As I said earlier, a lot of people lost and even . 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. The remains of more than 1,000 people lie deep under the modern town of Rabat. In WWII, Soviet partisans hid in the Odessa Catacombs, which stretch for thousands of miles below the city. She spent three days wandering in the freezing cold and pitch black before she died of dehydration. [Online] Available at: http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2017/04/11/183661/, Pronin, K. . View all photos. As it turns out, many people still venture into the darkness seeking adventure. [1] ( Valentin Balan /Adobe Stock). A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. Pacific coastline of the continuous United States. The sticking point of this famous story is that no one is sure if it really happened. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. Detachment of Molodtsov near Odessa Catacombs. Even if they managed to find an entrance that was accessible, they were not to venture inside. Stretching to a length of 2500km, the Odessa Catacombs are prehaps the largest network of tunnels in the world. It would be extremely dangerous to try and explore the catacombs on ones own. He then threw the axe into the sea. They would throw in poison gas canisters, hoping to smoke them out and finish them off. ( Volodymyr Khodaryev /Adobe Stock). But despite being passed around the internet as fact, there is little documentation to support the legend of Masha. The most famous photoone that Lata told VICE in an email that he was involved in takingshows three blank-faced boys who look like they're in their early teens, posing like they've just stumbled upon the body in a narrow, curved section of the cavern. A glass that you drop but it doesnt break. The Soviets suffered malnutrition, and even malaria. After 73 days of vicious fighting, the town fell and was annexed to become a part of newly formed Transnistria Governorate under Romanian administration. Shiver. Top Image: Old Odessa Catacombs Source: onyx124 / Adobe Stock, Author Unknown. They look like my hiking boots, and I'm a woman. 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. There is a rumor that the catacombs contain the stacked corpses of murdered Jews from World War II. On January 1st 2005, a young Ukranian teenage girl named Masha put on her make-up, packed up some champagne, and headed out for her New Years Eve nights party. [citation needed], During World War II the catacombs served as a hiding place for Soviet partisans, in particular the squad of Vladimir Molodtsov. The post featured a graphic photo of what appeared to be a decaying corpse in the catacombs, which Lata claimed was Masha's body. However, it's not te only creepy story - in 2012 group of students went below and one was lost. One popular myth is the story of the White Hunter a catacomb explorer of some notoriety who apparently never came out and most likely died while in the catacombs. As the result of contemporary mining, the catacombs continue to expand. [Online] Available at: http://www.thebohemianblog.com/2013/10/urban-exploration-odessa-catacombs_20.html, Thuras, D. 2010. Old Catacombs Odessa, Ukraine (XVIII-XX century) . I tend to never believe Vice.. Local here (finally, after years of reading, something got me to register). 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. The group supposedly went to the police, but they were still reluctant to go in to retrieve the body because it was literally miles from the entrance. Eugene included a graphic photo of what appeared to be a decaying corpse in one of the tunnels, which Eugene claimed was Masha's body. Perhaps the most popular of catacombs is beneath the city of Paris, France. Fine Art? Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. The mining operations would soon spiral almost out of control, causing some issues for the town itself, until they would be temporarily banned after 1917. 2017. The kids began to drink, and soon enough Mashabecame drunk. Understanding the Mysterious Kingdom of Shambhala, The Green Children of Woolpit: Legendary Visitors from Another World, Medieval Sea Monster Was Likely a Whale, New Research Reveals, Adventist Adventurer Claimed to Have Found Ark of the Covenant Beneath Crucifixion Site, Iron Age Comb Made from Human Skull Discovered Near Cambridge, Caesars Savage Human Skewers Unearthed In German Fort, The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt, A Blazing Weapon: Unraveling the Mystery of Greek Fire. There was no light in the catacombs besides whatever she might have had on her, and it is believed she wandered in pitch blackness. Odessa Catacombs: Day 1 Odessa, Ukraine. In 2011, a body was found in the catacombs that had been dead for several months. Built in the Soviet era, this cableway system still runs gondolas from Odessa down to Otrada Beach. But some like to say that the earliest form of the catacombs dates to centuries before that, to 1600's or possibly before - and that's plausible. Shortly after this the mapping of a huge unexplored area of the catacombs known as K-29 was begun. But we do know that the confirmed tales of the catacombs, as well as its history, are still filled with gloom, death, and horror. The catacombs are on three levels, and reach a depth of 200ft (60 meters) below sea level. [citation needed], After the Russian Revolution of 1917, stone mining was banned within the central part of Odesa (inside the Porto-Franko zone, bounded by Old Port Franko and Panteleymonovskaya streets). Makeshift rooms, quarters, tables, and all manner of carvings and writings are all preserved and the entire museum serves as a strikingly unaltered glimpse into the urban warfare of the second world war. Whether that person is an innocent partygoer, a Satanist, or a Ukrainian drunk who took a few steps too many into the darkness, it sends imaginations soaring because it conjures the exact kind of nightmarish, lonely death everyone fears the most. It's not unlikely that she drunkenly forgot to leave a trail of breadcrumbs. Padlocks cover this rickety footbridge with love. Old Odessa catacombs . After the war, the tunnels remained active with smugglers and criminal groups who went so far as to widen or even create their own tunnels. You'd think they'd have them boarded or locked up pretty tight to avoid homeless people getting lost down there. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. Rifles, machine guns, equipment and personal items all were discovered lost or abandoned in virtually pristine condition. The tunnels have been cited as the reason why such a subway system has never been built in Odesa. After the incident, Lata said that the group had continued to explore the catacombs, and that they would sometimes go down there for days at a time. It was meant as a sort of warning for others to stay away, but it also lured urban explorers to the site with growing regularity. During New Year's Eve celebrations in 2005, she and her friends had one drink too . Drinking and debauchery went on that night, and for reasons unknown a young woman named Masha got separated from her friends and disappeared into the abyss. Layer by Layer: A Mexico City Culinary Adventure, Sacred Granaries, Kasbahs and Feasts in Morocco, Monster of the Month: The Hopkinsville Goblins, Writing the Food Memoir: A Workshop With Gina Rae La Cerva, Reading the Urban Landscape With Annie Novak, How to Grow a Dye Garden With Aaron Sanders Head, Making Scents: Experimental Perfumery With Saskia Wilson-Brown, Indigenous Desserts of Turtle Island With Mariah Gladstone, University of Massachusetts Entomology Collection, The Frozen Banana Stands of Balboa Island, The Paratethys Sea Was the Largest Lake in Earths History, How Communities Are Uncovering Untold Black Histories, The Medieval Thieves Who Used Cats, Apes, and Turtles as Accomplices, 10 of the World's Most Disorienting Places, http://odessitclub.org/en/archives/dallin/chapter_6.html#Catacombs. While you may have never heard of the Odessa catacombs, they are filled with legends and dark tales that you'll never forget. Relics of the past in the Odessa catacombs, Ukraine. Her body had been partially mummified by the cold cool air. Parents in the area warned their children to stay away. The story quickly became a famous Internet legend. They began to drink, and occasionally worked up the courage to go inside the mine, taking a few steps in before turning around and running back out. Their goal was to explore the catacombs and document the history of the partisan movement. We'll make more! An entrance into the catacombs. His recollection is different from Lata's. Every story is true, and each one is a real place you can visit. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. Pugovkin told us the elder Stendzenieks was offering a reward to anyone who could find his son, and some people he called "diggers"manual laborershad tipped off the authorities about a body two to three miles from an entrance to the catacombs. The partial mummification made for a successful identification of the victim and the autopsy revealed that she died from dehydration three days after getting lost. By that point the body was mostly a skeleton, so there were not many more details. We dare you. But some places just arent meant to be explored. We believe it is just a practical joke and the corpse is fake. So it's a photo of a body that willit seemsnever be positively identified, and it immortalizes the last moment of someone's life. In 2005, after a couple of drinks, a group of enthusiastic Odessa teens decided to continue their party down in the catacombs. If the area near School 56 had no groundwateror clandestine wine or mushroomsthere would have been nothing for her to eat or drink. 2019. On rare occasions these bodies are almost perfectly mummified, freeze dried by the cold, dry air of the tunnels. "The diggers determined it was a Satanist who got lost.". But without knowing the mind boggling extent of these catacombs, their efforts proved largely fruitless. But being murdered and having your body dumped in the catacombs is a vacation compared to what is rumored to have happened to Masha. The eerie burnt-out remains of a prominent building where 30 protestors lost their lives. Everyone was having a good time, drinking and having fun. Today there is an entire Ukrainian subculture of catacomb explorers with dozens of semiprofessional groups, often quite competitive, exploring the catacombs. What are you a professional corpsologist? [Online] Available at: https://thinkofthetriangle.wordpress.com/2016/09/25/adventures-in-ukraine-odessa-catacombs/, McKendry, I. D. 2017. Instead, he claims they were looking for the body of Janis Stendzenieks, the son of a local newspaper magnate. The Dark Underworld of the Paris Catacombs. However, a 2015 Vice Article alleges that Masha's story may be some kind of hoax, claiming that, according to the official Odessa Catacombs website, the whole story of Masha is a lie. The rest of the process wasn't exactly CSI: Odessa. "The diggers determined it was a Satanist who got lost.". They admitted that they had gone to the Stone Mines, and maybe, just maybe Masha had gone inside. With over 1,500 miles of subterranean tunnels, Odessa's catacombs even beat out the well-known Paris Catacombs in terms of length. Even though they never managed to explore the tunnels fully, the maps that these urban explorers managed to create are simply on the verge of being impossible. In Odessa, when someones water line suddenly breaks, or a house settles oddly, or a family pet goes missing, it is not uncommon for Ukrainians to curse about those damn catacombs., They are not being delusional, for underneath their houses run some 2,500 kilometers of catacombs, carved into the limestone that the city is built upon. 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. Maybe this photo will shock you. The Moora Mystery: What Happened When a Girl Stepped into the Moor 2,500 Years Ago? Masha and a group of friends thought it would be fun to go out, party, and celebrate at the Stone Mines. "It was hard to get to the top of the shaftit was like nine floors, tiers with skinny ladders between them. There is little to no record of a girl named Masha ever disappearing into the catacombs, and there are those that refute Lata'saccounts. Find Out, Dizzying Inca Rope Bridges Were Grass-Made Marvels of Engineering, For Sale In Britain: A Small Ancient Man With A Colossal Penis. Her body was found only after 2 years. Investigating the mysterious death of a young woman who wandered into an underground tunnel and never came outbut lives on as an internet rumor. One of the teens was a girl named Masha, and she was simply going with the rest of her crew to have a good time. (To get a sense of how much tunnel system that really is, it is only 2138 kilometers from Odessa to Paris.). One of them decided to give it a try, they turned the handle and the door swung open. Some proof for the long existence of this myth are the countless graffiti ships that can be spotted in the tunnels. 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. The citizens believe that he still haunts these labyrinthine tunnels. In the end, we cannot be entirely sure if the story of Masha'sill-fated party, nor her sad demise, is accurate, and that may never change. Were heading underground to find out whether the tunnels are truly empty. ", He told us he then dragged the body to the police medical examiner's office, about five miles from the entrance Masha would have used. The sheer size of the catacombs meant a refuge for all walks of life that sought to hide. The next-largest network of catacombs is in Paris, and that's only one-fifth the length of Odessa's. Just beware, even professionals can get lost. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there existcountless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts thathave yet to be discovered and explained. Odessas Mindbending Catacomb Maps. 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.