Chambers of the Occult - EP# 30 Up in Smoke & Down in Hell: The Sodder Children & Houska Castle

Episode Date: March 2, 2025

Send us a textIn this episode of Chambers of the Occult, we delve into two unsettling mysteries that blur the line between the known and the unknown.First, Kai takes us back to Christmas Eve 1945, when a devastating fire consumed the Sodder family home in West Virginia. But when the embers cooled, an eerie question remained—where were the bodies of the five missing Sodder children? With suspicious circumstances, cryptic sightings, and a family refusing to accept the official story, this case has puzzled investigators and conspiracy theorists for decades.Then, J descends into the depths of one of Europe’s most infamous fortresses—Houska Castle. Built atop a gaping hole believed to be a literal gateway to hell, this Czech stronghold has a history shrouded in sinister legends, paranormal activity, and inexplicable horrors. From demonic creatures clawing their way out of the abyss to Nazi occult experiments, Houska Castle remains one of the most mystifying locations in the world.Join us as we unravel the mysteries behind these haunting tales. Are the Sodder children still out there? And what truly lurks beneath Houska Castle? Tune in, if you dare.

You're jolted awake by the heavy smell of smoke. You rush into the hallway, your heart pounding. Flames are already racing up the walls, spreading faster than you can move. You try to get out. Your children are still inside. You scream their names, desperate to get them out. Some escape, some don't. The fire consumes everything in minutes.

You claw at the walls, you try to climb back inside, but the heat drives you back. The ladder you always keep by the house, it's missing. The water barrels you could use to put out the fire, frozen solid. The trucks that should start, the ones you could use to drive up to the windows. They won't turn on. You watch, helpless, as your home collapses, as your children vanish before your eyes. When the flames finally die down, you search through the ashes. But there's nothing.

No remains. No remains. No bones. No trace your children were ever there at all. What would you do? What would you feel knowing they may still be out there? Would you ever stop searching? Chambers of the Occult may contain content that might not be suitable for all listeners. Listener discretion is advised. I...

Hi! Hi. I Hi I Don't know Of course if there's no bodies Like yes, my kids are out there somewhere but also Why weren't they home?

Like, where, yeah. And also, it, ladder, the barrels of water empty, the truck not starting, what's going on? Some great questions, Jay. This case is a good one. Thank you for that introduction. You're welcome. I really thought it would set the scene.

Yeah, it did. It did. Awesome. Never been in a fire. Hope to keep it that way. Gotcha. I hope so as well. Yeah.

Yeah. Hi everyone, Welcome back. Hi Yeah, chambers of the occult episode 30 30 yeah No way, okay, we've come a long way I think we have yeah, no, no, that's awesome I'm Jay But yeah, that's us. Welcome back.

If you're new, welcome. If you're returning, welcome back. And yeah, has Kai got a story for you? What would you do, folks? Would you stop searching? Let me know your answers to that question. I have so many follow-up questions to that but of course I'm sure you're gonna get into it and those questions will be answered like who were

this kids and I think I have more I swear I just don't know what they are yet. Alright so All right, so it was Christmas Eve, 1945, in Fayetteville, West Virginia. The Sauter family, like so many other families, had just spent the evening celebrating. You know, the smell of Christmas dinner still in the air. A warm house, their tree shining. The kids playing with the toys that they just got. And the excitement of Christmas morning just a few hours away, right? As you're giving that intro, I wanted to chime in because you're like, a warm house,

little did they know it was about to get a lot warmer. Oh God. Oh god. I mean it's true. Why'd you have to say that? No it is true. But for parents George and Jenny Sodder, that night would turn into a nightmare. One that would haunt them for the rest of their lives. What year was this? 1945. Okay. So, it was a little after one in the morning, 1AM.

Everyone was drifted off to sleep at this point, and flames began to erupt inside the Sauter family's home. The fire spread very quickly, it engulfed their wooden house in a huge raging fire. George and Jenny, the parents, along with four of their ten children, managed to escape into the night, but five of their 10 children managed to escape into the night. But five of their children, Maurice, Martha, Louie, Jenny, and Betty, didn't make it out. Okay, how many kids? 10. Four made it out.

Five did not. Because one of the children was out in the military. Oh, okay! So he was not there. I was like, I'm doing math, like, in my head, and then I asked again, and when I was doing it on my fingers, then I'm like, something doesn't add up. I could see the confusion in your face. Okay.

Yeah, so only nine of them were there that night. The tenth, he was out in the army, I believe. Okay. So the Sauter family, there were the ten kids, two parents, George and Jenny. So I guess first, I'll talk a little bit about who they they were how they ended up in Fyettville, West Virginia in 1945 when their lives would change well It starts with George the father so George he This is an Italian family by the way, that's why it's big. Yeah

So George he was born in Italy in 1895 and he immigrated to the US in 1908 when he was 13 years old. He had come over with an older brother of his but once they got to Ellis Island to immigrate in his brother just turned back and so George was all on his own so he grew up finding work in essentially like the Pennsylvania railroads because that's where he was okay just lots of like manual work in railroads in in mining work and other industries like that he worked his way up and he eventually created his own trucking in railroads, in mining work, and other industries like that. He worked his way up, and he eventually created his own trucking company in Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Good for him. Yeah. And so Fayetteville, in the first place, it was actually a small coal mining town. And it was mainly filled with Italian immigrants. So Italians, a lot of them made their way out to Fayetteville and worked in these coal companies, these mines and other companies that they had. So George was, you know, he was, he was a fiercely protective

father. He was determined. He was a hard worker for all of his life. He worked really hard to make sure they could have a good life in the US. So Jenny, the mom, she was also Italian. She was pretty much raised in the US, though, because her family were also immigrants. And so they lived around the same areas, like in Fayetteville and in West Virginia around there So they met

they of course You know had a great relationship and they started this family they created their family in Fyatville Do you know how old they were when they met or like when they had their first kid or something like that? No, there wasn't any okay that I could find. There wasn't really much ages except for how old they were like in 1945. So now the children. We're gonna get into them a little bit. Ten of them. John. John was the the oldest he was 23 years old And he was the one off in the military No, actually no, okay, so it was actually Joe Joe was the second oldest son. He was 21

And so he was off at the military got it The next is Marion Marion was 19. She was the oldest daughter. So the third kid, she honestly had some of the most responsibility in the family. She took on lots of jobs, brought home the money for her family, and took care of her siblings a lot. What a good Marion. Right, yeah. Then there was Maurice, who was 14. There was Martha, who was 14. There was Martha, who was 12.

Louis was 10. Jenny was 8. Betty was 5. And Sylvia, the youngest little baby, she was 3 years old. Aw. Yeah. So they had- I'm not 3 year old.

Do you? Yes. I was about to question myself. I was like, do I? Yes. Okay, good. I was like, do I? Yes Okay, good. I'm glad Yeah, they're cute until they're not I agree. Um, I love kids until they're like Annoying. Yeah, you know

Yeah I I got to experience first hand this last week why some people call them little bags of germs. Because they really are. So, crotch goblins. If you have a child, I look up to you. Yes, I'm envious of you.

Because how do you deal with that? Yeah, especially when we have multiple. Ten! Ten is insane. Like ten is actually an insane amount. I'm envious of you because how do you deal with that? Yeah, especially when we have multiple, 10. 10 is insane. Like 10 is actually an insane amount of kids. What? Yeah. Anyway, they were a close-knit, loving, hardworking family.

And honestly, everything seemingly was good for them, right? They were having a great Christmas Eve. They had a joyful night. The kids got to stay up late to play with their new toys. The older siblings, the older kids who were working hard in the days prior, they were fast asleep. You know, the parents, they were just enjoying their family being happy. Good.

It's the typical movie scene for Christmas Eve. 100%. Except it very quickly turned to not be the typical scene. Unfortunate. You know, things changed. Their life was devastated because of this. Jenny, the mom, she was woken up around a little after 1 a.m. to the smell of smoke inside of the house. She very quickly shook her husband George awake and they started to make their way outside. They yelled for their kids to get them out.

So, yeah, they yelled for the kids to get them out. John managed to get out. Marion got out. Marion actually grabbed Sylvia, the little three-year-old, managed to get her out as well. Do you, I don't know if you have this information, but do you know how many rooms the house had? No. Okay. No, I know they were living, the kids mainly shared the attic space up above,

but it was like a big attic space. Yeah, and I think attics have that cool factor that multiple people can share them. Yeah. Yeah. No, no for sure Yeah, so Four of their kids, you know, they they made it out but The other five didn't

But of course, they did everything they could to make their way inside. George, the father, he immediately, he just kept calling out. He tried to climb his way back into the house. He actually managed to try to break through some windows and he got a really bad cut on his arm that's been described. But the flames were just too much. Once he was able to step foot inside, he realized that the staircase leading upstairs up to the attic was completely burned away and there was nothing he could do.

So what he and the kids did was they tried to create a plan. They were going to run to the side of the house and they were going to grab the ladder that was always there to use it to climb up. Yeah. But it wasn't there. But they couldn't think about that. They had to keep on doing. They had to find a plan. So next they tried to go to the water barrels to try to get water to help douse the flames. they were frozen solid. Oh, no. That wasn't out of the picture as well. So what George wanted to do was he was going to grab his two trucks that he

used for his trucking company. He was going to get them started, drive them up to the side of the house so that they could climb on top and reach the attic where the kids were. But when they got in the trucks, they refused to turn over. They refused to start. Even though just the day prior, they had worked perfectly fine. Yeah.

So the family was frantic. They were panicked at this point. They were trying everything they could to get to their kids, but there was absolutely nothing they could do. So for 45 minutes, all they could do was watch their house crumble, watch it burn to the ground. Oh no, with their kids inside. With their kids inside. Now, Fayetteville, West Virginia was a small town, not very resourced and because of the war, a lot of the firefighters

were actually not even there. They were off in the military. So they were like, short-staffed? Very. So, Jenny- How many fires were happening on Christmas Eve? Because that's not a lot. I'm just saying, even if you're short-staffed- It was like 1 AM, you know, they they were all asleep because it was all like volunteer firefighters Oh, okay. Yeah Jenny and

Marion mom and daughter they They tried to call for firefighters They tried to call but they realized that their phone wasn't their phone line wasn't working And that was something that they were confused about as well. So the next thing they could do was they ran to the neighbor. Yeah. They ran to the neighbor's house, used their phone to call, but since it was so short staffed, they were undermanned. They didn't have like a type of dispatch.

What happened is you would call one firefighter and it was then the jobs for the firefighters to call each other and then wake each other up to get a response. That's a horrible system. It took them so long to get to the chief. They finally were able to wake up the chief, the fire chief, late into the night. And it wasn't until about 8 a.m. when the fire truck finally responded. This fire happened around 1 1 30 a.m.

The fire truck out there at 8. I don't know if as a parent, I'd be frantic with five of my kids in the house, or like it'd be a combination of that and like anger and like desperate. I don't even know what was going through their mind. like desperate I don't even know what was going through their mind. One of the like the worst parts about this is that the fire chief his name was FJ Morris he actually was woken up decently like quickly I guess. However he like later admitted like the next day he said that the response was so slow because He didn't know how to drive the fire truck

So he had to wait until somebody who could Was available the fire chief didn't know how to drive the fire truck what? How What? How do you become a fire chief without knowing how to drive a fire truck? I have no clue! I have no clue! Ah! I don't know, that's... I feel like that's the worst thing he could have said publicly. Yeah, no, like this this Fire Chief was like so terrible and I'll get into it a little bit more later on.

Yeah, cuz I still have noises I need to get out. So go ahead. You still have noises? So go ahead There was a whole investigation right there was a state investigation like the state fire marshal And Well, sorry going back that The fire subsided right and the family they Rushed to trek to see what was left if anything Yeah, firefighters who are there they they they look through the scene, but there was absolutely

Nothing there was no bones. There was no human remains that were visible It was almost like they had completely vanished, right? Now the Fire Chief, Morris, it was his belief, he thought that the body just burned completely. Like the fire was hot enough to where it completely just disintegrated the bones. And it was a plausible enough conclusion, sort of back then but then sorry this fire chief doesn't know

what he's talking about yeah he doesn't know how to drive a truck why would I trust him no seriously that's that's what I'm saying anyway yeah it was initially ruled you know the the remains were burned up and so the five children who are unaccounted for, they were pronounced to have died through that fire. And the fire? Yeah. So their death certificates were officially issued on December 30th, so five days after. The family tried to move on, the Sauter family did, but there was just so many inconsistencies.

Yeah, who was out to get them? Yeah, there was so much that George and Jenny just found so inconsistent. They tried to move on, you know, the fire chief Morris, he told the family that they needed to leave the fire just undisturbed because they needed to do a full investigation. Like of all the remains? Yeah. So that lasted about four days, but George and Jenny, they just, they couldn't bear looking at it anymore. Of course. They couldn't bear looking at it anymore, so they um, they completely Put dirt over the site. They completely cover it up, and they turned it into a garden like a memorial garden Do that after they're done with her investigation? No seriously? That's what I'm saying like um I understand I understand it one agree sweet, and you don't want to look at it, but

They need to do an investigation. Yeah that they ever figure figure out what caused the fire? Like, what was the reason for it? So, the local coroner determined that the accident was caused by faulty wiring throughout the house. Why is the coroner telling them how the fire started? Because it's a tiny ass town, and they're not coordinated or anything. First off, there's no bodies to examine. Yeah, there's no bodies! Why is the coroner even involved? Thank you, so I think that's when, like... Now you see it.

What?! Okay, yeah, okay. Like, it'd be different if they're examining the bodies the burn marks or I don't know but there's no bodies So why is the why was he even involved what? Stay in your lane, sir So fault wiring according to the coroner. Faulty wiring. And for like a day, the family was able to believe that, but it didn't last for long, right? They... they didn't find any evidence their children actually died. Yeah. So, they were holding out the hope that they were somehow still out there.

And that's when things sort of started to get pieced together. You know, the things that happened before, that happened after these fires. Maybe it wasn't just an accidental fire. Maybe there was something more sinister at play here, right? The George and Jenny did their own investigations. They could not, they didn't think that this fire was hot enough to have burned the bones completely. So Jenny, actually what Jenny started to do, she was reading through other newspapers

of other house fires and found in those that their bones were discovered, even though the fire was hot. What else has she started to do? Go ahead. No, I'm just thinking that like a normal fire is not able enough to like, you know. Yeah.

Because you take them to a crematorium for a reason, because it has to reach a certain temperature. Yes. So I have some rough numbers here. The burning point, the temperature for human bones, is 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. And typically, it takes two plus hours of constant exposure to that heat for them to be fully burned.

This fire, it's believed in modern, like, calculations, it couldn't have burned more than 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah. And it only burned for 45 minutes. So not even long enough. It would not be. Not high enough, not long enough. Exactly. So what happened, right?

Yeah. And Jenny, you know, had the same line of thinking as well. So one thing she actually did was she took like bones that she found, like chicken bones and such, and she actually would put them in the oven to try to like cremate them. Yeah. Every single time, no matter how long she left them, these bones would not burn.

Of course. Your oven's not going to reach that temperature. 100%. And so there was just this growing And this was Jenny right Jenny the mom that okay the mom okay? Yeah So they started to You know Ask around the they really did not believe it was faulty wiring because not long beforehand they actually had, they actually fully replaced the wiring in their house.

And it was inspected by like an electrical company and they said it all looked fine. Was there a reason it got replaced? I think it was just old. You know, old house. It was time to replace the wire. So like, time to upgrade it? Yeah, something like that. George and Jenny also recalled that as the fire was burning, the Christmas lights inside their house were still on. Which meant there was still power Which meant there was still power going through. So, okay. I'm trying to picture it. And I guess it makes sense that if it was like, fall tube wiring, maybe like, I don't know.

I don't know how fall tube wiring fires work. I have no clue either. Like an electrical spark that happens or like, I don't know, but that's what I was reading of just the inconsistencies of how it was ruled and what had actually happened. And then, things started to sort of piece back together. Okay.

It was 1230 that night before the fire. They were sleeping peacefully and Jenny was actually woken up by their house phone ringing. Somebody had called the house at 1230. Wait! The phone worked. But this was before the fire. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the phone lines were working. The phone lines were working before the fire. Around 1230, right? Around 1230, yeah. Okay. So when Jenny answered, it was a female caller, it was a woman, she asked to speak to a person that Jenny didn't know

and then Laughed and hung up okay, so like wrong number, but it's 12 wrong number, but it was kind of creepy It was late. I don't know they Jenny brush it off, but she went back to sleep And then they started talking to their neighbors. And some of the neighbors started to report that in previous weeks, they actually had started to, they saw a car sort of parked along the streets with a man who was watching their house. Yeah.

From down the road, people who were stalking them. Then George remembered, George remembered how one night, one day he was actually visited by a salesman, a salesman to his house. Sorry, let me find that. Yeah, it was a life insurance salesman, actually. No. Mm-hmm. He was talking to him, and George remembered that this salesman, quote, said, after refusing this life insurance, the salesman said your house would quote, go up in smoke and your children are going to be destroyed. And he said he it was all this because of the dirty remarks you've been making about

Mussolini. Remember this is an Italian immigrant town. I get that. But at the same time... Okay. Close the door on that bad face. And George was very outspoken about being anti-Italian government. Being against the rule of Mussolini in Italy.

So, he was sort of kind of making waves in the community. He was upsetting a lot of people. And so this sort of brings me into one of the theories as to what actually happened behind this disappearance. It's probably the most believed theory. Italian mafia. The Italian mafia. No! That was a wild guess. But okay, get into it. Yeah, no. So the biggest theory is that the kids were kidnapped by the Italian mafia.

So there was no remains of the kids. So they were thinking maybe sometime before the fires, they snuck in, they kidnapped the kids and they set the house on fire, the Italian mafia did. Or something like that. The theories we have are not super explained, right? But they're just sort of things to yeah Then I'll push it forward. There's like one point that makes sense, but like it doesn't connect to the other things Yeah, no percent. Okay. Yeah. I mean that's why it's called a theory

No, seriously, um, so They realized they were piecing together. There was a man who they saw was stalking their house essentially. There was these quote unquote threats from Italian people in the community. There was actually a man who was trying to find work in the house to like do some stuff for their home. This was before the fire, another thing. Like a cleaner or like repairman? Like he was just trying to find some repairman work, something like that. Apparently he took the opportunity to go around the back of the house and he took a look at the fuse boxes and this worker said they would cause a fire someday

And this worker was also an Italian man So there was lots of these like little threats honestly that sort of happened Okay, I I don't know if it would be considered a threat or I'm just trying to think it's the way that they telling people say things I I guess so that I guess it could be taken I mean, I don't know the exact wording that was used but it can be perceived as a threat. Maybe That's true. I mean this the salesman though the the insurance salesman from before who said you know your children are going to be destroyed. His name

was Frank Cicciolini. I don't know I butchered that. And he later it was found out that he was connected to like the Italian mafia local Italian mafia. So there's all these things that were sort of pieced together. That ladder that was always by the house, the family later found it. They found it 75 feet away from the house in just like a river embankment, just completely gone. The trucks that were supposed to be working, George believed that they got tampered with that They ever like investigate the trucks or that they also get burned

No, I well there was nothing really to investigate. I guess the trucks were fine But like that they worked the next day or were they still non-functioning or I'm not sure I was no info on that's fine That's fine. I mean, it's not fine, but it's fine So it's like okay, how would the mafia have pulled this off? Right. Well, first of all, the fire was going to be, was supposed to be the distraction, right? They weren't actually trying to really kill anybody or maybe they were. But the fire was the distraction. And people think that the children were taken either before the fire started or during the

chaos of it somehow. Maybe the mafia, they grabbed the ladder and they used it to go up to the attic and they disposed of it afterwards. So we know according to the coroner, it was an electrical fire. Do we know where in the house the fire started? Um... No, I don't think there's an exact location that I have down here. Okay, I'm just trying to think that maybe they would...

If the theory of that Italian mafia had any ground to stand on, that let's start the fire in the kitchen, and then let's use that as a distraction to take the kids from the attic. Or, I don't know. Another thing is that it was late at night, and Jenny initially had gone up to her room to go to sleep and she tasked the kids, the older kids with closing down the house for the night. But Jenny woke up in the middle of the night before these fires. She went downstairs to check. Marion had fallen asleep on the couch and seemingly the other kids were nowhere to be found. She thought they were just up in the attic, right? Oh, but she didn't check.

She didn't check. But also, the lights downstairs were on, the curtains through the windows were still open, and the front door was unlocked. So Marion didn't get the chance to, like, lock the house down? Marion did not, no. So she probably dozed off before she got the chance to lock the house down along with the other kids, so... Okay, sorry, my brain just went conspiracy theory. Okay, no, I wanna hear it. I wanna hear it.

Okay, so, what if the man that was out there, in the car, he learned their routine, and he learned that every single night, or every once in a while, a kid, in this case Marion, is in charge of locking the house down. They wrote down the time, they just verified that it happened every night, and Christmas Eve shows up, Marion is down there, and just at some point, whoever is in charge, or whoever is working that job, or whatever they did. Yeah. Goes in the house. I don't want to say that they like knocked her out by like physically punching her, but I was like- That's what I sort of thought maybe. I was like- Or something as well. Hey Marion, does this smell like chloroform?

Knocks her out, takes the kids and then just leaves. But Marion survived the fire, right? Yes, she did. Okay. so I'm sure that's in the like the living room on the couch essentially I'm sure that she would have said anything if she like saw anything weird yeah so maybe it really was like she fell asleep and it was just the timing yeah perfect timing by I mean I imagine also Christmas Eve the kids are tired after playing with their toys all day. The excitement. Yeah. So, the big question behind it though is like, why? Why would the mafia do this?

And there are a couple reasons for it. One motive could have been just the, been illustrate the political. Mussolini. Revenge. Yeah. So with how it spoken, George was about Mussolini. It could have been, you know, to get revenge on him, to make him hurt, tear his family apart. Because George kind of did put a target on his back you know by being so outspoken openly about this. Another one is it could have been something more along the lines of child trafficking

right? So the Italian mafia? Yeah like the mafia they could have been involved in in trafficking and move these kids around. Because during the the 40s the mafias actually were typically like involved in child trafficking. Oh, I did not know. Like specifically the Italian mafia or just in general? I think in general. Okay.

But I wouldn't be surprised if you know the Italian mafia here was. Okay. But I wouldn't be surprised if you know the Italian mafia here was okay And so there's that like black market like child trafficking rings type of thing Another theory behind that like the motive is that maybe George owed the mafia money somehow Like he used our money to start his business exactly exactly okay his business? Exactly. Exactly. Or his business or... The house or something? The house, something like that. And so this was sort of their payback to get their money back.

So there's sort of more that backs up the idea that the children didn't die in this fire. There's no bodies. Because there's no bodies. There's no remains. There's no bodies. But also as time went by, there were actually supposed sightings of the kids. Yeah. So there was a woman, she was at like a rest stop between

Fiatville and Charleston, West Virginia, so not too far away, about 50 miles away. She said she apparently saw the children the morning after the fire. She told the police that she actually served them breakfast and um and that there was a yeah she served them breakfast there. Did she say who they were with? No. No. Ma'am who paid the bill because I doubt it was the kids. Yeah that's the thing I have no clue. I doubt it was the kids. Yeah, that's the thing. I have no clue. There was a time continuing to go by.

About a week after the fire, there was a woman at a Charleston, West Virginia hotel. She said that she saw four of the five of them, like, at the hotel the week after. And she said so I'm grabbing a pen Who were the kids that died at the fire that went missing it was

more than I need their age Gotcha. It was Maurice 14. Okay Martha 12. Okay. Martha, 12. Okay. Louis, 10. Okay. Jenny, 8. Okay.

And Betty, 5. So, Maurice and Martha were the oldest at 14 and 12. Yes. Yes. Okay. That means that they technically, if, if the sightings are believed, they were the ones in charge of taking care of their siblings. Paying for like the dinner or like the breakfast. Yeah.

I'm just confused on... Is there theories of why they quote unquote ran away or like who they were with or anything like that? Well, the breakfast portion, it was never specified if they're like with people, but when they were seen at the hotel, it was actually said that the children were accompanied by two men and two women women and they were all speaking Italian

Okay I want to talk to that Waitress that took their order I'm like, how do you not remember who they you would remember who paid because they left you a good tip or they left you No tip. That's true So who what was, ma'am? I mean, a lot of those things is like, it's always the case in anything.

It's like, oh, are these witness statements actually true? Are these people actually telling the truth or I don't know? Are those the only two sides in someings of them or is there more? Let's see Those were the only two sightings supposed sightings of the kids, but there are other rumors of like later on apparently in a bar and like st. Louis there were Two there a couple guys who are bragging about starting the fire in Fayetteville There were a couple guys who were bragging about starting the fire in Fayetteville. There was like all around scattered throughout like West Virginia, there were people who were just talking about it.

But the thing was, is it all true? Like people are just talking, right? Yeah, 100%. So the family tried to move on, right? There was not much they could do. They never stopped searching. They actually, they put up a billboard down the road from their house. It was like, have you seen these children?

I'll send pictures of it. Okay, sounds good. Go ahead. I also have like a weird question regarding the frozen barrels of water Yeah, so they're frozen, right? Yeah This might just be me thinking of science But when water freezes like if it's a barrel doesn't it just create a layer and there's still water below that layer

That's what you're able to go ice fishing Yeah, so Doesn't it just create a layer and there's still water below that layer? That's why you're able to go ice fishing? Yeah. So, was this the entire... I don't know. Do you know where I'm going with this? Yeah, like what... Like how is it completely frozen solid? Like if you break the ice there's solid water.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have no clue. It's fine. It's just, I mean, this is the case. It's not meant to be solved. It's not made to make sense. It's fine. It's just I mean this is the case. It's not meant to be solved It's not made to make sense. It's not and it never has Okay Now something else I mentioned was the the phone wasn't working, right?

In in later investigation after the fire they actually found out that the phone line had been cut. It had been completely cut. So this just added on to the fact if somebody deliberately had to climb up the 14 feet up into the air to reach the phone line and cut it. There was investigations that were done, but apparently there was like a neighbor nearby who said that they saw a guy the night of the fire. He just, he stole like one of the pulley systems to move like materials up and down.

The police were able to find this guy. They interviewed him and he admitted to the theft and being on the property. He also admitted to cutting the phone line. But he said, he thought to cutting the phone line. But he said he thought it was the power line. Like he was just trying to shut the lights off so that he couldn't be seen, but he ended up cutting the phone line instead. It was like seen as a crazy coincidence that this managed to happen. Just during that time.

I don't know what is happening anymore. So much is going on. There's so much going. What's he also an Italian man? No, he was not Italian. Okay Another theory is Sort of a maybe a bit of like Um... sort of a, maybe a bit of like, police corruption. Hold on. I'm stuck in the part... Sorry, this... Okay, let's go back. I'm trying to see this man up there and, you know, cutting wires and things.

And he's like, no, I wasn't trying to cut the phone line, I was trying to cut the power line. So people wouldn't see me up there. But at the same time, I'm like, why, if you were not up there, people wouldn't see you in the first place. No, like, for the property, so that he could steal the block and tackle, the pulley system. Got... Yes. Okay, sir. Well, I'm glad you got caught. I don't know.

I have no you got caught. I don't know. I have no clue. No. I don't know. There's a lot of inconsistencies. This case fascinates me because there's so many inconsistencies, right? One of the biggest inconsistencies is the fucking fire chief, Morris.

Did he resign? Did he get trained? I hope so! I hope so! Was he like, yeah I don't know. Tell me about this chief. Oh my god, this guy. There were no remains, no bones that were said to have been found at the site after the fire, right? But then later on during the investigation, Morris, the chief, he actually revealed that he did actually find bones and a heart at the scene. No! Yeah. So he said he apparently found it, but instead of showing it to anybody like he

Put them into a box and buried that box Sorry hi Some reason there was some lag. I don't know if it was on my side or your side They're fine. You're fine. You said he found bones and a heart. Yes. Okay. That's the last thing I heard. Oh, okay. Um... So, it said the fire chief, he found like bones and a heart, but he didn't...

present them to anybody. Instead, he like locked them in a box and... like hid or buried or put that box away somehow. But eventually he brought it out and the coroner examined it and the coroner revealed that it was just beef liver, like raw beef liver that was there and it was like dirty from the ashes of the burning scene. And that's why he thought it looked like a heart? No. The thing is, Morris admitted that he purposely planted those bones and the liver at the burn site, hoping that the family would find it. And they'd be like, oh my god, our kids really are dead.

And they'd actually believe that it was like a piece of their children. So the fire chief was trying to help, I guess, by doing this, but... I know there's no evidence, but wouldn't this be considered tampering with evidence? I think so. And that's where the theory of like, a bit of cover up and corruption from the police

and the people investigating yeah stems from so there was you know the mafia theory but then there's also the sort of the cover-up that happened you know the the police closed on the investigation very quickly because they just, they didn't believe a crime had been committed, right? These kids were dead. The fire chief said that they died. The coroner said that it was a faulty wiring that caused the fire. So there was never any further investigation into it. The Sauter family, George and Jenny, they tried to push for years and years and years

for the case to be reopened, but the police just completely refused to reopen the case. So there was no investigation done really. There was a surface level at best search by the firefighters. They said they searched the wreckage and the ash. But through some modern analyses and thoughts, people say that the firefighters barely even look through. Like they probably just walked over and they're like, oh, we don't see anything and they moved on. So... Okay. To be fair, they were volunteer firemen. This is true. They were understaffed. So I'm not sure if they were trained on how to look for remains or evidence. I'm sure they were trained on how to turn fires off, hopefully.

But still, come on guys. At least, I don't know. I don't know. I'm very disappointed in this. I appreciate them being volunteers. I appreciate them being volunteers, but at the same what are you guys doing like? Who trained you did you get trained at all? Apparently not by the fire chief no apparently the fire Sorry I'm telling you there was still some noises that needed to come out Mostly related to this Fire Chief. We need to get them all out.

Out of everyone in the story, yes. Out of everyone in the story, I think the Fire Chief is the one that upsets me the most. I agree. So... The remains were never found. There was no investigation ever done. Um, and nothing really showed up anymore. The family went years and years believing their kids were still out there and they never gave up the search. But a really big development that happened that sort of gave them a lot of hope happened in 1968. Okay. In 1968, George and Jenny, they actually received a

photograph in the mail. In this picture, it was a picture of a young man, mid-20s. In this picture, it was a picture of a young man, mid-20s. On the back of the picture was written, Louis Sauter, I love brother Frankie. Hello boys, and a number A90132 or A90135. And George and Jenny, they said that the likeness of this boy to their actual son, Louis, was spot on. Like, this picture looked like their son Louis as an adult. They were unable to verify anything. They couldn't figure out who sent them.

All they knew was that it came from Kentucky, I believe. They didn't know why the picture was sent, and they couldn't figure out what the writing on the back of the picture meant. Yeah. But there was this photo they received in the mail anonymously of a picture that looked so much like their kid, Louis. That's heartbreaking. And it gave them that little bit of hope, which was nice, but yeah, it was also heartbreaking,

because they're still trying to search for what happened. Did anyone, like family member, community member, mafia member, like anyone benefit from this fire in any way? No, I don't think so. Okay. I don't think anybody did. It was like a tragedy that happened in in Fayetteville Okay Yeah, that's anyway They never stopped looking right? They actually put up a billboard

Like I mentioned and that billboard was literally up for years upon years from like from like the 1960s to, I believe it got taken down probably in the last like 10 years or something like that. So this billboard was just up for a long time. You know, the older children who didn't manage to survive, they also were very outspoken about the belief that their siblings could still be out there. Okay. Anyway. And the fact that they seem to just be like when they got breakfast just by themselves,

but then at the hotel with like four or more people two men two women with them just if that sighting wants to be believed it just brings up a lot more questions no seriously it's like there was no way they could verify it there was no way they could believe if this was true at all they there was just word it was people who said some things that maybe were true, maybe weren't. Um, but who knows? Um, in, in 1949, um, so four years after the initial fire, um, they actually like excavated the burn site once again to sort of re-examine it and to search for any more remains. And they did manage to find a bit of like four pieces of vertebrae and two small bones. But after examines from like a coronary pathologist, it was determined that these bones were from somebody really around the

ages of 16 to 22, which would have been too old for the children. The oldest was 14. Yeah. Okay. So they thought that- But they were human bones? They were human bones. Okay.

And the thinking was that when George covered up the site with dirt years prior, there was probably the bones in the dirt that managed to just make their way over or something like that. Got it. Yeah. Okay. Because there was a cemetery nearby, so who knows, maybe it could have ended up in that dirt somehow.

Somebody... I don't know. Sorry to bother you. Final rest in place. We We're gonna move some of you on this area. Yeah, we just need a couple of your bones. Just to sort of play a prank on this family right over here, right? Yeah, yeah. You were a prankster when you were alive, right? Wow. Um, but yeah, I read this case and it was kind of heartbreaking because what do you do? Like your, your house burns down and you think your children are dead in that fire,

but there's nothing that ever shows that they were. Yeah. So nobody really knows to this day. Nobody knows. Wow. Anyway, that's the the solder children disappearance. The solder children disappearance. I'm going to write that down. Wow. Thank you. When you started this whole story, and you mentioned the fire, the large amount of kids, I had a feeling that this might be the story you're covering. Did I know about the name? Once you said it rang a bell,

dude, I knew the- did I know the details? No. No. So, thank you. Of course. What's your personal belief? After all the like deep dives that you've done, I'm sure you have a theory or two that... Honestly, I think I kind of subscribe to the mafia theory because like I want to believe that they died in the fire, right? but there was no evidence to support that no physical evidence and

with the house being unlocked that night and the The people that were coming by to pretty much threaten George and the family because of his outspokenness about being anti-Italian government, I think it's super plausible that the mafia could have been involved somehow. I don't know how they would have that easily gotten those five children out and then what they would have done with them at that point or where they were now but like out of out of all of like

Conspiracy theory type things go I honestly feel like the mafia theory is something that is very plausible Fair and children are gullible enough that if they are being escorted by two men and two women They say hey, if you say anything, we're gonna hurt your family and then they don't say anything I mean also like I'm just thinking it could be a mix of the mafia and also some like cover-up from the investigations because What if the investigators like what if they knew that the mafia was involved and if they dove into it? They'd be putting themselves at risk Right. I don't like that, but I believe that.

Right? So they just chose to brush over it and be like, oh no, it was faulty wiring, it was a fire. I'm not putting my life on the line by getting too close to the truth and then the mafia coming after me. So. When I'm just a volunteer. Exactly.

Or like when I'm not involved, I'm just, I'm a firefighter, I'm a police officer, I'm just a volunteer, exactly. Or when I'm not involved, I'm just I'm a firefighter. I'm a police officer. I'm investigating this like don't. Yeah, we're throwing too close to the lion's den type of thing. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So I hate to say it, but I do think the mafia theory is actually very plausible.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Wow. Thank you. Mm-hmm. I hope the kids are... I don't know if I wish... They'd be in their late 80s at this point, I believe, or late 90s, so it's very likely that they're all dead at this point. Yeah, but at the same time, like, I don't know if I prefer for them to have died at the fire or actually lived

and like lived the life away from their parents and never reached out to them. But wow, thank you. Intense. What do you got for us? Something... warm? Um, I already covered something warm. I know.

No, so for my story, I just have like a question for you to start off. Okay. If you came across an abandoned castle and it had no kitchen, no water source, no defensive walls, and you found out that it had some fake windows. What? Would you assume that it was a failed construction project? Or what would you assume it was built for? Something nefarious, that's what it is. Like just a castle, but with nothing you actually need to live in it and the windows are fake. Yeah.

Not all of them, but you realize that some of them are fake windows. That's a cover for something. Like that's... Great. Yeah. Yeah, so for this story, we're heading to the castle capital of the world. Oh, okay. Any guess what that might be?

Ireland. No! Great guess though. No, okay. That's last episode, folks folks if you want to take a listen to that. No, but this is the Czech Republic, Prague. Oh, okay. Oh that makes sense. Yeah, actually yeah, that makes sense. So we're gonna head about 47 kilometers or 29 miles north of Prague to an unusual castle. So like I said from the question, this castle is a little odd because

it was not built near a trade route. It does not protect any major city, bridge or border. And it lacks a natural water source. Making it just impractical as a long term residence. There was no kitchen when it was first built. And there's no defensive structures such as a moat, battlements, or a functional drawbridge. And like I mentioned last but not least, there's fake windows in this castle.

So this is the story of the Houska Castle. And even though we're talking about Prague and the Czech Republic, we're gonna go back in time. Okay. To a time before the Czech Republic. We're gonna go back in time Okay, be to a time before the Czech Republic And it was known as the Duchy of Bohemia And this was a run the the Duchy of Bohemia was from 870 to 1198 So we're really going way back in time. Wow, 1978? Or...

1198. 1198, yeah. Yes. Okay. So the Duchy of Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman Empire, but it had a relative autonomy. So it was ruled by... I'm gonna butcher this name, even though I heard it just once or twice. It was ruled by the Pris... That's not what it was called. The Primsled dynasty,

which controlled Bohemia for centuries. The capital at the time was Prague, and the ruling dukes worked to expand their influence over neighboring regions. The region inhabited by the Slavic tribes, primarily the Czechs, and it a cursed place, where strange creatures were seen and dark whispers echoed through the woods. Okay. So this legend starts back in the 9th century. When Prince Lavor, Lavor, it's close, he chose this location to build a wooden fortress. However, during the construction, there was a massive crack that appeared in the limestone.

And it revealed a pit. So the workers tried to fill the hole, but no matter how many stones they threw in, the pit wouldn't fill. In fact, they wouldn't even hear the stones hit the bottom of the pit. No way. So, in fact, because they couldn't hear the stones hit the bottom of the pit, no matter how much debris they poured into the pit, it never filled up. To make things worse, those who ventured near the pit claimed that creatures had crawled out of it.

No way. That's a portal to hell. Yes. So that wing, creatures, half humans, half animals. It's a portal to hell. So this is why the Hoska Castle is known as the Gateway to Hell. The Gateway to Hell, yeah!

I have no clue about this place. I've never heard it before, but... Oh no, I went in a deep dive in this. That's awesome. Love it. So because this was supposed to be a wooden fortress for Prince Lavor, the prince's men fled. They were like, nope, we're out. Yeah.

They abandoned. No, we don't want to deal with this. It was an unfinished fort and it remained untouched for 400 years. Wow. So that's when locals started to refer to it as the gateway to hell. And locals started to refer to it as the gateway to hell. At some point in the Middle Ages, locals, possibly monks or early Christian settlers, attempted to explore the pit. Oh, fuck.

So, according to one of the most chilling tales out there, they had gathered a group of prisoners, and they were given a chance for freedom if they agreed to be lowered into the pit and tell them what they saw below. So, the first prisoner, a young man, he was tied with a rope and he was slowly descended into the pit. No fucking way. So within seconds of this young man being down there, he began to scream. Violently convulsing and he begged to be pulled back up. When they pulled this man back up, his hair had turned completely white. Holy shit.

And it appeared as he had aged decades in just moments. Um, that's not what I thought Gateway to Hell would do to you. I thought it would just like incinerate you or something. What? Not age you. This was the only prisoner that went down there because as soon as they pulled this man out, every other prisoner backed out. They're like, nope, we'll take our life sentence, we'll take the death penalty, we'll take whatever, just don't send us down there. This man that they pulled out, he died shortly after.

He died rambling about horrific creatures and inhuman faces that were staring up at him from the darkness. Dude, I just got like chills right now. Yeah. What? Yeah. So after this incident, no one dared to investigate the pit again. The fear of just like demonic forces grew. Yeah.

Villagers refused to settle anywhere near that site. So that's when we transition to the kingdom of Bohemia, which is from 1198 to 1918. And we're going to be talking about King Autocar II from the late 13th century. So by the late 1200, King Autocar II of Bohemia was made aware of the strange happenings surrounding the pit. So this king, rather than avoiding the area, he ordered the construction of a castle

directly above the hole. Oh, to like, oh, I see to cover it. Yep. So that's why, unlike other castles that were built to defend a region or to oversee trade routes, Hoska Castle was placed in an isolated location, which was an odd choice if it was to be strategic. Yeah. So many historians and occult researchers believe that the true reason was to seal the

pit once and for all. That makes sense. It makes sense. Yeah. So, let's get into some of the architectural features to quote-unquote contain evil. Okay. I'm ready. So, the castle was designed with several unusual features, unlike typical fortresses at the time.

There's thick walls and fake windows. The castle has numerous windows. They're actually just stone slabs. They just prevent any external forces from coming in, or quote-unquote, out. Getting out, yeah. The interior walls are unusually strong. They were built as if they were to contain something within rather than to defend from exterior attacks.

Like I mentioned, there's no fortifications or military presence. Unlike most medieval castles, Hoska lacked key defensive structures, such as a moat, battlements, or a functional drawbridge. Yeah. And this just suggests that the castle was not meant to protect people, but rather to imprison something beneath it. Yeah. Now, this castle doesn't have a kitchen, not when it was first built,

but it does have a chapel. Oh wow. Okay, that says a lot. And the story says that this chapel was built over the pit. So you get to see a lot of Christian paintings and drawings in that chapel. For example, Michael the Archangel, he's known as the Slayer of Demons, and he's a central figure in that chapel. However, one of the most bizarre murals in the chapel depicts a non-Christian creature. It shows a human with an upper body and a lower body of a horse. Oh, like a centaur. A centaur.

Okay. Which are not in Christian mythology at all. No. So that's why it's weird because it's also holding a bow. It's like the unnatural hybrid of a human and a horse, but it's holding the bow with its left hand. Which is symbolic because for many many years, the Christians thought that left-handed was a sign of being a demon or evil. Yeah.

I actually didn't know that. Yeah. It's like when people would go to like school back in the day with nuns, they would spank their hands when they would write with their left hand. Oh, okay. Yeah. So for many years, they believe that being left-handed was evil. So that's why they forced people to write with the right hand.

And that's why it was symbolic that this... Centaur. This woman centaur, it's a female centaur... Wow. So like everything's like sinful or like wrong about this. Yeah. Was holding the bow with its left hand. Yeah.

And the paintings and symbols strongly suggest that the chapel was built to contain something, rather than to serve as a place of regular worship. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense to me. The walls and floors are reinforced with layers of stone, possibly, of course, to prevent anything from escaping. And what's interesting, like I mentioned, is just that the female centaur, that's something from Greek mythology, not Christian mythology. Yeah. And of course, holding it with the left hand is a sign seen as evil,

as a sign of the devil, and it's just out of place. Now, a notable figure associated with Hoska Castle is the Swedish commander of Oronto, who during a little bit of history, during the Thirty Years' War in the late 17th century, he allegedly occupied the castle. Oh, okay. So Oronto was a, was reputed to be a practitioner of black magic and alchemy. Oh We're just getting into this guy And it was said that he was conducting unsavory experiments within the castle walls. Oh

His reign of terror Ended with when two local hunters infiltrated the castle and assassinated him. Good, thank God. Yeah. And then in the late 1800s, specifically 1836, the renowned Czech poet Karol Henek Máča embarked on a walking tour of the region and he he chose to spend a single night at Hoska Castle. Oh, God. Worst choice of your life. Yeah. So, Macha reportedly experienced a vivid and unsettling dream,

in which he descended into the chasm within the castle, and he found himself... This is the wild part. He found himself transported to a dystopian mechanized version of Prague in the year 2006 What? So this man, Mocha had a dream about Prague in 2006 What the fuck?

This was 170 years into the future. So this man is from 1836 and he had a dream about 2006. 2006. Yes. So the crazy thing is that in his vision, he encountered a young girl who showed him moving pictures with a small casket. With a small casket? Yeah. A description that eerily is reminiscent to modern day handheld devices. Like a small casket.

Picture- that's the way that he would describe it. So a phone. Like a phone, like a rectangle type of thing. Yeah. A phone. That's the way he described it. Yeah. He was like, it's a moving pictures in rectangle type of thing. Yeah. A phone. That's the way he described it. Yeah. He was like, it's moving pictures in a small casket.

Yeah. Yeah. A phone. Okay. I mean, how do you explain to someone from 1836 what a phone is? Yeah, you don't. Yeah. So this account has been interpreted by some as prophetic glimpses into the future.

some as prophetic glimpses into the future. Though it really just remains as a subject of like debate amongst scholars and enthusiasts. But now we're gonna transition because this region has changed names over and over and over again. Now we're transitioning to the time that it's known as Czechoslovakia. Got it. And more specifically, I told you it was gonna get more wild, to World War II. Okay. So once Czechoslovakia was taken over by the German SS,

during World War II, from 1939 to 1945, Houska Castle was occupied by the German SS during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. So, now we have Nazis at this castle. Yes, we do. I'm sure those Nazis are gonna do some terrible things as well. So, this is the crazy thing. The exact nature of their activities within the castle

are just shrouded in mystery. As the SS destroyed all records and evidence of their operations upon retreating. So there's like no actual records of what happened. There's records that it was occupied by the Nazis during that time, but there's no records of what happened in the castle. That's ominous. Yeah, so there's multiple theories that have emerged based on local accounts and historical research. The first thing is occult experiments and rituals.

Okay, the Nazis practicing the occult, interesting. It was not out of the ordinary for the Nazis. Heinrich Himmler, he was the head of the SS and he was known for his deep interest in the occult and esoteric practices. Esoteric practices, thank you. So some historians suggest that the Nazis were drawn to Hoska Castle due to its quote unquote legendary gateway to hell. So it's believed that they conducted experiments and rituals

aiming to harness supernatural forces to further their ambitions. Of course. Of course the Nazis are gonna try to use paranormal supernatural forces to further their regime. Like what? Of course the Nazis are gonna do that. So locals during that era reported witnessing strange lights and hearing unsettling sounds emanating from the castle. Just feeling speculations to the dark activities that were happening. Now, Himmler's interest in the occult,

he was just fascinated with mysticism and the occult. He was just fascinated with mysticism and the occult. It just significantly influenced a lot of the SSS culture and operations. He sought to root the SS in a pseudo-religious framework, drawing inspiration from Germanic traditions and Aryan mythology. In 1935, he founded the... the I'm gonna butcher this name. He found it there An inerber I'm sure historians. I'm sure historians are just nodding their head at me right now. They're like, yeah Yeah, yeah, which was was an institute that was just dedicated

to researching ancestral heritage of the Aryan race, which conducted various expeditions and studies to unearth evidence supporting Nazi and racial theories. So Himmler envisioned the SS as a modern incarnation of the Teutonic Knights, embedding rituals and symbols into the fabric to foster a sense of elitism. Am I saying that right? I think so. I don't know. I don't know. They just wanted to feel more elite to other people. And they wanted to feel like they had a destiny among its members. Now some of the other things that surround the Nazis at the castle are their breeding programs.

Their what programs? Their breeding programs. Okay, so I did hear that right. Yeah, you did. Okay. I did not butchered that word you did. Okay. I did not butcher that word. Breeding programs. Tell me more about that. Yeah, I don't have a log because of course they took all records or burned them or whatever. On our theory is that the castle served as a site for the Nazis. Nazis, it's called the Lebensborn Program, which was an initiative aimed at promoting the growth of the Aryan race. According to his view, Hoska Castle was used as a breeding center, where selected women were paired with an SS officer to produce an offspring to meet

the regime's racial ideals. Ew. Yep. However, concrete evidence supporting this claim is lacking and it just remains a topic of debate among historians. Once again, because there's really no evidence left behind. Now there was also the discovery of Nazi remains. Oh, how'd they know it was Nazi remains?

That's what we'll get into. Okay. After the Nazis retreated, several mutilated SS soldier bodies were found inside the castle. So they still had their uniform and everything. The corpses were said to be horrifically disfigured, with some reports claiming that their faces were frozen in expressions of terror.

What the fuck? Yeah. So, some believe that these deaths were caused by a failed supernatural experiment, demonic forces, or the awakening of something from the pit. Yeah, something crawled out and killed all of them. Yep. So they found Nazis in the castle and years later they found some buried within the grounds as well. Okay, so they actually died there. Yeah.

The Nazis died there, okay. Yep. So in the years following the war, during renovations of the castle, the skeletal remains, like I said, of several Nazi officers were reported within the castle grounds. This remains appear to have been executed. They were executed? Yep. Oh. Why would they have been executed?

That's why we don't know. By their own people, yeah. It just leads to more speculation of what happened within the castle walls. What happened, yes. Was there something demonic that possessed them or something like that? Or like an experiment gone wrong or something. Yeah. Yeah. So, some suggest that these officers might have been killed as part of integral purges

or due to failed experiments. But of course, there's no definitive explanation to why they were executed. Of course not. Yeah. Now, the full extent of the Nazi's activities at Hoska Castle are, of course, still like a subject of intrigue and speculation because the combination of the castle's eerie legends and the secret of nature and then you throw Nazis into the whole thing. It really just gives it a reputation of like a place where like history and like myth intertwine 100% and I've never heard about it, but it seems super cool like

The gateway to hell castle and like it's there to protect it I honestly would not have thought that the Nazis would somehow get involved. No same I was researching this I heard like the whole story of the man going down into the pit, the castle being built, the like, windows with no like, the walls. And I wish more Nazis died in that castle. Oh, yeah, I mean, we don't know how many to be honest. That's true. I wish there was something like that crawled out of there and like killed all of those Nazis. Like a slow painful death.

So just wait until we get into it, because... Okay! Uh, okay. Where did I leave off? How it intertwines with history. Because there might still be things in the castle that we're not aware of. Fuck no! So when the war ended, there was no significant Nazi records

that were left behind in the castle or what the castle was used for. Any artifacts or researcher notes that might have been kept in the castle were either destroyed or removed before the retreat. Now, some historians believe that Himmler's occult division erased all traces that took place in the castle because of course they were like high security experiments or like you know they were meant to be private what's it called like high you needed high clearance or something for it yeah now what lies beneath hoska castle

first off yes the castle was supposedly built over a massive chasm that was said to be bottomless. This pit is now completely sealed, likely beneath the chapel floor. What else is in this castle, Kai? Well... Demons! Secret tunnels. Oh, shit, there's like a tunnel system underneath? Oh yeah!

There are multiple rep- like reports of underground tunnels that may extend deep below the castle and possibly also connect to natural cave systems. Oh my god. Now, in addition to that, there's a lot of sealed entrances. So, many underground sections of the castle have been blocked off by stone and mortar. Okay.

And some have said to not have been reopened in centuries. So, they finally like went down the pit? No, no, no, like this is all like in like the lower sections of the castle. Oh, so like is it underground or just at the lower end of the cat like? So like there's like the base level and then there's like basement areas I would say. Gotcha. And then like there's no basement area near the pit. It's just like around the area. It's like around the pit? Yeah, yeah, basically.

Got it. And that's where there's those steel entrances. So they haven't been, there's no report of them been open like within the last couple centuries. And rumors of Nazi experiments during World War II and when the Nazis occupied the castle are said that they conducted paranormal and occult research experiments in the underground chambers. So some believe that the Nazis might have opened a new tunnel that they shouldn't have, that they have uncovered something that they shouldn't have.

So why are they sealed? There's multiple reasons why they're sealed. First off, structural integrity. Some underground areas may be sealed due to the risk of collapse. Okay. Of course, superstition and fear. Local legends claim that disturbing the sealed tunnels could unleash whatever the castle was built to contain. Uh-huh. Do not mess with it, please. Yep.

Unexplored mysteries. So no modern exploration has fully mapped out what's beneath the castle. To this day, it's not fully mapped out. Still nobody's gone through. Yep. Gone all the way down. Okay. And authorities are a little reluctant to excavate due to both historical reasons and of course quote-unquote supernatural concerns

because rather safe and sorry. So have any sections actually been explored? There have been a couple paranormal investigators but like I mentioned no full-scale archaeological dig has been conducted. And some stone slabs and underground corridors have been documented, but their true extent is still unknown. So reasons that they also did not explore the sealed off parts of the basement of the tunnels is because they have a theory that the Nazis could have booby-trapped them. Oh. That would make a lot of sense. Maybe they couldn't take all their research with them.

They're gonna put it in one of the tunnels, booby-trap it, seal it. And it seals off. And it's never able to... Yep....to be taken out. So of course structural integrity, paranormal, superstition, and maybe they're trapped by the Nazis. I believe that. Yeah. I can totally see that. Yeah. No. What were they trying to hide then?

Exactly. You know? Exactly. I'm like, I want you to open it, but only if you tell me that there's nothing coming out from that hole. So now we're transitioning from Czechoslovakia to the Czech Republic. Now we're in modern day. Now we're in modern day. So, the sci-fi channel covered the Hoska Castle, Ghost Hunters International in 2009.

So, one of the most widely known investigations of Hoska Castle took place in 2009, when Ghost Hunters International or GHI, they visited the site to have on their show. Yeah. And there's a couple know, have on their show. Yeah. And there's a couple of key findings to their investigation. I want to hear these. First off, disembodied voices.

Of course. So investigators heard whispers of unintelligible voices in different parts of the castle. Some of this were captured in EVPs, particularly in the chapel and the lower chambers. Now, one recorded... One recording allegedly contained a low guttural voice speaking in an unknown language. That's never good. No. There was also reported cold spots and temperature fluctuations.

So sudden drops in temperature were recorded, especially in the chapel above the pit. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah. The team's thermal cameras also detected unexplained cold anomalies, even though there were no air drafts or openings at the time. There was also recorded shadow figures and apparitions. Several investigators claimed to see dark figures moving in the corridors.

And one team member reportedly saw a shadow humanoid form near the chapel door before it vanished into thin air. What the fuck? Now another team members saw what appeared to be a pair of glowing eyes at the end of a hallway. Just like there, like floating like in the middle of the hallway. And of course it wouldn't be a paranormal investigation without some equipment malfunctions. Oh, of course not. Batteries and cameras, audio recorders and EMF meters mysteriously drained even though they were freshly charged. And then unexplained static interference disrupted communication devices.

So the final conclusion from the Ghost Hunters International team, they concluded that Hoska Castle was one of the most active locations they had investigated. Wow. Particularly in the chapel and the underground areas. That makes total sense. Yeah. Well of course they're going to be. They're the most close in the chapel with its religion and like the demonic stuff and Did they? Did they like probably not but what's there? Did they take note of anything?

Having to do with the centaur like was there anything centered around that? I'm not sure if they talked about the son centaur or not But they definitely showed it in the video. Okay, I have a picture of it if you want to see it actually. Yeah. I have a picture of the castle and of course the centaur and I have a quick video of orbs also showing up in parts of the castle as well. So I came fully prepared. I wouldn't say with my evidence, but I did came prepared with

Um With some pictures to share with you Also of the interior of the castle when they have no walls, I mean no windows with no walls windows with no windows How would you describe that fake windows? There we go fake windows. Yeah windows to walls. There we go We should know how to say this So I sent you a picture of the castle of the castle of the centaur okay Oh wow yeah Also one thing to take note of it's that the courtyard. It's relatively small compared to other castles for its time.

And I'm going to send you some pictures of that inside as well. Pew pew pew pew. Four pictures going your way. You'll be able to see that some of those doors are definitely a lot smaller than other doors. And you're also going to see that there's windows, they're just weird. That goes straight into a wall. Yeah. What the fuck?

Oh, and then the pit. That's not the pit, that's just like in the courtyard. That's not it? Okay, got it, because I was like, that seems too small to be the pit. No, the pit is underneath the chapel. It has not been opened. Gotcha. So it's like way underneath the foundation of the castle and everything.

Of the chapel, just the chapel. Of the chapel, okay. But yeah, the Ghost Hunters International team, they said that while they couldn't confirm the existence of the Gateway to Hell, they did not rule out the possibility that something supernatural was present. There was also the European Paranormal Research team. Excuse me. So apart from Ghost Adventures International, several European Paranormal Investigator teams

have conducted studies at Hoska Castle. Many of these teams have reported similar phenomena, strange sightings at the castle, and their reputation in Europe is still one of the most haunted castles. Gotcha. Some of the findings from the Czech and European Paranormal Teams also include EVPs. Some recordings contain distorted words that sound like German, leading to speculations that the voices belong to Nazi soldiers who once occupied the castle walls as well. There's like Nazi demons. Like they're, oh that's literally the worst combo, right? Or you just hear them screaming in pain, which is also kind of scary,

picturing the Nazis screaming in, because something is, you know, after it. People have suffered physical symptoms at the castle as well, because people are sensitive. Multiple researchers have reported feeling nauseous, dizzy, or lightheaded when spending extended time inside of the castle. Some investigators report experiencing a sudden intense headache while inside the chapel and the underground rooms. Mmm.

And one investigator allegedly fainted while trying to enter a sealed off tunnel. Oh, was it something still protecting them? Was it something like stopping them? Like telling them, no, don't go in here? Or something attacking them? It's crazy. Or something attacked them, yeah. We don't know. That's crazy.

So several teams have also heard scratching sounds and heavy breathing and footsteps in rooms that were completely empty. In one case, a paranormal group set up a motion detector in the castle's courtyard. I just sent you a picture of that courtyard. And it just triggered multiple times, even though no one was there on the courtyard

Wow, there's also spikes in EMF Which ghost hunters used to just detect paranormal activity? They suddenly registered extreme spikes inside the chapel and their underground chain and the underground chambers and This is just particularly strange because the castle is located far from modern electronic sources. Yeah. Like you said, it's like in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. Even now to this day, there's very little technology around the area. And then the conclusions

from the European paranormal research team say that Hosko Castle, of course, exhibits high unusual paranormal activity, the underground areas in the chapel seem to be the most active, and many team members believe that the castle is a nexus for supernatural energy. I mean that was my first thought. Yeah. Right? I was like gate, I was like portal to hell so. So, um, in addition to So, in addition to scientific paranormal investigations, occultists and spiritualists have conducted seances and rituals at the castle. That's cool. I would not do that, but that's cool.

Oh no, I would not do that either. They've also attempted to contact spirits or entities trapped within the walls. I'm going to list out some notable occult incidents. The Czech Occult Group in 1980 conducted a seance in the chapel. And during the ritual, the group claimed that they successfully contacted an entity that warned them about leaving immediately. Oh, so they actually contacted something that like... Told them to get out. Shortly after that contact, several members felt an oppressive force in the room, and they saw Shada move from the chapel walls.

Oh, like, was it, like, on the walls or... The way I'm picturing it, it's kind of, like, hopping around. I'm not actually sure what they saw. But the session was just stopped immediately after that happened, and the group refused to return to the castle afterwards. So they really felt something, like they were really spooked. Yeah, of course you get excited when you make contact,

but then it tells you to get out, you feel an oppressive energy and you see shadows. And you get out. Yep. Yeah. I would. I mean, I wouldn't even be in there in the first place. You're like, hey, seance?

And you're like, no, tell me how it goes. I'm like, I'm like yeah, like I guess I'm a believer but like I need evidence. But at the same time I'm like yeah, no I'm not going anywhere near a gateway to hell. Like that's just asking to die. I don't know. Okay, so in 1990, another occult group attempted to summon and communicate with spirits that lived in the castle. The group's medium claimed that a dark, non-human entity was guarding something inside the castle. Oh. So, once again, is it guarding that pit to hell? Or is it guarding one of the underground tunnels?

Or is it something else entirely? The entity was described as a shapeless shadow with glowing red eyes. And one participant reported feeling as though something was trying to enter their body, leading them to collapse and have a convulsion. Oh, shit. Something was trying to possess them. After this incident, the group members abandoned their research at the castle. Good.

They're like, we're out. Yep. There's also mysterious markings and strange symbols that are discovered within the castle. So investigators exploring the underground tunnels found strange unidentifiable symbols carved into the walls. And then some researchers speculated that this could be remains of the Nazi occult experiments or older pagan protection sigils. Yeah, I think I could probably get behind like the Nazi experiments.

Yeah, who knows what they were doing down there? Who knows what they were doing? I mean, and there's records that they did occupy them, which is don't know what happened in there. Now, Hoska Castle today. Let's talk about it in modern day 2025. So the curtain warden is I I'm gonna butcher his name. His name is Miroslav Kudapesk. And the castle was named the most mysterious find in the country of Czech.

Okay. Hoska Castle, open for guided tours, is open for guided tours nowadays. Oh hell no. You can go during the day and you're not gonna be forced into a seance. I hope to God not. A single guided tour ticket costs about 180 Czech Krona, which is about $7.53. What? Yeah. Okay, I guess we'll go for $7. See, for $7.50, I'm down to go just during the daytime.

They also have this really cool thing that's called the Walk Through Hell. Huh? The Walk Through Hell. I don't like that. The Walk Through Hell. Huh? The Walk Through Hell. I don't like that. Now, for 80 Czech Krona, or about $3.35, I took a quote from their website. Thank you Google Translate, because I don't read Czech.

I don't even speak it. The Walk Through Hell is a hand-carved mechanical hell. It's not actually like historical, like original. It was hand-crafted. It's like a little exposition they have there. It's a unique work loosely inspired by the Dante Divine Comedy. Specifically, the first part of hell. Yeah. Gotcha.

It's 12 meters long and 2 meters high and it provides enough space for 11 images of hellish punishment of earthly sins. Now it's located outside the main tourette of the castle. You're on your own, you don't get a tour guide. It's located within the premises of a former carriage house. It's sound activated and hand carved, and it's also hand carved. That's cool. And it's created, like I said, based on the motifs of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Yeah. Now, Now, Victoria Burton moved to the Czech Republic from London, and she's been running paranormal tours for about five years. For over five years. That's cool. She says that the chapel still remains sealed and untouched, and also that they have weddings in the castle. Dude, a wedding inside Hosuke Castle would be insane!

You have to be out of your mind to do that! Oh yeah, the weddings in the castle and the chapel, people have been known to pass out during the weddings. No shit! Oh my god! Yeah, the most cited ghost is a shadow figure they call the Guardian So just when you think you can find more things in Hosk Castle, you're proven wrong Because 40 years ago Workers stumbled upon a concealed room No, like like another one of like tunnels, except this was an actual room of the castle.

Yeah. But here's a crazy thing. So this was 40 years ago. But for some unknown reason, they walled it up again. What? Did they even explore it? Did they try to... Oh, they did. So nowadays, the Castle administration has decided to crack open the secrets once more. What was it used for? What was hidden in their first play? And why did it remain sealed for so long? So according to the president of the Historical Underground Research Society, the room that they found was initially discovered in 18 in 1985 When the workers unintentionally broke into it, so it was found by complete accident

Which is how it happens in all horror movies of course you're leaning against the wall, and it like breaks open You're like oh, yeah, and you're like what's in there? Yeah So inside that found found something strange. It was an empty room, except for a box of black and white photographic film. What? It was labeled, Made in DDR. A relic from East Germany. From former East Germany.

So it was Nazi stuff left behind. So this discovery just confirmed that what the team had suspected, that it wasn't the first time that this room had been uncovered and that the Nazis had occupied the castle. Now, in addition to that, in addition to that, they found an inscription scrawled within the walls. What did it say? So the translation of it says, we were looking for treasure and found

H dot dot dot O. The message was incomplete. Do you have a picture of it? I don't have a picture of it. That's fine. I'll have to find one and send it to you and put it on the site as well. But yeah, it says, we were looking for treasure and found...

dot H dot dot dot. The message was cut off, incomplete. The only clue was the handwriting. So, of course, historians are searching into this because they're like, The message was cut off and complete. The only clue was the handwriting. So, of course, historians are searching into this because they're like, -"Oh, it's a castle." -"We need to find it." Yeah. So, the research suggests that it belonged to women workers in 1928, when the castle was undergoing repairs. So, some believe that the

Yipsun in the inscription is a grammatical oddity. It just suggests female explorers. So others like other What am I trying to say? They say that the people, the women that wrote the message on the wall were not fluent in Czech. So that there was a spell and error. Okay.

So they were like, they were brought on, they were like learning. Yeah, there were, the way that it was written, they were like, hey, in 1928, probably the women that were here were not fluent in Czech and they made a spell and error. But the real mystery is who found it first? It's why this room? Why was it discovered twice? Yeah, why was it sealed off again? Twice, yeah. So, like I said, according to official accounts,

there was nothing in there. The chamber was otherwise empty. But if that's what's hiding in this castle, why go through the trouble of hiding that room again? Yeah, why did they want to seal up the, like, film? And why seal it up? The inscriptions or... Even after they found it, they're like, let's seal this room back up. What did they find in there initially? Like, did they take something out, or...

It was just that film. Like, just had the hypotheticals of like, the first people who found it. What else was in there, yeah. Yeah. So, the official explanation suggests it's a very boring reason. Oh. As always. Yeah, yeah.

So during renovation, the ceilings were lowered. And that this small chamber was created by accident. Huh. So since it wasn't needed, it was sealed away. It's a simple explanation, but it doesn't explain why it remained hidden despite being found a second time. Yeah. So here's where we have that little speculation. Some believe it was fear.

Hoska Castle was serving as an SS regional headquarter during World War II. So was there a worry that the rooms were mined? You know, that something was left behind, something dangerous. It's plausible. No one wanted to risk disturbing something that the Nazis might have booby trapped. Oh, yeah. So that's probably the reason, or one of the reasons, that they sealed up that room again. Like they saw it, they saw the film in there, and they're like,

oh, we're not gonna mess with this. Exactly. And they just sealed it right back up. Yep, so instead of investigating deeper, they just sealed it away. That makes... I would probably do the same. Yeah, which makes sense. It's like, hey, this is German stuff, there was Nazis in here, I don't want to touch something that might blow up. Yeah.

And then in 1985, plans were made to convert the castle into a spa. Okay. So random. Oh yeah, yeah. It was only then that the workers uncovered the room again, but as we know, the spa never happened happened and the room was just left open. So to this day the room is still open, unsealed. It's just inaccessible because it's like a tiny little closet room. Makes sense. The new owners of Hoska Castle said that they have no plans to reseal it, which you know good for them. Good. But they also said that they have no intention of opening it up to the public. Because it's still a small, hidden space, just a void between a stone wall.

Yeah. So no grand revelations, no treasure, no skeletons, but... It's still a story that raises questions. For sure. Was this castle simply... This room an architectural leftover, or was it something more? Something that people were afraid to examine? Maybe we both.

No. So that brings us to the end of Hoska Castle. So what do you think? Was Hoska Castle just an architectural oddity Or was it truly built to imprison something within those walls, something beyond our understanding? A pit with no bottom, a castle with no defenses, and a history shrouded in secrets. It's hard to ignore the weight of those details. And if the Nazis really did attempt to harness supernatural forces Did they succeed? Or did they unleash something they couldn't control? Honestly

No, go ahead. No, go ahead Honestly Okay, the fact of it being like a gateway to hell, a portal to hell type of thing, like maybe, maybe that could have been or not, you know my feelings about the paranormal stuff, like I need proof. So who knows? However However, honestly, I think it's super, it probably happened, like it was probably built to I think it's super it probably happened like it was probably built to

protect from there because you know even my beliefs may be different from what was believed by The people back then of course they wanted to build the castle to close in what was ever in the gateway and so I honestly really believe that and Maybe the Nazis knew of that and maybe they were doing some You know nefarious stuff but I guess I can't really know for sure. Yeah. With that, that's the end of the story here like I said. Either way if I ever get trapped in a haunted castle I at least want someone there to keep me from losing my mind. Just... bonus points if I'm stuck with someone that knows what they're doing or someone that's good enough to just run away.

Yeah. That was fun, thank you. Um, I unfortunately, I hate to say it, but I think I would... I would go on a tour of the castle. Oh, and a cheap tour too. Yeah, I don't know, I'm like morbidly intrigued at seeing this place. Are we all with it? With things like that? $7.53 for the tour. Let us know, folks. Would you visit? What do you think?

But with that, I think that's the end of the episode. Yeah. I heard, couldn't really find evidence or anything like that, but they did say that one of the reasons they no longer allowed, like, overnight stays was because someone jumped out of a window. Oh Yeah, so it's one of those things yeah, mm-hmm jumped out of window someone tried to go into the pit Yeah, I don't know something like that well We'll wrap it up here folks, thank you for tuning in We'll wrap it up here folks. Thank you for tuning in. And then we'll see you guys next time.

Yeah, thanks for tuning in. See you guys. Bye guys. Smurfs. Thanks for listening to Chambers of the Occult. For photos, sources, and anything else mentioned during the episode, check out our website at chambersoftheoccult.com. You'll find everything you need there if you do find yourself wanting more. You can also follow us on all of our socials at chambersoftheoccult and on twitter at

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