The Speulderbos Forest near the hamlet of Drie looks like a primeval forest with its knotted, mossed-covered oaks, and half-rotting tree trunks. The evidence that the area was also inhabited by people in ancient times, is proven by the numerous burial mounds in the area. The forest also has a mysterious Ice-Age loam pit, the Solse Gat, which is cloaked in local legend.
Burial mounds
There are numerous burial mounds in the area surrounding the hamlet of Drie. Approximately 2800 BC, the dead were buried in simple pits. They were laid to rest with their knees brought up to their chests men lying on the left side, women on their right, with their faces facing in a southerly direction. The pits were covered over with a mound of cut turf and sand. This was the most common burial tradition for almost two thousand years.
Loam pit
The Solse Gat is a loam pit on the forest floor of the Speulderbos Forest, in between the mounds. It evolved as a pingo ruin: a large wedge of ice under the earth’s surface that forms a crater when it melts. But according to local legend, it was created in a very different way: ‘Once upon a time, there was a mighty monastery. The monks were very well behaved during the day, but emerged as veritable devil worshippers at nightfall. They performed Black Mass rituals, and the devil himself, witches and spirits would visit this once so pious place. The monks drank wine out of buckets, ate like pigs and danced and swore until the break of dawn.
The monks of Sol lived in sin like this for many years, until in the middle of the night one Christmas Eve, a tremendous winter storm raged over the Veluwe region followed by an enormous thunderbolt. The next morning, on Christmas Day, the curious villagers went to see what had happened. In Speulderbos Forest, where the monastery had stood, there was a horrifyingly deep pit in the forest floor. The earth had opened up and swallowed the entire monastery as punishment for the monks’ debauchery. From that day on, passers-by have heard strange noises around midnight, coming from the depths of the pit. This is said to be the erratic ringing of the bells in the devoured monastery.
