Unfakely

Yes, music videos are definitely older than MTV. It’s just that the definition isn’t all that clear, and depending on what you consider a music video, the starting point changes.

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How much of our brain do we use?

September 19, 2022June 26, 2021 by Unfakely

How much of our brain do we use?

Do we actually only use about 10% of its capacity, and leave the other 90% dormant, waiting to be awakened by strange training procedures and costly enhancement supplements?

How is our brain constructed?

The human brain is a miracle of efficiency. It controls all the very complex activities in our body, like the Engine Control Module of a modern car. From simple walking to sports at elite levels, from digestion to astrophysics… It’s always there to give us its best and solve every predictable or unpredictable issue. We have a lot to thank the brain for.

Without spinning away on technicalities (… Which I’m not competent to do anyway), the brain is a big blob of neurons and glial cells. It weighs in the span of 1 – 1,6 kilos, ( 2,3 to 3,6 lbs.) with a substantial individual variation. The total number of neurons was for a long time thought to be around 100 billion, and the total number of Glial cells was thought to be ten times as much. More recent research by Suzana Herculano-Houzel points to 86 billion neurons, and the same amount of other, non “thinking” cells. Most of which are Glia.

Although the weight is less than 2% of the total body weight, the brain consumes about 20% of the total energy consumption in our body. It’s very expensive for the organism to think. But more about that later.

And how does it work?

The big blob is divided into two parts, known as the right and left hemispheres. It looks a bit like the two parts of a walnut. These are connected via a thick bundle of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. Each hemisphere is divided into 6 lobes, and each lobe has its specific function.

The two halves also have different tasks. The left side is normally responsible for speech and abstract thinking, while the right side handles visual images and spatial thinking.

Apart from actual thinking, the brain also controls all bodily functions, conscious and non-conscious. Interestingly, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left.

Even though we don’t know everything there’s to know about the human brain, a few things are worth noting:

The brain doesn’t seem to be hardwired so that the various parts do only what they’re supposed to do. New research has found that if a region of the brain is damaged, another region can at least to some extent take over and perform the non-functional part’s tasks. It’s flexible, something that is quite unique among human organs.
The brain is always “on”. Even when we’re not conscious it’s still carrying out all the physical necessities. But not only that. It’s also surprisingly active during, for example, sleep. And even completely unresponsive patients in a coma, sometimes show brain activity. And not only doing the basic stuff but responding to commands with cognitive activity. Basically, the brain hears you.

Why it would be completely senseless for any organism to carry around that much dead weight.

So, back to the 10%. And no, we don’t only use a small part of our brain. That would be a gigantic waste of resources.

In the wonderful world of evolution, any feature that is beneficial tends to remain, and any feature that is disadvantageous tends to disappear. Now, you might say that we still have a small tail at the end of our spine, and we still have a seemingly useless appendix.

Yes, we do, but all remnants from previous species still tend to diminish with the ages.

The human brain does not diminish, instead, it has increased in volume over the millennia.

The brain consumes huge amounts of energy, as much as ten times as much as its respective weight. And even more, if you think hard. It is heavy and fragile, and it’s high up on the top of our strange, disharmonious body structure. There are so many disadvantages, that if it wasn’t useful at its fullest, nature would never have maintained it that big. It would have been diminished and made small.

So, how much of our brain do we use?

Well… All of it. We use all of the brain. Not all contemporarily, but it’s all there accessible to us.

Almost all lobes are active all of the time. That is not difficult to check. Just connect it to an MRI scanner and you see that even performing very simple tasks most of the brain is working. And as previously mentioned, even when sleeping, much of the brain is still active.

– But, you might say, maybe it’s working but not working at maximum, but only at 10% of its capacity?

Ok, let’s use a technique called Single-unit recording. With it, you can detect the electrical activity of a single neuron. Even if the information we get from this intervention is very limited, we can accurately see if the cell is active or not. And it is. That is, there’s no part of the brain that is dormant or inactive all the time.

famous American psychologist — William James

Look at it as a kitchen. You have all the tools, the stove, mixers, and a microwave. Even though you do not use all of it all the time, you use all of it some of the time. Nothing in there is completely useless.

The origins of the myth

Actually, nobody knows where it comes from. Many suggestions have been made over the years, but no one knows exactly.

The famous Harvard psychologists William James at the end of the 19th century, stated many times more of a possible explanation than a verified fact, that we only use 10% of our brain capacity.
Lowell Thomas wrote in the foreword to “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, by Dale Carnegie in 1936: “Professor William James of Harvard used to say that the average man develops only ten percent of his latent mental ability”.
Albert Einstein supposedly once told a journalist when asked about his high IQ… “And still, I only use 10% of it…”
The American psychologist Karl Lashley found that when removing large pieces of the cortex from the brain of rats, they could still learn tasks. This made him conclude that only a small part of the brain was actually functional.

But, as said, we do not know where it all started.

The popularity of the myth

My own consideration is that it was a very lucrative idea. Many single people as well as companies and organizations have had a lot to gain. If there was a way to unlock the 90 percent and gain access to it, then that way would get a lot of attention… And of course, a lot of money.

And millions of pills, herbs, medicines, diets, and supplements, as well as techniques for training, relaxation, yoga, and every other possible invention on the subject have been published and sold over the last hundred years.

I would say that economic interests are at least a part of the reason why this myth has been so hard to get rid of. It’s simply good business.

The 2014 motion picture Lucy by Luc Besson was based on the idea that it could be possible to increase the cerebral capacity tenfold.

Do we have the biggest brain in the animal kingdom, and that’s why we are so smart?

We don’t have the biggest brain of all animals. Brain size is somehow connected to the size of the body. A blue whale has a bigger brain than a mouse. But we have very big brains compared to other mammals of our own size. And it is possible that the size of the brain in relation to the total body is crucial for intelligence.

Let’s say any animal needs a brain with 0,5 percent of the body mass to cope with the basic functions. A human brain with 2% of the body mass has 75% of its capacity free to accomplish other more complicated tasks such as thinking. The bigger the brain in relation to the body, the greater the possibility of developing higher intellectual capacity.

It could also be that our body mass is the perfect size. A small animal would still have a small brain for mathematical equations, even if it used 75% of its very small brain. And a big body could be too occupied with all the different basic stuff.

I imagine the brain activity to just move the tail of a 26 meter (86 feet) long Dreadnoughtus dinosaur. Maybe for him, there just couldn’t be very much capacity to spare when all the bodily functions were taken care of.

… And no, they didn’t have two brains. That too is a myth.

Fun facts about the brain

The human brain is incapable of multitasking. It switches back and forth between the tasks.
There is more cholesterol in the brain than in any other part of the body. Fortunately, the brain cells can’t absorb cholesterol from the blood. Instead, the brain produces its own, and it’s just beneficial with no negative side effects.
The brain has no pain receptors, and consequently, it can’t feel pain. But to get there you have to penetrate the skull and the tissues surrounding it, and that hurts.
The brain keeps developing until we’re in our late 40s. That’s the only organ that has such a long growth curve. After that, it starts shrinking.
Alcohol doesn’t kill brain cells. But it makes the brain shrink, just like aging does. It is thought that if you stop drinking, the volume, to at least some degree, could be restored.
Physical activity increases intellectual capacity. It is actually so beneficial that some studies suggest that it’s better to do aerobic training than to study.

So, there you have it. Stop studying, get out, ride your bike, go run in the park, play some baseball, football, or tennis… And you can become a genius.

No, we use all of the brain. Not 100% of it all the time, but we use most of it continuously. There are no hidden resources that can be awakened. By using it, you can train it and make it more efficient, though.

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The chromatic scale – Is there any divine, or universal reason why the scale of a keyboard is precisely 12 notes, and not 11 or 13?

January 18, 2024June 22, 2021 by Unfakely

The chromatic scale

Is there any divine, or universal reason why the chromatic scale of a keyboard is precisely 12 notes, and not 11 or 13?

… And why are they organized in that specific way… With 7 whites and 5 blacks?

It has something to do with the physical laws, something to do with our ears and the way we perceive sounds, and a little to do with practicality.

Disclaimer: This is a very interesting subject, if you’re into music, sound, recordings, and such. Be aware though, that the article is a bit technical

The magical world of pitches and harmonies.

In the physical world there are sounds. Every sound has a pitch, a frequency, and the frequency is measured in Hertz, Hz.

An interval between two notes means that the frequency of the two notes is different. The more mathematically logical the relationship is between the notes, the more consonant the interval sounds to our ears. Consonant roughly means that it seems harmonical, pleasant, and in tune. Dissonance means disharmonic, unpleasant, and harsh.

For the vast majority of people, the actual pitch doesn’t really matter. We can’t immediately detect if the song is played in E or E♯. What we hear are the intervals, the distances between the notes, and from them, we decide if the song is pleasant and if the singer and the instruments are in tune or not. That is why we can transpose songs, and play any music in any key, and it sounds just as good.

The mathematical connections between notes

If you double the frequency, you get a pitch exactly one octave up. The A (A4) above the middle C on a keyboard is normally tuned at 440 Hz. The A (A5) one octave up is 880 Hz. And the A (A6) another octave up is 1760 Hz, and so on.

So, the most simple, mathematically logical relationship is doubling. Consequently, the octave is the most consonant interval. It’s so pleasant and harmonic that we actually use the same name for the notes, all over the keyboard. In this case A. To our ear, they seem like two versions of the same note.

Consonant intervals

The most consonant interval is the octave, obtained by doubling.
The second most consonant interval is a perfect fifth, which is 3/2 of the original frequency. C to G on a keyboard.
The third most consonant is the perfect fourth, 4/3 of the original frequency, C to F on a keyboard.
The fourth most consonant interval is the major third 5/4 of the original frequency, and the major sixth 5/3 of the original frequency followed by the minor third and the minor sixth. But now we are closing in on the dissonances.

In fact, a harmony, major or minor, consists of three notes, The keynote (the perfect prime), the third (minor or major), and the perfect fifth. And if you look at it, the distance from the fifth to the octave is a perfect fourth. So, there you have the consonant intervals, the prime/octave, the third, the fifth, and the fourth.

Dissonant intervals

The most dissonant interval is the note halfway between the octave, the diminished fifth, the tritone. It is 17/12 of the original frequency, and as you see, now we’re quite far away from any close connection.
The second most dissonant intervals are the minor second 17/16 of the original frequency and the major seventh 19/10 of the original frequency.
Other dissonant intervals are the major second, and the minor seventh.
As the notes in the musical universe aren’t limited to the whites and blacks of a keyboard, even more, dissonant intervals can be obtained by using notes that are in between the semitones of the keyboard. A quarter of a tone, an eighth of tone. But more about that later.

The diatonic scale

The diatonic scale, which is the basis for all western, traditional music theory, is made of 5 whole tones and 2 semitones. The whites of the keyboard.

On a major scale the sequence of the intervals is 1 – 1 – ½ – 1 – 1 – 1 – ½.
If you do these intervals, it doesn’t matter where you start on the keyboard. The intervals will produce a perfect major diatonic scale.
The C major scale is C – D – E – F – G – A – B – (C)

Overtones

Any note played by any instrument or sung by a voice, has overtones. The only sound that doesn’t have overtones is a computer-generated sinus tone, sine wave.

The overtones come from the simultaneous vibration of different parts of the vibrating object. Let’s take the cord of a guitar. When the cord vibrates in its full length, it also vibrates in its half length, and the third of its length and so on. So even if the full length of the cord produces the note that we want, the half cord produces a very weak octave, the third of the cord a very weak fifth over the octave, and so on. These overtones, their distribution and strength, give the sound its character. And together with the attack of the note, they let us distinguish a guitar from a flute, a piano from a voice, etc.

relationship frequency of overtones — Overtones

As you can see, the overtones match the consonant intervals pretty accurately.

Now, let’s say we have five of the overtones in a C-note. That would be C – C – G – C – E.

The special case of the dominant.

The fifth note in music theory is called the dominant, and a chord made up from the fifth note of the scale is the dominant harmony. It has a very close and special relationship to the first note. It would be the G in the C-scale, and any harmony built up from the fifth note of any scale is privileged, and special.

If we do the same overtone-trick from the G note but with seven notes, we’ll get G – G – D – G – B – D – F.

If you combine the two overtone series, you get C – D – E – F – G – – B. It’s not a perfect C scale, but it’s close. The only note missing is A.

Another way to get to a diatonic major scale is playing perfect fifths in a sequencE. You will have to start from a fifth below the C… F – C – G – D – A – E – B.

And you can play a series of thirds, minor and major… A – C – E – G – B – D – F (A technique that is used very frequently in jazz…)

Or it can be described as two tetrachords.

… But these are more of an intellectual – philosophical description, that doesn’t really add anything to the understanding of why the chromatic scale has 12 notes and the diatonic scale has 7.

The thing to remember here, is that there is a physical relationship between the notes in a consonant harmony, and thus in a consonant diatonic scale. The notes are not just there by chance.

The chromatic scale

cluster — Jerry Lee Lewis playing all the notes in the chromatic scale with his foot.

So, the diatonic scale is made of 5 whole tones and 2 semitones, the whites of the keyboard.

If, instead of using whole tones and semitones, we just use the semitones. Then you would have to fill up the 5 whole steps with the half step that lies between. Since there are 5 whole steps in a diatonic scale, you have to add five semitones to get a scale of only half steps, a chromatic scale. 7 + 5 makes 12.

The chromatic scale is the 12 semitones equally distributed between one note and the same note one octave up or down. This perfectly equal distribution is called temperament, and it’s a compromise between the perfect pitch of the natural tones, and the practical need to be able to play in any key.

But it doesn’t necessarily have to be 7… There are many other ways to combine the notes.

During the centuries, and in different parts of the world, various ideas of tuning and constructing scales have been offered.

Maybe most notable is the pentatonic scale: With the major third C – D – E – G – A.
Or with the minor third A – C – D – E – G
The hexatonic whole tone scale C – D – E – F# – G# – A#
The hexatonic blues scale C – E♭/E (gliding pitch) – F – F# – G – B♭

Watch this video on YouTube

And there have been many others. All these different ways to combine notes normally still consider the fifth and the fourth as fundamental. Their close connection to the unison, the keynote, make them indispensable in most scales.

And it doesn’t necessarily have to be 12 notes in the chromatic scale either…

There are numerous other ways to separate the different notes from each other. Here are just a few examples, but there are so many more used in different time periods, and in different regions.

You could for example double the number and tune the scale in 24 steps.

Watch this video on YouTube

Or you could use 19 steps, which in some way would be rather close to the 12 tone scale, with a few notes added.
The 72 equal temperament, or 72 edo divides the octave into 72 equal steps.
The Byzantine music theory uses the 72 equal temperament scale
The Arab tone system is based on 24 equal steps in the octave.

Watch this video on YouTube

The problems with alternative scales.

The difficulties become obvious when you actually try to play music. How do you play a note that is between one and the other? A keyboard would have to be completely reconstructed. But even instruments like a violin are still constructed to play the 12 notes of the chromatic scale.

And the preparation, and training of the musician often doesn’t prepare him for playing between the notes.

The only real exception would be the voice. A human voice doesn’t have finger positions where the note should be. A singer tunes with the ears and sings according to what he/she hears. The Arabic singer who is trained in a 24 note scale can produce a perfect intonation within that scale.

The wonderful compromise of the 12-tone equal temperament.

If you have a keyboard tuned in just intonation, and you start from C and put E, and G on top of it, you end up with a beautiful C major chord. Now, if you start from G and put B, and D on it you will have a G major. But while the interval between C and G is a perfect 5th, the interval between G and D is not. Remember that the keyboard was tuned perfectly with the C as the root. The G is in perfect tune compared to the C, but not compared to the D.

And the further away you get from C, the more out of tune the instrument would seem. G♭ major would sound quite awful.

If you look at old classical music, before the 18th century, they almost never used keys with a lot of flats or sharps. It didn’t sound well at the time.

To resolve this, we use something called a temperate tuning system. Instead of tuning the various intervals perfectly, we tune only the octave perfectly, by doubling the frequency. Then we distance the 12 semitones in between equally. Every half note has the exact same space, 100 cents.

The distance of an octave is 1200 cents.

At the end, the piano is slightly out of tune, but it’s so little that you don’t hear it. The benefit is that you can play in any key and it sounds just as good as in any other.

C equally tempered

C just intonation

C# equally tempered

C# just intonation

So, it’s easy to hear that the last chord is out of tune. If the keyboard is tuned in just intonation with the C note as a base, the C# will come out quite distorted, as it has 5 sharps.

J.S. Bach and the Well-Tempered Clavier.

In the beginning of 1700 Johann Sebastian Bach wrote two books of 24 preludes and fugues in each. They were equally distributed between the 12 keys. He wrote them in enthusiasm over the newly invented temperature. Something that permitted composting in any key with equally good results.

In the 16th and 17th centuries there had been many suggestions to resolve the problem with the equal temperature, and not even Bach had our modern equal temperature at his disposal. It would take more than a hundred years before the equal 12 tone temperament was widely accepted. The two books with the total of 24 preludes and 24 fugues are regarded today as masterpieces of technical perfection.

Conclusion

The scales and music theories of the world depend very strongly on traditions, preferences, practicality, and fashions and trends. Still, the foundation for the 7-tone diatonic scale, the 12-tone chromatic scale, as well as almost all other scales, to at least some degree is the physical relations between the various natural overtones of any pitch… The vibration of the half cord, the third of a cord, the fourth, and so on.

Yes, the reason why the chromatic scale has 12 notes, can be found in the physical laws of the universe. Although we humans have made these laws more practical, more flexible, and better tuned.

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Theremin – Can you play music just by moving your hands in the air?

September 20, 2022June 14, 2021 by Unfakely

Theremin

Can you play music just by moving your hands in the air?

Watch this video on YouTube

What is a Theremin?

The Theremin is an electronic instrument created in the 1920s and patented in 1928 in the US by the Russian inventor and musician Leon Theremin. The instrument has two antennas, one for pitch, and the other for volume. The musician moves his hands in the air closer and further away from the antennas, thus controlling the height and strength of the sound. It is the only musical instrument you can play without touching it.

The sound is smooth, flowing, and with a very electronic, eerie touch. The typical Sci-Fi-/Horror movie from the 50s type of touch. And it was actually extremely popular in the early sound motion picture days.. Hitchcock’s Spellbound, Robert Siodmak’s The spiral staircase, and Cecil B. DeMille’s The ten commandments are just a few of the many films that included the Theremin in their soundtrack.

The tech-talk

The Theremin generates electromagnetic fields around two antennas. One is standing up, controlling the pitch, and the other one placed horizontally in a u-shaped bow at the side of the instrument, controlling the volume.

Two oscillators are connected to the pitch antenna, one with a slightly variable frequency and one with a fixed frequency. The two signals are mixed, and the frequency from one antenna is subtracted from that of the other, through a process called heterodyning. The hand and body of the musician act as the earth in the electromagnetic field. It interferes with the frequency of the variable oscillator, and changes the pitch.

The volume antenna works in a similar way.

Have you ever desperately tried to adjust the antenna of an old radio or a tv, only to discover that when you hold your hand around the antenna the sound/picture is ok, but when you move it away, it gets all distorted? That’s the principle we are talking about.

Can you really play music on a thing like that?

Of course, you can. But… And that’s something to consider before starting a career… It’s regarded by many as the most difficult instrument in the world.

You move your hands closer and further away from the two antennas. The closer the hand is to the pitch antenna, the higher the tone. The closer the hand is to the volume antenna, the weaker the tone. That means that you will need a lot of precision training to get the distance right. It doesn’t have frets that are tuned in semitones, like the guitar. It doesn’t even have strings that you can look at and feel, to determine where to put down your finger, like the violin.

The difficulty in playing and the rather limited repertoire have produced very few who truly mastered playing the Theremin. Many have tried but few have succeeded.

The most famous Thereminist is without a doubt Clara Rockmore from Lithuania. She was a professional violinist with innate absolute pitch (She knew the exact frequency of a tone just by listening to it without having to confront it to an instrument.). That probably helped her a lot when reaching for the perfectly tuned note.

It was the world’s first truly electronic musical instrument

Jimmy Page playing the Theremin-solo of Whole Lotta Lovin’

I’ve already mentioned the usage of the Theremin sound in the film industry. Its strange and futuristic color made it an attractive partner in all movie production from the thirties and onwards.

The portamento-type gliding pitch and the typically spacy sound was something brand new in the music industry. Today, with all our computerized music, maybe it is difficult to understand, but in the thirties, forties, and fifties the instrument was sensational. It was a completely new approach to sound making and it gained a lot of attention.

The Beach Boys used it in their smash hit “good vibrations”
Pink Floyd used it on the song “The Great Gig In The Sky” from the album Dark side of the Moon
Led Zeppelin used it on Whole Lotta Love from the album Led Zeppelin II. Although this was a modified version. Jimmy Page only controlled the pitch, not the volume.
… And many more.

These are somewhat old songs, and it’s logical. The Theremin was the first and only electrical sound source apart from more conventional electronic pieces like the Hammond organ. The Theremin’s typical synthesizer-ish sound had no competition until Robert Moog started creating his Moog-synthesizers in the 60s. From then on, the Theremin’s attraction diminished.

Watch this video on YouTube

Fun fact:

Robert Moog was fascinated by the Theremin. His own development of the Moog synthesizer was very much based upon the Russian invention. The whole Moog industry actually started out as a retail for Theremin kits. Today Moog’s biggest selling products are Theremins in various shapes.

A short history

After the Russian revolution and the following Russian wars at the beginning of 1900, the newborn Soviet Union invested a lot of money and human capital into various scientific projects. Many of these aimed at developing various new weapon techniques, as well as ways to spy on foreign and domestic enemies. One of these fields was proximity sensors, gadgets that can sense people and objects without any type of physical contact.

The young Lev Termen was recruited, and very soon the talented scientist had invented a device with which you could detect electromagnetic interference from a distance. Unfortunately, the distance was just a foot or two and completely useless as a spy device. Instead, a completely new musical instrument was born… The Theremin, named after the inventor.

In 1927, after having toured Europe and Russia, Termin moved to the USA, where he changed his name to Leon Theremin and patented his invention in 1928. In the following years, the instrument slowly conquered the western world, and Leon Theremin continued to develop his creation, as well as invent new things. He created the very first metal detectors for the Alcatraz prison, and he continued to work on his own television technology.

Leon Theremin was more of a visionary than a down-to-earth technician. And he was still a Soviet citizen and had frequent contacts with Russian agents.

The tragic fate of Leon Theremin

In 1938 he suddenly left the US to go back to the Soviet Union. His homecoming didn’t go as expected, though. The Russian authorities arrested him upon arrival and sent him to prison. Shortly thereafter he was put to work within the State financed research and development laboratories, the so-called Sharashka, as a convict.

Here he developed many “useful” devices.

In 1945 a wooden plaque of the Great Seal of the United States was presented to the Ambassador in Moscow. Inside it, Theremin had constructed a passive electronic bugging device… “The thing”. It was operational for 7 years inside the Embassy, until it was accidentally exposed in 1952.

In 1947, he was released from forced participation in espionage technology development but remained within the KGB until 1966 when he retired.

He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1947.

Isn’t it dangerous with all that electricity?

No, it’s not. The frequency of around 500 kHz is very low. That kind of electromagnetic radiation is called non-ionizing and there has never been any confirmed alteration in cell structure caused by non-ionizing radiation. And you are holding your hands around the instrument, but reasonably far away from it.

It is probably much more hazardous to use a normal cell phone. A cell phone operates in the area of around 2 GHz. That’s four thousand times the frequency of a Theremin… And you hold it close to your head.

Special difficulties when playing the Theremin

Since there are no references whatsoever to where the notes are – you’re holding your hands in the air, playing depends entirely on your ear… What you hear. Having said that, it is extremely important to have a very good understanding of intonation. Just like when you sing, but singing is much more natural and innate. You play the Theremin with your hands, and your hands are not used to intonation in the same way your vocal cords are. Many Thereminists explain it as thinking of the note coming in from underneath, moving the hand inwards. Then stopping when the correct pitch is reached.

Another difficulty consists in the fact that it is your body’s position, in this case, your hands, that determines the pitch and volume. One, small motion, an uncontrolled breath, an itch on your back, a change in weight on your feet, could completely alter the whole intonation thing. Close to the antenna, the semi-notes are just a few millimeters apart. The musician needs to be able to stand perfectly still for a long time. To do that, you need a good posture and good understanding of it

The Theremin today

It is still in use. Thousands of people all over the world continue to struggle with its relentless difficulties. It’s an odd member of the orchestra, but it is unique in the way it is played, and it being able to move all over the tonal spectrum without limits. It also has some theatrical characteristics, as the performer moves the hands in a sensual, expressive way while the body is completely motionless.

The initial flat model has grown into various shapes. Many have invented new versions, and many improvements have been made over the years. New techniques make it easier to play today than it was a hundred years ago. It still is one of-, if the most difficult instrument to master of all.

Yes, utilizing the hands as ground in an electromagnetic field, you can play just moving them in the air around two antennas. The instrument is called Theremin.

sources

Does shaving make hair thicker?

March 30, 2023June 13, 2021 by Unfakely

Does shaving make hair thicker?

… And does cutting the hair make it grow faster?

This myth is well-founded and looked upon as an axiom in many parts of the world. When I was young I heard it from more or less everybody… If you shave, the beard will grow fuller and richer. The idea was somehow that the hair would compensate for being cut off, and the hair follicle would strengthen the new hair so that it can resist better. At least that’s how it was explained to me.

Anyway, it was common knowledge that shaving and cutting would create thicker and maybe darker hairs.

Our very different goals

Having more, richer, and stronger hair can be a good thing, or a bad thing… It depends. Because we have very different goals with hair growth. Typically we want less hair on our bodies, while on the head, we prefer more. Especially if you’re a woman, you normally want little or no body hair.

For a man, body hair could be of less importance. While, for example, the beard should be rich and full, which could be a problem if you’re young or just don’t have a lot of facial hair.

So, even if the question “Does shaving make hair thicker?” could seem of little importance, it’s actually of great concern to many. And the healthcare- and make-up industry takes advantage of this, with thousands of products for either making your beard fuller, your curls richer, or making your legs smoother.

The truth of the matter

Your hair grows as it grows independently if you cut or don’t cut. When you shave, the hair is cut straight off, and the blade leaves a square tip instead of the smooth, soft tip of natural hair. That can sometimes make the hairs feel rougher the first days after a shave or a cut, but it’s really an illusion. Mechanical cutting doesn’t change the way the hair is produced in the follicle in any way.

The clinical aspect of hair growth.

The hair follicle produces the hair over time, it reaches its full length, and then it falls off. After that, the follicle rests for some time before it starts with a new hair. The complete cycle is, by scientists, divided into three faces, the anagen, the catagen, and the telogen face.

Anagen phase – This is the growth face. The hair is growing until it reaches its full length. That can take many years if we’re talking about scalp hair. Hair on your head grows one or two cm per month. The growth rate varies with age, sex, genetic factors, and to some extent, with external components, such as temperature, sunlight, nutrition, and general well-being.
Catagen phase – This is when the hair is released from the follicle, and pushed out. The dermal papilla diminishes in size and detaches from the hair, which simply falls off.
Telogen phase – This is the resting face. It lasts for a few months before the follicle wakes up again and restarts the cycle.

Is it at all possible to affect hair growth?

Well, of course, it is. Everything in our bodies is connected to everything else, and hair is no exception. If you’re healthy, happy, and physically strong, your hair will be fuller and richer. If you eat well, don’t take drugs, or drink too much alcohol, you will definitely have more beautiful hair, just as you would be more beautiful all together. And we’ve already concluded that sunlight, temperature, vitamins, minerals, and even products sold as a hair-growing enhancement by the makeup industry can affect hair growth.

To this, we would have to add medical disorders, secondary effects from treatments, alopecia, and common male baldness.

It’s just shaving or cutting that doesn’t make hair grow faster… or fuller, or stronger. It doesn’t affect the life cycle of the follicle at all.

It’s still a good idea to get a haircut every few months, though. The professional, caring hand of a hair stylist has many benefits. It levels the tips of the hair on your head, and the products used can in some cases be good for you… And you look better coming out from the hair salon, and that’s a major issue.

But, still, the hair doesn’t grow more or less, fuller or thinner.

Does shaving make hair thicker? Nope, it doesn’t

But it feels that way.

The anagen face – the growth face – is divided into 6 sub-faces. And it’s not until the fourth of these faces that the melanin production is fully activated. At the beginning, not only is the hair thinner but it’s also not colored.

So, a natural body hair of, let’s say, 5 millimeters is very soft and almost transparent because it’s actually the tip of the new hair. If, on the other hand, you cut it straight off and let it grow out 5 millimeters from the cutting point, then that would be the middle part of the hair, with a full diameter, and full color. And the feeling, when you caress your leg, is very different.

Waxing vs shaving

Again… Waxing or shaving has no effect on the long-term growth or quality of the new body hair. The follicles on your skin will repeat their growth cycle in exactly the same manner if you wax or shave… Or you don’t do either.

Waxing pulls out the whole hair, root and all. The follicle has to start all over again, and waxing, therefore, leaves the skin hairless for a much longer time. Shaving just cuts the hair, and the growth continues where it was cut off. Shaving causes the new hair to be wider and colored, just as explained before.

Waxing lasts longer while shaving is easier.

Both methods can cause problems due to the invasiveness of the skin. The process of cutting, scraping, and pouring hot wax should be done with caution.

There is a specific hazard for women, especially those with curly hair… Frequent shaving can cause ingrown hair. To avoid this, always cut in the direction the hair grows, never against the grain. And shave after or while showering, never on dry skin.

There are many other ways to remove unwanted body hair, some are claimed to do so permanently. Any of these methods should be used acknowledging the risks, and always at a certified clinic with a good reputation. Check reviews, and references, and ask around.

No, nor shaving, waxing, cutting, or anything else you do with the grown-out hair, has any bearing on the long-term health, width, or length of future hairs.

sources

Surströmming – The stinkiest food on the planet.

February 24, 2023May 18, 2021 by Unfakely

What is Surströmming?

Surströmming, salted fermented Baltic herring… Is it the stinkiest food in the world?

What is surströmming?

Surströmming is a traditional dish, regarded as one of the smelliest and most disgusting foods in the world. You buy them in tin cans, and eat them cold.

Surströmming is made from small herrings from the Baltic sea, fished in May or June. After 48 hours in a high-salinity brine, they are cleaned and put in barrels in a lower salinity brine. At a temperature of about 15°C (60°F), they ferment in the barrels for 5-8 weeks. It is this process that gives it the characteristic smell. In late July or early August, they are canned and distribution starts on the third Thursday in August.

But why on earth would someone spoil food on purpose?

It is not as strange as it may seem. If you think about it… Functional refrigerators have been around for no more than a hundred years. Before that people had to use other methods to conserve food. And one very popular method was fermentation.

Fermentation doesn’t require any particular equipment or additives. It’s cheap and practical. Some of our most popular modern products originate from using fermentation as a method of conservation… Fermented milk such as Yogurt, Kefir, Ayran, etc, Pickles, all other kinds of fermented vegetables, Sauerkraut, etc, Indonesian Bagoong, Italian Bottarga, Egyptian Fesikh, and the dreaded Icelandic Hákarl, which isn’t a vegetable but a shark.

And, of course, beverages such as wine and beer…

People actually eat it, and they even enjoy it.

The surströmming is smelly, you can’t argue that. The fermentation process is completely natural. Enzymes already present in the spine of the fish (a process called autolysis) start the fermenting process. These enzymes together with bacteria produce among others, propionic acid, butyric acid, acetic acid, and hydrogen sulfide.

All these substances are each very smelly on their own, but put together they create a pungent odor, so penetrating and foul that it is impossible to even open a can in the vicinity of other people, who do not participate in the consumption. It smells like rotten eggs, or simply… Shit.

Fortunately, the actual taste of the fish is not anywhere near the putrefied odor. Once you have gotten rid of the can and rinsed the fish in freshwater, much of the smell disappears… Not all, but the whole thing becomes much more manageable. And the taste of the fish meat is very different from the first impression when you opened the lid. It is an interesting dish, particular, exotic, and in the right environment, enjoyable.

Surströmming is a very old Swedish traditional dish.

Yes, it’s a very old Swedish dish. Archaeological findings from 7000 BC in southern Sweden, suggest that fermentation already was a well-established method for food conservation. And the technique was known all over the world. The ancient Romans as well as the Greeks used fermentation to preserve food.

In Sweden, the commonly used method to preserve their basic food, the herring, was salting. But salting requires salt, and when Gustav Vasa, the first King of modern Sweden, started a decades-long campaign of warfare against practically all of Sweden’s neighbors at the beginning of 1500, the salt import came to a halt. Sweden had no domestic production of salt and that meant higher prices and less supply.

We don’t know if the farmers knew exactly what they were doing or not, but when they suddenly put much less salt on the herrings, the fermentation process began. And the surströmming was invented.

Surströmming today

The production is concentrated in the north of Sweden. And so is the eating of the smelly fish. It’s much more common in the northern parts of the country, where the big forests are with bears, wolves, and moose. The production was once concentrated in the area of Höga Kusten (The high coast… From the characteristic rocky coastline.), between Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik.

Here there used to be a lot of small, often family-owned companies, that produced the famous round tin cans. Especially on the island Ulvön, where every corner of the road used to have its own surströmming factory. The classical round tin can became the classic package around 1890.

Another reason why this part of Sweden became the center for surströmming production is the quality of the herring. The last part of the name -strömming indicates a smaller type of herring found in the Baltic sea. It is not only smaller than the Atlantic variant but less fat and, honestly, quite different in taste. The fat content is crucial when fermenting. And in the southern Baltic sea, the herring is too fat, while in the north it’s too lean. The perfect herring for fermentation is found right there, between Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik.

Eating surströmming the correct way.

Well, the natives eat it just like any other fish, without any distinct recipes or special tricks… But if you would want to try it, and succeed, you would need a little guidance. Here is the best advice from the experts:

Open the can far away from the table. Be prepared… The smell is overwhelming. You can even open the can inside a bucket of water, and flush the fish right there.
Rinse the fish filets in sparkling water. Store the empty cans safely in a closed space.

The accessories can vary quite a lot. There are some basic items that definitely should be served. Those are boiled potatoes (mandelpotatis, almond-shaped, small potatoes boiled unpeeled, if you have access to it.), onion (white or red is preferable), sour cream (gräddfil)(…or any other sour dairy product), and tunnbröd (flatbread).
The best way to enjoy the surströmming is to make a roll (klämma). Fill a flatbread with potatoes, onion, and sour cream. Add small pieces of surströmming, as a condiment rather than the main ingredient. Roll it up and eat it with your hands.
… And it should be accompanied by local beer, and snaps (vodka)

Watch this video on YouTube

There are loads of videos out there showing people doing the surströmming challenge. They sit indoors with a can, but without anything else. Then they open it and eat the herrings right out of the package dripping with the oozing marinade. The most enthusiastic surströmming-expert would never, ever come near a situation like that. It’s completely and utterly foolish.

Is it healthy to eat?

Fermented food in general has many beneficial properties and a few harmful effects. The good thing about it is mostly connected to probiotics — live microorganisms. Those are extremely important for digestion. And the bad is much the same… Some of the microorganisms could turn out harmful.

An additional hazard comes from the health of the seawater. High levels of PCB and dioxins have been found in fatty fish like salmon and herring from the Baltic sea. Although the levels are decreasing, it’s a very slow process. The European Union has issued a permanent exception for consuming herring and salmon from the Baltics, as the levels of PCB and dioxin currently are over the safe limit.

Eating it once or twice a year doesn’t have any implications, but if you open a can two or three times a week, it could be harmful, especially if you’re are pregnant, plan to have children, or simply very young.

Is surströmming rotten?

No, surströmming is not rotten. Rotting is an uncontrolled, natural process. Many different bacterias cause the decomposition of organic material. Putrescine, cadaverine, indole, and skatole are among those most frequently produced. These are not present in surströmming.

Fermentation, on the other hand, is accomplished under controlled circumstances. The precise salt level limits the process and allows only certain enzymes and bacteria to work. I.e. those that enhance the development of the aroma and the flavor, such as hydrogen sulfide.

So which is the stinkiest food in the world?

It is difficult to say. Salinity and spiciness can be measured in the laboratory, although not 100% objectively. The Smell is more difficult. The substances that stimulate our nose are many, not only one. And we are differently sensitive to all of them. The Guinness Book of records doesn’t have a record for smelliness, and there’s probably a reason for that.

Still, when I search for the most stinking and putrid foods in the world, surströmming always comes up, and more often than not in one of the top positions.

Other stinky foods include stinky tofu, fruits like Locust and Durian, and the Japanese Nattō. But there are many more. Many of these are restricted, you can’t take them on flights, they don’t serve them in restaurants, etc. I’ve eaten some of these myself, and some of them are frankly quite disgusting.

But comparing this to surströmming seems ridiculous. If you would ever open a can of fermented Baltic herring on an airplane, they would have to refurbish it completely. The stench would penetrate everything that isn’t steel or smooth plastic… And the smell of surströmming isn’t just strong… It smells rotten. So I would say the type of smell is more disturbing than many others.

The final verdict

Surströmming isn’t all that bad to eat. It’s the smell that hurts.
The smell is of a kind that is very disturbing to us humans, feces, rotten eggs, death, and decay.
Surströmming is exclusively served outside, and very far away from everybody else. It could never be served in a restaurant, not even outside.
The can is hermetically closed. Compared to more traditional packings like fruit, eggs in clay, or even plastic or paper boxes, the sealed can is odor-free. If it wasn’t, it could never be distributed.

Considering all this, I would consider it the winner. Surströmming is the stinkiest dish in the world. Obviously not counting things that are smellier but not digestible… Like food gone bad, or edibles not normally sold, distributed, and anyway reasonably healthy.

Yes, it is. Surströmming is the smelliest dish in the world.

If you don’t agree, just open a can from last year… A can that was ready in August but was left for another entire year to amplify the fermentation and decay of the herring muscle tissues. A can containing something so putrefied that it’s become spherical, like a ball…

sources

Sinking in quicksand – Is it really as deadly a threat, as shown in the old b&w movies?

September 20, 2022May 16, 2021 by Unfakely

Sinking in quicksand

Sinking in quicksand – Is it really as deadly a threat, as shown in the old b&w movies?

Quicksand – the hidden deathtrap

If you are as old as me, then you have probably seen it in the movies… The black and white movies about heroic adventurers heading into the jungle, fearless, and proud. There they had to fight the bad guys, the ferocious indigenous, the hostile environment made up of dangerous cliffs, rivers, and waterfalls, insects, and bigger man-eating animals. Last on that list, there was usually the quicksand.

We saw a character falling in, while the others stopped immediately. The one who was sinking in quicksand screamed and waved his arms, while the others shouted at him to not move. Then they tried to reach him with a branch, a rope, or even a snake. Sometimes they succeeded, while other times the person in the quicksand slowly, inch by inch was consumed by the deadly trap. Often we could see a stretched-out hand sinking down slowly into the mud. Sometimes leaving a piece of fabric, or a hat on the surface.

Watch this video on YouTube

But what is the truth about all that?

What is quicksand and how does it form?

First of all, it’s not only sand. Any granular material can in theory form some sort of quicksand-ish substance. Most common is still quicksand made from sand, slit, or clay, mainly because that’s what you would find in nature.

Under normal conditions, rainwater or sea water will sink through the soil to the groundwater level. But sometimes, a pocket of water without drainage can form, or there can be streaming water under the surface, sideways, or upwards. In some cases, the material, usually sand or clay mixes with the water and creates a kind of porridge. On top, it will appear solid, and you won’t know what it is until you’ve put your weight on it with your foot. The saturated sediment that forms the surface will suddenly break and you will fall in.

Where can you find quicksand?

In the old movies, quicksand was sometimes found in the desert. That wouldn’t be very probable. As water is a necessary ingredient, deserts probably do not host any quicksand. Instead, you should try riverbanks, marshes, and areas close to lakes and the sea.

Can sinking in quicksand swallow you whole?

No, it can’t. Not under normal conditions, and not the so-called wet quicksand. The reason for this is that even though it’s much denser than water, it still follows the laws of nature. A body with lower density will float. Water has a density of about 1 kilogram/liter. A sand/water mix in quicksand, on the other hand, has a density of around 2 kilogram/liter. It is practically impossible to sink lower than to half your body, about your waist-line.

If you fall in, what should you do?

Here are a few tips:

If you’re in deeper than your knees, you can’t walk out, so just forget that, and do the following.
First… Always move slowly. For every inch you move upward, let the sand fill the space underneath. It takes time, but it’s the only way. If you get tired, rest. You are not in a hurry.
Lose weight. Throw away your backpack. If you can, take off your shoes, your jacket, etc.
If you can, take a step backward. It’s possible that you could reach the solid ground from where you came if you weren’t walking too fast when you fell in.
Try to lean backward to a back-floating position. When your feet reach the surface, try to move very slowly to the “shore”.
Try to find a branch or something to hold on to. If you have a trekking pole, use it horizontally under your back when getting up to a floating position.
Breathe deeply. This will increase your buoyancy as well as keep you calm.
Remember that the biggest threat is exhaustion, not the suction.

Watch this video on YouTube

The special case of dry quicksand

Dry quicksand made out of sand shouldn’t really be a problem. Dry sand is just sand, although scientists have succeeded in creating low-density sand in laboratory environments. This lightweight sand can swallow heavy objects. It has never been found in nature, though.

But the quicksand phenomena can occur in other, lighter granular materials… Like grain.

In 2002 a man fell into a grain silo in Germany. By the time the firefighters came, he was already down to his armpits. With every breath, his lungs emptied and he sunk a little. At a certain time, the pressure from the grain on his chest started to cause severe pain, and the rescue team feared that he would suffocate. They gave him oxygen, but as he just couldn’t expand his chest to inhale they had to try something else.

They lowered a huge cylinder over the entire body of the man, Then they sucked the grain out from the surrounding space with an industrial vacuum. The man survived.

Has anybody ever died as a result of sinking into quicksand?

Well, I could say no, nobody ever dies directly from falling into quicksand. Because it’s not possible to be sucked down and drowned by it, like in the old movies. That’s just not how it works.

But, there are still casualties caused by secondary effects of falling into quicksand. If you don’t get swallowed whole by it, being stuck can be very dangerous in some ways.

Apart from the very rare deaths in silos, and other places where there is light, dry, granular material, many casualties are caused by people being stuck in quicksand when the tide returns. As you will find quicksand where there’s water, people get trapped and then they die from drowning. That could also happen on riverbeds. Other dangers include attacks by wild animals, dehydration if you’re stuck for long, and other medical complications that happen while you are trapped and can’t find help.

Conclusion.

Sinking in quicksand is not a death trap, as portrayed in the old movies. It just isn’t. You will fall in and you can get stuck there, even for long if you’re in bad physical shape or you panic, etc. But you could not die from drowning in the mud unless you’re wearing lead pants and a golden sweater.

Having said that, there are dangers connected to the fact that you are stuck. The biggest hazard by far is the possibility that water could submerge you while you are trapped. Either as the returning tide on the beach or the increased water flow in a river.

No, it can’t pull you down the way it was shown in the old movies. It’s physically impossible for quicksand to drown someone just by submerging him or her into the mud.

Other things can kill you while you’re trapped though… Like a returning tide.

sources

The legendary Inunaki Village – If you go there, you might never come out again.

January 25, 2024May 8, 2021 by Unfakely

Inunaki Village

The legendary Inunaki Village, Japan – If you go there, you might never come out again.

The Inunaki Village

The Inunaki Village is supposedly situated somewhere around the Inunaki ridge, Fukuoka Prefecture, some one hundred miles north of Nagasaki in Japan. It’s a fictional village, and it has its name from Inu-Dog and Naki-lamenting, crying. The meaning in English would be howling dog, which connects to a well-known legend about a dog and its owner. But first I’d like to tell you the most famous story referring to the Inunaki Village and the Inunaki Tunnel.

The Inunaki Tunnel

Sometime in the early 1970s, a young couple was driving up the slopes of the Inunaki ridge. They were heading for Hisayama on the other side of the mountain, and to get there from Miyawaka they had to pass a narrow road up the hill. Just before the Inunaki tunnel, a clunking sound was heard from the car. As they came out on the far side, the engine died, and they found themselves stranded. They noticed a passage on the right side of the road. So they left their car and headed up the forest to seek help. After a short while, they came across a handwritten sign reading “The constitution of Japan does not apply beyond this point.”. The trail was getting more difficult, and overgrown as they continued, but a few hundred meters further in they suddenly entered a small village.

It was a town like they had never seen before. It seemed abandoned, the houses were all dark and dilapidated, and nobody could be seen from where they stood at the entrance. They couldn’t hear any sounds of people or animals. Even the wind had calmed. It was dead silent.

The horrors of the Inunaki pass

They slowly ventured in on the main road passing the shadows of the hovels. No one was to be seen or heard. The atmosphere was eerie. When they figured their curious hearts had had enough, and they decided to walk back again, something moved inside one of the houses. And suddenly a man stood on the porch of a big grey building not more than 30 meters away.

– Howdy there… Welcome to Inunaki village, he shouted.

And with just a few steps, incredibly long and fast, he suddenly appeared right in front of them.

– We love visitors here, he said… We just don’t like it when they leave us again.

And with a swift motion, he cut down the young boy from his neck straight down to the side of his belly with a sickle. The young man just looked at him astonished, before he collapsed to the ground.

The girl tried to back away but the old man seized her in a firm grip. He seemed to have some internal force that made his hands and arms stronger than anything she had ever felt before. With an almost inaudible groan, he lifted her straight up with one hand, and threw her down on the graveled street with such brutality, that she felt her ribs break.

When the sickle came down on her she turned her head towards the closest house. With horror, she saw what they hadn’t noticed before… Behind and between the small buildings there were dead people, and decaying corpses all around. The reason for the silence and the darkness was that everybody was dead… Killed by the mad, old man with the sickle.

– He killed all of them, she thought as the curved knife extinguished her life force in one single motion. The crazy old man murdered them all…

Nobody heard from them again. The white sedan still waits there, now covered with rust, and punctured tires, parked on the side of the road, right where the small pathway leads into the forest.

The Inunaki Village – The dog legend.

huge concrete dam in japan — The Inunaki dam

Now, let me get back to the legend about the dog, the very legend that could have given Inunaki its name:

A man killed his dog because it wouldn’t stop barking. Shortly after that, the man and his whole family were killed. The dog had just been warning his master about the approaching danger.

… And here’s another legend: When the Inunaki dam was constructed, the unscrupulous agents from the local Energy company, simply barricaded the houses of people who didn’t want to sell and didn’t want to move out. When the dam was ready, they were left to drown right there, in their own homes. And now their poor souls haunt the area.

This is one terrible legend, but there are many others…

The story of the young couple who was murdered in Inunaki village is famous all over Japan, and even outside of Japan. And it seems the supposed paranormal phenomena reach far beyond Inunaki.

In fact, the whole area around Miyawaka is regarded as very haunted. Nature is incredibly dense, with forests, hills, and difficult terrain making it an unforgiving area to venture into. The paths are narrow and can be tough to follow. The absence of houses and people gives the whole area a spooky character. And the many myths and stories about strange sightings and scary encounters within the dark woodland, attract all kinds of paranormal investigators, ambitious YouTubers, and teens just doing dare games.

Still, most hauntings are concentrated around the Inunaki Pass, and the tunnels passing under it…

Because there are two tunnels under the hill to connect the two sides of the mountain. One is old and short, less than a hundred meters. It’s tied to the surrounding valleys through a narrow road with a lot of hairpin curves. The other tunnel is newer, wider, straighter, and much longer.

The new tunnel, built in 1975, is heavily trafficked and doesn’t seem to be very disturbing. The ghosts are probably scared away by all the trucks and other heavy vehicles.

But the old tunnel is a different story.

It’s so scary, in fact, that in 2019, the Japanese horror-movie, Howling Village, with the tunnel as a main ingredient, scared the wits out of half of Japan, and a big part of the rest of the world.

Together with the film, a horror game called Inunaki Tunnel was released in November 2019.

Legends about the Inunaki Tunnel:

We’ve already mentioned three urban legends about the tunnel and the village, but there are many, many more. The common feature is that they all originate from modern times. Here are a few:

While working on the Inunaki tunnel project, an accident made the tunnel roof collapse killing more than a hundred workers.
At night time, you can hear screams and children crying from within the tunnel. Sometimes the voices call and implore you to follow them into the tunnel.
There are testimonies about finger- and handprints on the windshields after passing through the Inunaki tunnel.

The Inunaki Village came to be during the early Edo period. Persecuted and mistreated peasants choose to live in exile and cut all bonds with society.
The Village was ravaged by disease, and the authorities simply cut it off and prohibited anyone from entering or leaving the village, counting on everybody dying off in there before they could open it up again.
The isolated status of the town promoted inbreeding to a point where even simple human behavior and decency were abandoned.
The man with the sickle was a peasant who one day for no reason started attacking his fellow citizens. After having killed everybody in the village, he still waits for new arrivals.
Another legend tells about all the people of the village being prepared to kill anyone who enters their sanctuary. Tales about cannibalism are connected to this legend.
Inunaki Village once was a Leprosy colony.
The bridge just south of the dam is known as a suicide spot.
Anyone who goes into Inunaki Village never comes out alive.

… And there are others, as well as variants of these ones.

Just remember that none of these narratives are confirmed… They are all stories, told and spread in modern times.

So, are they true… The legends and the stories?

Local residents around the tunnel try to hinder gangs from driving up the abandoned road.

What do the locals say?

First of all, let’s check what the locals have to say about all this.

Lately, the locals have had quite a bit to say about the Inunaki tunnel. Since the film, Howling Village was released, the Inunaki tunnel has gained even stronger attraction to the public. Before the film, there were quite a lot of people coming to investigate the supposedly haunted spot. But after 2020, despite the Pandemic, the site has become something of an overcrowded throng.

The site is now full of litter, graffiti, and all kinds of leftovers from partying and drinking. Both outside and inside the tunnel. People living in the area have become scared to even approach the tunnel, not because of the hauntings and paranormal activity, but because there are gangs of youngsters, often drunk, driving the narrow roads, and gathering around the tunnel openings.

Or as one resident of the area said to the local newspaper…

– Every day, young people hang out in the woods, close to the tunnel. They are throwing away their trash where they stand, drinking, and making a nuisance, one man says to the Nishinippon Shimbun newspaper. We are scared to even go there as it stands.

unfakely.com — The Castle of Inunaki Gobekkan ruins. From mid-1800.

From February, when the film Howling Village premiered, to May 2020 the police made 182 interventions… Compared to 0 the three months before that.

The whole area is thought of as a paranormal hot spot, but not by the locals. They just want to be left in peace, with or without ghosts. The idea of haunted tunnels and villages does not come from them.

What do the experts say?

You can check for yourself. On YouTube, there are numerous videos of people who went there, filmed, heard some strange noises from inside the tunnel, and then with an apologetic expression explain why nothing special turned up in the footage.

In February 2020 the Fukuoka Broadcasting Corporation sent a small group of journalists, who with the authorization of the Miyawaka City Council approached the Old Inunaki tunnel from the Miyawaka side. On that side, the northeast, the tunnel is sealed all the way to the tunnel roof and you cannot enter. Much like any other visitor, the group heard strange noises from the inside of the tunnel. They also registered a drop in the temperature from 12° centigrade to 9 when closing in on the tunnel opening. That would depend on the stable soil temperature. A difference in air temperature from outside a cave to inside is not extraordinary in any way. They didn’t really find anything.
Other than that, I’ve not been able to find any serious paranormal investigation. One reason is probably the closed-off area, with frequent police controls, CCTV cameras, fences, and gates, and a road that is in decay after years of negligence.

dirty and filthy — The unpleasant inside of the tunnel.

Inunaki tunnel from Hisayama side — Entrance from southwest/Hisayama side.

The incoherence in the stories.

The howling as in the word Naki, and the legend about the man who shot his dog. This tale has an infinite number of variations. The attackers are a black dragon, mercenaries, a snake, other dogs, a neighbor, etc. And so is it with all of the legends around the Inunaki tunnel and the Inunaki village. They vary quite a lot depending on who you hear them from. The car, the abandoned sedan, can be found before the tunnel, after the tunnel, or before you arrive at the village. The path to get there is sometimes a road, while other times it’s not even a pathway…

The true and confirmed facts about Inunaki village.

There once was a real Village called Inunaki at the Valley of Inunaki… Or really Inunaki Danimura or Inunakiya. It was established during the Edo Period, and it lived well from producing ceramic products and manufacturing steel. Later, coal mining was established and a Castle called Inunaki-gobekkan was founded in 1865, the ruin still stands today. The town was abandoned when the Inunaki dam was created in 1970, and the population moved to the neighboring Wakita area. This village has nothing to do with the ghost town described above.

Inunaki Danimura before the construction of the dam.

The true and confirmed facts about Inunaki Tunnel.

The old tunnel was built during and after WW2, possibly with POWs as a part of the labor force. It was completed in 1949 and then replaced with a new tunnel in 1975. This latter made driving from one side of the mountain to the other, much easier, and faster. As the old road wasn’t used anymore, and it soon became a very dangerous passage with all the curves, high mountain sides, and lack of maintenance, it was blocked with solid steel gates from both directions.

On 6th December 1988, a criminal gang murdered the factory worker, Koichi Umeyama near the tunnel. The gang had asked Umeyama for his car. When he refused, they pulled him out of his car, dragged him to the tunnel, and killed him. They then set his body on fire. The cruelty and lack of even the basic sign of humanity shown by the murderers is well documented and was, at the time, told to a terrified, and appalled public. All perpetrators were arrested shortly after, and at the trial in 1991, they were all sent to life imprisonment.

The Old Inunaki tunnel is not long from one side to the other. It’s completely sealed off from the Miyawaka/northeast side. From the Hisayama/southwest side the entrance is closed only to a certain height, and it’s possible to slide over the concrete blocks and get in. You will still have to access the tunnel from the east side since both roads leading up to the Inunaki tunnel are closed.

So, if there’s not really anything spooky at all about the tunnel, where is all the fuss coming from?

It seems that the Inunaki Village story originated from an anonymous letter to Nippon TV in 1999. The writer of the letter tells about a small path, easy to overlook, in the neighborhood of the old Inunaki tunnel. He then goes on to describe the sign with the text “The Japanese constitution is not in effect past this point.”, the young couple that was murdered, and the violent villagers.

The Inunaki Ridge and the tunnel first became famous for its paranormal activity after the tragic death of Koichi Umeyama in 1988.

The stories about ghosts, howling dogs, and lawless villages aren’t older than that. A little more than 30 years. Of course, hauntings do not necessarily increase with the passing of time. I suppose a place can become haunted in modern times too, even right now.

But the substance to claim this spot is more paranormal than any other is just too weak. At least, in this case, the proof, and documentation is practically nonexistent… Nothing, nada.

Or as one representative for the Miyawaka city expresses herself:

– Students from Kyushu University come here to do vegetation surveys every year. Boy Scouts are also frequent guests. All over Chikuho, nature lovers come to climb the mountain stream, and of course, to fish. The Yamame trout is abundant, as is natural wasabi in the river beds.

The Inunaki River and surrounding area are just another example of the beautiful countryside and remote naturalistic sceneries that still can be found in one of the most densely populated countries in the world… Japan.

Conclusion.

The problem isn’t so much if you could get out again, as it is if you could ever find Inunaki Village… The fact is that it doesn’t exist. And there’s nothing scary about the tunnel either if you don’t count all the litter and the drunken teenagers that roam in the neighborhood.

Japanese Wikipedia / Inunaki pass

sources

Inunaki River Pioneer History 2

Steam / Inunaki tunnel

Kowabana / Is Inunaki Village real?

Nishinippon Shimbun / Old Inunaki Tunnel

Crossroad Fukuoka / Introducing the Turbulent Last Days of the Edo Era

Kaoru Torikai / Rumors of Inunaki Village

FBS / Arne / Thorough verification of “Inunaki Pass”

Is Čachtice Castle haunted?

January 25, 2024April 23, 2021 by Unfakely

Is Čachtice Castle haunted?

The evidence of paranormal activity in Čachtice Castle is poor. The castle was once the home of Elizabeth Báthory, also known as the Blood Countess. Even so, there really isn’t much pointing to Čachtice Castle as being anything else than a very interesting ruin with a dark history.

Who was Elizabeth Bàthory?

She lived between 1560 and 1614 and is regarded as the most prolific female murderer ever. According to Guinness World Records, she has the absolute record in killings by a female assassin with more than 300 victims. Some claim as much as over 600 but that is probably an exaggeration. All these figures are uncertain, and the accurate number of victims can’t be determined.

In 1611 she was sentenced to imprisonment for having killed a tortured hundreds of young girls. The motive was none other than conceit, vanity, and a remarkable indifference to others’ sufferings.

Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula could partly have been inspired by Elizabeth Bàthory’s fate.

Elizabeth Bàthory‘s background.

Elizabeth Bathory was born on August 7, 1560, in Nyrbátor, Hungary.

She had a good education, she was intelligent and good-looking. And as she also was from the wealthy and powerful noble family Bathory, very soon a match was found for her. Already at the age of 10, she was engaged to be married to Count Ferenc Nadasdy, at the time, 15. They married in 1575 when she was 15 and he was 20. Čachtice Castle, or Castle of Csejte as it is also called, was her wedding gift.

Their marriage was functional; Ferenc was mostly away from home fighting the Turks, and Elizabeth was running the estates… Čachtice Castle, and many others over a vast territory. Being a Dutchess with that much responsibility required a steady hand, authority, and a great deal of knowledge about all kinds of things. She seems to have had all these attributes.

Together they had five children of whom three survived to adulthood.

A young widow.

However, in 1604 Ferenc Nadasdy died from a mysterious disease. And now Elizabeth Bathory was alone. Maybe the husband, a national hero, had in some way set up a calming barrier for his wife. And now that it was gone, the woman felt no boundaries, no restrain to the violence that boiled in her blood.

From 1604 she was also more vulnerable. The Turks still threatened her lands, and without her husband, she lost many of the allegiances among the surrounding noble houses, and the court, as well as a steady income…

Čachtice Castle – How the Blood Rites started.

It is said that it all started with the blood of a housemaid. When combing the Dutchess’ hair she involuntarily pulled too hard and it tugged on a snag. Elizabeth got so angry that she hit the girl with the back of her hand with such force that the maid started bleeding and some of her blood was left on the Dutchess’ hand. Later Elizabeth noticed a softness in that particular spot. So, she logically concluded:

– If a few drops of blood can create such sweet youth on my hand… What if I could cover my whole body with blood from young women…

Legend has it that she killed the girls, drained them of their blood, and then used it as a youth elixir, bathing in it. As many as 600 young girls, aged 10 to 14 years, could have been killed to preserve the soft skin of Elizabeth Bathory. And the atrocities intensified after Nadasdy died, although some historians claim that Ferenc was participating in the murders, and maybe even taught Elizabeth something about torture techniques.

Killing the daughters of nobles as well.

In the beginning, the victims were servants, maids, and other local and poor girls. Soon people were getting suspicious though, and they weren’t so keen on sending their daughters to the castle. So Elizabeth started taking in girls from the Hungarian lower nobilities for education, tutoring in courtly etiquette. This was a bit more delicate as they came from richer families. But as they lived together with her and their relatives often lived at a distance from Čachtice Castle, the killings could continue.

With time the rumors spread and even before Ferenc Nadasdy died, the court in Vienna was aware that something was very off with the Dutchess Bathory and the Čachtice Castle. And although she was protected by her name, rank, and at least until 1604 by her husband, the authorities were catching up on her.

She probably got somewhat careless with time. She found that her untouchable position and protective rank prevented her from being confronted and accused of having done something wrong. Incredible as it may seem, beating servants was a common way to negotiate working conditions back then. And that an employee died, was sometimes seen as just an inconvenience. She possibly thought she was above the law.

The arrest of Elizabeth Báthory.

On the evening of December 27, 1610, Prince Thurzo together with his men arrived at Čachtice Castle. They entered and ordered the servants to stand aside. As the party burst into the courtyard they immediately came upon the bloody, battered, and still warm corpse of a young girl with no clothes and seemingly thrown by a doorway without any efforts made to hide or cover the body.

When Ferenc Nadasdy died, George Thurzo who was a relative to Elizabeth Bathory by marriage was entrusted as the heir. In those days, a woman couldn’t hold property. In 1610 George Thurzo was ordered by the parliament in Bratislava to arrest Elizabeth Bathory and bring her to justice. Complaints had been made with increasing frequency. And the new King Matthias, who had been in power since 1608, wanted a solution to the flammable situation in western Hungary.

As Thurzo’s men searched the premises, the bodies of two more brutally murdered girls were found inside the manor house. When entering the tower, a stench revealed numerous identically tortured, killed, and now decaying bodies in the lower dungeons.

Elizabeth Bathory was immediately arrested but left in the Čachtice Castle. Four of her servants, A boy named János Újváry, An elderly wet-nurse, Ilona Jó Nagy; her friend Dorottya Szentes; and an old washerwoman, Katalin Beneczky, were all brought to Thurzo’s residence in Bytca for questioning.

The Trial

The four servants were cross-examined separately supposedly under torture. Then their separate testimonies were scrutinized for inconsistencies. They all claimed they could not oppose the Countess, and that they were innocent. Still, they were sentenced to death in three cases. Two were to have their fingers torn away and then be burnt alive. One was to be decapitated and then burnt. The fourth servant doesn’t appear in the documented sentences.

Elizabeth Bathory appeared in Thurzo’s private court on January 2, 1611. The testimonies were overwhelming, very much thanks to a young priest, Reverend Janos Ponikenusz, who was appointed to the church of Cachtice. Much like the young solicitor Jonathan Flynn Harker in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, Reverent Janos was horrified by the stories he was told by the peasants when he first came to the village. They narrated of Vampires and unholy beings in the Čachtice Castle… And they told him of the young girls who disappeared after having taken service with the Countess. Reverent Janos produced hundreds of ordinated, well-articulated testimonies from the villagers, and he largely contributed to the documentation of the case.

The four servants’ testimonies also put weight on the accusing side.

On the evening of the 2nd of January, Elizabeth Bathory was sentenced to life imprisonment in her own castle, for having tortured and murdered 50 young girls.

Five days later a higher court overlooked the sentence, and it is here we find the figure of 650 murdered girls. A testimony, a maid in Čachtice Castle by the name of Zusanna, said that she had found a register in Elizabeth’s chest of drawers listing her victims and that it totaled 650 names. The court confirmed the sentence of life imprisonment.

The hauntings… Or not the hauntings

So… Is Čachtice Castle haunted?

What usually happens with old buildings with a dark history, is that they are targeted with tellings and stories. The Čachtice Castle, with its incredibly bloody and violent past, has a strong attraction to anyone with paranormal ambitions. And there have been hundreds of claims of sightings. Mostly of young girls crying, an old lady, or a figure that is interpreted as Elizabeth Bathory herself. This latter ghost appears with her arms stretched out wide as if she wanted to embrace you. She has no face.

As often is the case, the stories are many but the substantial evidence is little or absent. The paranormal experts have very little to weigh in.

A few examples of actual and fictional documentation.

In 2008 Ghost Hunters International, the TV series spin-off of Ghost Hunters on SciFi visited the Čachtice Castle, only to reach the verdict… Non-haunted.
The Slovacchia group, Paranormal Project official (PPO), investigated the property in 2018 with no or non-convincing results.
The Australian blogger Amy of Amy’s Crypt spent the night there in 2018, but not even she found anything significant. Although the Catacombs underneath the Castle are accessible and most of the sightings have occurred there, nothing was documented.

As I see it, Čachtice Castle is another of many historical buildings that because of a troubled and dark history are tied to hauntings and ghosts. But this beautiful ruin in the beautiful, hillside landscape with green grass, trees, lakes, and rivers just doesn’t hold any ghosts or phantoms. It does not seem to be a paranormal site at all.

The Political Background to the atrocities in Čachtice Castle.

King Matthias of Hungary, Croatia, and Austria — Matthias (24/2 1557 – 20/3 1619) Holy Roman Emperor

The political background is an interesting topic. Because there are quite a few circumstances that could have led to a guilty sentence. There were people with ambitions, and groups with agendas around the Countess at the time. And they all had interest in seeing her put away.

Elizabeth Bathory was raised a Calvinist. And she was a devoted and religious woman all her life. The Kings of the powerful Empire of Austria and Hungary, first Rudolf II, and then Matthias were Roman Catholics. They both held the title Holy Roman Emperor and as such, they pledged allegiance to the Vatican State and the Pope.

King Rudolf was an intellectual who preferred spending his days studying occult arts. But his successor, King Matthias, who was crowned King of Hungary and Croatia, and Archduke of Austria in 1608, and even before that gradually had started taking control of the Empire, was a man of action. He fought, compromised, and withdrew, all to gain political and military advantages.

The Bathory Family was very powerful though. Even the King had to be careful when dealing with one of their kin.

The Inquisition

At the beginning of 1600, we are in the middle of the counter-reformation. The Congregation of the Holy Office was a potent religious section of the Roman Catholic Church, backed up by Cardinals, Bishops, and other officials. They had the power to sentence anybody to death for witchcraft if they so choose.

The Economical Background to the atrocities in Čachtice Castle.

The war with the Turks was expensive for the Empire. The Habsburgs had to spend enormous sums of gold, to keep Europe safe. And Austria, and even more so Hungary, were the first targets of Ottoman aggression. And the wars just kept on coming, causing a strain on the economy.

King Rudolf had expensive taste. All the way up until his death, he collected art pieces, paintings, sculptures, and curiosities of various nature. But he also collected Artists, Scientists, and Alchemists, who were patronized and brought to his castle in Prague. Even an impressive collection of exotic animals roamed the Castle and gardens. All this was consuming large quantities of gold.

In this context, it’s interesting to know that Elizabeth Bathory was extremely wealthy. And not only did she have land, estates, and gold… She also had demands on the King. She and her husband had lent huge amounts of money to the crown, and now when she was alone, and Ferenc Nadasdy was dead and couldn’t bring back loot from the wars, she wanted the King to repay his debts. It’s said that she often traveled to Prague to get her money.

Due to her Family’s reputation and status, Elizabeth considered herself more or less untouchable by common law or political wrath.

slovakia ruin of cachtice castle — Courtesy of Civertan under the CC BY-SA 2.5 DEED license.

The Trials one more time…

So, let’s consider the facts one by one:

Elizabeth was arrested on December 27, 1610. (This is in the middle of the holidays…)
She was trialed on January 2, 1611, only six days afterward. In the meantime (while the celebrations of the new year were continuing…) the servants were cross-examined, the witnesses were gathered and the documentation and all other testimonies were prepared.

On the evening of that same day, she was sentenced to house arrest for life.
All this happened in Prince Thurzo’s private court, where all personnel swore loyalty to Thurzo.
Reverent Janos was a priest of the catholic faith, while Elizabeth was a Protestant; Calvinist.
No mention of blood as a cure for aging, nor anything about bathing in blood is ever mentioned in the documentation from the trial.
She was finally sentenced for having tortured and murdered approximately fifty young women.

Historians have concluded that the sentence was a way to keep the wealth within the family, and to not cause damage to the family name from what had come forth about Elizabeth. Thurzo was a relative and a friend of the family. He had to avoid a witch trial or having her sentenced to death at all costs. Because if Elizabeth Bathory was to face a death sentence, for witchcraft or not, all her belongings would fall into the hands of the state, i.e. King Matthias.

In fact, the court on January 7th seems to have been set up for that purpose. To no avail though, as Thurzo managed to convince the court of the correctness of the sentence from the 2nd of January.

The Elizabeth Bathory fate and legacy.

Bathory - The Countess of blood — Courtesy of Jakubisko Film Europe under the CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED license.

After the trial, she was walled-in inside her castle. The exterior windows were bricked up. Only small openings for air and food were given to her. For four years she dwelled inside the shadows of her beloved citadel. On August 21, 1614, Elizabeth Bathory collapsed on the floor of her dining room. She died shortly after at the age of fifty-four.

A law forbade all mentioning of her name in Hungary for one hundred years and the memory of her soon faded. She became a legend, a myth, a ghost similar to the many Vampire- and monster tales of Transylvania and the eastern parts of Hungary.

And maybe there’s where she slowly became what she is today… The legendary Blood Countess who bathed in the blood of Virgins to conserve her youth and beauty. A female vampire, just as intriguing and fascinating as Count Dracula.

Today Čachtice Castle is a ruin. It is open every day during office hours and can be visited with or without a guide.

The Film Bathory Countess of blood from 2008 by the Slovak film director Juraj Jakubisko is based on the life of the Countess.
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Conclusion.

No, Čachtice Castle is not haunted. There are even doubts about how evil and cruel Elizabeth Báthory really was. She was a murderer, but maybe she was also a victim of political, religious, and economical ambition among her opponents.

The extra star is for Čachtice Castle’s extraordinarily spooky history…

sources

The haunted catacombs under Paris. Is there something evil down there?

September 20, 2022March 26, 2021 by Unfakely

The haunted catacombs

Underneath the French Capital, there’s a network of tunnels and crypts. Is there something sinister lurking in the Catacombs of Paris?

The haunted catacombs

Sometime in the late 1990s, the French freelance photographer and filmmaker, Francis Freedland, was contacted by an amateur cave explorer. The young man said he had something he wanted to show him urgently. When they got together, the photographer was confronted with a video cassette, containing footage from the famous Paris catacombs.

They sat down and started rolling the video. At first, nothing strange occurred on the screen. It’s filmed in first-person, subjective angle. You see the narrow corridors, every now and then interrupted by a doorway or a smaller passage to the right or to the left. The walls are hard soil, as is the floor. As he walks along, certain parts seem even more narrow, or lower in height. But it’s still nothing extraordinary or uncommon.

Francis was already aware of the fact that people sometimes go down there to explore. It’s forbidden and it’s dangerous, but he knew that sometimes the human race wants a bit more adrenaline than just going to work and coming back again.

Watch this video on YouTube

The hunted explorer

He turned and was about to ask his companion what’s so special about the footage they were watching when the young adventurer signaled at him to watch…

– Look, he said… Watch this!

And suddenly the pace of the video increases a little. In front of Francis’s surprised gaze, he saw how the maker of the film down there in the underground accelerates. First, it’s hardly visible, but after a short while, you can hear that his breath is faster… Nervous. His steps become more irregular, and after a short while, he is running. The focus of the film moves up and down, left and right, and soon it’s so shaky that it becomes impossible to follow the course. The man is now running and panting heavily, faster and faster until he drops the camera. The video footage stops, framing the wall and a piece of the tunnel ahead from the floor, while the steps of the man seem to continue ahead in the darkness.

After that, the camera continues filming that static image until it runs out.

So what is the video showing? A man who’s panicking from not being able to find the way out? … Or did it show a glimpse of something more sinister? Something lurking deep down under the glamorous boutiques and large Avenues of the French Capital? Something that hunts whoever dares to enter his realm?

haunted catacombs — The Catacombs in Rome

What are the catacombs?

Catacombs are tunnels, rooms, and chambers under the ground, originally used as burial places. The word, Catacomb, is of Greek origin, but the significance is uncertain.

The most famous are those in Rome, Italy. The oldest are in Paola near Valetta in Malta. But there are Catacombs in many places, especially in the Mediterranean area. Other famous catacombs are Paris, Kom El Shoqafa in Egypt, Odesa in Ukraine, and Brna in the Czech Republic.

Most can be visited by tourists, but only with guides, and in certain well-lit, restricted areas. Some are very big. The Odessa catacombs have a total length of more than 1500 miles.

And why were they built?

The ancient catacombs started out as burial places, like the ones under the eternal city of Rome, Italy. In the 2nd century, the first Christians started burying their dead underground. As a part of their beliefs, they couldn’t burn their diseased as the Pagans did, cause how were they supposed to present themselves after the final Armageddon if they didn’t have a body?

And as putting decaying corpses down into the ground inside the city walls was forbidden, for obvious reasons, their only alternative was to bury them outside the city walls. The churches were small, the cemeteries were limited, and the Romans didn’t care much for their religion anyway. Soon it became crowded around the temples, To resolve this, they started digging down into the ground to be able to put the bodies of their loved ones to rest… In the catacombs.

Myths about the catacombs in Rome.

That meant every church in Rome had its own burial cave underneath the churchyard. With time these became bigger, with more space and more graves. But they still had to respect the boundaries of the area of the site on top. They couldn’t dig out horizontally into the neighborhood. So, they dug down. Some corridors of the Roman catacombs are as high as 20 meters or more, all flanked by burial chambers.

The catacombs in Rome are separated from each other. It’s not one big labyrinth.
The catacombs in Rome were never hiding places for the Christians to evade the Roman oppressors. The Romans knew very well where they were, the entrances, and who was in charge. It was all perfectly legal, and official in every sense.

Other locations.

The enormous catacombs of Odesa, Ukraine. Courtesy of Chayna Girling

The same type of catacombs dug for the same reason, can be found all over Italy… And all over the Roman world, even further away than that. The idea of burying people in caves and tunnels underground lived on even until the 20th century. Rosalia Lombardo was the last person to be buried in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo in Sicily, Italy. She died in 1920, at only two years of age.

Other famous Catacombs can be found in Lima – Peru, in Vienna – Austria, in New York, in Bambang – the Philippines, and many other locations.

If we determine the catacombs as not necessarily and exclusively a final resting place, then the list grows significantly. In the US there are many underground structures to visit. In Beijing, China, there’s an underground network covering more than 30 square miles, constructed in the 1970s. Or just think about the vast Củ Chi tunnel network used by the Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnamese war.

Be careful where you walk… There could be a void under you.

The haunted catacombs in Paris.

If the Roman catacombs are very old… Separated in many different networks, and reasonably tidy, well documented, and accessible… The Paris underground tunnels are very different. The mysterious video presented to Francis Freedland, couldn’t have been from Rome. The Roman catacombs are just too limited and well-lit.

Under Paris, on the other hand, there’s an enormous spiderweb of corridors on five levels. Some parts are easily accessible, and you can go there with a tourist guide who tells you everything you need to know. But there are miles and miles of haunted catacombs that are much scarier, and much more dangerous… And they are much more recent than their Roman namesake.

The origin

In the late 1700, the authorities in France were becoming concerned about the overcrowded cemeteries in the Capital. The city was growing fast and all the corpses in and around the small cemeteries were becoming a severe health risk. The stench especially around the Holy Innocents’ Cemetery, the oldest and largest graveyard in Paris, was overwhelming. And when in 1774 a part of a basement wall collapsed under the weight of the many cadavers, spilling dead and decaying corpses all over the neighboring streets, something had to be done… And quickly. So Luigi XVI closed all cemeteries inside the city and started planning for the removal of the already buried to abandoned querries further away.

Not too far away though, just about outside the city gates, would be perfect. And the first and easiest spot to dump them was Barrière d’Enfer Gate of Hell, a tollgate, on the border of the city.

The quarries under the city.

Because in Paris, unlike in Rome, there was no need to dig. The tunnel system was already there in form of old Lutetian limestone quarries Most of the city was built of Lutetian limestone and all that material had been extracted from underneath the city, leaving a huge web of old mines, tunnels, and chambers.

At first, they just dumped the bones, but from 1810 they started organizing and placing them in an arranged fashion. The enterprise was led by Inspector Héricart de Thury, who either had some macabre stylistic urge or was highly ironical. Anyway, he started building rooms, and chapels, and he arranged the bones and skulls in artistic patterns.

He practically created what is today a site that attracts half a million tourists a year.

The burial parts of the tunnel system, the ossuary, which is what attracts the visitors, is about a mile. One mile of corridors, rooms, and crypts, decorated with human remains in form of skulls, basins, and legbones.

But the total length of the haunted catacombs is supposed to be as much as 200 miles, maybe even more. Nobody knows. 200 miles of winding, dark corridors in five levels… Full of dead people, or even worse, maybe not entirely dead…

So are they really haunted?

While the haunted catacombs of Rome isn’t a common statement, the haunted catacombs of Paris definitely is. And it’s very easy to see the reason why. The Parisian network is scary. It’s huge, and it’s partly unmapped, so you can easily become trapped down there with the dead bodies and the skeletons. It’s a terrifying thought and not just a thought. Many people actually have met that fate, not being able to find their way out.

Philibert Aspairt was a doorkeeper of the Val-de-Grâce hospital. In 1793 for some reason he went down through a staircase located in the hospital courtyard. He was found 11 years later and could be identified only cause he still had the key to the hospital on him. He was buried on site.

The movie… There’s always a movie…

Two movies, actually. The first was Catacombs, directed by Tomm Coker and David Elliot and starring Shannyn Sossamon, released in 2007. The second was As Above, So Below, written and directed by John Erick Dowdle and starring François Civil and Perdita Weeks. Both created with lots of footage of narrow tunnels, dark shadows, deep pits, and scared teenagers. It’s effective.

There’s a very obvious pattern when it comes to hauntings. Any type of publicity, Tv, Movie, News, anything, boosts the general scariness of a place. And before the movies, there was the very famous TV-series, Scariest Places on Earth, Season 1, Episode 2 from 2000 hosted by Lind Blair.

And we’re back to where we started. Because Francis Freedland’s videotape formed the base for a part of that episode. Freedland together with the camera crew and a guide, went down into the tunnels to try to find the origin of the video film. And maybe find the exact spot from where it was shot.

To cut the story short, it is a frightening experience. But not because of any hauntings on spooky findings. The chill you feel when you watch the footage comes from a sense of claustrophobia. The narrow corridors, the low roof, the tight passages, and the panting voices… Well, you know the style. It’s kind of disturbing, but there’s no real substance.

So, the haunted catacombs, it’s all a scam?

There are at least three strange facts about this video:

Why on earth would anybody drop the camera? He could have been attacked but in that situation, he must have tried to do anything not to lose the only light source he had. Even if he was chased.
The total of the film has never been made public. It is supposed to be around 40 minutes, but all we have ever seen is the last minute.
The timing. Freedland states that the video was found in 1993, but the first evidence of it is from 2000 when Most haunted places on earth sent the episode. Why didn’t he go to the police? Why didn’t he try to investigate earlier?

And that leads us to the famous TV series. It is beyond any doubt that The most haunted places on earth on occasions created and invented facts to make a good show

More interesting facts about the haunted catacombs of Paris.

The whole city is constructed on top of a tunnel web that is reasonably superficial. This fact makes constructing heavy buildings somewhat risky. And Parisian law states that the owner of a property not only owns the surface but also what’s under it. So if the house collapses, you, yourself are responsible.

The tunnels were originally outside the city gates, but as Paris grew, they became well inside the city limits. The biggest risks for sinkholes are therefore in the suburbs. The city center is regarded as safer.
It’s estimated that there are remains from over six million people down there. That would mean that there are more dead than alive in Paris today.
And the bones are still down there. While the skeletons of the Catacombs in Rome have been moved or stolen, the dead in Paris are all there… At least most of them.
In 1880 an innovative French farmer found out that the Catacombs were perfect for growing mushrooms. A few years later more than 300 mushroom farms were set up down there, and the cultivation continues even today, but on a smaller scale. These are the famous Champignon de Paris.
During WW2 the resistance used the catacombs for transport. Interestingly, so did the Germans. They even set up a large bunker right under Lycée Montaigne, one of Paris’ most famous schools. Fortunately, with both parties moving about in the 200 miles of tunnels, there was little risk that they would run into each other.
In 2017 thieves drilled their way into a basement from the Catacombs straight underneath it. They got away with 300 bottles of vintage grand cru with a market value of more than 250.000 euros. The operation was meticulously planned and the bottles were never found again.

Although most people would avoid the forbidden and haunted catacombs, there is a community of adventurers, the so-called Cataphiles. These are to a certain degree experts in where to enter, how to behave once down there, and, most important of all, how to exit the catacombs. It is a very secret community with no names or identities and with a fixed, and determined conduct.

Among those, there’s an even more secret group called…

Les UX

Their goal is to explore, restore, and improve hidden corners of Paris. They frequently go into the Catacombs and they are responsible for many extraordinary features. And they’re not only young hipsters, and yuccies, but also more prominent and older members of society… Architects historians, and entrepreneurs. Here are a few examples:

In 1981 the group stole the complete mapping of the catacombs from the ministry of telecommunication. And from there they’ve managed to pull off a long list of amazing endeavors. They are not only a nuisance to the authorities but they actually fix things too.

In 2007, they restored the famous clock in the Panthéon together with the clockmaker Jean-Baptiste Viot.

2004 the Police discovered a complete movie theater underground. Complete with a bar, a kitchen, and seats carved out of the rock. They had pulled electricity from the surface and even had a motion-detecting CCTV setup that triggered recorded dogs barking if someone would close in on their hideout. When the police came back after three days all they found was a note saying “Don’t search for us”. All the equipment was gone.

So, in the end, where does it leave us? Are the catacombs underneath Paris haunted or not?

No, they’re not. Francis Freedland’s video clip is probably a fake… Done by him, by someone else in Paris. But probably by the creators of Most haunted places on earth. They did these things, you know.

And for the rest, there is no indication whatsoever that anything sinister or ghostly happens down there.

But it’s still creepy. And the creepiness obviously comes from the fact that the not so haunted catacombs of Paris are vast. Even though people move around down there, the graffiti on the walls is a good testimony of that… There still are 200 miles of tunnels to get lost in. 200 miles of dark, damp, narrow, rough, and largely unmapped tunnels, in five layers down all the way to 100 feet under the surface. And they are full of human bones. If that’s not scary… I don’t know what is.

Conclusion.

No, the Catacombs under Paris aren’t haunted. But they can be very frightening, even life threatening, all the same.