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Has anyone heard of a place called the back door to hell that is located in North Dakota? |
Travel Info i was talking to saome friends and they said that there was a place called the back door to hell that is located near Devil's lake and i was wondering if anyone could give me any information. Travel Tips "Reader Dr. Greg Camp, Ph.D., is the Lewis and Clark Historian of the State Historical Society of North Dakota in Bismarck, ND. As an historian, Dr. Camp views sensational reports with a more critical eye than a TV producer or supermarket tabloid editor. He shares with us here the details of an investigation he made a few years ago. About a week ago I was watching television when I saw an advertisement for a new paranormal events program on Fox television. The title had something to do with conspiracies, thus making it expected fare from Rupert Murdoch's stable of offerings. At any rate, one of the things they showed on the advertisement was a tabloid paper with a "staircase to hell" (with apologies, I assume, to Led Zeppelin) sidebar. This intrigued me, as nearly five years ago I was asked to look into a similar story on the lonely plains of North Dakota. In 1998, there were websites and even newspaper accounts of a so-called "back door to hell" located in northeast North Dakota. Reports stated that there was a staircase found under a strange monument in this remote part of the state and that locals claimed to have heard the cries of the damned from time to time. Even that staunch reporter of all things logical, FATE magazine, carried a story after our investigation. FATE, however, chose not to mention any of those who actually investigated. A newspaper reporter from the small North Dakota hamlet of Velva ran a story on this structure during the summer of 1998. He was swamped with personal accounts of what had been seen and heard over the course of the 20th century at that site. That is when he telephoned me for some help. A couple of weeks later we visited the place of this supposed occult mystery and found, obviously enough, nothing strange to write about. Located on a farm some thirty-five miles northwest of Devils Lake, North Dakota (appropriate name, eh?), the back door to hell was nothing more than a cement vault, half buried in the soil, with Masonic markings on it. The traditional "G" with compass was engraved over the entrance, with a more cryptic symbol on the outside rear of this 14' x 8' structure. That rear symbol, borrowed from ancient Egyptian religion, I found was actually familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of the Egyptian Book of the Dead . The vault itself was half buried in the soil and had a short series of steps down into its interior. That is the extent of the staircase to hell 鈥?some five steps or so down to simply enter it. Being a mason, the farmer who constructed it modeled it on the secret chamber under the Temple in Jerusalem of Freemasonic lore. The vault was built in the 1890's by a Danish farmer who had strong Masonic-Rosicrucian beliefs. It was built adjacent to his home in the midst of a small grove of trees. The house had long since disappeared by the time I got there, leaving only a strange-looking vault alone on the prairie. One can understand how this became the source of local legend and myth. Today, the story persists in that part of the state. Urban legends and occult myth are difficult to smother even though their veracity can be demonstrated to be false. Sadly, ongoing conspiracy theories about the Masons in all probability fueled some of this speculation. A sober, factual account. Fox-TV network, take note. Hello! Anyone home.....? I note that the town of Velva, where this dreaded portal is located is just a piece down the road from Voltaire, an influence that has apparently not effected the local populace. Perhaps overpowered by vibes from Devil's Lake.....?" Source(s): http://www.randi.org/jr/010402.html... Other Travel Tips This question should be in North Dakota, not Colorado. It's a different state! The back door to hell is in Texas during the summer! Sorry, couldn't resist. But hey, if it was on Fox news, it must be true! LOL. Never heard of it, sorry. I'm just bored obviously, and checking out the sites. |
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