

A severe cold snap forced the people inhabiting the archipelago to move to the Eurasian continent. About 3 thousand years ago, the contours of Daariya disappeared under the waters of the Arctic Ocean, although the tops of individual mountains rose above the water in the form of separate islands for a long time.

So, from the inscription written on one of the islands of the archipelago, closest to the modern one Kola Peninsula, it follows that it is inhabited by dwarf people: “Pygmies live here, their height is about 4 feet (not higher than 1.2 meters), and the inhabitants of Greenland call them “Skerlingers.”

Based on the testimony of Mercator, it can be assumed that on the eve of the death of Daariya, part of its population managed to cross the already formed ice cover of the ocean to the coast of Northern Eurasia. Among the fleeing tribes, the Skerlingers also came here, who became aborigines of the then uninhabited coast of the Northern Ocean.

In the 4th-5th centuries AD, during the Great Migration of Peoples, the north of Eurasia began to be populated by Turkic and Slavic tribes, who encountered Skerlingers here and gave them new names - “Sirtya”, “Chud”, “Wonderful People”. Unable to withstand competition with stronger and more numerous alien detachments, the Sirtya-Skerlingers went underground, where they may still live.

It is likely that the distribution area of ​​this dwarf people extended much further than the Arctic coast of Siberia and the Kola coast. This is confirmed archaeological excavations 1850, during which a Neolithic Scurlinger settlement, Skara Brae, was discovered in Northern Scotland.

The settlement of Skara Brae was found after a strong hurricane literally tore the earth from the top of one of the coastal hills. For a long time, scientists did not take seriously the stories of local residents about a dwarf village that appeared on a hill after a hurricane. Excavations at Skara Brae only began in the 1920s. They were led by the English archaeologist Professor Gordon Childe.

At first, Child dated the unknown settlement to the 6th-9th centuries, but it soon became clear that we were talking about much more ancient culture, which modern science practically cannot identify with any people on Earth.

It has been established that the settlement of Skara Brae was founded long before 3100 BC and lasted until approximately 2500 BC. However, this is not the main point. Archaeologists were amazed: everything - from the stone walls and miniature beds to the low ceilings and narrow doorways - was designed for people whose height did not exceed one meter!

In addition, during excavations, scientists came to the conclusion that the settlement was created from the very beginning as an underground structure. First, the builders erected stone walls, then a ceiling made of wood and stones was laid on them, and after that the entire room was covered on top with a thick layer of earth and turf. To exit, a small hole, unnoticeable from the outside, was left in the hillside.

In the middle of each room there was a fireplace, lined with stones for safety. In the corners of the room there were cabinets for dishes and clothes, beds and seats. In one of the corners there was a bin for storing food.

Underground passages were laid between separately located dwellings, the walls of which were also lined with stone blocks. A network of such invisible passages provided reliable communication between individual families of the underground town, as well as the opportunity, in case of danger, to leave the premises and go to the surface of the earth.

By the time the excavations began, the interior of the living quarters of the village was completely preserved: scraps of canopies hung over the stone beds, neatly arranged pottery stood in the stone cabinets, women’s jewelry lay on top, and in one of the dwellings the scientists found a necklace dropped by someone. Each “apartment” necessarily contained weapons and tools.

Interestingly, mysterious inscriptions in an unknown language were discovered in almost every room of Skara Brae. The assumption put forward by experts that the shape of the inscriptions was similar to ancient runic writing was not confirmed: the signs of the unknown writing had nothing in common either with runes or with any other ancient language.

Archaeologists are of the opinion that the settlement was abandoned by its inhabitants unexpectedly and quickly, although no traces of a military invasion or hasty escape remained. Scientists were unable to explain the reason for the departure of the dungeon inhabitants. In addition, they noticed that there were piles of sand on the floors of the rooms and passages. U local population There are still beliefs that anyone who invades the home of a small people without permission will turn into sand.

The Scots also believe that dwarfs, trying to preserve their family, can kidnap human children directly from the cradle. Some of the abducted supposedly return to the human world after many years, but cannot get used to human society and remain outcasts forever. Even today, the Scots put pieces of iron in children's cradles, which supposedly protect babies from the invasion of dwarfs.

The mysterious settlement in Skara Brae is not the only evidence of the existence of dwarf peoples in ancient times. In 1985, in the Don steppes in the area of ​​the Second Vlasov burial ground, archaeologists from Voronezh University excavated a low burial mound from the Bronze Age and, when removing the embankment, discovered a mysterious labyrinth of branching, intersecting passages with smooth floors, straight walls and vertical ventilation wells. The total area of ​​the labyrinth is 254 square meters. The passages intersected in such a way that, as a whole, they formed an intricate figure, approaching a square in shape. The maximum height of passages is 1.3 m, the minimum is less than a meter.

All the holes converged towards the center, towards a large rectangular pit, in the middle of which there was a certain stone or wooden object, possibly an idol. To illuminate the room, the ancient residents used torches, as evidenced by the numerous inclusions of burnt coals on the floor of the passages.

The unusual thing about this dungeon was that the underground passages and holes were too small for even a very short person to move around. Scientists reconstructed the premises of the mound and came to the conclusion that only very small creatures could live in such a dungeon - up to 80 centimeters tall and weighing about 25 kilograms.

The central room of the sanctuary was a large underground hall, in the center of which there was a low building with a domed ceiling. It supposedly contained an idol to which sacrifices were made. And these victims were not always bloodless. Near the domed house, a human skeleton was found covered with earth, whose height was 160 cm. On the back of his skull, a triangular hole was found, cut in the same way as that of the Soviet pilot Vasily Egorov, which was described in the first part of the article.

But most often animals were sacrificed here, and above all small horses. Along the perimeter of the sanctuary, many horse heads were found, on which iron bits were even preserved. Dating the metal helped establish that the sanctuary existed in the 8th century AD.

Due to lack of funds, the study of the temple was suspended, and only in 2001 did archaeologists return to the site of the previous excavations. Attempts to hire workers in the nearby village of Bolshie Sopeltsy, despite unemployment, led nowhere. Local residents flatly refused to work in this forest, claiming that it was “unclean.”

The next morning, Prokhorov discovered a severed horse head next to his pillow. The camp duty officer did not see anything suspicious at night. The canopy and walls of the tent remained intact. At the same time, the batteries in the Niva and the UAZ truck, as well as the batteries in the flashlights, transistor radio, cell phone, and also in all electronic watches, were completely discharged.

The alarmed members of the expedition quickly broke camp, started the truck with a “crooked starter”, took the Niva in tow and were in Voronezh in the evening. And at night, five of the seven participants in the failed excavations ended up in the toxicology department of the hospital with signs of severe poisoning. Doctors managed to save only two - Prokhorov and Irina Pisareva, the other three died. Two more died at home because, due to the lack of telephones in their apartments, they could not call ambulance there was no one.

Doctors considered the cause of death to be mushroom poisoning, although Prokhorov claimed that neither he nor the other members of the expedition ate mushrooms. What happened to the people in the excavation area and what curse was placed on this place is unknown. It was only possible to find out that the village of Vlasovka used to be called Velesovka (named after the Slavic god Veles), and magicians and priests lived here back in the 8th century, whose ritual artifacts have been found and are being studied by scientists.

And another interesting find helped archaeologists finally become convinced that in ancient times our planet was inhabited by numerous tribes of dwarf people. We are talking about hobbits from the Indonesian island of Flores. The discovery of their ancient cave sites, according to English professor Chris Stringer, “rewrites the history of human evolution.”

Excavations in 2003 on Flores brought an unexpected sensation. In the Liang Bua limestone cave, Australian paleontologists under the direction of Professor M. Morewood unearthed well-preserved bones of several skeletons belonging to a dwarf upright creature. In honor of J. Tolkien's blackbuster "The Lord of the Rings" they were called hobbits.

Scientists have restored appearance skulls of a female hobbit and received an amazing image: it was a dwarf man!

The next year, the International Anthropological Expedition continued excavations on the island. Flores discovered nine more skeletons of similar humanoid creatures here. Their height did not exceed 90 cm, and their brain volume was only 380 cubic centimeters, which was only one-fourth of the brain of a modern person.

But despite their small brain volume, hobbits were quite smart: they made stone weapons and quite complex tools, and also used fire. The age of these miniature people was quite ancient: they lived between 95 and 12 thousand years ago. At this time, modern humans already existed on Earth.

In a cave where hobbits once lived, bones of Komodo dragons and dwarf stegodons, the ancestors of modern elephants, were found next to their remains. This suggests that the Hobbit tribes were able to tame some wild animals and kept them in caves as a living food supply, and possibly as transport animals.

Information about the existence of dwarf underground peoples comes these days from all continents of the planet. Since the mid-twentieth century, pygmy tribes living in Burma and China have become known, and the short inhabitants of Equatorial Africa are described in ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek sources. The men of these tribes grow only to 120-140 centimeters; women are even lower. But they all look like giants next to the so-called micropygmies found in the Australian forests. Their average height is approximately 40 centimeters. And found on the coast Baltic Sea a piece of amber became a real sensation!

Unable to explain the discovered artifact, scientists simply hid it from the public for a long time. The tiny skeleton of a man is clearly visible in the stone polished by the sea waves! There's a big one ahead research work to study all these amazing facts.

But not only dwarf tribes could once inhabit the underground world of our planet. In the mid-twentieth century, the underground Tripoli civilization was discovered on the territory of the Soviet Union. Here's what you can learn about it from reports of Soviet archaeologists.

Back in 1897, archaeologist Vikenty Khvoika conducted excavations near the village of Trypillya near Kiev. His finds turned out to be sensational and very ancient. In the soil layer corresponding to the sixth millennium BC, Khvoyka unearthed amazing things - the remains of stone dwellings and agricultural utensils of a people unknown to science. The boundaries of the appearance of “economic man” moved back at least a millennium into the past, and the found culture was called Trypillian.

But even more amazing fact was made public in 1966, when archaeologists discovered huge cities buried underground in Ukraine. The first of these was a cave complex excavated under Tripoli itself.

The population of many of these cities exceeded 15-20 thousand people - a very large figure by the standards of eight thousand years ago. And the scale was amazing: scientists found underground settlements with an area of ​​up to 250 square kilometers!

The architecture of the cave cities turned out to be surprisingly similar to the layout of the ancient Aryan ground fortresses discovered 20 years later in the Southern Urals. Arkaim, Sintashta and more than 20 large and small fortified settlements were excavated by Soviet archaeologists in the South Ural steppes.

Both the Trypillians underground and the Arkaimites on its surface built their villages according to the same plan: on a round compacted platform, stone houses were built close to each other in concentric rings with a blank wall facing outward. The result was a powerful defensive structure, into which no enemy could penetrate. In the center of such a city there was a round gravel-covered square on which the temple stood.

A still unexplained fact remains the cyclical functioning of such settlements - both in Ukraine and in the Southern Urals. Circular fortified cities existed in one place for no more than 70 years. The residents then set them on fire and left. For the Arkaim people, it was possible to prove that after the destruction of their houses, they all left towards India, where their traces should be looked for. It turned out to be more difficult to find traces of the ancient Trypillians.

According to some estimates, the Trypillian civilization numbered up to two million people. And then one day all these people burned their cities and disappeared overnight! Among the modern population of Tripoli there are legends that their ancestors once descended underground, where they live and live to this day. Scientists, naturally, rejected this version then, in 1897.

The 1966 excavations became a sensation. Ancient legends about the transition of the two million population of Tripoli to underground caves! To date, about five underground cities have already been found in the area of ​​the city of Trypillia, in the south of the Ternopil region, near the Ukrainian village of Biltse-Zoloto and in other places. Excavations are currently underway there. Perhaps they will soon explain what made the Trypillians go to live underground and what their future fate is.

Another cave civilization on the planet—the underground cities of Cappadocia—has already been studied quite well.

Cappadocia is a region in the east of Asia Minor, in the territory of modern Turkey. This is a mostly flat plateau devoid of vegetation, which is located at an altitude of 1000 meters above sea level. Translated from Turkish language The name "Cappadocia" sounds like "The Land of Beautiful Horses."

Here, among the rocks and steep hills made of volcanic tuff, there is a unique complex of underground cities that were created over several centuries, starting from the 1st millennium BC. He is currently listed World Heritage UNESCO and protected by the state.

For a long time, the routes of the Great Migration of Peoples passed through the territory of Cappadocia and waves of foreign invaders rolled through. To survive in such extreme conditions, the population of the plateau was forced to go underground.

In the soft Cappadocian tuff, people carved out residential apartments, warehouses for storing utensils and food, as well as premises for keeping livestock. Coming into contact with fresh air, the tuff hardened after a while and became a reliable defense against the enemy.

Long abandoned by the population, these amazing cities were discovered by Europeans only in the 19th century: a French priest, walking along the plateau, came across a ventilation shaft and, having gone down it, found himself in a huge underground city.

Soon European archaeologists arrived here, who established that the city has up to 12 floors descending deep into the earth, which are equipped with special ventilation shafts. Temples, water wells, grain storage facilities, stables and cattle pens, wine presses - all this shocked scientists.

Currently, six underground settlements have been discovered and explored - Kaymakli, Derinkuyu, Ozkonak, Adzhigol, Tatlarin and Mazy. It is possible that in the future other cities of Cappadocia will be found, about which the ancient Greek historian Xenophon wrote back in the 5th century BC. For a long time, his messages were considered fiction.

Today, Derinkuyu is considered the largest underground city in Cappadocia and the whole world. It was built in the 1st millennium BC. The city descends 85 meters deep into the earth and has 20 tiers - floors connected by stone stairs.

On each tier there are living quarters - rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, as well as public facilities - schools, chapels, churches. They are connected by convenient dry tunnels and narrow passages. The total area of ​​the underground city is about 2000 square meters. The exact age has not yet been established, but it is known that Derinkuyu existed during the Hittite kingdom.

Incredibly, Derinkuyu was built according to all the rules of modern engineering. Special ventilation shafts are laid from the surface of the earth through which air flows down. Even on the lowest floors it is fresh and cool. These air ducts are lowered into layers of groundwater, so they also serve as wells and reservoirs.

According to researchers' calculations, the underground city could simultaneously accommodate up to 50 thousand inhabitants, including livestock. Special pens with stalls and feeders were built for the animals. Researchers are confident that Derinkuyu is not just an underground city - it is a real underground fortress, and it was needed to defend against enemy attacks.

Derinkuyu has a fairly well thought out defense system. Yes, there is a whole network here secret passages through which one could reach the surface. In addition, at the entrance to each floor there were huge stone boulders. Special holes were made in them - loopholes, so that soldiers could shoot at the enemy. But if, nevertheless, the enemy managed to break through to the first tier of the underground city, then the residents could block the entrance to the next floor with these stones.

Even in the event of deep enemy penetration into the city “streets,” the residents of Derinkuyu could always leave their shelter. A 9-kilometer long tunnel was built here specifically for this purpose. It connects Derinkuyu with another equally important city of Cappadocia - Kaymakli.

Kaymakli is an underground city slightly smaller than its counterpart. It has about 13 floors. He was created around the same time as Derinkuyu. During the reign of the Romans and Byzantine emperors, Kaymakli was completed. The number of floors in it increased, and eventually it became a full-fledged underground city.

The city was discovered recently, and archaeologists have so far excavated only 4 of its upper floors. On each of them, along with living rooms, barns, churches, wine cellars and pottery workshops, 2-3 storage rooms were discovered that could hold several tons of food.

This can only mean one thing: the city could feed a large number of people. Therefore, researchers assume that Kaymakli had a high population density. About 15 thousand people could live in a small area, just like in a modern small town.

Excavations in this area will continue for many years, but it is already clear that the underground cities of Cappadocia are the most ambitious cave structures in the world.

In 1972, at the invitation of Salvador Allende, a group of Soviet geologists arrived in Chile to examine some long-abandoned or unprofitable mines and mines. The inspection began with a copper mine that was stopped in 1945, located high in the mountains. He was notorious among the local population.

However, a mine survey was necessary for many reasons. Firstly, the bodies of 100 miners who died under the rubble remained underground and had to be found and buried in accordance with the customs of the Chileans. Secondly, the Chilean government was worried about rumors about strange inhabitants of the dungeons, who allegedly constantly caught the eye of the peasants, causing panic. Eyewitnesses described these underground creatures as giant snakes with human heads.

Soviet specialists immediately dismissed any mysticism and began inspecting the dungeons. And almost immediately the surprises began. It turned out that the powerful gates blocking the entrance to the mine were broken, not from the outside, but from the inside. A deep, winding trail led from the gate down to the gorge: as if someone had pulled out a thick and heavy rubber hose from the depths of the mountain and was dragging it along the ground.

Moving along the main roadway of the face, the scientists stopped after a few tens of meters in front of a deep oval failure leading down. Having examined it to a depth of 1.5 meters, they found that the side surface has a corrugated, folded surface.

Having gone down this tunnel, geologists after 100 meters found themselves in an underground mine with veins of native copper. Near some of the mined areas there were piles of copper ingots, shaped like ostrich eggs. After taking a few more steps, people discovered a snake-like mechanism left against the wall, which literally “sucked” copper out of the stone.

Until recently, it seemed that there were no living creatures left on Earth that were unknown to scientists. We are looking for something new in space, but we must admit that the underground and deep-sea world of our own planet has been studied rather poorly. It is there that you can still find incredible miracles.

It became such a miracle for scientists Movile cave in Romania. For five million years, life has existed in it under conditions in which it is simply impossible.

UNEARTHLY LIFE ON EARTH

So, in the Romanian Movile cave in 1986, a closed ecosystem was found that was in no way connected with earthly conditions - neither with sunlight, nor with air, nor with water.

Entrance to Movile Cave

Wikipedia gives the following definition of closed ecosystems: “An ecosystem that does not involve any exchange of matter with the external environment. In closed ecosystems, any waste from the life of one biological species must be utilized by at least another species.”

This miracle of nature was discovered completely by accident, during geological research before the construction of a power plant near the city of Mangalia, located in Transylvania on the Black Sea coast. At a depth of 18 m, in an almost completely flooded cave, geologists discovered an entire world existing in conditions more similar to aliens than to those on Earth.

The atmosphere of the cave is almost completely lacking in oxygen (7-10%), but it is saturated with hydrogen sulfide, which is contained here in huge quantities, carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia.

This unearthly thing has existed for five million years earthly life, isolated from the outside world. The biological system has surprisingly adapted to unusual conditions. Instead of the usual photosynthesis, it uses chemosynthesis - a method of nutrition in which the oxidation reactions of inorganic compounds serve as the source of energy for the synthesis of organic substances from CO 2.

In a closed stone space with an area of ​​approximately 1,200 m2, of which only 300 m2 have been explored to date, scientists have discovered about 50 species of living creatures (microorganisms, leeches, spiders, scorpions, insects). Just over 30 of them are unknown to science.

It has been established that life in the cave arose during the early Pliocene, at which time Australopithecines related to humans appeared and died out, and then the first people appeared.

For some reason, the cave was tightly closed, perhaps that is why its inhabitants did not die during the ice ages. They had to adapt to underground life. So they have been living for 5 million years in a dark limestone cave, with a dirty lake dividing the surface into three isolated cavities. It’s good that the water in it is warm (21 degrees Celsius) thanks to thermal springs.

CAVE OF THE BLINDS

All living creatures living in the cave have two common characteristics: they have no coloration (discoloration), since they live in complete darkness, and they are completely blind, because without light they have no need for vision. In space underground inhabitants guided by touch and smell.

As you know, hearing becomes stronger in the dark, so the inhabitants of Movile have learned to pick up the slightest vibrations of stone, air and water. Closed systems have their own laws of life, and symbiosis is very well developed here. Each creature helps another to exist and develop.

Aquatic species live about 10 cm below the surface of the earth: there is slightly more oxygen there than below. And below that, only organisms with anaerobic respiration can survive, that is, those in which energy is produced in the body without the participation of oxygen obtained from the outside.

It must be said that those who receive more oxygen have changed less compared to anaerobic ones. Among them, only 25% are endemic. From this we can conclude that marine or river water came here for some time after the cave was cut off from the world.

EAT AND SURVIVE

As in all of nature, Movil has its own food chain, at the bottom of which there are autotrophic bacteria that synthesize organic substances from inorganic ones, in other words, convert minerals into organic matter. While plants on the surface use sunlight for photosynthesis, underground inhabitants oxidize hydrogen sulfide for chemosynthesis. As a result, sulfur precipitates, and microorganisms receive energy to synthesize organic matter from carbon dioxide and water.

These bacteria feed on other heterotrophic bacteria and fungi. Then the latter combine into bacterial mats and films covering the walls of the cave and the surface of the water. These mats serve as a kind of pasture for other, more developed living creatures: isopods, woodlice, scorpions, which, in turn, are eaten by centipedes and spiders.

Under the water, under the bacterial film, its own food chain is built - worms, crustaceans, snails live there, and above them - leeches and water scorpions. Snails here are extremely resistant to hydrogen sulfide and eat the bacterial film; the water scorpion hunts crustaceans; Predatory leeches gobble up snails, worms and other invertebrates.

And, I must say, this entire ecosystem works quite productively. On 1 m2, researchers counted 1.5 thousand springtails, which were hunted by blind spiders, very similar to their counterparts living on Canary Islands, only sighted. Does this mean that the Pliocene had approximately the same climate?

DON'T GET IN, IT WILL KILL YOU!

A long stay in the Movile cave poses a mortal danger to humans, this is understandable, given the atmosphere in it. And such guests are harmful to the life of the ecosystem. The speleologist's breathing process alone can cause an imbalance in the gas composition of the atmosphere in the cave.

In order to preserve this miracle of nature, access to the grottoes is allowed only to research scientists in special sterile wetsuits with scuba gear. They can only visit the site twice a month in a group of three people. The cave is carefully protected from people and the influence of the external environment. For this purpose, two hermetically sealed hatches are installed at the entrance.

Some researchers argue that today only two closed ecosystems are known in the world: the planetary one and the Movile Cave. But no, it's not that bad. Scientists identify at least two more ecosystems that exist in similar conditions.

CAVE OF THE LIGHTED HOUSE

In the state of Tabasco in southern Mexico there is Kislaya cave, which is a labyrinth 2 km long. It is sometimes called the Cave of the Illuminated House, since in some places daylight still penetrates through crevices.

An absolutely terrible picture awaits those who dare to visit this unpleasant place: real sulfuric acid oozes from the walls and ceiling, multi-colored mucus hangs everywhere on the walls, in some places forming gelatinous stalactites.

All this is complemented by the disgusting smell of hydrogen sulfide. Sulfuric acid appears here as a result of the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide, released from the ground and reacting with water. It was this acid that ate such a huge tunnel in the limestone.

However, life also exists in these non-residential conditions. Here, as in Movil, bacteria live, oxidizing hydrogen sulfide and obtaining energy. The mucus on the walls is hordes of a wide variety of bacteria, but it also contains mites and worms that eat the bacteria. The walls are inhabited by midge larvae, of which there are so many here that you can hear them humming.

But, unlike Movile, in the Kislaya Cave you can find more highly developed animals. In the stream at the bottom of the cave, schools of fish swim, feeding on bacteria and midge larvae. Although the very fact of the existence of fish in a solution of sulfuric acid seems incredible! In the upper sections of the cave, where little air enters, six species of bats live.

Scientists have not yet been able to figure out where the hydrogen sulfide comes from. There are two hypotheses: either it comes from an oil field located nearby, or the El Chichon volcano, also located nearby, is to blame.

LECHUGUILLA CAVE

Another similar ecosystem is located in Lechugilla Cave in the USA. This is one of the deepest caves, its depth is 0.5 km. Life in it is also completely isolated from the outside world in its atmosphere! a huge amount of hydrogen sulfide.

Only, unlike the other two caves, Lechugilla has lakes with clear water But this purity and transparency are deceptive: the water is unsuitable for life for ordinary inhabitants! aquatic environment. Nevertheless, reservoirs are quite inhabited by bacteria that feed on... manganese. The walls of the cave are eaten by another type of bacteria.

It’s not surprising that NASA specialists were interested in this ecosystem. They hope to get an answer to the question of whether there is life on other planets where there is no oxygen and organic food. And caves like Movila are perhaps ways to persuade scientists to a positive answer.

Galina MINIKOVA, magazine "All Mysteries of the World", number 2, 2016

The first documented mention of a salt mine in the Romanian city of Turda dates back to 1271. More than seven centuries later, the mine opens to visitors as a theme park. Once inside, you will find a compact amphitheater for concerts and special events, tennis and pool tables, a mini golf course and a Ferris wheel. On the lower tier you can take a boat trip through an underground lake of incredible beauty.

St. Michael's Cave

According to historians, the largest cave in Gibraltar owes its name to a similar grotto on the Italian Mount Gargano - the Sanctuary of Michael the Archangel. Equipped with helmets and shoes with rubber soles, in St. Michael's Cave you can admire the pristine beauty of nature, illuminated by colorful illuminations. Slightly more formal dress codes include concert events and the Miss Gibraltar competition, which are held here on a regular basis. By the way, the local culture has long traditions: archaeologists found rock paintings of primitive people in the cave of St. Michael.

Attraction Bounce Below

Company Zip World specializes in organizing active recreation, for example traveling around cable car or jumping on a trampoline inside a cave. So unusual entertainment available to residents and visitors of Blaeny Festiniog, North Wales. The Bounce Below attraction consists of three huge trampolines, the most extreme of which is stretched at a height of 55 meters from the base of the cave. And since it comes to mobile activity, there are proper safety measures, exceptions for, as well as separate visits for adults and preschool children.

Quite nearby, in one of the nearby abandoned mines, the same company Zip World organizes descents underground to a depth of 30 meters along rope bridges with obstacles and tunnels.

Volcano Room at Cumberland Caverns

The small American town of McMinnville is unremarkable for the average tourist, but it is quite popular among lovers of unusual things. After all, it is next to it that the Cumberland Caverns are located - one of the longest caves in Tennessee and the United States as a whole, inside which Bluegrass Underground musical events take place. To be precise, concerts are given in the Volcano Room at a depth of about 100 meters. Specific acoustics and unique surroundings provide an incomparable experience. Performances are held here all year round, 1-2 times a month.

Waitomo Glowworm Cave

Cappadocia is the historical name of part of the territory of modern Turkey with unique landscape volcanic origin. And it is thanks to the soft volcanic rock that Cappadocia is known for its many cave monasteries and even cities. Derinkuyu is the largest of them. Imagine, according to very rough estimates, the cave settlement at its best could accommodate about 20 thousand people. According to scientists, such cities served as a reliable refuge for the local population from enemy raids and sieges, which could last for many weeks. And all because the city sheltered not only people, but also all livestock, crops, food and water supplies, as well as household utensils. Churches, warehouses, workshops, together with an established ventilation system, made it possible to live a full life here. There is an opinion that the eight tiers of Derinkuyu, up to 60 meters deep, are only a tenth of the explored part of the city. Grandiose!

Churchill War Rooms

Churchill's War Rooms will be of interest to all World War II history buffs. It was from the underground fortifications located under the London Treasury building that the British Minister of Defense controlled the troops entrusted to him. The museum's organizers claim that the interior decoration of the bedrooms, switchboard, meeting rooms and other rooms has not changed at all after 70 years, even the Prime Minister's chamber pot is still there.

We can say that this mystery has been solved, because modern researchers have already made their conclusion - we are not the only inhabitants on planet Earth. Evidence from ancient times, as well as the discoveries of scientists of the 20th and 21st centuries, claim that mysterious civilizations have existed on Earth, or rather, underground, from ancient times to the present day.

Representatives of these civilizations, for some reason, did not come into contact with people, but still made themselves felt, and for a long time, terrestrial humanity has had traditions and legends about mysterious and strange people who sometimes emerge from caves. In addition, at modern people There is less and less doubt about the existence of UFOs, which have often been observed flying out of the ground or from the depths of the seas.

Research conducted by NASA specialists together with French scientists discovered underground cities, as well as an underground extensive network of tunnels and galleries, stretching for tens and even thousands of kilometers in Altai, the Urals, Perm region, Tien Shan, Sahara and South America. And these are not those ancient land cities that collapsed and over time their ruins were covered with earth and forests. These are precisely underground cities and structures, erected in a way unknown to us directly in underground rock formations.

Polish researcher Jan Paenk states that a whole network of tunnels has been laid underground that lead to any country. These tunnels were created using high technology unknown to people, and pass not only under the surface of the land, but also under the bed of seas and oceans. The tunnels are not just pierced, but as if burned out in underground rocks, and their walls are a frozen molten rock - smooth, like glass, and have an extraordinary strength. Jan Paenk met with miners who, while digging shreks, came across such tunnels. According to the Polish scientist and many other researchers, flying saucers are carried along these underground communications from one end of the world to the other. (Ufologists have a huge amount of evidence that UFOs fly out from underground and from the depths of the seas). Such tunnels have also been discovered in Ecuador, South Australia, the USA, and New Zealand. In addition, in many parts of the world, vertical, absolutely straight (like an arrow) wells with the same melted walls have been discovered. These wells have different depths from tens to several hundred meters.

The discovered underground map of the planet, compiled 5 million years ago, confirms the existence of a high-tech civilization.
For the first time they started talking about the unknown underground people in 1946. This happened after writer, journalist and scientist Richard Shaver told readers of the American magazine “ Amazing stories", dedicated paranormal phenomena, about his contact with aliens living underground. According to Shaver, he lived for several weeks in the underground world of mutants similar to demons described in ancient legends and tales of earthlings.
One could attribute this “contact” to the writer’s wild imagination, if not for hundreds of responses from readers who claimed that they also visited underground cities, communicated with their inhabitants and saw various miracles of technology, not only providing the underground inhabitants of the Earth with a comfortable existence in its very subsoil, but also giving the opportunity... to control the consciousness of earthlings!

In April 1942, with the support of Goering and Himmler, an expedition consisting of the most advanced minds of Nazi Germany, led by Professor Heinz Fischer, set out to look for the entrance to an underground civilization, supposedly located on the island of Rugen in the Baltic Sea. Hitler was confident that at least some parts of the earth consisted of voids, inside of which one could live and which had long ago become home to the hyper-developed peoples of antiquity. German scientists, in turn, hoped that if they managed to place modern radar devices at the desired geographical point under the surface of the earth, then with their help it would be possible to track the exact location of the enemy in any part of the world. Almost every nation has myths about the race of Ancient creatures that inhabited the world millions of years ago. Infinitely wise, scientifically advanced and culturally developed, these creatures, driven underground by terrible disasters, created their own civilization there, giving them everything they needed. They want nothing to do with people they consider low, dirty and wild. But sometimes they steal human children in order to raise them as their own. Ancient creatures are similar in appearance to ordinary people and live for a very long time, but they appeared on our planet millions of years before us.
In 1977, photographs obtained from the ESSA-7 satellite appeared in several American magazines, showing a regular dark spot, similar to a huge hole, in the place where it should be located. North Pole. Identical photographs were taken by the same satellite in 1981, could this be the entrance to the underworld?
Who are the inhabitants of the underworld?

In the history of the planet there were many ice ages, collisions with meteorites, and other cataclysms that led to the disappearance of civilizations, the period between which cataclysms occurred was quite sufficient for the formation of a highly technical civilization.
Is it possible that some civilization could survive the “end of the world”?
Monsters or inhabitants of the underworld

Suppose that millions of years ago there was a high-tech civilization, during which there was a collision with a meteorite or another global cataclysm that changed the climate of the planet, what would the civilization do then, most likely it would try to survive, and if the surface of the planet is not suitable for life and flying to another planet is not possible? The level of technology allows, only the “underground shelter” remains.
Then the question is, what happened to civilization and why, after the climate change, the underground inhabitants did not come to the surface?
Maybe they just couldn’t, constant exposure to a different climate and different gravity (underground gravitational pressure is significantly different from normal), in addition, it should be noted that there is no sunlight underground, technological lighting does not contain the full spectrum, and a long stay under technical lighting may also be the cause of “weaning” from sunlight.

Taking into account that all this happened over thousands of years, it can be assumed that the underground civilization could have evolved greatly, it is even possible that it has developed an aversion to some aspects of the climate, for example sunlight, it is possible that sunlight simply burns the inhabitants of the underground world, all this is not as fantastic as it seems. Another aspect of survival, adaptation of food, since organizing “vigitarian” food in the conditions of the underground world is not very simple, and rather depends on the level of civilization; in fact, it is quite possible that civilization switched to only animal food. Some of the listed parameters undoubtedly had to influence the culture and mentality of civilization; maybe some monsters are just inhabitants of the underworld?

The mysterious underground world exists not only in legends. In recent decades, the number of visitors to the caves has increased markedly. Adventurers and miners are making their way deeper and deeper into the bowels of the Earth, and more and more often they come across traces of the activities of mysterious underground inhabitants. It turned out that beneath us there is a whole network of tunnels, stretching for thousands of kilometers and enveloping the entire Earth in a network, and huge, sometimes even populated underground cities.

In South America there is amazing caves, connected by endless intricate passages - the so-called chinkanas. Legends of the Hopi Indians say that snake people live in their depths. These caves are practically unexplored. By order of the authorities, all entrances to them are tightly closed with bars. Dozens of adventurers have already disappeared without a trace in the Chinkanas. Some tried to penetrate the dark depths out of curiosity, others - out of thirst for profit: according to legend, the treasures of the Incas were hidden in the chincanas. Only a few managed to escape from the terrible caves. But these “lucky ones” were forever damaged in their minds. From the incoherent stories of the survivors, one can understand that they met strange creatures in the depths of the earth. These inhabitants of the underworld were both human and snake-like.

There are pictures of fragments of global dungeons in North America. The author of the book about Shambhala, Andrew Thomas, based on a thorough analysis of the stories of American speleologists, claims that in the mountains of California there are direct underground passages that lead to the state of New Mexico.

Once upon a time, the American military also had to study mysterious thousand-kilometer tunnels. An underground mine was produced at a test site in Nevada nuclear explosion. Exactly two hours later, at a military base in Canada, 2000 kilometers away from the explosion site, a radiation level was recorded that was 20 times higher than normal. A study conducted by geologists has shown that next to the Canadian base there is an underground cavity that connects to a huge cave system that permeates the North American continent.

There are especially many legends about the underground world of Tibet and the Himalayas. Here in the mountains there are tunnels that go deep into the ground. Through them, the “initiate” can travel to the center of the planet and meet representatives of the ancient underground civilization. But not only wise creatures who give advice to the “initiates” live in the underworld of India. Ancient Indian legends tell of the mysterious kingdom of the Nagas, hidden in the depths of the mountains. It is inhabited by Nanas - snake people who store countless treasures in their caves. Cold-blooded, like snakes, these creatures are incapable of experiencing human feelings. They cannot warm themselves and steal warmth, physical and mental, from other living beings.

Speleologist Pavel Miroshnichenko, a researcher who studies artificial structures, wrote about the existence of a system of global tunnels in Russia in his book “The Legend of LSP”. The lines of global tunnels he drew on the map of the former USSR went from Crimea through the Caucasus to the well-known Medveditsa ridge. In each of these places, groups of ufologists, speleologists, and researchers of the unknown discovered fragments of tunnels or mysterious bottomless wells.

The Medveditskaya Ridge has been studied by expeditions organized by the Kosmopoisk association for many years. The researchers not only managed to record the stories of local residents, but also used geophysical equipment to prove the reality of the existence of the dungeons. Unfortunately, after World War II, the mouths of the tunnels were blown up.

A sublatitudinal tunnel stretching from Crimea to the east in the region of the Ural Mountains intersects with another one stretching from north to east. It is along this tunnel that you can hear stories about “wonderful people” who came out to local residents at the beginning of the last century. “Divya people,” as told in epics common in the Urals, “live in Ural mountains, exits to the world are through caves. Their culture is great. The “Wonderful People” are small in stature, very beautiful and have a pleasant voice, but only a select few can hear them... An old man from the “Wonderful People” comes to the square and predicts what will happen. An unworthy person hears and sees nothing, but the men in those places know everything that the Bolsheviks are hiding.”

Legends of our days.

Meanwhile, the most authoritative archaeologists of Peru today have no doubt at all about the existence of an underground empire: not yet explored by anyone, it, in their understanding, extends under the seas and continents. And ancient buildings rise above the entrances to this grandiose dungeon in various parts of the planet: for example, in Peru this is the city of Cusco... Of course, the opinion of Peruvian experts is not shared by all scientists. And yet, many facts speak in favor of the underworld, indirectly proving its existence. The most fruitful years for such evidence were the 1970s.

England. The miners, digging an underground tunnel, heard the sounds of working mechanisms coming from somewhere below. Having made a passage, they discovered a staircase leading to an underground well. The sound of the operating equipment intensified, and therefore the workers got scared and ran away. Returning after some time, they found neither the entrance to the well nor the stairs.

USA. Anthropologist James McCann and his colleagues examined a cave in Idaho that was notorious among the indigenous population. Local residents believed that there was an entrance to the underworld. Scientists, going deeper into the dungeon, clearly heard screams and moans, and then discovered human skeletons. Further exploration of the cave had to be stopped due to the increasing smell of sulfur.

A bottomless mine with a diameter of about one and a half meters with amazingly smooth edges was discovered under the Black Sea city of Gelendzhik. Experts unanimously say: it was created using technology unknown to people and has existed for hundreds of years.

Speaking about the underworld, one cannot discount the legends that have appeared in our days. For example, modern Indians living in the mountainous regions of California say that very tall, golden-haired people sometimes come from Mount Shasta: they once descended from heaven, but were unable to adapt to life on the earth’s surface. Now they live in a secret city, which is located inside an extinct volcano. And you can only get into it through mountain caves. By the way, Andrew Thomas, the author of a book about Shambhala, completely agrees with the Indians. The researcher believes that there are underground passages in Mount Shasta that go towards New Mexico and further to South America.

Another underground people was “discovered” by speleologists: they are sure that deep caves around the world are inhabited by troglodytes. They say that these cave dwellers sometimes appear to people; they help those in trouble who respect their world, and punish those who desecrate the caves...

To believe or not to believe?

To believe or not to believe all these stories? Any sane person will answer: “Don’t believe it!” But not everything is so simple. Let's try to think logically. Let's think about how real a person's full life underground is? Could there be an unknown culture or even civilization next to us - or rather, below us - managing to limit contact with terrestrial humanity to a minimum? Going unnoticed? Is this possible? Does such “living” contradict common sense?

In principle, a person can exist underground, and it would be quite nice - if there was money. Suffice it to recall the bunker house, the construction of which is currently being carried out by Tom Cruise: the megastar plans to hide in his underground home from aliens, who, in his opinion, should soon attack our Earth. In less exposed, but no less solid bunker cities, the “chosen ones” are preparing to wait out the nuclear winter and the post-radiation period in the event of a nuclear war - and this is a period during which more than one generation will get back on their feet! Moreover, in China and Spain today many thousands of people live not in houses, but in well-equipped caves with all amenities. True, these cave dwellers continue to actively contact the outside world and take part in terrestrial life. But the inhabitants of cave monasteries scattered around the world - like the Greek Meteora - have always been almost completely cut off from the hustle and bustle of life. Based on the degree of isolation that lasts for centuries, their existence can be considered underground.

But, perhaps, the most striking example of the adaptation of a huge number of people (what is it - an entire civilization!) to the “lower” world is the underground city of Derinkuyu.

Derinkuyu

Derinkuyu, which means "deep wells", takes its name from the small Turkish town currently located above it. For a long time, no one thought about the purpose of these strange wells, until in 1963 one of the local residents, who discovered a strange gap in his basement from which fresh air was drawn, showed healthy curiosity. As a result, a multi-tiered underground city was found, numerous rooms and galleries of which, connected to each other by passages tens of kilometers long, were hollowed out in rocks...

Already during the excavation of the upper tiers of Derinkuyu it became clear: this is the discovery of the century. In the underground city, scientists discovered objects of material culture of the Hittites, a great people who competed with the Egyptians for dominance in Western Asia. The Hittite kingdom, founded in the 18th century BC. e., in the 12th century BC. e. disappeared into obscurity. Therefore, the discovery of an entire city of the Hittites became a real sensation. In addition, it turned out that the giant underground city is only part of a colossal labyrinth under the Anatolian Plateau. Scientists have come to the conclusion that underground construction was carried out for at least nine (!) centuries. Moreover, this was not just earthwork, albeit of a colossal volume. Ancient architects equipped the underground empire with a life support system, the perfection of which is still amazing today. Everything here was thought out to the smallest detail: rooms for animals, food warehouses, rooms for preparing and eating food, for sleeping, for meetings... At the same time, religious temples and schools were not forgotten. A precisely calculated blocking device made it possible to easily block the entrances to the dungeon with granite doors. And the ventilation system that supplied the city with fresh air continues to operate flawlessly to this day!

Given the availability of provisions, up to two hundred thousand people at a time could live indefinitely in the underground city. The issue of replenishing food supplies could be solved in many ways: from domestic production to the use of “intermediary services.” Apparently, there was no single scheme for all times.
But in the legends of different peoples, underground inhabitants obtain food by barter, secret trade, or even theft. The latter option, however, is only suitable for small underground communities: Derinkuyu could hardly feed himself in this way. By the way, most likely, it was the extraction of food that became the reason that the land inhabitants began to think about the existence of “children of the dungeons”...
Traces of the Hittites living underground can be traced until the Middle Ages, and then are lost. A developed underground civilization managed to exist secretly for almost two millennia, and after its disappearance it did not open up to the surface world for more than a thousand years. And this amazing fact alone allows us to draw an unambiguous conclusion: yes, it is still possible to live underground in secret from people!

This is a huge underground city that goes 8 floors underground.

Always +27.

Underground America

Legends and myths of many peoples of the world tell about the existence of various intelligent creatures underground. In truth, few sane people ever took these narratives seriously. But now our time has come, and some researchers began to write about the underground city of Agartha. The entrance to this secret abode of theirs underground is supposedly located under the Lasha monastery in Tibet. The absolute majority of representatives of official science reacted to such statements with slight irony. But on the other hand, messages about mysterious entrances to dungeons and bottomless mines may perhaps interest not only an inquisitive person, but also a serious scientist.

Among a number of researchers of the underground world, there is a strong opinion that entrances to the underground cities of humanoid inhabitants exist in Ecuador, the Pamirs and even at the poles of the Arctic and Antarctic.

It was in the area of ​​Mount Shasta, according to Indian eyewitnesses, that people, unlike those here, were seen several times coming out of the ground. According to the written testimonies of many Indians, one can enter the underworld through various caves located near the sacred volcanoes Popocatelpetl and Inlacuatl. Here, according to the assurances of the same Indians, they sometimes met tall and fair-haired strangers emerging from the dungeon.

Back in his time, the famous English traveler and scientist Percy Fawcett, who visited South America six times, said that he had repeatedly heard from Indians living in mountainous areas that they often see strong, large and golden-haired people descending and ascending into mountains.

Even 30 years ago, near Gelendzhik, both people and animals disappeared without a trace. And in the early 70s of the last century, people quite by accident discovered and immediately fenced off a bottomless mine with a diameter of about 1.5 meters. Its walls are smooth, as if polished, without any traces of formwork. Experts almost unanimously say that it has probably existed for hundreds of years and was created using technology unknown to modern humanity. The first attempt by scientists and speleologists to carefully examine the phenomenon ended tragically. Of the five members of the expedition, one disappeared, and four died a few days after rappelling to a depth of 25 meters. The man who died in the mine fell 30 meters, and at that moment his partners first heard some strange sounds, and then the wild cry of their comrade. Those who remained at the top immediately began to lift their colleague from the shaft, but the rope first stretched like a string, and then suddenly weakened. The lower end was cut off as if by a knife. There were subsequent, albeit short-lived, attempts to explore this bottomless well by lowering it into it. They gave practically nothing. Then they started lowering a television camera into the shaft. The rope was gradually increased to 200 meters, and all this time the camera showed bare walls. That's all that is currently known about the Gelendzhik phenomenon.

Similar bottomless wells have been found on all continents of the planet.

The most authoritative archaeologists of Peru today have no doubt at all about the existence of an as yet completely unexplored underground empire, stretching under the seas and continents. In their opinion, there are ancient cities and buildings above the entrances to them in various parts of the continents. For example, they believe that one of these places is Cusco in Peru.

In this regard, the most intriguing story is about the underground city of La Cecana in the Andes. Just recently, in the university library of the city of Cusco, archeologists discovered a report on the disaster that befell a group of researchers from France and the United States in 1952. In the vicinity of the named city, they found the entrance to the dungeon and began to prepare to descend into it. The scientists did not intend to stay there for long, so they took food for 5 days. However, only 15 days later, out of 7 people, only one Frenchman, Philippe Lamontiere, made it to the surface. He was exhausted, suffered from memory loss, almost lost his human appearance, and besides, he was soon found to have clear signs of infection with the deadly bubonic plague. While in the hospital isolation ward, the Frenchman was mostly delirious, but still sometimes spoke about the bottomless abyss into which his companions had fallen. No one took his words seriously, and therefore no rescue expedition was carried out. Moreover, out of fear of the plague epidemic that Philippe Lamontiere brought with him, the authorities ordered to immediately block the entrance to the dungeon with a reinforced concrete slab. The Frenchman died a few days later, and after him there was left an ear of corn made of pure gold, which he picked up from the ground with him. Now this underground find is kept in the Museum of Archeology in Cusco.

More recently, the most authoritative researcher of the Inca civilization, Dr. Raul Rios Centeno, tried to repeat the route of the tragically missing expedition of the French and Americans. He gathered a group of 6 specialists and obtained permission from the authorities to enter the dungeon through the already studied entrances. However, having outwitted the guards, the archaeologists went underground through a room located under the tomb of a dilapidated temple a few kilometers from Cusco. From here there was a long, gradually narrowing corridor that looked like part of a huge ventilation system. Some time later, the expedition was forced to stop, since for some unknown reason the walls of the tunnel did not reflect infrared rays. Then the researchers decided to use a special radio filter, which suddenly started working when tuned to the frequency of aluminum. This fact plunged all participants into complete bewilderment. Where, one might ask, did this metal come from in the prehistoric labyrinth? They began to explore the walls. And it turned out that they had a plating of unknown origin and high density, which no instrument could take. The tunnel steadily continued to narrow until its height reached 90 cm. People had to turn back. On the way back, the guide ran away, fearing that he would eventually be severely punished for assisting the scientists in their illegal activities. This is where the expedition ended. Dr. Centeno was not allowed to repeat further research even at the highest government authorities...

Tibetan lamas say that the ruler of the Underworld
is the great King of the World, as he is called in the East. And his kingdom is
Agartha, based on the principles of the Golden Age, exists at least 60
thousand years. People there know no evil and do not commit crimes. Unseen
Science flourished there, so the underground people who reached
incredible heights of knowledge, does not know diseases and is not afraid of any
disasters. The King of Peace wisely rules not only millions of his own
underground subjects, but also secretly by the entire population of the surface
parts of the Earth. He knows all the hidden springs of the universe, he comprehends the soul
every human being and reads the great book of destinies.

The kingdom of Agartha stretches underground throughout the planet. And under the oceans too.
There is also an opinion that the peoples of Agartha were forced to switch to
underground living after a universal cataclysm (flood) and immersion
under the water of land - ancient continents that existed on the site of the present
oceans. As the Himalayan lamas say, in the caves of Agartha there is
a special glow that even allows you to grow vegetables and grains. Chinese
Buddhists know that the ancient people, who took refuge after another
doomsday underground, lives in caves in America. Here they are -
Ecuadorian dungeons of Erich von Denniken in the foothills of South America
Andes. Let us recall that information gleaned from Chinese sources
published in 1922, that is, exactly half a century before the irrepressible
the Swiss began his fantastic descent to a depth of 240 meters to
mysterious repositories of ancient knowledge, lost in inaccessible
places in the Ecuadorian province of Morona-Santiago.

The underground workshops are in full swing with tireless work. Any metals melt there
and products are forged from them. In unknown chariots or other perfect
devices, underground inhabitants rush through tunnels laid deep
underground. The level of technical development of underground inhabitants exceeds
wildest imagination.

Dungeons of Cusco

An ancient legend is also associated with gold, telling about a secret entrance to a vast labyrinth of underground galleries under a collapsed building. As evidenced by the Spanish magazine Mas Alya, which specializes in describing all kinds of historical mysteries, this legend, in particular, tells that there are gigantic tunnels crossing the vast mountainous territory of Peru and reaching Brazil and Ecuador. In the Quechua Indian language they are called "chincana", which literally means "labyrinth". In these tunnels, the Incas, supposedly deceiving the Spanish conquistadors, hid a significant part of the golden wealth of their empire in the form of large-sized artistic objects. Even a specific point in Cusco was indicated where this labyrinth began and where the Temple of the Sun once stood.

It was gold that glorified Cusco (the only museum in the world dedicated to this noble metal still operates here). But it also destroyed him. The Spanish conquistadors who conquered the city plundered the Temple of the Sun, and all its riches, including the golden statues in the garden, were loaded onto ships and sent to Spain. At the same time, rumors spread about the existence of underground halls and galleries, where the Incas allegedly hid part of the ritual gold items. This rumor is indirectly confirmed by the chronicle of the Spanish missionary Felipe de Pomares, who spoke in the 17th century about the fate of the Inca prince, who confessed to his Spanish wife Maria de Esquivel about the mission “sent to him by the gods”: to preserve the most valuable treasures of his ancestors.

Blindfolding his wife, the prince led her through one of the palaces into the dungeon. After long walks they found themselves in a huge hall. The prince took off the blindfold from his wife's eyes, and in the weak light of the torch she saw the golden statues of all twelve Inca kings, reaching the height of a teenager; a lot of gold and silver dishes, figurines of birds and animals made of gold. As a loyal subject of the king and a devout Catholic, Maria de Esquivel reported her husband to the Spanish authorities, telling in detail about her journey. But the prince, sensing evil, disappeared. The last thread that could lead to the underground labyrinth of the Incas was cut off.

Archaeologists have found a network of mysterious tunnels in Malta

In Malta, in the city of Valletta, archaeologists have found a network of underground tunnels. Now researchers are racking their brains: either this is the underground city of the Order of Malta, or ancient aqueduct or sewer.
For centuries, it was believed that Crusader knights had built an underground city on the Mediterranean island of Malta, and rumors circulated among the population about secret passages and military labyrinths of the Hospitaller Order.

Ar Dalam Cave

We were building a garage and found ancient tunnels
This winter, researchers discovered a network of tunnels beneath the historic center of the Maltese capital Valletta. These tunnels date back to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It was then that the knights of one of the largest Christian military orders from the times of the Crusades of the 11th-13th centuries were strengthening Valletta to repel Muslim attacks.

“Many said that there were passages and even an entire underground city. But the question is - where were these tunnels? Did they even exist? Now we think we have found at least a small part of these underground structures,” said archaeologist Claude Borg, who took part in the excavations.

The tunnels were discovered on February 24 during archaeological exploration, which was carried out on Palace Square opposite the Palace of the Grand Master. The palace formerly belonged to the head of the Order of Malta, and today it houses the legislative institutions and the presidency of Malta. Archaeological survey was carried out before the construction of the underground parking.

Mdina

Underground city or water supply?
First, workers found an underground reservoir directly under the square. Near its bottom, at a depth of about 12 m, they discovered a hole in the wall - the entrance to the tunnel. It ran under the square and then connected to other canals. An attempt to pass through these corridors was unsuccessful - they were blocked. All the corridors found have a vault high enough for an adult to easily walk through. However, researchers believe that this is only part of an extensive plumbing system.

Restoration architect Edward Said of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna considers this discovery “just the tip of the iceberg.” In his opinion, the found tunnels are part of the water supply and sewerage system, which also includes corridors where those who monitored the tunnels and kept them in order could walk.

Construction of Valletta
The Order of Malta, founded in 1099, became famous for its victories over Muslims during the Crusades. In 1530, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V gave the island of Malta to the knights. In 1565, the order, under the leadership of the Grand Master of La Valletta, was attacked by the Ottoman Turks, but managed to withstand the Great Siege of Malta.

However, this military experience led them to begin building a fortress in Malta, named after the master of Valletta. The fortification was built on a hill, but there were not enough natural sources of water there. According to Sed, the main goal of the city builders was to provide for themselves necessary supplies in case of future sieges.

Saint Paul's Cave

“They soon realized that the rainwater and springs they had at their disposal would not be enough,” the architect noted.

Aqueduct and water supply
Therefore, the builders built an aqueduct, the remains of which have survived to this day: water entered the city from a valley located to the west of Valletta. The location of the tunnels under Palace Square also confirms the idea that they were built specifically as a water supply system. Probably, through underground channels and the reservoir was supplied big fountain on Palace Square. When the British dominated the island (1814−1964), the fountain was demolished.

End
How the knights left
In 1798, Napoleon expelled the knights from Malta. Now the Order of Malta continues to exist, but its residence is in Rome.
“The fountain was quite an important source of water for the people of the city,” Borg noted.

As Sed said, archaeologists found the remains of centuries-old lead pipes. The corridors connected to this tunnel may have been service passages used by plumbing engineers or so-called fontaniers.

“The fountain maintenance engineer, along with a team of workers, had to check the system and keep the fountain in good condition. They also turned off the fountain at night,” Sed said.

Didn't the underground city exist?
Stories about secret military passages, according to Sed, have more substance. Under the fortress walls there could indeed be secret corridors for soldiers. However, according to Sed, most of the legends about the underground city are actually stories about the water supply and sewerage system.

According to the researcher, Valletta's pipeline system was very progressive for its time. If, for example, we compare Valletta with such large cities of that time as London or Vienna, then the Maltese city of the 16th-17th centuries was much cleaner, while others were literally buried in dirt.

Following these findings, the Maltese government announced that construction of the underground car park would be postponed. They are planning to install a new fountain in the square, and the tunnels, Sed hopes, will subsequently be open to the general public.

Mexico. Mitla. Mayan underground structures

According to participants, these structures have a high quality finish and are more like a bunker. They also notice that from some details it can be judged that the Indians did not build, but only restored one of these structures from blocks lying around in the vicinity.

Underground Giza

The pyramids, the sphinx, and the ruins of ancient temples on the Giza plateau have captured the imagination of people for more than one millennium. And here is a new discovery. It has been established that huge, completely unexplored underground structures are hidden under the pyramids. Scientists suggest that the network of tunnels could extend for tens of kilometers.

While studying one of the tombs, scientists accidentally leaned on the wall, and the rock collapsed. Archaeologists have found the beginning of one of the tunnels. Later, it was believed that the tunnels penetrated the entire Giza plateau, on which the great pyramids stood. Egypt's chief custodian of antiquities said that a group of local and foreign archaeologists had begun work on drawing up a kind of map of the underground passages under the pyramids. The work is carried out both on the ground and from the air using aerial photography. Studying the tunnels will allow you to take a fresh look at the entire Giza pyramid complex.

There are about 300 archaeological expeditions in Egypt. Their goal is to study and preserve already found objects. Now several groups of scientists are excavating a unique temple. It may even eclipse the famous temple in Luxor. There is reason to believe that underground there is a huge, previously unknown complex of buildings, palaces and temples. A big obstacle for scientists is that houses, roads and communications have already been built on the lands that covered these unique structures.

Since the declassification of the new deep radar 2 years ago, information about underground complexes and labyrinths has begun to appear from many places around the world. In places like Guatemala in South America, tunnels have been documented under the Tikal complex, leading 800 kilometers across the country. Researchers note that it is possible that with the help of these tunnels the Mayans avoided the complete destruction of their culture.

In early 1978, a similar radar (SIRA) was deployed in Egypt and incredible underground complexes were discovered under Egyptian pyramids. A research agreement was signed with Egyptian President Sadat, and this secret project has been ongoing for 3 decades.

Dungeons Kolobros

The Huaraz Plateau in the Western Cordillera has long been considered the secret refuge of Peruvian sorcerers. They say they can summon the spirits of the dead and materialize them. They can sharply increase and decrease the temperature of the surrounding air, which is necessary for the appearance of “shining carts driven by heavenly patrons.” Unfortunately, few foreigners managed to become participants in these magical rituals. One of them, the Englishman Joseph Ferrier, visited the mysterious underground settlement of Kolobros in 1922. And he was so shocked by what he saw that he was not too lazy to write a lengthy essay for the British Pathfinder magazine, preceded by an oath: “I vouch for the absolute truthfulness of what was stated.”

Joseph Ferrier is silent about how he managed to become a guest of a system forbidden to outsiders underground labyrinths, “very confusing and cramped, almost unsuitable for free breathing and movement, but with small spaces in which they are forced to live from birth to death. Because the life of each hereditary sorcerer has a special meaning that is not found anywhere else except on the local plateau.” What is this meaning? According to Ferrier, the following:

“Underground sorcerers do not draw a line between the world of the living and the world of the dead. They believe that both the living and the dead are only spirits. The only difference is that until the moment of death, the spirit of each of us languishes in a bodily shell. After death, it is released, becoming a spirit outside the body. Therefore, by using special techniques, sorcerers ensure that spirits who have taken on flesh can be close to us, among us. You may not believe it, but copies of these once living creatures are found in labyrinths, walking among the living. I myself have repeatedly confused phantoms with people. Only the sorcerers of Kolobros do not confuse.”

Rituals of materialization, creations of phantoms, are practiced in big hall, having the shape of an isosceles triangle. The walls and ceiling are covered with copper plates. The floor is paved with wedge-shaped bronze slabs.

“As soon as I crossed the threshold of this ritual room,” writes Ferrier, “I immediately received eight or ten electric shocks. Doubts disappeared. The metallized room was not much different from the metallized internal volume of a capacitor jar, and, apparently, was needed by sorcerers-mediums for their afterlife rites. I was convinced of this when they stood up in their loincloths, clasped their hands, and began to sing without words. There was a buzzing in my ears. I bit my tongue when I saw thin silver hoops begin to rotate around the heads of the sorcerers, scattering wet, cold sparkles. Sequins fell onto the copper underfoot, forming a kind of cobweb, red as blood. From the web slowly sprouted faintly visible semblances of human bodies. They stood, vibrating unsteadily from the drafts of the galleries. The sorcerers, having opened their hands and stopped singing, began to dance and rub the resin pillars installed in the center of the hall with scraps of wool. Several minutes passed. The air became saturated with electricity and began to flicker.

Having found the power of speech, I asked the sorcerer Aotuk, what will happen next? Aotuk said that further the shadows of the summoned dead will become solid, suitable for being in our world.” The sorcerers of the Kolobros dungeon have achieved the impossible. Obeying the most ancient magical techniques, the discharged, light as smoke, shadows became completely indistinguishable from people - thinking, with beating hearts, capable of lifting and carrying weights weighing up to ten kilograms, sometimes more. The rituals of “humanizing disembodied spirits” seemed to Ferrier to be similar to European medieval rituals of evoking the dead. Whether this is so can be judged from an excerpt from the essay:

“The most dangerous ritual for sorcerers, luring the dead, takes a lot of bodily strength. The Sabbath is best performed during the period of time between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Magical New Year in the Kolobros labyrinths, it begins on November 1 with a “silent supper” around an altar table covered with a triangular canvas on which there is a tin cup, a black cord and censer, an iron trident and knife, an hourglass, and seven burning candles.

Each sorcerer wears a protective golden pictogram on his chest in the shape of a grinning skull framed by four lead bones. As soon as it is closer to midnight, the upper vessel of the clock is freed from sand, the sorcerers light incense and begin to invite guests to a meal. When they approach, the trident begins to flash blue, the knife - red. The cord burns out completely. A flame emerges from the floor, following the contours of the Egyptian holy cross, symbolizing eternal life. Throwing a wooden skull and bones into the fire - the sign of Osiris - the sorcerers loudly exclaim: “Rise from the dead!” The chief sorcerer pierces the flaming cross with a glowing trident. The flame immediately goes out. The candles go out too. Silence, saturated with the smell of incense, falls. A strong phosphorescent glow spreads under the ceiling.

“Go away, go away, shadows of the departed. We will not let you near us until you become alive to us. Let there be agreement between us. Let it be!” - the sorcerers shout deafeningly. There are no more shadows. Instead of shadows, there are their detailed bodily repetitions, which can be consulted when important decisions need to be made.

Why do underground sorcerers prefer loincloths as clothing, you ask? Because negotiations with the resurrected wear thin the fabric of clothing, no matter how good the fabric is. I had a new linen suit. A few conversations with the resurrected, a few touches to them - and my suit became unusable, as happens under the influence of decay.”

Ferrier argues that the resurrected are not eternal. Each stays among the sorcerers of Kolobros for at most a year: “When the figure of the “neighbor” fades, when his internal energy is depleted, a ritual of returning to the shadows is arranged for him - a quick, purely formal one. How else? Knowledge has been gained. "Neighbor" is not needed. No matter how much the sorcerers wish, he will not return again.” However, it is from this fleeting rite that the main rite - the heavenly carts - begins. Ferrier does not write anything about the magical components of this action. He only reports that he saw how in the sky above the Huaraz plateau “with a terrible roar and rattle, fiery wheels rushed by and crashed into the edge of the Kolobros Canyon.” The sorcerers did not allow him to meet with the “gods of the seventh heaven,” citing the fact that mere mortals cannot communicate with immortals. To Ferrier’s objection that the sorcerers themselves, being mortal, still meet with the heavenly gods, the inhabitants of Kolobros replied that contacts are not frequent, they are carried out only on the initiative of immortals, who make meetings safe. Characterizing the level of knowledge of the gods, Ferrier says that they have gone so far ahead that “they have long forgotten what the best minds of humanity are just beginning to ponder.” Nowadays, even experienced speleologists do not risk visiting the labyrinths of Kolobros. One of them, American Michael Stern, dreams of visiting there. The expedition is planned for the summer of 2008, not paying attention to the increasing frequency of natural anomalies. These include local earthquakes, night-time above-ground glows, mud geysers in the area of ​​labyrinths, flights of fireballs, and “landings” of ghosts with pear-shaped heads. Local residents have no doubt that the dungeons of Kolobros are still inhabited. The way there is forbidden to strangers without the knowledge of the owners. Stern persists: “I am not a slave to superstition, I do not believe in sorcerers. For me, Kolobros is just a system of deep, difficult-to-pass caves, nothing more.” At the beginning of the last century, Joseph Ferrier also thought so...

Agarti (Agartha) - underground country

The only and still unconfirmed sources of information about the mysterious Agharti remain the publication of the Pole F. Ossendowski, a member of the Council of Ministers in the Kolchak government, who served during the period of civil war in the Siberian government, the post of director of the Credit Chancellery2, who subsequently fled to Mongolia, and, published twelve years earlier, the work of Saint-Yves d'Alveidre "Mission of India". Both authors claim the existence of the underworld - a spiritual center that is of non-human origin, and preserves the Primordial wisdom, passing it down through the centuries from generation to generation by secret societies. The inhabitants of the underworld are far superior to humanity in their technical development, have mastered unknown energies and are connected to all continents through underground passages. A comparative analysis of both versions of the myth of Agharti was carried out in his work “King of the World” by the French scientist Rene Guenon: “If there really are two versions of this story, originating from sources very distant from each other, then it was interesting to find them and conduct a thorough comparison.”

The French esoteric thinker, Marquis Saint-Yves d'Alveidre (1842-1909) left a noticeable mark on history by writing books about occult ancient history3 and formulating a new universal law of history and human society, which he called “Synarchy”. The ideas of a new world order, set forth in the teachings of Saint-Yves "Synarchy", attracted the attention of future leaders of the National Socialist Party in Germany. According to Saint-Yves, all information about Agartha was received by him “from the Afghan prince Kharji Sharif, the envoy of the World Occult Government” and the center of Agartha is located in the Himalayas. This is an entire cave center with a population of 20 million people - “the most secret sanctuary of the Earth”, storing in its depths the chronicles of humanity for the entire time of its evolution on this earth over 556 centuries, recorded on stone tablets4. The chronology of humanity and the antiquity of the teachings of Saint-Yves, based on Indian sources, traces back to the era of the progenitor of mankind, the legendary Manu, i.e. 55,647 years ago. In his literary work, aimed, as he wrote, “at educated people, the most enlightened secular people and statesmen,” Saint-Yves describes in detail and convincingly government system Agharti gives quite original details, such as:

“The modern mystical name of the Sanctuary of the Cycle of Rama was given to it approximately 5100 years ago, after the schism of Irshu. This name is "Agartha", which means: "inaccessible to violence", "unattainable to Anarchy." It is enough for my readers to know that in some regions of the Himalayas, among the 22 temples representing the 22 arcana of Hermes and the 22 letters of some sacred alphabets, Agartha constitutes the mystical Zero (0). "Unfindable."
* “None of our terrible systems of punishment are practiced in Agartha, and there are no prisons. There is no death penalty. Beggary, prostitution, drunkenness, and fierce individualism are completely unknown in Agharti. The division into castes is unknown.”
* “Among the tribes expelled from the great University (Agartha) there is one wandering tribe, which, since the 15th century, has been showing all of Europe its strange experiments. This is the true origin of the gypsies (Bohami - in Sanskrit, “Get away from me”).
* Agartha can monitor Souls on all ascending stages of the worlds up to the extreme limits of our solar system. During some cosmic periods one can see and speak with the dead. This is one of the secrets of the ancient Cult of Ancestors.”
* The sages of Agartha “tested the boundaries of the last flood on our Planet and determined the possible starting point of its resumption in thirteen or fourteen centuries.”
* “The founder of Buddhism, Shakyamuni, received initiation into the Sanctuary of Agartta, but he was unable to remove his notes from Agartta and subsequently dictated to his first disciples only what his memory was capable of retaining.”
* “Not a single initiate can take away from Agartha the original texts of her scientific works, for, as I have already said, they are engraved on stone in the form of signs incomprehensible to the crowd. The threshold of the Sanctuary is inaccessible without the will of the student. Its basement floor is built magically, in various ways, in which the Divine word plays a role, as in all ancient temples.”
* “The sacred texts, owing to political conditions, were everywhere systematically changed, with the exception of Agartha alone, where all the lost secrets of the Hebrew-Egyptian text of our own Holy Scriptures and the keys to their mysteries were preserved.”

Saint-Yves does not answer the question of where Agartha is located; the text contains only one indirect indication that symbolically Agartha’s head is in contact with Afghanistan, and its legs, i.e. rests its base on Burman. This territory corresponds to the region Himalayan mountains, little explored at that time. A striking description of the most secret sanctuary on Earth, containing lost ancient knowledge, subsequently inspired the search for this secret sanctuary in Tibet, both by various scientists and adventurers, and by government officials. different countries, planning to send expeditions to little-explored areas of Central Asia, in particular to establish an alliance with Agartha.