Devil`s Hillfort in the Kaluga region
The Devil`s Hillfort in the Kaluga region is located near the village of Sosensky, Kozelsky district. This is a small hill in the depths of a deciduous forest, where there is a cluster of quartz sandstones. Despite the frightening name, there are no anomalous phenomena in this place. Optina Pustyn Monastery is located 20 km from the Devil`s Hillfort.
If you are going to the Devil`s Hillfort by car, then from the village of Sosensky you need to drive towards the sand quarry. Before reaching it 1 kilometer, turn right into the forest on a country road. You will be able to drive a car for about a hundred meters and you will see parking spaces on the side of the road. It is impractical to go further, since the road goes over loose sandy soil. It is impassable even for four-wheel drive cars.
The distance from the parking place to the entrance to the Devil`s Hillfort is 1.5 kilometers. At first, the path goes through the forest, and then through a field with sandy soil. At the entrance you will see an art object carved out of wood with the name Devil`s Hillfort. The name of this place is associated with small rivers that flow in these parts. They are called the Devil`s Sandbox and Black Mud. These are swampy streams that don`t look much like rivers.
From the entrance to the the hill with stone piles of quartz sandstone, you need to walk another 1.5 kilometers. The total length of the route is 6 kilometers. On the way in different places there are hardly distinguishable mounds and sites of ancient people’s camps of the Mesolithic era, who lived here about 10 thousand years ago.
On the sign at the entrance, the sights of the Devil`s Hillfort are marked: Devil`s Gate, stones and niches, fern, cave, Devil`s Fingers, Devil`s Well. Quartz sandstones that have come to the surface of the hill under the influence of water and wind have a wavy shape with numerous splits and holes. On one of the stones, in addition to the water and wind, the hand of a local "sculptor" is visible, which gave stone the shape of a devil`s face.
Such stones are often found in Karelia and other northern regions of Russia. In central Russia, clusters of such stones are very rare. Further south, clusters of quartz sandstones are located in the Lipetsk region. There this place is called the Valley of Megaliths on the Beautiful Sword River. Another name for that place is "Witch Stones". Here, too, there was a belief in supernatural forces.
In the Devil`s Hillfort of the Kaluga region, sandstone stones are overgrown with moss and ferns. Biologists note that there are two plants listed in the Red Book of Russia in this place. One of them is the relict moss Schistostega pinnata. Its area of growth is located in the northern regions of Russia. The second plant is the common millipede fern (Polypodium vulgare). In the Kaluga region, it grows only on the stones of the Devil`s Hillfort.
