Anywhere described as being ‘Satan’s Castle’ sounds like somewhere to absolutely stay away from. I mean, it sounds like something that belongs to a villainous character in a dark fantasy film.
But it seems to be a real place, lying on a cliff in a remote canyon of the river kura in northeastern Turkey.
And while most of us would avoid it at all costs, this bloke decided to stay overnight in Şeytan Castle but ended up being forced to leave after a terrifying encounter.
Mike Corey is a ‘professional adventurer’ and host of Fearless and Far and he visited the abandoned fortress as part of his search ‘for the world’s greatest campsite’.
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The Canadian did admit that in hindsight ‘there were clues to how this misadventure would unfold’ but: “I didn’t notice them, and found myself in the middle of a crazy situation.”
Well, it definitely did get somewhat crazy as he found himself hearing gunshots.
“Guys, someone came with a gun and fired shots at the castle,” he says, a little panicked, “they’re firing shots at me.”
Corey is torn over whether to stay in the castle or to just grab his things and run.
Wondering if they were just ‘drunk, crazy locals’ or maybe something ‘worse’, he decided to leave everything behind in search of ‘a safe place to go’.
“They don’t want me here,” he says as he spots people with torches in the distance.
He decides to call his Turkish pal who then alerts the police. But Corey then gets a call back shortly after.
“He tells me the police have arrived, but they arrived an hour ago trying to apprehend a treasure hunter and a potential terrorist at Satan’s Castle,” the adventurer says.
It takes him a moment to realise he is the ‘treasure hunter and potential terrorist’ before returning to his tent where the military police are waiting.
They're all soon laughing though as they tell him there’s ‘no problem’. The police explained they thought it was a thief and had shot several bullets.
And comically they laugh that in return for having scared him a little with the guns and the shots fired they will ‘at least let’s subscribe’ to his YouTube channel.
Corey ended up being taken ‘to a nearby boutique hotel’ to spend the night and sat down to drink a coffee and smoke with them.
“No hard feelings among friends,” he says.
Jess Battison