Dargavs, the “City of the Dead” (Russia)

Tucked away in a hard-to-reach mountain valley carved by the Gizeldon River, the necropolis of Dargavs clings to the harsh, windswept slope of Mount Raminyrag. Almost a hundred stone crypts—some standing above ground, others dug halfway into the earth—have served for centuries as the final resting place of countless souls. Getting there means negotiating perilous mountain roads, a trip that demands both resolve and good preparation.

Archaeologists trace the origin of the site to the Alans, ancestors of today’s Ossetians, who were driven by their enemies into these narrow highland gorges. With every scrap of fertile soil needed for the living, burials were relegated to the rocky slopes lashed by mountain winds. Alan builders raised the crypts according to a strict clan hierarchy: multi-story tower tombs for nobles, simpler semi-subterranean chambers for the poor and for outsiders. Their remarkable masonry has let the structures survive even powerful earthquakes. Thanks to clever through-ventilation and the cold, dry mountain air, the bodies never rotted; they slowly mummified instead.

The most unsettling part of the story is the curse of the City of the Dead. Folklore insists that anyone who steps into the necropolis merely to look around will never leave alive. One legend tells of divine vengeance. Warriors once brought to Dargavs a captive woman of stunning beauty, and the men of the village fell into a murderous frenzy over her. When even the elders succumbed to desire, the women demanded the stranger be banished. The men, unwilling to yield, killed the girl in cold blood. For this flagrant violation of the sacred laws of hospitality, the heavens struck the settlement with a wasting plague—and the curse has hung over Dargavs ever since.

From 100 Cursed Places · Fern Flower Press