Secrets of the Lake of Death in Sicily. Lake of Death in Sicily - dangerous beauty Lake of hydrochloric acid

Mysterious lake in Sicily has gained worldwide fame due to its ominous fame. Its shores are absolutely lifeless, and the waters of the lake bring death to all living things. Of course, there are no living creatures in it, no plants, not even plankton - the Lake of Death in Sicily is no less dangerous for living beings than the famous Sicilian mafia.

The Secret of the Lake of Death

The secret of the mystical lake was discovered by scientific expeditions that discovered two springs at the bottom of the lake... with concentrated sulfuric acid. It was then that the nature of the deadly effect of the lake’s waters became clear - it dissolves any organic matter literally in a matter of minutes. It is not surprising that the lake is lifeless, and there are no plants around it - even being near it is very dangerous. Previously it was believed that the waters of the lake erode rocks, which enrich the lake of death with acid. But the second, and correct version of scientists about the sources of sulfuric acid seems more plausible - in this lake there is not water, but practically acid of high concentration, as the analysis showed.

Legends of the Deadly Lake

Of course, such a place could not help but create legends, and the legends are truly in the Sicilian style. Once upon a time, Sicilian clans used this place to execute their enemies and dispose of corpses - the lake decomposed a human body without a trace in a few minutes. It is quite possible that this is only a legend, and it is not known for certain about the deaths of people in the lake, but... the mafia knows how to keep its secrets, and the Lake of Death will always remain silent about them.

Today we will talk about one of the most dangerous and creepy places on the planet - the lake of death in Sicily.

What kind of phenomena our Earth is not full of, when faced with the story of this place, you doubly realize that there are many more miracles around us than we can imagine. This is truly a miracle, albeit a terrible miracle. At the same time, it is very beautiful in appearance, but kills all living things.

At the bottom of the lake there are permanent natural sources of sulfuric acid. All of us who understand at least a little what sulfuric acid is should know what happens to all living things when it comes into contact with a body of water - with small doses, severe burns remain, with immersion - the dissolution of all tissues and liquids, destruction.

Here's what you can find about the lake of death in the first lines of search engines:

“The Lake of Death in Sicily is a completely deserted place where not a single living organism is found, and on its shores there is not even the most sparse vegetation. The Lake of Death in Sicily is generously enriched with sulfuric acid, the concentration of which is simply enormous.”

On one of the tourist sites, in response to a question about the location of the Lake of Death, it says this:

“The lake is located: province of Catania, municipality of Palagonia, approximately 15 km from the Greek colony of Leontini. The lake is not large at all - less than 480 feet in circumference and dries up in the summer. Therefore, it is better to go searching in winter time. Local residents have not heard anything about such a lake and doubt that such a thing could even exist in nature.”

And usually this photo (and also coming first in the article):

The shores of the lake are deserted, devoid of vegetation, since everything is burned by the murderous environment; in the liquid of the reservoir, inside, at the bottom, there are no life forms; all living things that fall into the lake immediately dissolve with a seething reaction.

They say that this lake is notorious not only because of its composition: having the natural ability to “dissolve” any form of life, that is, to destroy, it began to be used for their cruel, selfish purposes by the mafiosi for which Italy is famous, murderers - from humans (living or a corpse) when immersed in sulfuric acid, no trace remains.

This is how they could “execute” those they didn’t want: they were simply buried alive in this lake. They were thrown there, watching the suffering of the unfortunate people. Being near this place is dangerous. inhalation of sulfuric acid vapor is fraught with health risks, which is why the place is uninhabited. Such information can be found on the Internet.

These photos on the Internet also “glow” like photos of Zoer of Death

In fact, this lake is not that popular; most Sicilians don’t even know about its existence, I don’t know for what reason. In general, Sicily is not at all associated with lakes of sulfuric acid - it is an area in Italy with wonderful landscapes, majestic architecture, a warm climate and a population of about 5 million people.

Scientists have not yet been able to establish the nature of the appearance of two sources with sulfuric acid: in 1999 it was established that concentrated sulfuric acid was gushing from the bottom of the lake; previously it was assumed that sulfuric acid was washed out from nearby rocks.

In general, this is the most dangerous body of water in the world... Close contact with it, “swimming” causes instant death.

The lake is located (according to information from videos on YouTube) in the province of Catania, near the Greek colony of Leontia.

It dries out in summer, but in winter you can see it in all its glory.

Such unusual places Our planet is rich... Would you like to visit this place? Face death firsthand. experience an adrenaline rush? Feel the “aroma” of desertion and the death of all living things around? And in general - did you seriously believe that such a lake exists??

This is how the Internet makes crayfish out of us...

Someone somewhere once posted a “duck” that there is such a terrible lake, and then everyone copies and retells the same information, without even trying to check it. Thus, a mythical lake in Sicily became popular among Internet users when even local residents had not heard of it.

Why did I personally doubt the existence of the lake?

— There is very little information, despite the fact that the videos and articles say that back in 1999 it was established that there were two sources of sulfuric acid at the bottom. All articles about this place are retellings of each other, no specific facts, no reviews from tourists... either they all did not return from there alive, or were never there... This lake, if it existed in reality, would have been studied far and wide long ago, many films would have been taken films. Okay, we can leave one chance in a hundred that this object is classified as secret and corpses are destroyed there.

— I was confused by the pictures with this lake, where there is greenery around, I went deeper into the Internet and found interesting information, which indicated that I was not the only one who doubted the existence of the lake (which I will talk about later). Look at the pictures of this lake - notice that the shores are covered with green grass, trees grow nearby, although in the videos the same place is deserted. Removed the use of editors, which is not necessary.

What kind of grass is it if all living things nearby die according to the versions of the authors of the rewritten articles?? Do they look at the photo at all?

— Sulfuric acid does not exist in nature!! It is found in extremely small quantities in volcanic fluids during volcanic eruptions, in sediments, “with the release of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the seas! where when combined with water and oxygen of the air.” Sulfuric acid is produced chemically, industrially. In nature, it is too active to remain in liquid form for any length of time. And none of the scientists have even heard of two sources of concentrated (!!) sulfuric acid.

Moreover, sulfuric acid cannot be preserved in such large quantities on the surface of the earth.

- Sulfuric acid, even obtained chemically, in its pure form is not capable of dissolving human corpses in a matter of minutes: muscles and cartilage dissolve within a few hours; within a few days, partial dissolution of bones is possible, perhaps complete - depending on the concentration and other factors. It is difficult to completely get rid of a corpse using sulfuric acid. Even when mixed with other acids - hydrofluoric, hydrochloric, hydrogen peroxide, etc., this process is not as simple as we are shown in scary films. Source: Experiences of murderers of the last century (mysterious crimes of the past) and the arguments of scientists.

Therefore, the legends that corpses were dissolved without a trace in the Sicilian lake of death are nothing more than legends. For example, one of the highest concentrations of sulfuric acid found in nature in a crater in Kamchatka is 40%, and even such a concentration cannot dissolve corpses without a trace.

- The unclear location of the lake, the designated coordinates: not far from Catania, near Leontia - they do not give anything, there is no designated object there.

In general, everything turned out somehow confusing... However, despite the lack of any sufficient facts about the reality of the existence of the lake of death, children are told about it at school (according to personal experience I know), it is included in the list of the most dangerous places on Earth according to careless authors, but the entire Internet is dotted with this information. This false information is included in the topic "Oera" of the open lesson for 6th grade geography.

Those who had previously doubted the reality of the Sicilian lake with sulfuric acid conducted their “investigation” and this is what they found.

This lake cannot be found on Google maps. Volcano Etna north of Catania and Palagonia, Lentini. Coniferous forests in Sicily also raised eyebrows.

“While I was analyzing the material on Sicily, I came across link 1 and link 2, which gave me the key to further search for a lake with the name Laghetti di Naftia or Lago di Naftia.

This means that after all there was a lake, otherwise I already doubted its existence. This pond, like many others natural objects in Sicily, turned out to be associated with the name of the volcanologist Gaetano Ponte 1876-1955, who studied them and took a lot of pictures of Lago di Naftia. The bubbling of sulfurous thermal waters is caused by abundant emissions of carbon dioxide, and not by any acid at all.”

Below the article is a video (though in Italian) about Gaetano Ponte and his research, directly about the lake at the beginning of the video at 0:20 and after 5:45.

That is, there was a lake with seething contents in these places, but a very long time ago...

Here is a photo of the lake from the late 19th and early 20th centuries (the first photo is from 1888) - from the author of the “investigation”:

The lake gradually became shallower...

But you can notice that the grass is growing in the lake, which completely breaks the myth about the presence of concentrated sulfuric acid in the reservoir.

The photo shows picturesque evidence of the lake from artists of past centuries.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the lake became a puddle; by the 30s of the 20th century, it supposedly regained its water level.

“This is noticeable in the video from the archive of the LUCE magazine - B0771 for October 1935. From it we learn that Lake Naftia in Catania (Sicily) was at that time recognized as the largest natural source of carbon dioxide in Europe (note, not a word about any acid here!). On its deserted shores they subsequently planned to build a factory for the production of carbon dioxide, so as not to import it from abroad. I wonder if this enterprise was built later?”

The springs gushing from the bottom of the lake, which had been crushed over time, led modern mystics to speculate about the presence of sulfuric acid in the lake and even the involvement of some victims of local criminals in the death in this reservoir.

“It was not difficult to find the text of this publication on the Internet:

Quote: “Water is alive and dead

Did you know that the most “dead” place is not the Dead Sea, but the Lake of Death on the island of Sicily? There is no vegetation on its banks, and every creature that falls into it dies. As it turns out, there are two sources of concentrated sulfuric acid gushing from the bottom of the lake. They are the ones who poison the water."

Having examined the list of references outlined by Paskhalov, the author came to the conclusion that only the first point should be considered as a source of information about the lake of death (the rest relate more to the topic of domestic etymology and toponymy) - E.A. Vartanyan “History with geography, or proper names on the world map” - M.: Kalan, 1996.

But this book doesn’t really say anything about the lake; only the updated edition helped to find a hint for further search for information.

The main thing is what do you think, why not? modern photos this body of water? Why don't tourists go there in droves? And that lake, which is multi-colored and mixed with photos of a muddy body of water - are they related to the Sicilian Lake of Death?

The last photo indicating that Lago di Naftia was here is dated 2011, taken from the Rocchicella hill, the caption to the photo states that there were once “thermal lakes with bubbling sulfurous water, with which myths about the Sicilian sons of Zeus are associated. The area around the Naftia lakes and the hill with the Rocchicella caves are an archaeological site and were ancient places of worship for the Palici. The lakes disappeared after land reclamation in the second half of the 20th century.”

By searching through Google maps for the Rocchicella site, we were able to find “an archaeological site with the same name 3 km west of Palagonia near the Strada Provinciale 181 highway. Let’s move on to the view of panoramic photographs and take a walk around the surrounding area.”

Screenshot from a Google Maps panorama of the same carbon dioxide production facility that was planned to be built back in 1935. It can be seen in the distance in the first picture.

Satellite photo, question mark - the site of the supposed lake, which is now waterless.

In general, this lake simply does not exist today! However, the author of the “report” established where they were and what kind of lakes they were, lakes with geysers, but not with sulfuric acid.

As for that lake, which many put on the screensaver under the guise of the lake of death, beautiful, multi-colored and deadly - according to them, this is a completely different lake and there is, as they say, no smell of sulfuric acid.

This object is located in Yellowstone National Park, USA, and is called “Morning Glory Lake” (in honor of the Morning Glory flower, which has a sapphire-colored tint).

As one version says, the multi-colored color of the lake was achieved as follows. Previously (since this is a geyser, and a periodic one, earthquakes occur here) the temperature of the lake was about 100 degrees, but tourists visiting the place threw coins into the lake, which led to certain reactions in the geyser and its temperature dropped to 70-50 degrees. Bacteria and microorganisms began to multiply in the reservoir.

“Organisms painted the lake in different colors: cyanobacteria 73 °C - yellow, unicellular protozoa 66 °C - orange, fungi and algae 60 °C - yellow/green, mosses 50 °C - brown...”

Coniferous trees grow safely around the lake, there is wildlife, and it is unnaturally beautiful, but not as dangerous as they tried to present to us.

We can see a photo of the strange lake of the Yellowstone Nature Reserve in the photo at the beginning and in the middle of the article in all its glory.

To sum it up I will say.

That's what rumors do! And man’s passion for everything dangerous and creepy! And this is how unverified information on the Internet can produce fakes, so that even our children are taught fictitious facts at school.

But! By the way, there are miracles in our country too! For example, the Valley of Death in Kamchatka exists, and is quite real, and there is danger, even less adrenaline. A volcanic crater, where sulfuric and hydrochloric acid is in a concentration of at least 40%, but perhaps this information is also worth checking...

Officially, the work of sulfur miners on the Ijen volcano, located in the east of the Indonesian island of Java, is named one of the most difficult professions in the world. People here work amid highly toxic fumes at temperatures over 115°C, lifting 200-pound baskets and walking across crumbling precipices. For this, hard workers receive only $5 US per day, which is considered an extremely highly paid job here. No wonder their average lifespan is only 30 years!

At first glance, it seems that the views of Ijen are at least a photo from space or, in extreme cases, from a science fiction film, the local landscapes are so unusual to our eyes. This is because the volcano is truly the rarest place on Earth.

Volcano Ijen is an ancient extinct volcano, in the crater of which an acidic lake of extraordinary azure-blue color formed, about one kilometer wide and 212 meters deep. It consists of sulfur formations and hydrochloric acid. The lake in the Ijen Crater is recognized as the most acidic volcanic lake in the world. The temperature on its surface is 50-60°C, in depth – more than 200°C.

Shores unusual lake shimmer with gold, these are pieces of sulfur, for which the workers descend here through the sulfur vapors that every now and then escape from the walls of the volcano. They are extremely dangerous to health, causing pain in the eyes and a severe dry cough; prolonged exposure threatens to destroy the lungs. When visiting the volcano, be sure to wear a mask and carry water and a handkerchief with you to protect yourself from harmful fumes. In 2003, on Ijen, one of the French tourists lost his life due to non-compliance with these safety measures.

Ijen is a unique place of our planet, film crews regularly meet here and try to capture this rare miracle of nature.

The volcano is located in the national park of the same name, Ijen or Gunung Kawa Ijen. Just a two-hour drive away is the large Ketapang pier. This is where departures take place. sea ​​vessels to Bali. Ijen can also be reached from Yogyakarta, located

There are thousands of large and small lakes on our planet. Many of them are nameless, and some are famous due to their unusual qualities. Who hasn't heard about the deepest and clear lake in the world? Of course, this is Baikal, located in Altai. Or the mysterious Loch Ness in Scotland, which is supposedly home to a monster.

More or less known lakes with unusually colored water are Lake Kelimutu, Lake Medusa, Ink, Asphalt, Lake Morning Glory, etc. All of them belong to natural anomalies and are under the close attention of scientists - limnologists and hydrologists.

Not many people know about the existence of the dead lake on – Lakes of Death. When a person hears such a name, it evokes not the most pleasant associations, and for good reason. After all, this lake is shrouded in a negative mantle and hides in its depths the secrets of unsolved crimes

As you know, Sicily was a “breeding ground” for mafia clans, and many intractable victims of the Sicilian mafiosi ended their stay on earth right here - in the waters of an acid lake in Sicily. In any case, this is what the legend of Death Lake says, and is supported by local population to enhance the color. But to believe in it or not is a purely personal matter.

The lake deserved its name, of course, not because of the alleged massacres committed on its shores, but because of its composition. Before the first scientific expedition was sent to the lake, no one knew why the space around it was lifeless and the waters of the lake were dangerous for all living things that fell into it.

After all, everything that gets into the lake dies within a few minutes. On the shore, several tens of meters from the water, you cannot see the slightest sign of vegetation. Why is this happening? What is the unknown composition of water that makes it deadly?

Why does Lake of Death kill?

Thanks to several scientists who repeatedly tried, risking their own lives, to uncover the secret of the dead lake, they learned that the reason for the lack of life here is sulfuric acid. It is contained in the waters of the lake in such huge quantities that even the simplest microorganisms, which persistently survive in various unfavorable conditions, die here instantly. It was possible to establish that sulfuric acid enters the lake from two underground sources.

Sulfur Lake in Sicily is the most dangerous lake on Earth. After all, not only the water here is poisonous, but the air itself is saturated with harmful acidic fumes. Despite this, the lake of sulfuric acid in Sicily still attracts extreme tourists from all over the world.

This unique natural phenomenon is the only one of its kind on our planet. The lake simply fascinates with its unusual beauty and bright combination of colors. In summer and during the dry months the lake dries up, but in winter you can fully enjoy its view. An incredible combination of colors will not leave anyone indifferent. It is difficult to compare anything in beauty and danger with the Lake of Death.

Due to the danger of contact with harmful fumes, special wooden pedestrian bridges with fences were built for tourists. Although it is unlikely that any of the curious, knowing about the dangers that lurk in the surrounding area, will risk breaking the rules and coming closer to the enchantingly beautiful, but poisonous shore.

Sulfur Lake occupies a large area. It is located in a province called Catania, on the island of Sicily and is called Lago Naftia di Catania.

Many skeptics argue that the bulk of information about Lake of Death is fiction that has nothing to do with reality, but you can only find out by visiting it yourself.

When searching for information about Lake of Death in Sicily, you can come across descriptions of this kind:

How much do you know about our planet and what mysterious phenomena it has prepared for us? If not, then here is one of the most terrible and mysterious phenomena of our globe, which is called the Lake of Death in Sicily. Very bright and colorful, at first glance, it kills all living things that come into contact with its waters. For many years, scientists puzzled over what was happening until the incredible truth was discovered - there is a high concentration of sulfuric acid in the lake.

Deadly feeding lake

Where did sulfuric acid come from in an ordinary-looking Sicilian lake? Various assumptions have been made in this regard, for example, that the acid is washed out of the rocks in the lake. However, after much research, scientists found out that at the bottom of the lake there are two sources from which concentrated sulfuric acid flows. This stunning discovery was made only in 1999. Where the sources of this “lifeless” water come from has not yet been determined.

Flora and fauna, or rather the lack thereof

Thus, not only are the shores and the Acid Lake itself devoid of any vegetation or living organisms, but there is not a single animal or bird in the entire area. And if some unfortunate animal wanders here, it will immediately dissolve in the waters of the terrible lake.

Legends of Death Lake

There are many stories associated with the deadly lake. The most popular of them is about the Sicilian mafiosi, who allegedly hid the corpses of the people they killed in it. It is impossible to know whether this is true or not, because literally in a few hours a person who falls into this water will not even have teeth left.

Of course, there are other dangerous lakes on our planet, but the most terrible and deadly is the Sicilian Acid Lake, which kills its victims instantly. What other phenomena nature has prepared or will prepare for us is unknown. However, only one thing is clear: Lake of Death - this is definitely not the place where you should strive for summer holiday, because even just approaching him is very dangerous.

However, such articles and descriptions are found only in RuNet (sites in Russian). When searching on Italian sites (and even when contacting directly local residents) nothing like that and even mentions of the lake, where there is no vegetation or living creatures nearby, and springs with sulfuric acid flow from the bottom No.

Moreover, it turns out that the photo actually matches Yellowstone Lake one to one National Park. And the prototype of the so-called “Lake of Death” was the volcanic lake Naftia (Lago di Naftia), which dried up at the beginning of the last century.

Now this place looks like this:

A wonderful full “investigation” was carried out by Eduard Novikov: how the myth was born, real story lakes, photo facts.