He Woke Up In The Hospital
The first thing Ivan saw when he woke up was his colleagues' faces staring at him. Then, they started murmuring, but Ivan couldn't understand what they said. That's when he realized where he was: in a hospital bed.
He tried to talk or move his limbs, but he couldn't. How did he end up there? What happened? He tried to dig into his memories, and instantly, those horrendous, deafening screams roared again inside his head, just like he was hearing them again. Was it all a dream, or did it really happen?
Just Graduated
Ivan had graduated from the University of Saint Petersburg with a degree in Geology just a few months ago. He was the first of his promotion, and he was as proud as he could be.
Little did he know then that his studies were about to lead them to the most extreme edges of the unknown. He was about to confront areas of reality that escape the rule of science and human understanding.
Heading For An Academic Career
Ivan was the first person in his family to ever go to university. He could never forget the joy and emotion on his parents' faces during the graduation ceremony. Everyone in the family was ecstatic at the bright future Ivan had ahead of him.
He was heading for a career in academic research. The young graduate had been collaborating with some researchers in his department; now, he was about to participate in the project of a lifetime.
Deepest Hole Ever
A team of scholars at the University of Saint Petersburg intended to do something that would make them go down in the history of geological research.
They wanted to drill the deepest hole ever made by mankind: one that would go as deep as the center of Earth itself in order to study the composition of the different Earth layers. However, they faced a series of challenges.
Kola Peninsula
For one, where the hole should be drilled was a matter of discussion. Not every location was fit for that type of project. Finally, the team of researchers chose the Kola peninsula, in the extreme northwest of Russia.
They chose that part of the country based on the qualities of its soil and ground. However, the peninsula of Kola was a well-known area for other different, dark, and enigmatic reasons.
Pyramids And Labyrinths
The peninsula of Kola is home to some mysterious, ancient structures which have attracted the attention of archaeologists for decades. In the region, one can find the world's oldest pyramids, built approximately 9,000 years ago for unknown purposes.
Near the pyramids, there is an enigmatic labyrinth made of stones; only the foundations for the labyrinth are preserved nowadays, but scientists believe there must have been a huge monumental structure in the past. But why did those ancient peoples build these things?
Religious Function?
The scientists still haven't managed to get to an agreement about that question. However, most believe they probably had some sort of religious function. They might have hosted ceremonies or served as monuments for supernatural beings.
But according to the locals, what the ancients really intended with those buildings was to mislead and drive the evil spirits away. But that isn't all.
Evil Spirits
To this day, some people from the area still believe that the same spirits that the ancients wanted to cast away still roam around the area. Some have reported hearing them hollering and screeching at night.
Ivan and his team didn't consider this as they traveled to Kola for their investigation. After all, they were geologists, not archeologists or historians, so they figured they had no business paying any mind to those legends. Maybe that was their mistake.
Recording Sounds
When Ivan and his team first arrived there, most of the work had already been done: a group of engineers had managed to drill a hole 40,230 ft into the ground. Now it was time for the geologists to explore its depths.
One of the tasks they were looking forward to the most consisted of recording the sounds from the hole depths. As you may know, the sound of sediment layers can be used to map and characterize them to get a picture of the history and composition of the depths of the Earth. However, Ivan and his team were about to face something that nothing could have prepared them for.
His Heart Was Racing
As he put on his headphones and watched how his fellow geologists submerged a microphone into the hole, Ivan was excited like never before in his life. His mind was racing, boiling with all the possible earth-shattering discoveries they were about to make.
He started hearing the first sounds and began taking notes on them. It was amazing how clearly everything could be heard and how revealing those noises were about the depths of the Earth. But suddenly, something unexpected happened.
A Strange Sound
Ivan heard something completely different from the type of sounds usually recorded from the layers of sediments. It sounded uncannily similar to a human sigh: he looked around, wondering if perhaps it had been one of the team members.
But everyone else had raised their sight from their notepads with a puzzled expression. Had they heard the same as him? Perhaps everyone else had the same question on their minds. Still, they all went back to focusing on the task at hand. But right then, Ivan heard something else.
Screams
Suddenly, some unsettling noises started thundering through Ivan's headphones. This time they were louder, and they sounded undoubtedly human: they were like screams and moans of agony.
Once again, Ivan raised his head and looked at his peers, wondering if he had lost his mind. But they all had just done the same. Apparently, they were all hearing the same sounds. Puzzled, Ivan put his headphones back on. The screams got louder and louder, and that's when Ivan lost his consciousness.
Waking Up
The young geologist woke up in the hospital four days later. It took him a while to fully recover consciousness. As he woke up from his slumber, he couldn't tell if what he was seeing from the hospital bed was reality or a dream.
The memory of those infernal screams kept replaying in his mind. Did that actually happen, or was it just a nightmare? When he finally came back to his senses, all his relieved colleagues, who were there in the hospital with him, could finally tell him what had happened.
More Colleagues Fainted
Apparently, Ivan wasn't the only one to come out damaged from the prospection of the hole. Everyone else had heard the screams; a few other team members had also fainted.
Some of them were also in a hospital bed, although Ivan had been the last to recover consciousness. After hearing the story, Ivan couldn't help but feel some sort of curiosity, between scholarly and morbid, about one question: what else had been recorded after he passed out?
The Microphone Melted
His colleagues told him that the microphone melted shortly after Ivan and the other researchers passed out as a result of the high temperatures. All they had was a 20-second recording of the terrifying screams.
The research team went back to Saint Petersburg that same day. They didn't attempt to explore the hole again; to this day, no one else has.