Luponiai Hillfort (Perkūnkalnis, Perkūno kalnas, Raganų kalnas) dates back to the second half of the 1st millennium to the 14th century. The site is oval, elongated and 40x33 m. At its NW end is a 22 m long, 3 m high and 13 m rampart. Slopes are up to 10 m high. Below the site is the triangular forecourt that is 30x35 m. Below the site is also a 5 m wide terrace with a 2 m high external slope. The slopes are medium steep and 4-5 m high. On the 3 ha area there is a foothill settlement (excavated in 1997), where a cultural layer of the 10th-13th century was found, up to 50 cm thick, with an iron lance, an awl, a stone whetstone, a brass coupling, coarse and thrown pottery. On the south-west side of the hill, the dungeons could be entered through a secret door that only opened at 12:00 at night. At night, the fairies that lived inside would come out of the hill’s crypts and dance at the top of the mountain until the roosters crowed. They would party and make circles so loudly that even the ground would shake. Then the hill would calm down, and become silent, as if nothing had happened... And how beautifully they sang – it was heart wrenching. In the woods, by the campfires we used to listen to them while shepherding the horses and would fall asleep listening. The fairy would wake us up in our sleep: “Come on, boys, let’s go to the wedding on the hill up there, let’s dance and have a party...” If you went, you wouldn’t come back alive... Fairies would dance or tickle you to death. There was no way the boys would go up that hill at night...
Reviews