During World War II, Japanese naval forces in Okinawa, led by Rear Admiral Minoru Ota, built an elaborate underground headquarters, with hundreds of meters of connecting tunnels under a hill in... »

Memento Mori, Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Ghost Towns, Disaster Areas, Subterranean Sites | Edited by spinkk, Dylan and 2 others

The Chapel of Bones is part of the larger Royal Church of St. Francis and was constructed by Franciscan monks in the late 16th century. The Chapel's story is a familiar one. By the 16th... »

Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries | Edited by Dylan, Lockeblade and 2 others

In 1145 in Via Brolo, Milan, a hospital was built near the Santo Stefano Maggiore Church. The graveyard, filling with bodies from the new hospital, soon proved insufficient. Not long after, in... »

Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries | Edited by Maya, Dylan and 2 others

In the Waldsassen Basillica in Waldsassen, Germany, the halls of the church are lined with an unusual sort of decoration. Known as the "Holy Bodies," they are the skeletons of Christian... »

Ossuaries | Edited by wythe and Dylan

Piling up heaps of skulls of your vanquished foes represented the apogee of barbaric warlord behavior. This ancient practice survived in some cultures well into the historic times. Ćele Kula,... »

Ossuaries | Edited by stanestane, fetherst and 2 others

Many are familiar with the now well known Mexican Day of the Dead Celebration held on Nov. 2cnd each year. A celebration of ones ancestors it has a distinctly fun meets macabre atmosphere with... »

Memento Mori, Relics and Reliquaries, Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Cultures and Civilizations , Rites and Rituals | Edited by Dylan

Like many ossuaries in Europe, the Cimitero Fontanelle began as an secondary burial ground when the church yards and crypts began to overflow. Unlike other ossuaries, the skulls of the anonymous... »

Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Curious Places of Worship, Subterranean Sites | Edited by Annetta

In 1916, this nine-month battle of Verdun claimed over 300,000 lives, and left about 300,000 more wounded. (By comparison, the total current death toll for American soldiers of both the Iraq and... »

Ossuaries | Edited by stanestane

In an area of less than 20 square kilometers, an area roughly half the size of Manhattan, there were 700,000 casualties and some 230,000 men died during the nearly year long battle of Verdun in... »

Memento Mori, Ossuaries, Disaster Areas | Edited by

Before doing renovation or new construction in the 1600 year old town of Brno (officially settled in 1243 but occupied since the 400s), it is standard practice to do a preliminary archeological... »

Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Subterranean Sites | Edited by Dylan