New Argophilia series—creepy Cretan stories every Wednesday until Halloween.
Near Damasta, 15 km west of Heraklion, the Voulismeno Aloni doline hides a chilling legend: every July 20, creaks and a girl’s voice are said to rise from its depths.
- Voulismeno Aloni lies 15 km west of Heraklion, near Damasta.
- A near-perfect circular karst sinkhole, 90m wide and up to 50m deep.
- Formed by the collapse of an ancient cave, though no cave has been found.
- Popular with climbers — 12 routes, seminar schools, and global visitors.
- Legend: A farmer, his wife, and daughter were said to have “swallowed” for working on Prophet Elias Day.
- Every July 20, locals claim to hear creaks and the daughter’s ghostly song.
- First story in our Creepy Crete series — new tales every Wednesday until Halloween.
Head west from Heraklion, past the Tylissos junction, and after a few more kilometers toward Damasta, the earth suddenly yawns open. What you see is Voulismeno Aloni, the “Sunken Threshing Floor.” From above, it looks like the work of some celestial compass: a nearly perfect circle, 90 meters across, with sheer limestone walls rising 15 to 50 meters high.
Scientists call it a karstic doline — the kind of sinkhole that forms when water gnaws at limestone, hollows out a cave, and then one day the ceiling collapses. A textbook case, they say. But here, the “cave” has never been found. And the circle is just a little too neat for some.
Climbers, however, see no mystery — only a playground. With 12 bolted routes of high difficulty, Voulismeno Aloni has become a mecca for climbers from all over the world. Every weekend, you will find seminar schools setting up ropes and eager locals inching their way up the stone. Tourists peer over the rim, watching specks of humanity scale walls once feared as cursed.
The Farmer Who Would Not Stop
Cretans whisper another story. Long ago, a farmer ignored the feast day of Prophet Elias. Grain was heavy on the stalks, and he wanted it threshed before storms could ruin it. His wife protested:
“On a day like this! The saint will burn us!”
“The saints have other work,” the husband said, and they began. Their daughter sang as they labored under the sun.
Then a thunderclap split the sky. The ground gave way. The threshing floor, the farmer, his wife, and their daughter disappeared into the earth.
July 20: The Day the Ground Remembers
Every year, on July 20, locals say the Sunken Threshing Floor remembers. Those who linger at the rim hear the creak of hay being worked, and beneath it, the faint, desperate voice of the girl singing her last song:
«Γύρω γεια τωνε κι όλα τ’ αχερά δικά ντωνε.»
Greetings all around, and may all the chaff be theirs.
Whether you believe the scientists or the saints, Voulismeno Aloni is more than a geological curiosity. It is a scar in the landscape, a climbing paradise, and a place where myth and stone overlap so tightly that even today, no one is quite sure which story to trust.
Programming note: This is the first in our Creepy Crete series—new chills every Wednesday until Halloween. Got a local legend? Send it our way before the wind does.
