Đavolja Varoš, the Devil's Town
On a Serbian hillside stand 200 earth towers, each topped with a stone like a hat. Below them, a spring runs red. Locals call it the Devil's Town.
What was reported
Đavolja Varoš, in southern Serbia, is a group of about 200 earth pillars, up to 15 metres tall, each capped with a boulder. Beside them flow two springs of very acidic, mineral-rich water, called the Devil's Water and the Red Well.
The legend is that the devil, angered by a forbidden wedding between a brother and sister, turned the whole wedding party into stone, and the towers are the guests. Another story says the devil poisoned the water to make people forget a dark secret.
Explanations offered
The pillars are earth pyramids: rain washed away the soft volcanic soil around them, except where a hard stone on top sheltered the earth beneath. Without their caps, they slowly dissolve. The springs get their colour and acid from minerals in the old volcanic rock.
- When
- Told for generations
- Where
- Kuršumlija, Toplica, Serbia
- Witnesses
- Serbian folklore
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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