The Catacombs.

As we are approaching one of the most mystical celebrations of the year, Halloween, I decided to dedicate at least one post to the sentiment of the supernatural and esoteric.

I have always been interested in the catacombs. The idea, that there are tunnels, man-made passageways and hallways carved underneath entire cities evokes a sense of utter fear and fascination in me. Often these are also connected to underground cemeteries, creating a subterranean necropolis.

The first burial galleries to be referred to as catacombs lie beneath "San Sebastiano fuori le mura", in Rome. No one knows today with certainty, if the word itself described the cemetery or the location. There is no doubt however that the San Sebastiano catacombs are the first to be referred to as such. Today, the term signifies networks of caves, grottos, or subterranean galleries that were used in medieval times as refuges during wars, as worship places and for burial of the dead.

Besides the Italian catacombs, the most famous ones lie beneath the city of Paris; the Catacombs of Paris or Catacombes de Paris. Created over a large period of time, these underground galleries were originally quarries, where building material was extracted. This eventually led to hollowing out a city below and creation of the catacombs as they are known today.
Part of the subterranean tunnels also form a very large underground ossuary. This is most probably why the Paris catacombs are classed as one of the most haunted places in the world. The history of this macabre place goes back to the late eighteenth century, when the city's cemeteries were running out of space. It was therefore decided to create three new large-scale suburban cemeteries and to condemn all existing within the city limits; the remains of these would be moved discreetly to a renovated section of Paris's abandoned quarries.

The network of tunnels located beneath Paris is approximately 300 kilometers long and frequently follows the streets and passages above, even carries the same names. Those who have visited the tunnels and even some security guards have reported hearing strange voices. There have been hundreds of reports of people feeling presence of something or someone when moving around in the tunnels, even the feeling a touch of someone, or something. There is also a tale of a young man who explored the tunnels alone, leaving behind his video camera and a tape of him running from something. It is said that he has never been found...

The Faust House.

This past weekend, partially due to the somewhat bad weather, I finally found the time to sort through my vacation pictures. Even though today everyone uses digital images and saves or presents their vacation shots on DVDs or by playing those in computer presentations, I still make prints out of my favorite photographs. I do still buy and use photo albums, as I find nothing can really replace the feeling one gets from looking at a print.

Making a short jump back to the days I spend in Prague recently, some of the pictures depict a house that is most likely the most famous one in the whole city. It is so called "Faust House", or in Czech "Faustův Dům".

According to the city legends, doctor Faust or Faustus once lived here. He made a pact with the Devil in exchange for knowledge and disappeared without a trace. All that was left was a big hole in the roof of the house library.
The house stood empty for a long time, decaying, considered haunted, until a poor student decided to move in, when he found himself cold, hungry and without a shelter. "The house" treated the student well and every day he found a silver coin on the table. His fear of the house library room slowly diminished. He covered the hole in the roof and started to read all the books, which were filled with mystical text and magical spells. Very soon he felt at ease and brave enough to invite over friends and live a life where the silver coin was not enough anymore. The greed took over the student, upon which he turned to black magic spells described in the books and then one day, he too vanished without a trace. All he left behind was a big, blackened hole in the roof of the library, just like Faust did before him.

I remember reading this story in my favorite book of Prague tales as a child. The house has most likely never had doctor Faust as an occupant (or did it?), but it remains shrouded in mystery due to the variety of its eccentric inhabitants.

In the 14th century this baroque mansion was owned by Prince Vaclav of Opava, who was the first to give rise to the association of the Faustian legend due to his avid interest in alchemy.
Among other odd occupants of the Faust house was the famous alchemists Edward Kelley, Court Alchemist to Rudolph II, who was believed to use the philosopher's stone in his pursuit to turn common metal into gold.
Ferdinand Antonin Mladota of Solopysk lived in the Faust house in the 18th century. His experiments sometimes led to big explosions, which made holes in the roof and scared everyone in the neighborhood. His son was believed to be a superb engineer and he was said to entertain his guests with gadgets installed all over the house, such as a door which would open by itself, a flying staircase and electric shocks administered upon touching a door handle.
Probably the most eccentric of them all was Karl Jaenig who lived there in the 19th century. He painted the walls with funeral texts, had a functional gallows at home and slept in a wooden coffin.

Today the Faust House is unfortunately not opened to the public and is solely used by the Faculty of Medicine at Charles University, housing among other things a pharmacy.

On our latest visit to Prague I had my picture taken in front of this beautiful building, which I remember passing as a child on walks taken with my grandfather, while he would tell me the story of doctor Faustus. Although it looks much smaller and less menacing than I recall, standing in front of it still makes all the legends I remember come alive.

After Dusk...

My final post about our Prague adventure (at least this time around), describes the magic of the city after the onset of darkness. A veil of endless, sentimental romance settles over the streets, exuberating the feel of old photographs or paintings from times long gone.
The best pictures that I took on this trip were made during the hours of dusk and twilight. Nevertheless, they can not match the beauty of the reality, which can only be appreciated fully by being there.

The winding streets leading up to the castle became silent and deserted as soon as darkness covered the city. We lived in a small, romantic hotel just under the castle and had every opportunity to visit it after dark. It was accessible and held open. Walking around the empty castle yard and gazing at the buildings and the majestic cathedral with its gargoyls and ornate stone structures was an amazing, unusual and almost surreal experience, particularly due to the fact that just a few hours prior, it was filled with hundreds of tourists.

Of course, a city like Prague with all its legends and tales, holds a few stories of the supernatural nature. Book after book has been written on this subject and the city offers a multitude of ghost tours.
We joined one of the tours and were led through the streets of the old town, listening to forgotten tales of the old city, feeling the hair on the back of our neck rise. No matter how logical ones mind is, the atmosphere of the empty streets mixed with the dark tales will make a believer out of the worst of sceptics.




A picture worth posting and a detail worth mentioning is the one that we were encouraged to take standing in front of the St. James Basilica. Not only does the church have a mummified forearm hanging at its entrance, but the monastery connected to it also apparently played a major role in the killing of the Knights Templar in the 14th century.
On the pictures of the entrance here, one large "energy orb" can be seen to the right of the entrance, almost at middle of the gate. Although some will claim that these orbs are of no supernatural origin and can clearly be explained scientifically, I choose to believe in magic and will proudly display my one and only meeting with the unknown.

Friday The 13th, Again.

A month later, here we go again - yet another Friday the 13th.
As I have already described superstition behind this date extensively in my February post, today I will pay more attention to the statistics.

This year, the year of 2009, we can experience the total of three Fridays with this magic number; there is one more in store for us comes November. This is the highest number of Fridays the 13th possible in a year. The lowest amount is one, just like it was last year, in 2008 (only one in June). There is always at least one Friday the 13th in any given year and no more than three.
Next year, in 2010, again only one Friday the 13th will occur, and that will happen in August.
The next time around we will get three lucky Fridays will be in 2012 and these will occur in January, April and July.
The same sequence as this year (February, March, November) will happen in 2015.

There is a particular sequence of how Fridays the 13th are distributed and this sequence repeats every 28 years:

2001 April, July
2002 September, December
2003 June
2004 February, August
2005 May
2006 January, October
2007 April, July
2008 June
2009 February, March, November
2010 August
2011 May
2012 January, April, July
2013 September, December
2014 June
2015 February, March, November
2016 May
2017 January, October
2018 April, July
2019 September, December
2020 March, November
2021 August
2022 May
2023 January, October
2024 September, December
2025 June
2026 February, March, November
2027 August
2028 October

The longest period of time possible without a Friday the 13th is 14 months. Interestingly, statistically the date of the 13th occurs more often on a Friday than any other day of the week, tightly followed by a Sunday and a Wednesday (as a tie).

Famous people born on Friday the 13th:

Samuel Beckett (13th of April 1906)
Margaret Thatcher (13th of October 1923)
Fidel Castro (13th of August 1926)
Steve Buscemi (13th December 1957)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (13th of January 1961)
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson (13th of June 1986)
Marco Andretti (13th of March 1987)

The Uruguayan rugby team’s plane crashed in the Andes mountain range on Friday, 13 October, 1972.
Last month, one of our students flew to London on Friday the 13th and there was a problem with the plane; after taxing away and preparing for the take off on the runway, the pilot announced that one of the engines would not start and the plane had to return to the gate.
Yikes.
The student told me he truly contemplated (for the first time ever in his life) to ask to be allowed to leave the plane. But eventually he found comfort in the notion that the pilots and the ground crew must know what they are doing.
After 40 minutes the engine was repaired and they took off without problems.;)

Friday The 13th.

This is the first Friday the 13th of the year.

To superstitious people, this is not a good day at all. Why all this superstition came about is very well explained here. Which also gives me an opportunity to make you aware of the "How stuff works" site, if you did not already know it existed. It is a great site explaining anything between heaven and earth.

In any way, in short, Friday on its own has always been considered as an unlucky day. Particularly sailors disliked embarking on voyages on Fridays and I just know that it means bad luck to get married on a Friday as well. This is all bad news for a Friday lover such as me. Although I am not married, I have embarked on numerous journeys in my life, all starting on Friday and they all were very lucky and safe. Actually, I once flew to California on Friday the 13th.;)

Why Friday the 13th is a particularly bad day is not clear either, although one story relates it to the Friday the 13th, 1306, when King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar.

I myself am sometimes puzzled by the fact that number 13 in the western culture means bad luck. In my Slavic culture, 13 is a lucky number. In fact I was given a golden number thirteen pendant (picture) as a newborn, for good luck. I still have it to this day, but I do not wear it. However, being reminded of the fact that I have it, I might wear it again.

Eventually I like to believe that neither numbers nor particular days of the week has anything to do with our luck. Nevertheless, I will be paying extra attention to everything around me today.;))