By Sarah
Mystery
GCP0JT
by Dryjak
Difficulty:
2
Terrain:
1.5
Location:
Středočeský kraj, Czechia
N 49° 57.709′ E 015° 17.295′
It’s a dark and stormy night. Thunder crashes, lightning strikes! Through the crags of an old eastern European village, the flash of light illuminates a medieval chapel. As the mist clears, it becomes apparent that the chapel is entirely decorated in bones…human bones.
If that sounds like the beginning of a horror film it’s not—it’s just the Geocache of the Week.
Photo by raduz_CZ
The first stage of this Mystery Cache takes you to the spooktacular Sedlec Ossuary, about an hour outside of Prague in the shadow of the Sedlec Abbey. This not-very-humorous geocache is located in a medieval Catholic chapel decorated with over 40,000 individual human skeletons.
Photo by akula.czMany were unfortunate victims of the Black Plague in the Middle Ages. The skeletons were partially exhumed to make way for the more recently dead in the 1500s. Eventually, in 1870, they were arranged into the eerie art and decoration seen today.
The artist, František Rint’s, unique signature. Photo by Mr. ErikuszThe boo-tiful, if somewhat macabre decorations make this chapel one of Czechia’s most visited tourist attractions. This makes avoiding detection while finding the posted coordinates a bit vampiric—or, a real pain in the neck!
Don’t lose your head searching for ground zero! Photo by KarmansboThe final is located in the less-visited (and also less terrifying) area surrounding the chapel (no spoilers!). So even if you’re a little squeamish, you can still join in the skele-fun at the final.
GZ! Photo by one.womanNo bones about it, this is a geocache you certainly won’t want to miss.
Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world.
Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.
Read more here:: https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2018/10/kostnice-ossuary-geocache-of-the-week/