Her parents called the authorities who went to the site and began to search. Try not to get lost. But unlike, say, the Paris catacombs (which has its own missing person mystery), the Odessa catacombs werent built for use as an ossuary or burial site. They could have been looking for treasures that night, considering there are rumors that somewhere below School 56 there's a solid gold replica of the Titanic a few inches long. Partisan weapon caches such as rifles and grenades are occasionally still found within the tunnels, and about once every five years a body is found. In the 19th century, most houses in Odesa were built of limestone that was mined nearby. They would throw in poison gas canisters, hoping to smoke them out and finish them off. The kids began to drink, and soon enough Mashabecame drunk. One of them recalled hearing her say she had to use the bathroom, and assumed, since she wasnt there, that she had gone home. Beneath the city of Odessa in the Ukraine lies a 2,500KM (approx 1,550mi) labyrinthine maze of tunnels, a little longer than the entire Pacific coastline of the continuous United States (map of the catacombs). The total . Drunk and needing to urinate, she left the group, seeking a place to relieve herself. The idea of having the end of your own story be one, big question mark is, in a word, terrifying. fter tht I called police, but they did not want to go inside. They cooked, played games, and listened to the radio With the Nazis above ground, they looked for any opportunity relay intelligence, or strike their enemy. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Like what you read? Masha and a group of friends thought it would be fun to go out, party, and celebrate at the Stone Mines. Most of the catacombs are the result of persistent stone mining that started in the 19th century. On rare occasions these bodies are almost perfectly mummified, freeze dried by the cold, dry air of the tunnels. Shortly after this the mapping of a huge unexplored area of the catacombs known as K-29 was begun. [Photos via (1, 2, 3), /Wikimedia Commons, available under CC BY 2.5 and CC BY-SA 4.0 Creative Commons licenses; chiefhardy/Pixabay], Filed Under: Places, Tales Tagged With: Catacombs, legend tripping, Masha, Odessa, Odessa catacombs, the internet, Ukraine, Unresolved, unresolved mysteries, urban legends, Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. They became a hiding place for Soviet partisans. Such tours are not officially sanctioned[4] because the catacombs have not been fully mapped and the tunnels themselves are unsafe. Home Uncategorized masha odessa catacombs photo masha odessa catacombs photo. Despite the best efforts of officials to keep adventurous folks out of the Catacombs, the tunnels proved to be a popular spot for teenagers to hold their wild parties far from the prying eyes of adults. It isn't understood should they had been previous pupils of Odessa's School quantity 56, but relating to recommendations towards the tale in Russian news, this is where they discovered the entry towards the mines. The mystery person was of no value at all, Pugovkin says. But he [Pugovkin] claims that when Armand Stendzenieks ordered a DNA test, it wasn't a match. And true or not why has it endured as long as it has? We believe it is just a practical joke and the corpse is fake." It would be extremely dangerous to try and explore the catacombs on ones own. The most famous photoone that Lata told VICE in an email that he was involved in takingshows three blank-faced boys who look like they're in their early teens, posing like they've just stumbled upon the body in a narrow, curved section of the cavern. masha odessa catacombs photo. Second, Pugovkin said that, knowing there was a reward for information on the table, he went looking and found not a full body, but something he described as bone soup.. Stop by the blog every day this month for true tales of the unquiet dead. The post featured a graphic photo of what appeared to be a decaying corpse in the catacombs, which Lata claimed was Masha's body. The Catacombs are on three levels and reach a depth of 60 metres (200ft) below sea level. As I said earlier, a lot of people lost and even dead under Odessa. When the group arrived, they found it easy enough, with two large metal doors. Proudly powered by WordPress Previously: The I-17 Mystery Christmas Tree. !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)? His identity remains unknown, but its thought that he may have disappeared roughly six years ago. Pearl did interview another man, Kostya Pugovkin, who claimed to have dragged the corpse in the photograph up and to a police station in the hope of getting a reward; Pugovkin stated that he was told by others that the dead person was "a Satanist who got lost". It would have been utterly black. They're the backdrop for the tragic tale of Masha, an innocent partygoer who ventured down into the depths with some friends, took a wrong turn or two, and got lost forever. It took a full two years before the police were able to locate her body and retrieve it from the catacombs. However, a 2015 Vice Article alleges that Masha's story may be some kind of hoax, claiming that, according to the official Odessa Catacombs website, the whole story of Masha is a lie. But at some point in the night Masha decided to explore the catacombs. Masha had no food, no drink, and no phone service. In his last post, he wrote that the place was pretty much charted, and claimed that there's not much left to explore. Let the sad story be a warning to all would-be urban explorers if you decide to crawl into the Earths hidden places, make sure you go with a friend, tell others where you are, and dont stray from the path. The Stone Mines, part of the Odessa Catacombs, were closed and sealed off in 1917. It can be really dangerous," he wrote, adding "here are some new pictures of our catacombs. The story quickly became a famous Internet legend. We may not even have any way to confirm the story. TheOdessa catacomb death legend has been supported by witnesses, as well as photos and even a few news articles, but there's not much as far as hard facts go. There are even tales of Nazi executionsand cultists, not to mention a ghost story or two; however, the most famous of thecatacomb legends is probably that of agirl named Masha, who went into the maze of passagesand wasn't found until years later. In line with the 2009 forum post on Urban Explorer's Resource (UER) with a catacombs explorer known as Eugene Lata, whom brought Masha's tale towards the English-speaking world, the tale starts later on New 12 months's time (or even New Year's Eve) in 2005. It was cold, near freezing, and foggy on New Years Eve 2005. The girls remains were removed from the tunnel in which they had been found and given a proper burial. Lata claimed to have been one of the explorers who had found the girl in 2005, so his account purports to be a first-hand one and along with the posts, he included a collection of photographs of the catacombs, one of which allegedly depicted the remains of the girl herself. The mystery person was of no value at all, Pugovkin says. Authorities have also suggested that the photo is a prank, and that the corpse is a fake. If the area near School 56 had no groundwateror clandestine wine or mushroomsthere would have been nothing for her to eat or drink. [7], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}463248N 303750E / 46.54667N 30.63056E / 46.54667; 30.63056, "People Believe a Girl Died in the Endless Odessa Catacombs, but the Mystery Goes Much Deeper", "Dark secrets of Odessa's vast catacomb labyrinth", "Subterranea of Ukraine: Odessa Catacombs", "The Enduring Legend of the Girl Who Died in Odessa's Catacombs", "The Odesa catacombs. Also, he wrote, "five explorers [got] lost or died during this year. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Eager to escape, she ran through the tunnels, not knowing she was heading the wrong direction. By Ukraine by Locals. Based on what was later found, it is believed that Masha stumbled around in the catacombs for at least three days, starving, thirsty, alone, and in the dark. These groups have even rescued a number of children who have wandered into the catacombs and gotten lost. She ventured farther down the tunnels and quickly got turned around. This was enough to drive a group of explorers to the area in search of the supposed corpse, and it appeared they actually found it. girl who went missing in the catacombs of Odessa, little to no evidence that Masha ever existed, some sources posit that theyre even older, the longest set of catacombs in the world, teenagers descended into the Odessa catacombs, alleged missing girl has come to be called Masha, Mike Pearl attempted to get to the bottom of Mashas story, Odessa catacombs explorers and my best friend, man who was allegedly lost in the Paris catacomb, man were also located within the Odessa catacombs, 22-year-old man killed a 17-year-old girl. Horror Fans Rank Rotten Tomatoes's Best Horror Movies Of Each Year Since 1998. Despite this, they were once used by the Soviets who took Nazi soldiers down to be executed. Winner will be selected at random on 06/01/2023. Edit #3: Now for some history. Gather round, because it wants to tell you strange stories, take you on haunted journeys, and make you jump at unexpected noises. The group supposedly went to the police, but they were still reluctant to go in to retrieve the body because it was literally miles from the entrance. And theres this, too: The story has never been independently confirmed. He recalls that a piece of writing by a friend he says is a "famous journalist" was delivered to government officials. And in 2014, a 22-year-old man killed a 17-year-old girl and hid her remains in the catacombs. They didnt go inside, heeding the warnings their parents had given them. Lata maintained to Pearl that his story was true. Even if it's just a myth, there's no denying that the other tales of the catacombs are creepy enough to keep anyone out Or so one would think. So, is it really true? While you may have never heard of the Odessa catacombs, they are filled with legends and dark tales that you'll never forget. See. Although the tale has long been reported as fact, even in newspapers, there is still a great lack of evidence, and few people are stepping forward to corroborate the sparse claims that to exist. This was a mistake. After a short time, they called off the search, saying that Masha would have to find her own way out, it wasnt safe for them to look for her any longer. Or maybe they were looking for bodies. The trek lasted 27-hours, and covered about 25 miles (40 kilometers). The complete length of these catacombs is more than half of the width of the North American continent. Two years passed, and no one retrieved the body, Lata claims. Every weekday we compile our most wondrous stories and deliver them straight to you. The remains of more than 1,000 people lie deep under the modern town of Rabat. As is often the case with unverifiable stories with legends in general whether or not the story of the missing girl in the Odessa catacombs is really true may not be the point. Was a May Day Attack by Pilgrims a Practice Run for a Massacre? It's not clear what the journalist wrote, but Lata claims the government got moving and removed the body less than 24 hours later. And dont forget to check outDangerous Games To Play In The Dark,available now from Chronicle Books! Which Animated Disney Movie Should Get A Horror Adaptation Next? ), But wait! Masha story is an urban legend. | Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. They're also a pretty good place to stage a murder. Lists of true accounts of real people who survived unfathomable situations and depictions of fights for survival in film, TV, video games, and other media. By 2012, he had begun to sound less like the internet's ambassador to the catacombs. [1] Parts were used as air-raid shelters during World War II. The largest catacomb system in the world. It is one of the world's largest urban labyrinths, running up to 2,500 kilometres (1,600mi). The Catacombs of Odessa Underneath the city of Odessa, in Ukraine, is an extensive network of tunnels believed to be the largest catacomb system in the world. But that has not stopped outsiders, or even local, daring, teenagers who are curious about, or even set on finding, the legendary treasures they contain. One of them decided to give it a try, they turned the handle and the door swung open. Odessa, just outside of Ukraines capital, Kiev, is home to one of the largest catacombs in the entire world. On a more historical basis, it is also believed that the catacombs were used to murder and store Jewish people during World War II.