Even the best Hollywood set dressers in the biggest budget horror movie can’t outdo real life. As part of our continuing effort to find real-world locations that you wouldn’t want to spend a night in regardless of the number of shotguns and Bibles you were allowed to bring, here are some of the creepiest places on Earth.
Actun Tunichil Muknal
Actun Tunichil Muknal (“Cave of the Stone Sepulcher”) is an important Mayan archeological site in Belize. It was only discovered in 1989, but in the short time since it has already proven itself invaluable as a window into the ancient Mayan culture. And of course by that, we mean this:
Oh, so the Mayans had bones, too. Neat.
That is, one chamber in the cave is believed to have been used for human sacrifices, a theory suggested by the characteristic markings on some of the pottery found inside it. And by “pottery” we of course mean “murdered skeletons.”
If we know our CSI, natural deaths don’t cause skull holes.
They’ve found several skeletons in the cave, and most of them are, uh, small. That is, most of the sacrificed were children. They were probably sacrifices to Chaac, the Mayan god of rain, during a particularly severe drought. But don’t worry — these kids didn’t have their hearts cut out while still alive or anything. No, evidence shows that they were all killed by having their skulls crushed, which is way more genial and to the point. They were dealing with children, after all. Over hundreds of years, the bones became calcified and fused with the cave floor, which is why modern excavators have just left them there without a proper burial (though seriously guys, maybe like throw a tarp over them or something?). The most famous skeleton in the cave is that of a teenage girl, nicknamed the Crystal Maiden because her bones have partially crystallized and now sparkle in the light.
Oh, well that’s not scary at all then.
Only a few selected guides have received permission from the Belize Department of Archeology to take tourists into the chamber. And you will need a guide, because to get there you have to trek through a dense jungle, swim through a cavern lake, dodge big-ass cave spiders and navigate a labyrinthine ancient bludgeoning cave.
After all this, that cave better have leprechaun gold in it or something.
Once you make it inside, though, you have more or less unrestricted access to the cave’s ancient remains. You’re free to touch them, take pictures with them, even decorate them with novelty top hats and pretend that they’re talking in a British accent. Anything you feel is necessary to get your money’s worth of entertainment out of the bones of ritualistic murder victims.
Source: FizX Entertainment
