Kashkulak cave (Khakassia), photos and reviews of which we provide in this article, enjoys conflicting fame. All kinds of esotericists and occultists call it the "place of power." The upper tier of this natural karst formation was indeed used in antiquity as a pagan temple where sacrifices were made. But the cave is primarily of interest to cavers. She needs protection from those who want to burn ritual bonfires, because rare bats live in her bowels. Soot harms stalagmites and other cave formations. But in Kashkulak or, as it is called here, the Abode of the Black Devil, a folk trail does not overgrow. Organized excursion groups and individual caver teams come here. Let us and we make a virtual trip to the Kashkulak cave.
Location
The name of this natural formation came from two Khakass words. "Khos Hulah" means only "two ears." It is still not clear why such an incomprehensible name has developed. The Kashkulak cave is located in Khakassia (Russian Federation), on the northern slopes of the Kuznetsk Alatau. If in more detail, then on the southeastern spur of Nash Kulan Mountain. This is the Kashkulak massif in the Shirinsky district of Khakassia. In addition to the Khakass name Khos Khulakh, the cave has others. It is called the Abode of the Devil, as well as the Temple of the Black Shaman. There are many legends associated with this last character. It is believed that people with a “sensitive psyche” are faced with an invisible force lurking in underground galleries. Panic horror engulfs them, and they see hallucinations. And all are one and the same: a certain person with burning eyes in a high furry hat drives uninvited guests out. Scientists of different opinion are paleontologists, geologists, cavers. They do not observe any devilry in the cave. Probably these academics have either an insensitive psyche or an underdeveloped imagination.
Kashkulak cave: how to get there
Between Achinsk and Abakan on the branch of the Krasnoyarsk railways there is a station of Shira. This urban-type settlement is the administrative center of the Khakassia region of the same name. Twenty kilometers from Shira is Kashkulak cave. How to get to her - not everyone will explain. Not because he doesn’t know, but because local people want guided tours of the dungeon to be organized without burning bonfires and drinking vodka. Such trips are readily accompanied by a guide from the local travel agency. Kashkulak cave can also be reached from the resort village of Zhemchuzhny, which stands on the shores of a wonderful lake. From Shira should be selected towards the city of Kommunaru. A good asphalt road leads to the Black Lake, only you need to go along it only twelve kilometers. Further, at the intersection, the main highway turns to the right, to Small Kobezhikov. And the path to the Kashkulak cave lies directly, according to the road sign "Small Syya". After six kilometers there will be a settlement Topanov. In the village, turn left and drive nine kilometers to the south. The road is a country road, but after rain it turns into a swamp, which only an SUV can overcome. This is another argument in favor of an organized excursion from the Shira. From the parking lot you have to walk along a clearly visible path about two hundred and fifty meters.
Scientific point of view: what is Kashkulak cave
Where is the entrance to the underground galleries, scientists have learned from the beginning of the twentieth century. In the scientific literature, more precisely in the works of A.M. Zaitseva (1904), this cave was named Turim - by the name of the river flowing near the river Tyurim. From a scientific point of view, it is a typical karst formation. For millennia, water eroded soft rocks until voids formed. In underground galleries, all forms of cave formations are observed - stalactites, stalagmites, growths, limestone flows. The total length of these labyrinths is eight hundred and twenty meters. The depth also does not lead the Kashkulak cave to the category of champions - forty-nine meters. The underground gallery of archaeologists enjoys great fame. The cave consists of three tiers, which are connected by almost vertical twenty-meter wells. The highest of them was used by people more than two thousand years ago.
Cavers about Kashkulak cave
In the fifties of the twentieth century, underground galleries were studied in detail by scientists. They revealed the presence of three tiers. Excursions lead to the top. This is not to say that the route was difficult. This tier was used by ancient Khakasses for ritual purposes. The whole tier is heavily smoked with bonfires. And this only adds to the ominous glory that the Kashkulak cave already has. The cave of the Black Devil - this name was given to the underground gallery by modern tourists. Yes, and they called the grottoes of the upper tier appropriately - Perished Pagoda, Obscurantism, Temple. An explanation is needed regarding the latter name. This grotto has a light stalagmite in the form of a phallus. Ancient civilizations revered this symbol of fertility and vitality. Probably, here in ancient times there was a temple where sacrifices were made (including human ones). Until the seventies, archaeologists worked here, who extracted many fragments of skeletons. In the upper tier, flowing calcite formations can be seen. Getting into the middle tier is difficult, as evidenced by the name of the grottoes - Enthusiasts, Skeleton. The difficulty category of these levels is 2B. During rains and high groundwater, being on the lower tier in the Obvalnoy grotto is also dangerous because it is flooded.
Modern superstitions
The most amazing thing is that the Kashkulak cave began to enjoy the glory of “the most terrible place on earth” relatively recently. For so many centuries people have been hiding from the weather here, and not one of them has seen hallucinations. The partisan detachment of Soloviev, who during the Civil War tried to defend the old power and made the Kashkulak cave his base, was also not destroyed by the Black Shaman. Until the fifties, none of the locals who periodically looked into the cave did not hear the mysterious sounds of a tambourine, rushing from somewhere below. Bad fame came to the underground gallery along with scientific expeditions. Scientists tried to keep their research a secret. And this atmosphere of mystery created a lot of legends around the expeditions. Now idle languages will readily tell you about how "an unknown force threw archaeologists" out of the cave. They tell a story about a missing group of cavers from twenty-nine people, from which only two girls got out, and then they went crazy and died within a year in a mental hospital.
Business "White Sorcerers"
When the fashion for psychics and occult sciences came to Russia , the Kashkulak cave (or the Abode of the Devil, as it is now called more often) gained great fame. They started talking about her as a "place of power" and a secret temple of Khakass shamans. The Russian "sorcerers" did not stay away from the gold mine, into which the cave has now turned. Those who call themselves so proclaim that only they who “have pure thoughts” can practice their practices there. The local population, as well as travel agencies and caver groups regularly encounter clashes with these psychics and neopagan occultists.
Swami Baba Cave
In the year 2000, tourists who came to the entrance to the underground galleries discovered signs of civilization in the surrounding forest. Yes, even - Hindu, but with an admixture of Orthodoxy. Crosses interspersed with figures of Shiva and mantras written on shreds of fabric. It turned out that the Kashkulak cave turned into the Sai Lingeshwara Ashram Monastery, which in Sanskrit translates as "The Abode of the Universal Peace and Truth." The Brahmins of the new sect, led by Swami Satya Sai Daas, claimed that this place was indicated to them from above so that they would protect it from the harmful effects of people. But for a fee, worshipers could let “vain tourists” disturb the “Abode of Peace”. Most likely, the "Brahmins" shared the box office with the local administration, because the authorities did not respond to complaints from cavers and local guides. It took three years for the followers of the new religion to be taken out of the tourist site.
Modern myths
It is amazing how gullible modern man is. Legends are composed not only by local "shamans" who are interested in attracting more tourists to the cave, not only occultists and psychics, but also those who call themselves atheists. Fans of revolutionary romance argue that Arkady Golikov, the commander of the "Red" Chonovites, in the Temple Grotto received the nickname Gaidar. According to faithful Leninists, the Kashkulak cave is a place where Kolchak's gold is buried. And the death of the partisan detachment of Solovyov is told that the leader of the “whites” offended the shaman, for which he paid. All these new myths are connected by one thing - the vagueness of information sources. The story about the horrors and secrets of the cave usually begins with the words: “Old-timers say ...” or “A researcher who wished to remain anonymous said that ...”.
The true value of Kashkulak cave
These karst underground voids are of interest to cavers. The middle and especially lower tiers are not yet fully explored. In addition to the value of natural attractions, Kashkulak cave is of interest as an archaeological site. Excavations revealed that the grottoes of the upper tier have been used by people over the past two thousand years. Of particular interest is the Temple Underground Hall. In it, archaeologists found not only many animal and human bones, but also several whole skeletons. Who these people were: victims of pagan rituals, dead people buried in a holy place or just lost travelers - it's hard to say now.
Tourist facility
Kashkulak cave, the photo of which you see, attracted the curious for a long time. But the inaccessibility of this place, as well as the complexity of the passage through the underground galleries, often became the cause of accidents. Of course, you can pop into the cave yourself. But deep, almost sheer wells pose a danger to life. Since the beginning of the 2000s, organized excursions to this tourist site have been established. The group is being recruited in the resort villages of Shira and Zhemchuzhny. Tourists are accompanied by an experienced guide speleologist. The tour includes a shuttle to the cave and equipment rental (flashlights, helmets).
Believe it or not?
What really is the Kashkulak cave in Khakassia? Reviews are fundamentally different. Some tourists claim that this is an ordinary cave. A gloomy sensation exists only in the upper tier, where the walls of the grottoes are covered with soot from bonfires and do not reflect light. If you go a little further, then there will meet stalactites, stalagmites and other limestone formations. Other tourists, with a fine mental organization, claim that they experienced bouts of causeless fear, panic in the cave, heard the sounds of a tambourine and saw a tall figure of a man in a shaggy hat and with burning eyes.