The wonder of the world: Devil's Town

The Devil’s Town is one of the widely known places in Serbia. Situated between two ravines of the creepy names, The Devil’s Ravine and Hell’s Ravine there lies the spookiest natural monument: over 200 randomly formed stone poles, up to 20m in height. Almost all the poles carry the black cap from volcanic rock andesite, adding to the overall peculiar atmosphere around the place. Close to the locality, there are fresh mineral water wells and ruins of an old church.

Serbian Wonder of the World

The Devil’s Town was Serbian candidate for the seven new wonders of the world. It actually scored quite high but didn’t make the final list. Aside from the visual attractiveness, this geomorphological phenomenon is one of a kind in Serbia and very rare in the world. However, Devil’s Town is the biggest and the best-preserved one on the planet.

History of The Devil’s Town

The elongated rock formations were created during the long and continuous process of erosion. In fact, the erosion is still in process, and the park is still changing. Sometimes poles end up broken and sometimes even the new ones “magically” appear. This is one of the main reasons why there are so many legends surrounding this place and its’ origin (aside from the hair-raising size of the poles and creepy colors).

Legends About Devil’s Town

The mysticism of the Devil’s Town natural monument keeps fueling the imagination of the local people. One of the widely known legends suggests that a long time ago, local people threw a wedding party for a brother and a sister that fell in love, with a little help from the devil’s spells. The God wanted to punish all the attendees and turned them into the stones, where they still lay, to this day.

The other legend suggests that the Devil’s poles are actually local kids who refused to learn and decided to live an immoral life stripped of knowledge. It sure sounds like a great way to make your kids do their homework.

The Curious Things in The Neighborhood

Many local people swear to hear people moaning for help and indistinct screams in this area in the night. For us with the skeptic minds, there is a good enough scientific explanation behind it. The size and shape of the stone poles make it a creepy instrument whenever the strong winds blow.

This area is surrounded by hills and slopes of Radan mountain, gifted with wonderful nature and many hiking and trekking opportunities. Make sure to try The Devil’s Kebab while in the area, which is just a touristic version of the regular kebab, shaped as poles of The Devil’s Town.

Maybe touristic, but very cool, regardless.

Similar to the everlasting process of change of the stone poles, the legends around this place keep changing and evolving. Perhaps you will get your own inspiration to tell one, when surrounded by the intimidating shapes of the Serbian world wonder in the remote nature.