Why Our Interest In The Supernatural Prevails In The Face Of Its' Darkness?

Believe, or don't believe, that is usually the question around water coolers, between late-night colleagues, during pillow talk, or simply when our mind wanders. As small children, our parents and loved ones teach us not to believe in monsters or the "boogieman" and yet we find our paths drawn back to those horror stories. Once we are opened up to the realm of possibilities, then we will pretty much believe in anything. So, whether you may believe in the monsters and ghosts that others believe in, or you hide your head in doubt, there's a world of infinite possibilities out there. Some of those possibilities should, however, be left alone.

Of all the legends of the supernatural that should probably be left alone, there are the legends of the "Gateways To Hell" that come first to mind. My favorite question I ask whenever this subject is brought up is, "If you found it would you open it?" For those that say yes, I question their expectations. For those that say no, I question why are you looking for them?

All America there are graveyards with names like Stull Cemetery - believed to have been originally called Skull Cemetery. Barely anything is left in Stull, a small village with only a number of homes and a newer church, but the legend carries on. Stull's legends allegedly link back hundreds of years but until the seventies, when they made it to print, none of them were known.

The Stull cemetery legend states that it is one of two places visited by Satan himself just twice a year, on the spring equinox and on all hallows eve, Halloween. Believed to be the location of one of Lucifer's concubines, a witch that was burned at the stake, the legend says the witch was pregnant and Lucifer returns twice a year to pay respects to his lover and his unborn child.

Is it true, or just an urban legend? According to locals, they claim that until the seventies they never heard of the stories. And, while some of the legends and stories tell of youthful adventurers being grabbed by unseen forces, strange winds in the old church knocking people around and holding them to the ground, and rain not falling into an old and decrepit church with no roof, there's no documented proof of these events. The legend grew enough that a 1980 article in the Kansas City Times the writer wrote of the Devil appearing in two places on earth, Stull Kansas and some desolate place in India, simultaneously.

If Stull Kansas sounds remotely familiar it is because of its' location. Just twelve miles away lies the sacred city of the Supernatural world, the birthplace of Sam and Dean Winchester. No doubt, the creators of the long-running monster show, have heard of Stull's most insidious visitor.

Darvaza in Turkmenistan is home to the Darvaza gas crater, also known as the Gates of Hell. Of all of the possible gates to hell, the Darvaza Crater is the largest of the possible gates but is also a natural burning gas deposit and possibly one of the biggest in the world. Its constant burning and orange, fiery hue, earned it the name Devils Gate and its size (2 basketball courts) makes it the biggest of the possible gates. I'd have to ask those that visit it thinking it is a gate to hell, "Will you dive in?" I know I wouldn't.

In the ancient city of Hierapolis, found near Pamukkale in Turkey, there was once a site sacred to Pluto, the god of the dead. When it was rediscovered in 1965, none were aware of its' otherworldly significance. The gases that heat the famed hot springs of Pamukkale come from a cave beneath the Plutonion, and the people believed that because the vapors are toxic that they were sent to by Pluto himself. The vapors, so toxic in fact, would cause animals led into the cave to fall over dead.

In Hellam Township, Pennsylvania local legend says that off Trout Run Road lies the seven gates of hell. The gates appear mysteriously near the site of a tragic asylum fire. The legend has all the hallmarks of a haunted spot, tragic and violent deaths, people troubled during their lives, the mentally ill. If you walk through all seven gates, according to local lore, you end up in Hell. The same legends claim nobody has ever made it past the fifth gate.

Where are the gates? They could be in the drains of Clifton New Jersey, The Stull Cemetery in Kansas, on the grounds of a cemetery in Lawrence Kansas, or as some voodoo practitioners claim, in various parts of New Orleans. One thing is for sure, if anyone found an actual gate, opening it would be more likely an accident than intentional, because who's in a rush to get to hell.