Learn how your comment data is processed. Fine Art? Built in the Soviet era, this cableway system still runs gondolas from Odessa down to Otrada Beach. An Unbreakable Story: The Lost Roman Invention of Flexible Glass, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Unleashing the End of the World, Alleged Sighting of the Mythical Manananggal in the Philippines Causes Public Anxiety, What is Shambhala? [Online] Available at: https://irishurbanexplorations.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/odessa-catacombs-day-1-odessa-ukraine/, Author Unknown. While you may have never heard of the Odessa catacombs, they are filled with legends and dark tales that you'll never forget. Since the organization is in charge of fielding inquiries about the Catacombs it "probably prefers to stay out of this business, just as I do," Lata theorized. An entrance into the catacombs. Beneath its streets, under the slowly unraveling everyday lives of its citizens, lies a sprawling network of tunnels and catacombs, an enigmatic web of dark corridors that built up a reputation of macabre proportions. With his heart set on a possible reward, Pugovkin says he crawled into the depths and eventually stumbled upon what he called "bone soup." In his last post, he wrote that the place was pretty much charted, and claimed that there's not much left to explore. There are stories of industrious winemakers and mushroom growers who go down there regularly to leave their product to age or grow, confident no one will find it and interfere. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. In the photo, Masha is unidentifiable beyond simply being a human. ( eliosdnepr /Adobe Stock). But some tourism still relates to them. Before long, the other teens gave up looking for her and left, figuring she'd already gotten out, or would get out on her own soon. They're also a pretty good place to stage a murder. The post featured a graphic photo of what appeared to be a decaying corpse in the catacombs, which Lata claimed was Masha's body. 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Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Descending into the darkness below the world, you are thrust headfirst into a deeply disturbing realm. It took a full two years before the police were able to locate her body and retrieve it from the catacombs. Some sources claim that roughly five amateurs that descend into the tunnels never come out again and this really gives us an incentive to truly grasp the size of these tunnels. Odessa, just outside of Ukraine's capital, Kiev, is home to one of the largest catacombs in the entire world. Assuming Masha brought a battery-powered flashlight or lantern down into the depths, it would have died after a few hours, making it harder to continue the search for warmth and water. In a post from 2010, he claimed that he used to take trips that lasted over a week, and that he'd fill his "catacombs bag" with food, camping equipment, diving gear, and mapmaking tools to prepare for long trips. richard guichelaar update. The legend goes a little something like this: In 2005, a group of teenagers headed out on New Year's Eve (or New Year's Day, depending on the source) to have a little party. Relics of the past in the Odessa catacombs, Ukraine. By the age of 10, most children in the United States have been taught all 50 states that make up the country. But catacombs can be more than religious passageways or burial grounds. I'm reminded of the infamous video of the guy supposedly wandering lost through the Paris catacombs - although I think I heard somewhere that was ultimately a hoax as well. In the case of the Odessa Catacombs, they are a labyrinth-like network of tunnels under the city of Odessa. The Museum of Partisan Glory is located in a part of the catacombs north of Odessa, and it is the only underground museum in Ukraine. Version of this photo sourced directly from Eugene Lata. She didn't make it out alive, it's said. I mean it's Vice. Amid yellow limestone walls and floors, young explorers found a body that was partially mummified by the cold dry air. This makes it one of the more unique museums of that period as long as you dont strive from the beaten path! A Tour of the Worlds Largest Labyrinth: The Odessa Catacombs. [7], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}463248N 303750E / 46.54667N 30.63056E / 46.54667; 30.63056, "People Believe a Girl Died in the Endless Odessa Catacombs, but the Mystery Goes Much Deeper", "Dark secrets of Odessa's vast catacomb labyrinth", "Subterranea of Ukraine: Odessa Catacombs", "The Enduring Legend of the Girl Who Died in Odessa's Catacombs", "The Odesa catacombs. There's also evidence that they were used for the summary executions of Nazi soldiers. But in their foggy states, they absentmindedlyor maliciouslyleft Masha in the catacombs. By 2012, he had begun to sound less like the internet's ambassador to the catacombs. These lines give us a glimpse into the melancholic Slavic and Ukrainian soul of the past: No treasure, no happiness, you will find here, Though forehead knocks the wall behind the wall. [1] Parts were used as air-raid shelters during World War II. Winner will be selected at random on 04/01/2023. Our story begins sometime early in 2005, when a party (possibly for New Years) was allegedly held within the catacombs by a group of young adults. On Wikipedia, catacombs are described as man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. On January 1st, 2005, some Odessa teens decided to spend New Years night partying in the catacombs. His recollection is different from Lata's. In 2009, a post was made on the urban exploration website UER which first brought forth Masha's story, and a photo of the purported body (warning: graphic) was posted in which three (possibly four) young urban explorers appear to have discovered her remains. They present thousands of crisscrossed tunnels, intersections, corridors, galleries, and caverns, all entwined and endlessly sprawling like some chaotic maze of ant tunnels. One of their group, a teenage girl named Masha, got separated from the rest. . The group of friends, he wrote, had all stayed there overnight, then left the next morning, but abandoned Masha, either accidentally or on purpose, and she was unable to find her way out. Actually, the walls of the Odessa catacombs are inscribed with thousands of writings, ranging from names to slogans to caricatures and even poems. | The people of Odessa and surrounding areas know better than to explore the catacombs. No way that picture was faked. Stop by the blog every day this month for true tales of the unquiet dead. A partial map of the Odessa catacombs. She was headed into the Odessa catacombs, the 2,500 kilometers of dark rocky tunnels which run underneath the city. In the decades after the war, the tunnels became a safe haven for smugglers and criminals and they made more tunnels. [4]Limestone was cut using saws, and mining became so intensive that by the second half of the 19th century, the extensive network of catacombs created many inconveniences to the city. Many regions (such as the notorious 'K-29' network) remain largely unexplored to this day. The unsettling story of Masha, the lost girl of the Odessa Catacombs Masha was a student visiting Odessa that went drinking on New Years Eve in 2005. These men and women remained hidden, living in the catacombs. vegan options at biltmore estate. During New Year's Eve celebrations in 2005, she and her friends had one drink too . Stretching to a length of 2500km, the Odessa Catacombs are prehaps the largest network of tunnels in the world. It can be really dangerous," he wrote, adding "here are some new pictures of our catacombs. In World War II, Odessa was besieged in August of 1941 by the Axis forces. An eye-opening journey through the history, culture, and places of the culinary world. After a short time, they called off the search, saying that Masha would have to find her own way out, it wasnt safe for them to look for her any longer. She would have gotten delirious, convulsed, and slipped irreversibly into a coma around the third day, not that she would have noticed the days passing. If it was too warm to freeze, and she was exerting herself trying to survive, dehydration would have become severe in perhaps only two days before the symptoms became debilitating. Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren. ", Personally, I find this story absolutely terrifying; the thought of stumbling around lost in 2,500KM of tunnels with no lights and eventually dying alone is a kind of terror I hope to never experience. Just one look at the maps will show you exactly why the Odessa catacombs were never fully explored the sheer size prevents it. The labyrinths are also unique by being largely unexplored and un-commercialized. Green Tour. Do you have any more information about the body that was found? Kostya Pugovkin, who identified himself as a veteran of Ukraine's Antiterrorist Operation based in Odessa, claims to be the one who personally hefted the body in that photograph out of the depths. The mystery person was of no value at all, Pugovkin says. ( CC BY SA 4.0 ). They go on multi-day underground treks, known as expeditions, to document and map the system. Partisan weapon caches such as rifles and grenades are occasionally still found within the tunnels, and about once every five years a body is found. And as one treads these tunnels which were never graced by the light of day, one can easily see that the horrors from the pages of novels such as Metro 2033, or from some iconic Lovecraftian horror, are firmly and terrifyingly rooted in reality. View all photos. These catacombs are the result of stone mining, particularly coquina (a soft limestone of broken shells), and consist of a network of basements, bunkers, drainage tunnels and storm drains. 2019. [6], Since the beginning of the 21st century limestone mining has continued in the mines located in Dofinovka, Byldynka, and "Fomina balka" near Odesa. Places such as Aokigahara Forest. Masha had traveled several miles into the catacombs. Thanks. Odessas Mindbending Catacomb Maps. Two years passed, and no one retrieved the body, Lata claims. Lata wrote a widely circulated online post stating that he and other explorers had found the body of a local student named Masha, who on New Year's Eve in 2005 had wandered into the catacombs with her friends after drinking. It wasnt until six months later that Masha was found. Based on what was later found, it is believed that Masha stumbled around in the catacombs for at least three days, starving, thirsty, alone, and in the dark. But despite being passed around the internet as fact, there is little documentation to support the legend of Masha. Were heading underground to find out whether the tunnels are truly empty. Irish Urban Explorations. She lies on her left side, legs curled like she's sleeping, while the upper half of her decomposing body has lost its form. It`s a dead body of the 19-years old girl, who has lost the right way in the maze. According to rumors, a wealthy aristocrat from Odessa that survived the sinking of the Titanic decided to commemorate this event by ordering the creation of a solid gold model of the ship. We believe it is just a practical joke and the corpse is fake." Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. 31 Days of Halloween: On Atlas Obscura this month, every day is Halloween. But one such find could not remain a secret. There's an image that you may been seen that's been going around for several years. [Online] Available at: http://www.katakomby.odessa.ua, I am a published author of over ten historical fiction novels, and I specialize in Slavic linguistics. Odessa Catacombs: Day 1 Odessa, Ukraine. Those daring few that decide to explore the endless depths below Odessa are often surprised by a gruesome find. Over the years there have been numerous reports of people venturing into the catacombs, getting lost, and eventually dying of dehydration never to be seen again. These men and women would play chess, checkers, cook, and listen to Soviet Radio, generally trying to make a normal life below the surface of the city. Underrated Cinematic Survival Competitions, Great Movies About Missions Doomed from the Start, Survival Myths to Unlearn Before It's Too Late, Must-See Newer Survival Movies and TV Series, Great Movies About Kids Trying to Stay Alive, People Believe A Girl Died In The Endless Odessa Catacombs, But The Mystery Goes Much Deeper, the group had continued to explore the catacombs, a man was sentenced to 13 years in prison for killing a girl in the catacombs. Throughout the history of civilization, the concept of the apocalypse has been ever present, in one way or another. masha odessa catacombs photo. There also would have been nowhere to stay warm, since that area is also not deep enough for it to have been much warmer than the chilly surface weather that night. Rebuilt remains of a temple to Roman god Mithras. The Odessa catacombs are a very complicated system of natural tunnels, mines, bunkers, and caves that are predominantly a result of mining with the earliest excavations beginning in the 19th century. Eventually, a journalist wrote about the body, and within 24 hours, the police came and had it removed. If she was lucky, she died quickly from the cold . Today we find ourselves wandering the largest catacomb system in the world. This led to a lot of attempt at secrecy by the officials. Were theonlyPop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives. As is the nature of people, and urban explorers, tunnels and caves outside of the trusted zone serve as an exhilarating adventure. Excavation of the Maltese Catacombs of St. Agatha Revealed Some of the Finest 12th and 15th century Frescos in Europe! 2017. When I was a teenager I was a tour guide at a local cave and at the end of the day someone had to walk to the back of the cave (45 minutes one way!) Either way, the main portion of these catacombs was begun in earnest in the 19th century and onwards, with stone being quarried to be used in the building of the houses of the city above. See. [3] Many of the tunnels have been filled up with earth, concrete or sand by construction companies, and are no longer accessible. As it turns out, many people still venture into the darkness seeking adventure. They go on multi-day underground treks, known as expeditions, to document and map the system. Odesskiy. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. 2016. ( Artem Merzlenko /Adobe Stock). Maybe this photo will shock you. In 1961, the Search (Poisk) club was created, led by Constantine Pronin of the Paleontological Museum of OSU, and became the first official catacomb exploration unit. A nation whose foundations stand on centuries of struggle and fighting for independence. Worse, she didnt know where she was, or how to get out. ", "That's why I really beg you not to try to walk underground in Odessa itself. Which Animated Disney Movie Should Get A Horror Adaptation Next? As fun as it is to explore catacombs, some people prefer to stay above ground and explore. Various message boards shared the tale, and websites began to present the details as fact. ( Valentin Balan /Adobe Stock). No one is exactly sure how she died, but it could have been dehydration or hypothermia. 2023 Atlas Obscura. This goes to show that the Odessa catacombs can be very grim. 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