02 September 2016 | Haunted locations
In a town named Kutna Hora, here in the Czech Republic, there is a very famous ossuary that is said to contain the bones of between 40,000 and 70,000 people. The site, which is beneath the cemetery of the Church of All Saints just outside of Kutna Hora, is a very creepy visit. Four huge bell-shaped mounds of bones in each corner of the Chapel are accentuated by delightful human skeletal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. There is even a coat of arms – all made from human skeletal remains, on the wall.
The story behind how this came to be is fascinating. Back in 1278, a monk returned from the Holy Land with soil from Golgotha. This was spread in the cemetery making it a much wanted final destination of many people in the region. The results of a 14th Century Black Death outbreak and 15th Century wars in the region also ensure that there were many thousands buried there during that period as well. The ossuary was created when rebuilding work meant digging up many of the bodies in the 1400’s and this practice continued to make room for new tenants in the cemetery for several hundred years. The macabre decorations in the place were the brainchild of a woodcarver given responsibility for the place in 1870.
The place has a very strange atmosphere. It is probably just the imagination as you are surrounded by skeletons – but who knows? With some 50,000 remains there surely there must be one or two spirits haunting the place?
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