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Magic in the Devil’s Church. Why has a Finnish cave attracted shamans for centuries?
Healer Kinolainen would take his patients into the depths of a long cave to converse with the devil about the causes of their ailments. In Finland’s Devil’s Church, an unusual phenomenon indeed takes place.
In the Koli National Park in eastern Finland lies a famous 34-meter-long crevice cave. It’s called Pirunkirkko, meaning the Devil’s Church. In local folklore, this crevice cave was a place where local sages connected with the spirit world.
To this day, practitioners of shamanism visit this place, even organizing drumming sessions there. Cave tourism is quite common here.
Acoustics key to unlocking the Finnish cave mystery
Two researchers, Riitta Rainio from the University of Helsinki and Elina Hytönen-Ng from the University of Eastern Finland, decided to investigate the way sound travels within the cave. They suspected there was some unusual phenomenon occurring there that had intrigued people for millennia.
The researchers established that the Devil’s Church exhibits a resonance phenomenon that amplifies and prolongs sound at a specific frequency. They believe this phenomenon could significantly influence beliefs and experiences associated with being inside the…
