There’s a plain just east of Naples, Italy that smolders away. I’ve been to a place like that before, on the island of St. Lucia, a large, collapsed volcanic crater called Sulphur Springs. It’s been dormant since the 1700s, but it doesn’t seem that way when you’re watching steam boil out of vents and mud bubble and ooze.
The Italian plain is called Campi Flegrei, and it’s a not-so-dormant caldera nine miles in diameter. It’s been fussing around for several recent decades, and researchers are finding evidence that the underlying volcano is more active than they thought. If they’re correct, the roughly 400,000 residents in the area may find out in modern times why the ancients thought it was an entrance to Hell.
Heaven has always been thought to lie somewhere far above us, in the…heavens, but the Netherworld seems to be under our feet, and perhaps not so far down as we might wish for comfort. There are numerous locations on our planet believed to give direct access to Hell, perhaps because that’s considered an easier route? 😉
In my novels, there are living people who’ve found a way to get to the Underworld, although their souls are so stained that there’s no going back – or is there? And there are plenty of denizens of the dark plane who’d be interested in creating some mayhem in the world of the living. The grass is always greener (or blacker)…
Out of Time, the third and final novel of the Chaos Roads trilogy, reveals how that all works, should any of my readers find it of particular interest. (Warning: do not attempt the passageways yourself under pain of eternal damnation.)
So what did ancient religions believe? They also felt that some places on the planet were ‘evil’, i.e. the portals to Hell. Let’s look at others besides the Phlegrean Fields (PSA warning to be kept in mind):
- Israel:
Gehenna, a deep gorge located just outside the walls of old Jerusalem. Its name is a shortening of “Valley of Hinnom”, aka “Ge-Hinnom”. According to the Bible, ancient Israelites sacrificed their own children to the god Baal there. By the era of Jesus, it had understandably gained a reputation for evil. Some old accounts say that the valley was used for two things: dumping in corpses of those excluded from the kingdom of Heaven, as well as garbage where fires burned constantly. That may have inspired the concept of sinners roasting in eternal fire, which is the image we all have in our heads today.
- 2. Iceland:
Hekla Volcano. “The renowned fiery cauldron of Sicily, which men call Hell’s chimney … that cauldron is affirmed to be like a small furnace compared to this enormous inferno.” Herbert de Clairvaux, a Cistercian monk in 1180, became pretty freaked out about Helka after its massive eruption in 1104, which covered over half of Iceland in ash and rock. It’s believed to have been equivalent in force the eruption of Mount St. Helen. Hekla had been dormant for some time, so this surprise eruption was soon attributed to diabolic forces.
In 1120, a monk named Benedeit claimed the mountain was the prison of the betrayer Judas, and gave access to the lowest circles of Hell. A few decades later De Clairvaux compared it to Mount Etna in Italy (the ‘small furnace’). A medieval author got a bit fanciful by stating that large birds entering the volcano’s top were the souls of the damned flying in. Hekla continues to display its prowess, spewing voluminous amounts of lava and debris for hundreds of years. In 2000, it produced a fissure 4.3 miles long – now, if that isn’t an invitation to Hell, what is?
- 3. Turkey:
Hierapolis – The Ploutonion. Hierapolis was an ancient Roman city built during the reign of emperor Tiberius in southwestern Anatolia, famous for its hot springs, which have been used as a spa since at least the 2nd century BCE. But just where was all that lovely heat coming from?
On one wall of the large open arena, there was a cave-like grotto. Priests of the underworld would carry sacrificial animals down through the door, known as the Ploutonion, and the spectators would watch in horror as the animals died on the spot. The philosopher Strabo stated that “The] space is filled with a cloudy and dark vapour, so dense that the bottom can scarcely be discerned…Even bulls, when brought within it, fall down and are taken out dead.” Modern scientists have found that the Ploutonion sits on top of the fault line of an active volcano, which would send out thick clouds of Carbon Dioxide. The ancient Romans believed it was the breath of Kerberos (Cerberus), the three-headed dog that guards Hell. Sounds pretty conclusive to me.
- 4. Belize:
There’s a cave in the jungles of Belize called Actun Tunichil Muknal – ‘Cave of the Stone Sepulcher’. It contains three miles of tunnels that contain the remains of numerous human sacrifices. It remained undiscovered and undisturbed for more than 1,000 years after the Mayan Empire collapsed, and when it was stumbled across, archaeologists were shocked. The most famous of the sacrificial victims is called ‘The Crystal Maiden’ – it’s so old that the bones have crystallised. Researchers believe that the cave was revered as an entrance to the Mayan Underworld, the dreaded Xibalba, domain of the gods of death.
There are more in Japan, China, Ireland, New Orleans (of course). But if you’re looking for a dark adventure, you needn’t go that far – go to Pennsylvania. In Hellam Township, the woods conceal a big surprise, and it’s not a Teddy Bear Picnic. The story goes that an ‘eccentric’ doctor who once lived in town designed a series of strange gates on his property. Anyone following the path and passing through the portals in order would find themselves transported straight to Hell. Apparently only the first gate is visible by daylight. What does that mean for the other gates, then? Number One is located just off Hellam’s Trout Run Road, if you’re feeling brave.
As the saying goes, the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions – yikes! Should you desire to check any of these places out for yourself, take lots of holy water. Maybe read the third book of my series first (coming out June 2025, or May 31 launch at the Niagara Falls Comic Con!)