Last updated: December 12, 2023
Place
Fort Christiansvaern Dungeon
NPS Photo: Kahle
Quick Facts
Location:
Fort Christiansvaern
As you step back into the corridor, you will notice the stairway to your left leading down to the dungeon. This truly was a pit of despair. You may proceed beneath, but watch your head and your step!
At night this trap door will be closed and locked, trapping you in a tomb like cell, leaving you with no hope for escape. Primarily enslaved Africans were placed in this horrible dungeon. With only a nine-inch (22.9 cm) square to allow in light and air, sanity would be difficult to maintain for long in such a place.
You may have noticed the other room here in this chamber, this is known as the black hole. Once placed in this room and having the door shut, no light or fresh air would be present. The feeling of being buried alive would be overwhelming.
Prisoners could be held here for many reasons, murder, theft, destruction of property. But even some acts we today would see as heroic, including resistance to colonization and the bonds slavery.
Imagine this chamber being full of other people with you. The echoing sounds of moans and coughs rattling your ears and forbidding any sleep or rest. The horrible smells of unwashed bodies and human waste. The cries of pain, sadness and hopelessness. Can you imagine a harsher punishment?
Watch your head on the way out.
At night this trap door will be closed and locked, trapping you in a tomb like cell, leaving you with no hope for escape. Primarily enslaved Africans were placed in this horrible dungeon. With only a nine-inch (22.9 cm) square to allow in light and air, sanity would be difficult to maintain for long in such a place.
You may have noticed the other room here in this chamber, this is known as the black hole. Once placed in this room and having the door shut, no light or fresh air would be present. The feeling of being buried alive would be overwhelming.
Prisoners could be held here for many reasons, murder, theft, destruction of property. But even some acts we today would see as heroic, including resistance to colonization and the bonds slavery.
Imagine this chamber being full of other people with you. The echoing sounds of moans and coughs rattling your ears and forbidding any sleep or rest. The horrible smells of unwashed bodies and human waste. The cries of pain, sadness and hopelessness. Can you imagine a harsher punishment?
Watch your head on the way out.