The valley of ghosts on Demerdzhi in Ukraine

Demerdzhi is one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the Crimea. Hikers often include a visit in its compulsory program. But Demerdzhi-Yaila attracts not only avid outdoorsmen, but people who are in the mountains do not go. Everyone is attracted to the southern slopes, covered with legends and mysteries. There is the Valley of Ghosts – a collection of bizarre rocks and boulders. Nature with such skill turned stone your creations that I can't believe that this is the work of the weather. And I willingly listen to legends about giants and ghosts of the valley. Especially when playing the sunset shadows of these ghosts as if and true appear in front of me.

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The unusual landscapes of Demerdzhi always gave the best breeding ground for all sorts of legends and stories. Demerdzhi with the Crimean Tatar means "blacksmith". Also, the mountain was called Funa which means "Smoking". Not surprisingly, most of the legends connected with the forge on the mountain.

One of them says that on Demerdzhi lived reclusive and cruel blacksmith, who constantly terrorized the local residents. One day he stole a young girl and killed her in his grief. Nature itself rebelled against such cruelty and a powerful earthquake destroyed the forge along with a blacksmith. The evidence of this huge stone chaos at the foot of Demerdzhi.

There is another interesting legend. In ancient times the valley around Demerdzhi flooded with nomads. They were cruel and merciless. Their commander passed Demerdzhi and saw smoke above the mountain. He immediately decided to settle for her real forge to forge more weapons for their bloody killings. The organization of the forge commander has entrusted one of his best warriors – black beard. He gathered the strongest men from a neighboring village and built a large forge at the top of Demerdzhi.

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It was rumored that Blackbeard was a magician, because soldiers became invincible with the swords forged in his smithy. Because of this, came the troubled times and the people suffered from hunger and robbery. One brave girl Catherine climbed the mountain to ask the black-Bearded man about mercy, about the termination of the terrible forge. But he only laughed in response and killed the girl. As soon as Catherine's blood touched the earth, from the depths of flames shot out, everything started shaking, and the mountain with the valley enveloped in a thick fog.

Soon the fog cleared and the people of the valley saw that the smithy destroyed, and the slope of the Demerdzhi frozen stone statues, reminiscent of the figures of men running. One of the large boulders very like the black beard, and in the distance could be seen the stone "head" of a woman with a shape Catherine.

Legends are born not just. At the foot of Demerdzhi was really Funa. It is possible that the operation of the forges ceased due to numerous earthquakes. By the way, the mountain experienced more than one earthquake. The most devastating occurred in 1894. Then fell off a huge block of stone and smashed a 25-meter boulders fell on the house of the village.

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Fortunately, he suffered only a few people, but the village immediately moved to another location – the current village Radiant (and from there starts the main Hiking trail in the valley of the ghosts). On the site of the village is now a chaos stone with a volume of 5 million tons. But those mysterious stone figures in the form of people is the wave of scientific explanation. Wind, precipitation, sun, and the earthquake has done its job, turning ordinary stones into intricate creations.