Many myths have grown up around mysterious, seemingly pointless staircases that appear (and sometimes disappear) in strange places...
By their very definition, urban legends are stories that are almost certainly not true, but have passed into common folklore in the tradition of storytelling (these days more often via the internet!). These stories are usually scary or humorous and often tailored to fit individual localities, belief systems or social issues whilst retaining the same overarching theme or outcome.
One of the urban legend themes that recurs around the world is the mystery of so-called ‘staircases to nowhere’ found in remote, often wooded, and difficult to access areas. The stairs are typically built solidly, out of concrete or stone or metal, but have no obvious purpose, leading to the various stories around them.
Of course the first assumption for most people would be that the staircase is a remnant of a previous construction, such as a house, but the legend states that investigation of the surrounding area never uncovers any evidence of demolished walls, foundations, or other suggestions of a building.
Stairway to Hell
Some of the most commonly shared explanations for the stairs in the woods are the idea that they were created for some sort of satanic ritual, or that they serve as a portal to another dimension! This idea may have grown out of a small number of unexplained disappearances that have been linked to locations featuring one of these legendary ‘staircases to nowhere’ and online forums urge people stumbling across them to not be tempted into climbing to the top!
It is of course far more likely that the staircases are remnants of long-forgotten buildings or settlements, perhaps the remains of fire lookout towers or other practical infrastructure that has been long since abandoned – or even art installations placed for aesthetic and creative reasons, or even to perpetuate the legend. However these mundane explanations are far less exciting than the possibility of a staircase topped with the doorway to hell.
Cautionary Staircase Tales
Some of the mystery staircases come with their own urban legends on top. A famous story from the Philippines purports to be about a forest ranger named Torkik who went deep into the jungle in search of missing people, only to stumble across a set of strange, carved stone staircases. He decided to climb onto one of them to take a closer look, and was then chased further up the staircase by a vicious dog that appeared out of the undergrowth. On his return to the village, the ranger discovered that he had been missing for five years, and so the story went that the staircase was some sort of portal for time travel!
Another account comes from the 1940s, around the time of the Roswell UFO incident in the US. A scientist specialising in diseases was sent out with a small team to investigate strange reports relating to animals in the area , and encountered a strange wooden staircase in the woods which seemed to be emitting some sort of frequency. The team camped near the staircase for the night, but in the morning found that it had vanished into thin air, leaving only a black burn mark – they stayed in the area and a couple of days after this, the same staircase reappeared around 50 metres away from its original location! The scientist attempted to take a sample of the wood used to construct the staircase but found that it was impossible to chip off any of the material… The story ends here but is a lovely example of the kind of myths surrounding the staircase to nowhere trope.
