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Offline Incredulous

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The Russians found Hell
« on: March 07, 2017, 01:18:45 AM »
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  • [Please Note: There has been much debate whether this is real or not. We are not saying it is real or not but we feel it is important enough to post it and let you the reader decide.]

    These details are from the translation of an article in a Finnish newspaper named 'Ammennusatia'.

    A geological group who drilled a hole about 14.4 kilometers deep in the crust of the earth are saying that they heard human screams. Screams have been heard from the condemned souls from earth's deepest hole. Terrified scientists are afraid they have let loose the evil powers of hell up to the earth's surface.

    'The information we are gathering is so surprising, that we are sincerely afraid of what we might find down there,' stated Dr Azzacov, the manager of the project in remote Siberia.

    'The second surprise was the high temperature they discovered in the earth's center. 'The calculations indicate the given temperature was about 1,100 degrees Celsius, or over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit,' Azzacov pointed out. 'This is far more then we expected. It seems almost like an inferno of fire is brutally going on in the center of the earth.

    'The last discovery was nevertheless the most shocking to our ears, so much so that the scientists are afraid to continue the project. We tried to listen to the earth's movements at certain intervals with supersensitive microphones, which were let down through the hole. What we heard turned those logically thinking scientists into a trembling ruins. It was a sometimes a weak, but high pitched sound which we thought to be coming from our own equipment,' explained Dr Azzacov.

    'But after some adjustments we comprehended that indeed the sound came from the earth's interior. We could hardly believe our own ears. We heard a human voice, screaming in pain. Even though one voice was discernible, we could hear thousands, perhaps millions, in the background, of suffering souls screaming. After this ghastly discovery, about half of the scientists quit because of fear. Hopefully, that which is down there will stay there,' Dr Azzacov added.

    'What really unnerved the Soviets, apart from the voice recordings, was the appearance that same night of a fountainhead of luminous gas shooting up from the drill site, and out of the midst of this incandescent cloud pillar a brilliant being with bat wings revealed itself with the words (in Russian): 'I have conquered,' emblazoned against the dark Siberian sky.

    'The incident was absolutely unreal; the Soviets cried out in terror,' says Mr. Nummedal. Later that night, he saw ambulance crews circulating in the community. A driver he knew told him that they had been told to sedate everybody with a medication known to erase short term memory. The Soviets use this drug in the treatment of shock victims.

    * * * * * * *


    Dr. Azzacove "As a communist I don’t believe in heaven or the Bible but as a scientist I now believe in hell," said Dr. Azzacove. "Needless to say we were shocked to make such a discovery. But we know what we saw and we know what we heard. And we are absolutely convinced that we drilled through the gates of Hell!"

    Dr. Azzacove continued, ". . .the drill suddenly began to rotate wildly, indicating that we had reached a large empty pocket or cavern. Temperature sensors showed a dramatic increase in heat to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit."

     "We lowered a microphone, designed to detect the sounds of plate movements down the shaft. But instead of plate movements we heard a human voice screaming in pain! At first we thought the sound was coming from our own equipment."

    "But when we made adjustments our worst suspicions were confirmed. The screams weren’t those of a single human, they were the screams of millions of humans!

    * * * * * * *

    Do you know why Jacques Costeau, the famous underwater explorer, quit deep sea diving sometime before he died? It is said that he stopped because he had heard in one of the underwater caves he was exploring, the sounds of people screaming.

    There was also another time, when one of his men, who was in a diving bell in the deepest trench at the Bermuda Triangle, also had a similar experience. He signaled to be brought up immediately. After being revived from his shock, he told others of his frightening experience of hearing "Screams of people in pain".


    "Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it underfoot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Our Lord Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor but a destroyer."  St. Francis of Assisi


    Offline AMDGJMJ

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #1 on: March 07, 2017, 07:19:10 AM »
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  • Wow...

    I had heard a basic idea of this some time ago, but not with all the details.

    Thank you for sharing!
    "Jesus, Meek and Humble of Heart, make my heart like unto Thine!"

    http://whoshallfindavaliantwoman.blogspot.com/


    Offline Mithrandylan

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #2 on: March 07, 2017, 09:54:45 AM »
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  • Are there original or otherwise serious sources that can be read about this story?  The video in the OP is a poorly produced scare video with creepy music in the background and text transposed over flames.  But this is a really interesting story and deserves serious attention, not protestantized Dimond-esque proliferation.  

    I spent about five minutes on Google but couldn't find anything better than Snopes, which is really nothing at all.
    "Be kind; do not seek the malicious satisfaction of having discovered an additional enemy to the Church... And, above all, be scrupulously truthful. To all, friends and foes alike, give that serious attention which does not misrepresent any opinion, does not distort any statement, does not mutilate any quotation. We need not fear to serve the cause of Christ less efficiently by putting on His spirit". (Vermeersch, 1913).

    Offline Miseremini

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #3 on: March 07, 2017, 05:33:25 PM »
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  • When was this supposed to have happened?
    Was the newspaper article dated?

    I heard about this at least 20 years ago.
    "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered: and them that hate Him flee from before His Holy Face"  Psalm 67:2[/b]


    Offline songbird

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #4 on: March 07, 2017, 05:52:35 PM »
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  • I too heard about it on the radio, and it was probably Art Bell.  I do believe.

    Oh was it for the 3 children of Fatima?  Our Lady showed them hell, and I am wondering, how was that?  Was it said that she opened the earth?  I do not recall.

    I also vaguely think, is there a place in the bible which places hell in the core of the earth?  I will research.


    Offline Incredulous

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #5 on: March 07, 2017, 07:25:46 PM »
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  • Quote from: Miseremini
    When was this supposed to have happened?
    Was the newspaper article dated?

    I heard about this at least 20 years ago.



    If you watched the video link Miseremini, it was said to have happened in the 1980s.

    The site was started in the early 1970s and then closed in the early 1990s.

    After the soundings were recorded, basically everyone on the project was spooked and most refused to work there.

    What's technically correct is that well drilling equipment does rely on continual sound feedback from sensitive microphones to gauge the drill's progress. So the recording is plausible. They also work in a high thermal conditions and track the temperatures in drilling environment. A temperature spike would be recordable, at least for a short period of time.

    When Our Lady of Fatima showed the three children Hell in the 3rd Apparition in July, it was beneath their feet.



    The 2nd most impressive Fatima photo, may be the look on the holy Children's faces after seeing Hell:



    They're traumatized and I believe they said they would have died had not Our Lady given them the graces to withstand it.



    "Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it underfoot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Our Lord Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor but a destroyer."  St. Francis of Assisi

    Offline Miseremini

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #6 on: March 07, 2017, 09:31:32 PM »
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  • Quote from: Incredulous

    When Our Lady of Fatima showed the three children Hell in the 3rd Apparition in July, it was beneath their feet.
    [/quote

    Philippians 2:10 That in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth:
    "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered: and them that hate Him flee from before His Holy Face"  Psalm 67:2[/b]


    Offline Neil Obstat

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #7 on: March 07, 2017, 10:06:32 PM »
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  • Quote from: Incredulous
    Quote from: Miseremini
    When was this supposed to have happened?
    Was the newspaper article dated?

    I heard about this at least 20 years ago.

    If you watched the video link Miseremini, it was said to have happened in the 1980s.

    The site was started in the early 1970s and then closed in the early 1990s.

    After the soundings were recorded, basically everyone on the project was spooked and most refused to work there.

    What's technically correct is that well drilling equipment does rely on continual sound feedback from sensitive microphones to gauge the drill's progress. So the recording is plausible. They also work in a high thermal conditions and track the temperatures in drilling environment. A temperature spike would be recordable, at least for a short period of time.

    When Our Lady of Fatima showed the three children Hell in the 3rd Apparition in July, it was beneath their feet.



    The 2nd most impressive Fatima photo, may be the look on the holy Children's faces after seeing Hell:



    They're traumatized and I believe they said they would have died had not Our Lady given them the graces to withstand it.



    Yes, they said they surely would have died from fear, if Our Lady had not already told them that they were all 3 going to go to heaven. She had told them that on May 13th, the first apparition. And of course, she gave them the graces they needed to withstand the sight of hell.

    All 3 children spent the rest of their lives doing penance for the conversion of sinners and reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so as to save souls from hell. Especially Jacinta, who went about her daily activities in search of ways she could do penance in a new way, so much so that whenever she found a new sacrifice to perform, she beheld the discovery as if it were a rare diamond, a treasure of great value.

    .--. .-.-.- ... .-.-.- ..-. --- .-. - .... . -.- .. -. --. -.. --- -- --..-- - .... . .--. --- .-- . .-. .- -. -.. -....- -....- .--- ..- ... - -.- .. -.. -.. .. -. --. .-.-.


    Offline Neil Obstat

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #8 on: March 07, 2017, 10:09:59 PM »
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  • What is this Russian sign translated into English?



    Is that 11,000 meters? (If so, that's 33,600 ft +/-)
    .--. .-.-.- ... .-.-.- ..-. --- .-. - .... . -.- .. -. --. -.. --- -- --..-- - .... . .--. --- .-- . .-. .- -. -.. -....- -....- .--- ..- ... - -.- .. -.. -.. .. -. --. .-.-.

    Offline Cato

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #9 on: March 08, 2017, 12:02:48 AM »
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  • Why do the souls in hell scream out?  Is it just pain?

    Do they not know that no one will ever come to rescue them?

    Offline AMDGJMJ

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #10 on: March 08, 2017, 08:06:40 AM »
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  • Quote from: Cato
    Why do the souls in hell scream out?  Is it just pain?

    Do they not know that no one will ever come to rescue them?



    Probably a mixture between pain, anger and despair....
    "Jesus, Meek and Humble of Heart, make my heart like unto Thine!"

    http://whoshallfindavaliantwoman.blogspot.com/


    Offline Incredulous

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #11 on: March 08, 2017, 09:35:31 AM »
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  • Quote from: AMDGJMJ
    Quote from: Cato
    Why do the souls in hell scream out?  Is it just pain?

    Do they not know that no one will ever come to rescue them?



    Probably a mixture between pain, anger and despair....


    That's the horror of it.

    Isn't there something in the mass shrieks, that's reminiscent of a "rock concert"?


                              Spotify advertisement

    In Hell, the souls are kept stirred-up by the demons.  That's what the Fatima children said.



    "Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it underfoot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Our Lord Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor but a destroyer."  St. Francis of Assisi

    Offline MMagdala

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #12 on: March 08, 2017, 09:54:36 AM »
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  • ....just in case we ever slip into presumption about our spiritual state, or forget the importance of staying in the state of grace....
     :scared2:

    Let's keep those confessions frequent and brutally honest.

    Offline MMagdala

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #13 on: March 08, 2017, 10:05:52 AM »
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  • Quote from: Cato
    Why do the souls in hell scream out?  Is it just pain?


    Since the human body reflexively vocalizes when in pain, it's logical that a disembodied soul would also be affected.  Surely that would include temperatures of that sort.

    Quote
    Do they not know that no one will ever come to rescue them?


    I doubt that rational "knowledge" (including purpose and strategy) is an aspect of the screams.  And since souls in Hell lack hope (unlike souls in Purgatory), the tormented souls are not cogitating about rescue.  Souls in Hell are in a permanent state of despair; thus, looking to the future is not within the field of possibility.

    What they "know" is the constancy of their torment and the permanence of it.  Surely that knowledge is part of the screams of anguish.

    Offline harris

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    The Russians found Hell
    « Reply #14 on: March 08, 2017, 10:09:11 AM »
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  • This story is a hoax – see article below.  It references lots of protestant groups, so be warned.


    Have Scientists Drilled Hell? Have They Recorded Sounds and Voices From Hell? Did Russians Drill Into Hell and Hear Voices Screaming?

    There are many “Christian” internet sites which contain a story about Russians who supposedly drilled into Hell and heard and recorded voices screaming for help. Below is one example of the story which is a total lie. We have also put the sounds they supposedly recorded below this article: Following this fabricated story is the truth:

    These details are from the translation of an article in a Finnish newspaper named ‘Ammennusatia’.

    A geological group who drilled a hole about 14.4 kilometers deep in the crust of the earth are saying that they heard human screams. Screams have been heard from the condemned souls from earth’s deepest hole. Terrified scientists are afraid they have let loose the evil powers of hell up to the earth’s surface.

    ‘The information we are gathering is so surprising, that we are sincerely afraid of what we might find down there,’ stated Dr Azzacov, the manager of the project in remote Siberia.

    ‘The second surprise was the high temperature they discovered in the earth’s center. ‘The calculations indicate the given temperature was about 1,100 degrees Celsius, or over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit,’ Azzacov pointed out. ‘This is far more then we expected. It seems almost like an inferno of fire is brutally going on in the center of the earth.

    ‘The last discovery was nevertheless the most shocking to our ears, so much so that the scientists are afraid to continue the project. We tried to listen to the earth’s movements at certain intervals with supersensitive microphones, which were let down through the hole. What we heard turned those logically thinking scientists into a trembling ruins. It was a sometimes a weak, but high pitched sound which we thought to be coming from our own equipment,’ explained Dr Azzacov.

    ‘But after some adjustments we comprehended that indeed the sound came from the earth’s interior. We could hardly believe our own ears. We heard a human voice, screaming in pain. Even though one voice was discernible, we could hear thousands, perhaps millions, in the background, of suffering souls screaming. After this ghastly discovery, about half of the scientists quit because of fear. Hopefully, that which is down there will stay there,’ Dr Azzacov added.

    ‘What really unnerved the Soviets, apart from the voice recordings, was the appearance that same night of a fountainhead of luminous gas shooting up from the drill site, and out of the midst of this incandescent cloud pillar a brilliant being with bat wings revealed itself with the words (in Russian): ‘I have conquered,’ emblazoned against the dark Siberian sky.

    ‘The incident was absolutely unreal; the Soviets cried out in terror,’ says Mr. Nummedal. Later that night, he saw ambulance crews circulating in the community. A driver he knew told him that they had been told to sedate everybody with a medication known to erase short term memory. The Soviets use this drug in the treatment of shock victims.

    * * * * * * *

    “As a communist I don’t believe in heaven or the Bible but as a scientist I now believe in hell,” said Dr. Azzacove. “Needless to say we were shocked to make such a discovery. But we know what we saw and we know what we heard. And we are absolutely convinced that we drilled through the gates of Hell!”

    Dr. Azzacove continued, “. . .the drill suddenly began to rotate wildly, indicating that we had reached a large empty pocket or cavern. Temperature sensors showed a dramatic increase in heat to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.”

    “We lowered a microphone, designed to detect the sounds of plate movements down the shaft. But instead of plate movements we heard a human voice screaming in pain! At first we thought the sound was coming from our own equipment.”

    “But when we made adjustments our worst suspicions were confirmed. The screams weren’t those of a single human, they were the screams of millions of humans!

    * * * * * * *

    Do you know why Jacques Costeau, the famous underwater explorer, quit deep sea diving sometime before he died? It is said that he stopped because he had heard in one of the underwater caves he was exploring, the sounds of people screaming.

    There was also another time, when one of his men, who was in a diving bell in the deepest trench at the Bermuda Triangle, also had a similar experience. He signaled to be brought up immediately. After being revived from his shock, he told others of his frightening experience of hearing “screams of people in pain”.

    Here are two mp3 audio files that have been passed around the internet on Hellfire web sites which are used to prove Hell is real and under the earth:

    Sounds From Hell

    Here is another version from the Art Bell Show: Sounds of Hell

    The truth:

     Background on the Drilling to Hell story
    By Rich Buhler

    I first heard about this story from people who started calling my radio program to ask about it in the early 1990s. There was such a flurry of calls that I finally promised the listeners I’d look into it. Most of the callers said they’d heard the story on Trinity Broadcasting Network, a Christian television network that originates from Southern California.
     I called Trinity Broadcasting headquarters and asked about the story. I was transferred to a woman who said, ‘Oh yes, it’s true all right. We’ve got docuмentation. It’s in our latest newsletter.’

    I was on the network’s mailing list, so I looked through a pile of recent mail and found the article. The newsletter said the details had come from the translation of an article in a Finnish newspaper named ‘Ammennusatia’. It claimed:
    A geological group who drilled a hole about 14.4 kilometers deep in the crust of the earth are saying that they heard human screams. Screams have been heard from the condemned souls from earth’s deepest hole. Terrified scientists are afraid they have let loose the evil powers of hell up to the earth’s surface.

    ‘The information we are gathering is so surprising, that we are sincerely afraid of what we might find down there,’ stated Dr Azzacov, the manager of the project in remote Siberia.

    According to the story, the geologists were dumbfounded. After they had drilled several kilometers through the earth’s crust, the drill bit suddenly began to rotate wildly. ‘There is only one explanation,’ said Dr Azzacov. ‘The deep center of the earth is hollow!’ The report continued:
     The second surprise was the high temperature they discovered in the earth’s center. ‘The calculations indicate the given temperature was about 1,100 degrees Celsius, or over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit,’ Azzacov pointed out. ‘This is far more then we expected. It seems almost like an inferno of fire is brutally going on in the center of the earth.’

    ‘The last discovery was nevertheless the most shocking to our ears, so much so that the scientists are afraid to continue the project. We tried to listen to the earth’s movements at certain intervals with supersensitive microphones, which were let down through the hole. What we heard turned those logically thinking scientists into a trembling ruins. It was a sometimes a weak, but high pitched sound which we thought to be coming from our own equipment,’ explained Dr Azzacov.

    ‘But after some adjustments we comprehended that indeed the sound came from the earth’s interior. We could hardly believe our own ears. We heard a human voice, screaming in pain. Even though one voice was discernible, we could hear thousands, perhaps millions, in the background, of suffering souls screaming. After this ghastly discovery, about half of the scientists quit because of fear. Hopefully, that which is down there will stay there,’ Dr Azzacov added.

    According to the Trinity Broadcasting Network newsletter, the Finnish article had been given to them by a Texas evangelist, R.W. Schambach, who was a frequent guest on their network.

    We checked with Schambach’s office and were assured that the story was ‘absolutely true’ and had been substantiated. They said they had an article from a ‘respected scientific journal’ in Finland, as well as a letter from a Norwegian man, Age Rendalen, who had confirmed it. Rendalen had sent his letter directly to Trinity Broadcasting Network and the details he revealed added a new dimension to the story.

    Rendalen told the network that he had visited United States a few weeks earlier and happened upon their telecast about the Drilling to Hell story. He wrote:
    I must confess that I laughed when I heard your account… I did not believe one word of it, and commented to my friend that Americans sure were gullible to believe that hell could be physically located to a hole in the ground. I cannot even begin to tell you what a shock it was to me when I returned to Norway and found the newspapers full of reports about this incident. I knew immediately that if there was a hell, I for sure would end up in it. A tremendous fear took hold of me, and for two nights I dreamed about fire and screams until I surrendered to God and committed my life to his hands for safe-keeping. In the letter, Rendalen went on to encourage the network not to let ‘skeptics’ interfere with their telling of the story. He included a copy and translation of what he claimed was an article from Norway’s largest and most reputable newspaper, with more information about the drilling.

    Rendalen’s translation of the article told of opposition to the drilling by Russian atheists, as well as government intimidation to keep the scientists from telling the rest of the world about their discovery. The account, which drew on the eyewitness testimony of a Mr Nummedal, also added a new detail:
    What really unnerved the Soviets, apart from the voice recordings, was the appearance that same night of a fountainhead of luminous gas shooting up from the drill site, and out of the midst of this incandescent cloud pillar a brilliant being with bat wings revealed itself with the words (in Russian): ‘I have conquered,’ emblazoned against the dark Siberian sky.

    ‘The incident was absolutely unreal; the Soviets cried out in terror,’ says Mr Nummedal. Later that night, he saw ambulance crews circulating in the community. A driver he knew told him that they had been told to sedate everybody with a medication known to erase short term memory. The Soviets use this drug in the treatment of shock victims.

    So we now had not only a story about drilling into hell, but an additional version with a bat-like creature making an appearance.
     My staff and I decided to roll up our shirt sleeves and trace the story as far as we could, especially since we had the names of newspapers and at least one individual who might know the facts.

    The Finnish newspaper ‘Ammennusastia,’ which is quoted in nearly every account of the story, is located in an area called Levasjoki. We had a phone conversation with a staff member who told us the publication is not a ‘respected newspaper’ or a ‘scientific journal’, as we had been told, but a monthly publication of a group of Finnish Christians. The Drilling to Hell story, he said, had been based on the word of mouth recollection of another staff member, who had remembered reading it as a ‘major article’ in a Finnish daily newspaper called ‘Etela Soumen’.

    We contacted this newspaper and at first they couldn’t recall or find the story. However, we later received a call saying they had discovered that the tale had appeared in their paper. It was not in an article, however, but in a feature section that included letters from readers who could write about almost anything they wished.

    Through the newspaper, we tracked down the person who wrote the letter with the Drilling to Hell story. He was a kind, elderly man who, in spite of being reluctant to talk with us initially, told us through an interpreter that he couldn’t vouch for the credibility of the story. He got it, he said, from a Christian newsletter called ‘Vaeltajat’, which was published by a group of Finnish missionaries.

    We next contacted ‘Vaeltajat’. The editor said the story had been printed in their July 1989 issue. Where did he hear about it? He had received it from one of their readers, who claimed it had appeared in a newsletter called ‘Jєωels of Jericho’, published by a group of Jєωιѕн Christians in California. And that is where the Finnish trail came to an end.

    One thing was clear at this point: The Drilling to Hell story was looking and smelling like a pretty typical urban legend. It was sensational, impossible to docuмent, and only had life because of all the small publications that were quoting one another’s unsubstantiated stories.

    However, there was still the Norwegian man, Age Rendalen, who had told the story of the ominous, bat-like creature emerging from the drill-hole. The article in the Trinity Broadcasting Network newsletter said he lived near Oslo, so we called directory assistance and found him in about 45 seconds. I talked with him on the phone myself:
    ‘Are you the one who sent information to a Christian television network in the United States about scientists drilling into hell?’ I asked.

    ‘Yes,’ he said without hesitation.

    ‘Well,’ I continued, ‘Do you have any way of knowing whether it is true?’

    ‘Yes I do,’ he replied.

    ‘Tell me about it,’ I asked.

    ‘None of it is true,’ he said. ‘I fabricated every word of it!’

    Rendalen went on to explain that he had visited the US a few weeks earlier and had seen the host of a Christian television program enthusiastically relating the Drilling to Hell story. He told me: ‘I couldn’t believe that the hosts really thought the story was true and that they would broadcast it without apparently having checked it out.’
     When he returned to Norway, Rendalen sat down and fabricated the graphic story of the bat-like creature and sent his letter to the television network. His prediction was that they would use the story without investigating it. To make an investigation easy for them, he included his name, address and telephone number on his letter. He also included what he claimed was an article on the story from ‘Norway’s largest and most reputable newspaper’. In fact, the article, which he falsely translated, was a piece in his local community paper about a building inspector.

    Rendalen also included the name and telephone number of a pastor friend based in Southern California. This pastor knew about the hoax and was prepared to reveal the truth if someone called to research it further with him.

    However, as predicted, Trinity Broadcasting Network ran the story without contacting Renalden or the Californian pastor, and it appeared on television, radio and in a large number of publications. None of those who used the story attempted to research it before going public.

    ‘2000 PEOPLE HAVE FOUND CHRIST!’

    On 6th February 1990, a listener of mine sent me a letter. She had videotaped and docuмented all three occasions when this story was discussed on the Christian TV show put out by the network. On 29th January 1990, the show host is docuмented as saying:
    Let me just say, all of you that have written me all those nasty letters about the ‘hole in hell’, let me tell you I finally got the newspaper article which is from ‘The World Weekly’. This is an international newspaper that has been translated into English from Finnish. ‘Scientists fear they’ve opened gates of hell! Geologists drilling nine-mile hole hear human shrieks.’

    I got a letter today from a geologist in Oklahoma and he’s really giving me a rough time. He says that there isn’t anything that could drill that deep. Folks, I’m just reporting what people have been sending to me and I don’t know if this is true or not. I know one thing, if this is a trick of the Devil, he sure has blown it, because I know of about 2,000 people that have found Christ because of it!

    True or false, I’ll tell you what I’m doing, though. We’re now going to do some investigative reporting of our own and we’re going to check with the Finnish government and the Department of the Interior and we’re really going to follow this up and see if they really did drill a hole nine miles down there, if they really did have a microphone down there, if they really did hear human shrieks of agony and pain as this newspaper article and as did many letters I have received from over there have indicated to us. If I’m wrong and they’re right, I’ve got nothing to lose. But if I’m right and you’re wrong, you’ve got everything to lose.

    Unfortunately, the investigation by the show took place too late to prevent the damage of a widely spread rumor in the Christian community.
     Rendalen has now issued an official statement about his actions and the whole incident, which says: ‘The story is nothing more than a Christian “urban legend” without basis in reality.’

    There are a couple of postscripts to this incident. One is that the respected magazine, ‘Biblical Archaeology Review’, printed a story about the Drilling to Hell story, thinking it was so outrageous that readers would get a kick out of it. Many of the readers took the article seriously, however, and either started passing it around as substantiation of the story, or wrote to the magazine to complain that it shouldn’t have given it respectability.

    Secondly, in August of 1990, I was contacted by the pastor of a small church in Flagstaff, Arizona, who informed me that he had proof that this story was true. Apparently, a man from his church, who was believed to be a PhD in Physics from MIT, came forward in private to claim that he was a scientist who had been on a secret mission in Russia for the past year and had met with Mikhail Gorbachev several times. He verified that the Drilling to Hell story was indeed true. He claimed:
    A hole was drilled deep into the crust of the earth in Siberia and a large cavity was found. Unfortunately, news of this was leaked to the press and was distorted. It is true that a recording was made of the sounds from deep in the hole, but the intense heat destroyed the microphone in spite of special cooling material around it, so that only seventeen seconds of sounds could be captured. At the present time, scientists are drilling a second hole to confirm what was found the first time. And a better system is being developed for cooling the microphone. The scientist went on to claim that he was helping to design this microphone and was returning to Siberia shortly to further docuмent the phenomenon. He planned to return in about a year with more confirming information on this amazing phenomenon.

    Six months later, I got a letter from another member of the church saying that this man had turned out to be neither a graduate of MIT nor a scientist. In fact, he had skipped town with over $20,000 collected from church members who wanted to help finance his expedition.

    How did this story originate? Again, we will never really know. It is possible that somewhere in the world there has been a spooky experience during deep drilling operations. I don’t know. According to an August 1989 article in ‘Science’ magazine, there is a Russian deep hole drilling project in Kola, near Murmansk, about 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Another German deep drilling experiment in north-east Bavaria has discovered warmer temperatures than were expected at certain drilling levels, although nothing even close to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Characteristic of many urban legends, this story was alleged to have occurred in an obscure part of the world where it would be virtually impossible to track down the facts. And once the story got started, people began quoting one another’s newsletters to validate their own. This is the stuff of which tabloid newspapers are made.