[Phil] Erasmus, if you do still live here,
you can try and prove it to me.
-[heavy thud] -[Heather screams]
[Josh] On this episode of "Expedition X" --
-Oh, my gosh, look. -[Heather] Wow!
I see why they call it a cave castle.
[Josh] My team travels to Predjama Castle in Slovenia,
once home to one of the most evil men of the Middle Ages.
He was robbing people from this area.
He took people to slavery and burned houses down.
[Josh] The blood-soaked building connects with a secret network
of sinister caves...
[Karin] I saw a shadowy figure.
I know it wasn't human by how it was moving.
[Phil] Oh, [bleep]!
[Josh] ...where dark rituals were once held to appease violent gods.
What did you hope to gain?
Power.
-[Phil grunts] -[Heather] Phil!
[Josh] Will Heather and Phil survive their journey to the black
heart of the cursed castle?
Are those rapids?
Oh, my God, they are.
Watch it, watch it, watch it!
[ominous music plays]
All right, well, you two are getting a bit of a reputation.
Like, in a good way because we're getting so much evidence
of the paranormal? -No, it's got to be in a bad way
because we're scaring everyone from going anywhere.
Honestly, it's kind of both.
You're getting a reputation at being very good at dealing
with the bad, particularly when it comes
to horribly haunted castles.
Ah, like Chillingham Castle in England.
Or like Chateau De Veauce in France.
Or Houska in the Czech Republic, et cetera, et cetera.
You guys have investigated so many castles that a place
called Predjama Castle all the way over in Slovenia,
reached out saying they are inundated with paranormal
activity and they want your help.
Ooh, maybe we'll get to meet another nobleman like the guy
that owns Chillingham Castle, Sir Humphrey.
Well, that's where you'd be wrong, Heather.
Dead wrong.
For the past 500 years, there has been nothing noble
about Predjama.
This is not a castle of courageous knights
or gracious kings.
This place was home to violent bandits, greedy lords,
and a whole lot of death.
[camera clicks]
Built into the mouth of a cave atop a 400-foot cliff,
Predjama Castle is the largest cave castle in the world.
Designed in the 12th century to be impregnable, Predjama is
strategically located to control a South European
trade route vital to the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1274, the powerful Lueg family takes control of
the castle and quickly gives it a terrifying reputation.
It becomes a base for thieves and mercenaries who kidnap
local villagers and hold them for ransom.
Countless souls suffer and die in its lightless dungeons
when the ransoms don't get paid.
The most notorious of Predjama's robber barons
is the cruel Erasmus Lueg.
Inheriting the castle in the 1480s, he makes it
his mission to rob the region blind, killing or enslaving
anyone who gets in his way.
But in 1483, he makes a critical mistake,
killing a marshal who happens to be the cousin
of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III.
Outraged, Frederick sends troops to Predjama
to capture Erasmus.
Unable to breach the cave castle's defenses,
they try to starve him out.
The plan doesn't work.
Erasmus lives a life of luxury while under siege.
It turns out the castle hides a network of secret tunnels
that allow Erasmus to smuggle in the finest supplies.
But the good times don't last forever.
After holding out for nearly a year, Erasmus is killed
in his castle by a well-aimed catapult shot.
His death ends the Lueg family reign of terror in the region,
but their violent legacy remains.
Today, Predjama Castle is widely regarded as one
of the most haunted places in all of Europe.
Visitors and guides regularly report being followed
by phantom footsteps, having doors impossibly slammed shut,
and being pushed by unseen hands.
Most disturbing of all, a looming shadow figure
shaped like a knight is often seen stalking the castle.
Could this be the restless spirit
of evil Lord Erasmus himself?
Predjama Castle witnessed centuries
of villainy and misery.
If these walls could talk, they'd probably scream.
So what does everybody think?
Well, that Erasmus guy sounds like a real piece of work.
Oh, he's not making your Christmas card list?
Definitely not.
And I'm not yet ready to call this all paranormal.
Because think about this place.
It is a centuries-old castle built into a cave.
It is an objectively spooky place, and that's gonna make
people's imaginations run wild.
And like all old castles, there's gonna be creaks
and groans and shadows,
and that's what people are reporting.
OK, so Phil's chalking it up to a creepy old building.
-What about you? -I mean, I'm going Erasmus.
This guy seems like one evil dude.
He was trapped in a castle for a year while it was
under siege, and then he died there.
You couldn't get a better setup for a malevolent haunting.
All right, well, prove it.
Head to Slovenia and find out if Predjama Castle really is
under siege from the paranormal.
-You got it, boss. -We're on it.
[Josh] It's a 12-hour flight from New York to Ljubljana,
Slovenia, a country nestled between Austria and Croatia
in Eastern Europe.
Then it's a scenic 45-minute drive
to the town of Postojna,
where a winding mountain road leads to the towering cliffside
of Predjama Castle.
Wow. Welcome to Slovenia.
Gosh, it is stunning, isn't it?
[Phil] So beautiful out here.
You want to know what's super cool about Slovenia?
There's a salamander here. It's called the olm.
-Say it. -Olm.
[Phil] It's kind of fun to say.
And they live deep in the caves here.
They're blind, they can live 100 years,
and they sense electricity.
They're one of the most incredible creatures
on the planet.
That's what you're most excited about in Slovenia?
[Phil] Yes!
[Heather] All right, Salamander Boy, let's just go
find our witnesses. -Fine.
Let's make our way to the castle.
-Oh, my gosh, look. -Wow.
-[Phil] Unreal. -[Heather] It's incredible.
I see why they call it a cave castle.
Yeah.
Huge.
[Phil] Those are our witnesses.
[Heather] Yeah, I think you're right.
[mysterious music plays]
-[Phil] Hi. -[Heather] Nice to meet you.
-[Phil] Nice to meet you guys. -[Anja] Hi!
[Phil] We're meeting with castle guides
Anja Skarabot and Mateja Margon,
who have firsthand stories of the strange activity
reported within Predjama's looming walls.
-Welcome to Predjama. -This is amazing.
-[Heather] Incredible. -[Mateja] Yeah.
And it's the biggest cave castle in the world.
[Phil] So what era of history do you think stands out
the most to you?
[Mateja] Probably that was the 15th century,
when Erasmus lived here.
He burned houses down, took people to slavery,
and so on, and he was killed during a siege here.
We've heard some stories about how the siege ended,
but what's the real story?
Well, the real story is his servant betrayed him.
The servant, he gave a signal with a small candle
to the soldiers in front of the castle when Erasmus
was using the toilet.
They catapulted a big stone ball to that part of the castle
of the castle, which collapsed and killed Erasmus.
[Phil] Wow. That's how he went.
-Pants down. -[both laugh]
So, we understand people have some pretty intense,
unexplainable experiences here. -[Anja] Yeah.
Local people believe this place is haunted, and in general,
they are afraid of being alone here,
especially when it's dark.
[Mateja] Up there, somebody saw the small candlelight moving
from window to window. The castle was empty.
Nobody was there.
And he saw lights moving
through the main part of the castle.
[Heather] Huh.
Didn't you say that Erasmus was killed because a servant
put a light in the window?
Yes.
[Heather] And have y'all ever seen anything?
We have some stories to tell, yes.
-Let's hear them. -It was the evening.
I have to close the castle all alone inside.
So, I lock the door.
I'm 100% sure that nobody's there.
-But... -[door creaks]
[Mateja] I saw a shadow of a person going down the stairs
on the second floor.
I thought that it was a visitor, you know?
He will be waiting for me at the exit.
But when I came down, nobody was there.
The whole castle was empty.
And I had an experience in the exact same place.
And what was that?
When I was closing the castle one evening...
And when I was at the central part of the castle,
I heard children voices...
[children chattering faintly]
[Anja] ...talking with each other.
They were coming from downstairs.
When I reached the exit,
I saw that no one was there.
So those voices happened in the exact same spot that
you saw that shadow figure? -Yes.
All right, we're about to head inside.
-Any last minute advice? -[Mateja] Just be careful.
There's a reason
why nobody wants to be here alone, so good luck.
[Phil] We get to work setting up security cameras
in the castle's most active locations,
starting with the cave entrances, where I think
bat activity may help explain the strange noises people hear.
We also place the camera in evil Lord Erasmus' bedroom,
where a worker saw a light moving through the windows
after closing.
-Look good in here? -[Heather] Perfect.
[Phil] And the second floor stairwell, where Anja and Mateja
reported a shadowy presence
and the sound of unseen children.
We decide to begin our investigation there.
[ominous tone plays]
OK, I want to get out the parabolic mic so I can
record all the audio happening around here and figure out
what direction it's coming from. -OK.
[Phil] OK.
This is where Anja said she heard children laughing.
It's possible the noises she heard could be caused
by bats flying around in here.
What else do you want to do to investigate this area?
[Heather] Mateja said that she saw that shadow figure going
down the stairs, right?
I've got a footstep tracker.
It works on vibrations.
If anything takes a step near it, it's gonna go off
and let us know something's around.
-OK, let's check it. -[knocking]
OK, so we're gonna leave this here all night.
We've got our IR camera on it, so it will track and record
if that thing goes off. -[Phil] OK.
[Heather] All right, let me grab my XLS.
OK...
[Phil] All right, Heather. I'm recording.
[Heather] Are you hearing anything?
Nothing. Just a lot of dripping water.
[Heather] Is there anyone here with us?
Can you make a noise?
[rumbling faintly]
I'm picking up some low rumblings from up there.
-[Heather] Yeah. -You hear that, too?
[Heather] Yeah.
[Phil] That's the direction of the caves, yeah?
[Heather] Why don't you walk up and down this stairwell to see if that
can trigger some activity? -[Phil] OK.
[device beeping]
[Phil] Erasmus...
Erasmus, if you do still live here,
you can try and prove it to me.
[device beeping]
-[heavy thud] -[Heather screams]
[Phil] Oh, my God!
[Heather] What the hell is that?
It sounded like a door.
Is it this?
[high-pitched slam]
[Phil] No, it's too much metal. Is it this door?
Let's see.
[muffled thuds]
-It's latched. -[Phil] It's latched.
[clicks open] [creaks]
All right.
-[heavy thud] -That was it.
[Heather] That was it. That was it.
[Phil grunts]
[Phil] This is not easy to open and close.
Let's see if it could have been a draft or anything.
[Phil] This window's open.
This is the only open window I've seen in the entire castle.
Maybe a draft, but it is a pretty open area.
That door's heavy. I don't know what caused that.
[Heather] Whatever it was, it happened right after
you were taunting Erasmus.
And that was a pretty violent answer.
So you think something knows we're here?
Oh, yeah.
Well, if you think the energy led you here,
how about you stay in here?
I'm gonna wander around the rest of the castle,
because I still think I can find some explanation for some
of the audio anomalies that are happening here.
-OK, stay on walkie. -[Phil] OK.
[eerie music plays]
[soft footsteps]
You wanted me in here?
I'm in here.
I'm gonna use the Ovilus to try and communicate.
Is there anyone here with me?
I heard you just slam the door.
Can you tell me your name?
[entity speaking]
[Heather] Sin?
You committed sins?
[entity speaking]
[Heather] Lord?
What did you do here?
[entity speaking]
[Heather] You were a raider.
Did you used to raid the villages?
I mean, I'm beginning to think it really could be
Erasmus here with us.
[Phil] With strange noises reported throughout the castle,
I'm heading into the cave section to look
for signs of life.
Bats, birds, even wolves could potentially be behind
the disembodied voices and footsteps
people are hearing.
Look how much this place opens up back here.
This is an area of the castle that is not open to the public.
You know what? I'm gonna get the Flir out.
[beeping]
OK.
Everything right now is showing up very blue because
it's cold in here.
Anything alive will pop.
But so far, I'm not seeing anything.
[Heather] The Ovilus hits for, "Lord" and, "raid" seem to point to Erasmus,
so I went to investigate what was once his bedroom,
the same room where a worker saw a light
moving past the windows.
Inspired by this, I decided to use a candle
as a trigger object in a call-and-response session.
[beeping]
Is there anyone here with us?
You can make a noise.
You can use this REM pod.
All you have to do to answer for "Yes..."
-[device beeping] -...touch the antenna.
Are you the servant that betrayed Erasmus?
Is Erasmus in the room with us right now?
Earlier, I got, "raid" on the Ovilus.
Did you raid the caravans?
[beeping]
OK.
Did you murder a lot of people?
[beeping]
[Phil] Gotta be bats flying around here.
[crashing]
Up there, up there!
[soft footsteps]
Something is moving up here.
[ominous tone plays]
Oh, it goes way back there.
Whoa! Oh, [bleep]!
Huge heat signature.
Right back there, right back there.
What the hell is that?
Heather, Heather, you there?
Yeah, I copy. What's up?
[Phil] I just got a major heat signature in the cave.
There's something big moving around up here.
-Get up here now! -[Heather] Copy that, yeah.
On my way.
-Phil? -[Phil] Up here, up here.
Check this out.
It's right around this corner. Look at those stairs
going up.
These look much older than the other infraestructure
in this cave.
That's it on the thermal right now.
So, based on where I was down there, whatever I saw was going
up here
to the left, that way.
OK, here we go.
Oh, wow!
It either goes that way...
or it goes up.
Wow, it really goes up!
[distant thud]
-Did you hear that? -Ooh, OK, yeah.
[Heather] It makes sense that activity would draw us up here.
This has got to be a passage that Erasmus took
out of the castle. -[Phil] It's got to be.
If we get to the top of this passage, I think we're going
to find some answers.
OK, let's follow his path to survival.
See what we find up there.
All right.
Ooh!
This is one hell of a passage.
[Heather] What's it look like up there?
There's another chamber up here.
And it keeps going up.
Do you see any evidence of what we heard?
[Phil] Nothing yet.
[Heather] All right, here I come.
[Phil grunts]
-[Phil] You good? -[Heather] Yeah.
-Oh, that is a tiny passage. -[Phil] Yeah.
Starting to see leaves, which tells me
we might be close.
[Philip grunts] [crashes]
[Heather] Phil!
[mysterious music plays]
[Heather] Phil!
-Are you OK? -[Phil] Oh, yeah.
I'm good. I'm good.
[Heather sighs]
[Phil] A lot of leaves. They're really slippery.
Watch your step.
OK.
What do you see?
-I think I see the sky. -[Heather] Thank God.
[Phil grunts]
[Phil] Whoo!
-Oh, my God. -[Heather] You clear?
Clear.
This last part's pretty tricky.
-[Heather] Yeah. -[Phil] Grab my wrist.
Oh, God.
Anything waiting for us up here?
I'm not seeing any movement.
No, I don't hear anything either.
The activities seem to draw us out of the castle
and into those caves.
I think if we want to understand Predjama Castle,
we have to learn more about those caves.
-[Phil] OK, it is getting late. -Let's head back.
[Heather] Hoping to learn more about the cave system attached
to Predjama, I set out the next morning to meet
with an old friend.
Marco, so good to see you again.
Yes, indeed.
Marco Visconti, is an occult expert who helped us
investigate France's Beast of Gévaudan.
Help me understand what caves represented in traditional
Slavic culture.
In Slavic folklore, caves are connected with a fundamental
figure, the god Veles.
He wasn't just like the god of the underworld.
He was seen as the underworld itself.
[Heather] How would that manifest?
Veles was represented as a dragon.
In the caves, especially here in Predjama, we find
this strange creature, the olm salamander.
They exist only here.
They don't exist anywhere else in the world.
And the olm salamanders were seen as
baby dragons, the offsprings, the physical manifestation
of the dragon god Veles.
If we find these olm salamanders, then we're
literally finding evidence of the god Veles?
Old Slavic people would say yes.
Remember, the dragons are seen across cultures as hoarders
of wealth, the hoarders of secrets.
And so, Veles wasn't just the god of the underworld.
It was also the god of wealth.
Do you think that someone that lived in the castle,
say, Erasmus, would have tried to harness this power?
I think the chances are pretty high.
He would have used a magician, a shaman, to appease Veles
and to build a relationship with him.
Do you think that that would affect the activity
that's happening today?
[Marco] I have no doubts about it.
Every time you conduct a magical ritual somewhere,
you will leave an imprint.
I think there's no doubt that there is a connection
between the two.
[Phil] While Heather delves deeper into Slovenia's legends
and lore, I head a few miles east to the entrance
of Pivka Cave.
Connected to Predjama's catacombs, I'm meeting
a witness who said she had a very strange experience here.
Karin Kapelj is a local student who grew up exploring
the caves, but a recent experience left her terrified
to return until today.
Walk me through it.
What happened to you back there?
Me and my friends were just scoping out the place.
I wandered off and I was lost all of a sudden
and I was alone.
I didn't know where I was at that point.
[Phil] Please tell me you had a light at least.
I did have a very small light.
OK.
As I was looking around, I saw a shadowy figure.
I know it wasn't human by how it was moving, floating around.
First I saw just one,
and then there was multiple of them.
And I didn't just see them, I actually heard them.
-What did you hear? -[Karin] Footsteps.
They were like this.
Not like a normal boot or a sneaker.
It was somebody
stomping.
First it was one here and there, but then it was like
multiple of them, and they were going faster.
[Phil] Were they interacting with you?
Do you think they were getting closer to you?
It looked like they were taunting me.
I was ignoring it. I was closing my eyes.
And the more I was ignoring them, the more they wanted me
to see them, to hear them. I was truly terrified.
But your friends were in the cave,
potentially not too far away.
Could it have been their footsteps that you were
hearing just bouncing around the cave walls?
When they found me, they told me they were
searching for me for two hours.
They were calling me the whole time.
These shadows didn't make any sounds except these steps.
When I finally heard my friends calling out my name,
I was
so grateful.
[Phil] What did you tell them?
I didn't tell them anything.
Why didn't you tell anyone?
I didn't want them to think that I'm crazy or something.
Hm.
[Karin] I hope maybe...
if somebody sees this and has a similar experience,
because people don't talk about this here, I hope that somebody
else can tell me that that happened to them, too.
[Heather] Phil's meeting with a witness that had an experience
inside Pivka Cave.
Do you think that would be a good spot to get
some answers? -Absolutely.
The cave system is really, in my opinion, the nexus
of power for all the paranormal activity in the area.
Whatever you were experiencing in the castle, it finds
its source in the cave.
There's a series of rituals that you can use to open
yourself to communication with Veles.
Once you've found the correct spot, there is this place
inside Pivka Cave called "the Black Cave."
-[Heather] Black Cave? -Yes.
That area was used as a ritual site.
So what's the most effective way to communicate with Veles?
I would conduct a little ritual of appeasement.
When you go there, you will see two places pillars that create
what seems like an entrance.
That would be the place where I would conduct this ritual
and try to connect with them.
Marco, thank you so much for meeting with me again.
Thank you. It's been a pleasure.
[Heather] The Black Cave lies four miles east of Predjama,
and according to Marco, it could be what's channeling
Veles' energy to the castle through its connected
subterranean caverns.
To find out, Phil and I will follow the underground
Pivka River until the walls turn black, coated in soot
from the fires of ancient rituals.
Unfortunately for Phil, that means he's gonna be
lugging our inflatable raft until we find the river.
[Phil] And the boat! All right, let's go.
[ominous tone plays]
[Heather] Stunning!
Wow!
[Phil] These must have taken millions of years to form.
Wow!
[Heather] Oh, my God!
[Phil] Look at the size of this cavern!
And we have stalagmites right overhead.
[Heather] Yeah, major formations.
[Phil] And you hear what I'm hearing?
[Heather] River!
[Phil] So this is the river that carved out
this entire cave system.
But, hey, we got to make sure we're in the right spot.
We have to find those olms.
Yeah, find the baby dragons,
and we're hot on the trail of Veles.
[Phil] All right, let's do this.
So, look for something white about a foot long.
[Heather] OK.
[Phil] Wait, right there. Look!
-There it is! -[Heather] Oh, wow!
[Phil] We found one!
That is my first baby dragon I've ever seen.
-[Heather] Mine too. -[Phil] Absolutely incredible!
I love how the geology and the biology has shaped
the culture of this entire country.
[Heather] Yeah, it's all tied together.
Baby dragon marks the spot.
That means Black Cave must be this way.
OK, let's put that boat together.
OK.
[pump blowing]
[ominous music plays]
[Phil] Here we go.
[Heather] Next stop, Black Cave.
[water sloshing softly]
[Phil] Wow!
[gushing rises]
You hearing that?
It sounds loud.
[Phil] It is getting louder.
Are those rapids.
Oh my god, they are.
-We gotta go for it. -OK, let's go for it.
All right. Here we go!
[Heather] Easy.
Easy.
-[Phil] Go, go, go, push. -[Heather grunts]
[Phil] Push, push!
[Heather] Left, left. Rock ahead.
-[Phil] Go, go, go, go! -[Heather] Push, push, push!
Left, left, left!
Watch it! Watch it! Watch it!
[mysterious music plays]
[Heather] Left, left, left!
[Heather and Phil groaning]
[Phil] You good?
[Heather] Let's take a break.
[Phil] See a sport for us to land?
[Heather] I think right here, up on the right.
[Heather and Phil grunting]
[Phil] OK. We're good!
[Heather sighs]
-You see what I'm seeing? -Ha! Black rock.
[Phil] Yes. This must be it.
-Let's go. -[Heather] All right.
-Thanks. -[Phil] All right, let's do this.
[Phil] Jeez, look at these formations.
Incredible!
[Heather] Oh, look!
Marco said there'd be two columns.
-[Phil] There's got to be them. -[Heather] Let's get up there.
[Phil] Yeah, let's do it.
Wow.
I can't even begin to guess how old these columns must be.
Unbelievable.
Wow!
Heather, get over here. Look at this.
-Is that what I think it is? -[Heather] Oh, wow.
-That's charred wood. -Yes!
[Phil] Unreal.
I mean, think of how far back we are in this game.
No one would come back here just to light a little
campfire, like the only reason why we would find charred wood
here is because this is the place where people
did rituals.
Yeah, if people were coming here for hundreds of years
and doing rituals, that will leave an imprint on this space.
Well, it certainly left a visual imprint.
-We'll see about the other. -[Heather] I've got an idea.
If this chamber really is where shamans of the past
communicated with Veles, we could be standing
in the source of all the paranormal activity
affecting Predjama Castle.
Whether or not Veles exists, they clearly summoned
some kind of energy here.
So I want to try to do the same with the ritual Marco gave me.
[Phil] OK, so I see lights.
Right, because it's incredibly important to bring light back
into the cave for Veles. -The dragon?
-[Heather] Focus object. -[Phil] And what's in that?
[Heather] Coins. It's an offering.
Not only is Veles the god of the underworld, but he's also
the god of wealth.
And we all know that Erasmus was greedy, so this could
trigger him as well. -[Phil] OK.
[Heather] To try to open communication with Veles, I read an old
Slavic incantation.
Phil arranges four lights in the cardinal directions
and will turn on each one as I call out to the ancient god.
-You ready? -Ready.
[Heather] OK.
"I seek the one who dwells below.
"Veles,
"great serpent of the deep, guardian of the dead,
"come forth from the deep root, uncoil your wisdom.
"Let your breath pass through me.
I offer wealth that you may grant your presence here."
[clinking]
Hopefully, now the communication is open.
We're going to do the Estes Method.
I'm going to put myself in a state of sensory deprivation
to see if Veles can use me as an instrument
for communication.
So, any word that pops into my head, any image, I'm just gonna
speak it out loud and see if it connects with your questions.
I'm gonna set this recorder down just in case we get
any EVPs.
[suspenseful music builds]
OK.
These are noise-canceling and we'll play white noise,
so I'll be able to hear absolutely nothing.
[Phil] OK.
[suspenseful music plays]
[exhales]
[Phil] Hello.
Heather.
She can't hear anything. She can't see anything.
I'm going to begin.
Is Veles here right now?
How is the activity at Predjama Castle connected
to the activity done here?
Money.
Offering.
So it was money that they offered Veles.
-Fire. -[Phil] Money and fire.
What happened in Predjama Castle?
-Pain. -Pain.
War.
[Phil] So there was war.
Are you the one that slammed the door last night?
-Me. -You scared us pretty good.
Did you like that?
[Heather] Yes.
So you like scaring people.
Why?
-Anger. -[Phil] Anger.
OK.
What are you angry about?
[Heather] Dead.
Someone is angry that they are dead?
Yes.
[Phil] That is crazy.
500 years after evil Lord Erasmus used the Postojna Caves
to resist the siege, the caves would be weaponized
once more, this time against the Nazis.
April 24, 1944, the occupying German forces
have concealed a vital fuel depot deep within the caves,
protecting it from Allied bombers, but not from brave
resistance fighters.
Led by 22-year-old Tadeusz Sadowski, a band of saboteurs
from the local Vojko Brigade uses their deep knowledge
of the caves to infiltrate the depot undetected.
They then set charges and sneak out just in time to make
1,200 barrels of fuel go boom!
The resulting inferno rages for a week,
crippling the Nazi supply lines.
Today, soot-stained and a commemorative plaque mark
this audacious act of resistance in the caves of Predjama Castle.
[mysterious music plays]
[Phil] So...
acknowledging you're dead,
and that's what you're angry about?
Were you killed at Predjama Castle?
Erasmus?
Let's say this is you.
Could you tell us more?
[Heather] Freedom.
[Phil] You were trapped in that castle,
surrounded for a year. We went through a passage.
Was that your way to freedom?
What did you hope to gain
by sending a shaman here? -Power.
Ooh!
So, there are bats in here.
Gone.
[mysterious exhalation]
[Phil] What the [bleep] was that?
It sounded like a breath.
[Heather exhales]
That is crazy.
It just sounded like there was a breath.
Moments later, she just did a big exhale.
What?
-Did you just tap me? -[Phil] No!
-I didn't tap you. -You didn't just tap me.
[Phil] No.
[Heather] It felt like you were trying to get my attention.
-[Phil] What? -Yes!
I just heard what sounded like a breath coming from the cave,
a second later, you let out a big...
[exhales sharply]
...exhale. -That's weird.
[Phil] Yes!
-So you couldn't hear me at all? -[Heather] No.
[Phil] It was oddly specific.
Literally, you said, "Erasmus sent someone here
for power." -[Heather] No way, really?
[Phil] And I said, "OK, what did you leave here?"
-And then you said, "Fire." -That's so creepy.
It was almost as if I was talking to Erasmus.
That's incredible.
I mean, it was just words popping into my head and
I was just saying them. -[Phil] Wow.
And hey, we've got this recording of everything.
We've already gotten some answers.
I think this will hold more.
[Josh] Were Phil and Heather really in contact with the spirit
of evil Lord Erasmus?
I gave what I can to the dragon of stone water,
and I inscribe that the gates remain open.
May they arise renewed.
[Phil] Done.
[Josh] After Heather closed the ritual, the team left
the confines of the Black Cave behind to begin reviewing
the mountain of evidence they collected at the castle.
While Heather was doing a call-and-response
in the third-floor bedroom...
Did you murder a lot of people?
[Josh] She got a positive REM pod hit
when she mentioned "murder."
[device beeping]
Yeah.
[Josh] But there was something else shocking
she didn't realize.
At that exact moment on the second-floor stairs,
the footstep tracker was going off.
Heather wonders whether she was communicating with Erasmus
or perhaps the servant who betrayed him and then fled
the scene of the crime.
But Phil also heard and saw evidence
that he found very telling.
A bunch of bats.
[Phil] Ooh!
He believes the large amount of bat activity we captured
throughout Predjama can explain the reports of so-called
"children's laughter" and strange ghostly voices
that are regularly reported.
[ghostly child screams]
-[Josh] In reply... -[door slams]
-That was it. -[Heather] That was it.
[Josh]...Heather points out, no bat has the strength
to slam a door.
The most astonishing evidence, though, would come not
from the castle, but from the massive
cave system its connected to.
[Heather] Veles.
[Josh] During Heather's incantation, to Veles, she spoke the phrase,
"Let your breath pass through me."
Let your breath pass through me.
[mysterious exhalation]
[Heather exhales]
[Phil] What the [bleep] was that?
[Josh] Which seemed to then literally happen after Phil heard
a disembodied breath somewhere in the chamber.
With Heather as a conduit, was Phil somehow communicating
with the god Veles, or was it instead with Predjama's
notorious Lord Erasmus?
Heather reviewed the audio recording of her Estes session
and believes she found the answer.
[gnarled mumbling]
[Josh] She identifies the word "izdal..."
[Josh] ...Slovenian for "betrayed."
After the siege and betrayal that led to his violent death,
is Erasmus still unwilling to give up his castle
more than 700 years later?
Heather is convinced the evil Lord still spectrally sits
on the ominous throne of Predjama Castle.