They called this part of the cave 'Heaven's Gate', not that the naming had to do with religion per say. You see the waterfall over there that drops off into nothingness, the one that doesn't seem to go anywhere if you believe the science-folk and their multitude of probes, well according to the old stories, it was used to send unwanted children away... if you catch my drift.
Of course there's plenty of proof for this in well-preserved diaries, carved apologies in the walls around it and all the little trinkets and offerings that are still placed around there. It's more as a memorial nowadays rather than folks continuing the practice but if you linger round here for long enough they say you'll hear the weeping mothers.
I haven't heard them myself but I have heard their drowned infants playing a few tunnels deeper where another waterfall leads into a smallish lake. They opened that section up for guided tours last year and recently added a raised platform 'to allow for a better overview' apparently but those of us who work here know that they just want to avoid another casualty.
We're meant to go along with their overview story and keep the music playing but if I switch it of for even a minute you can hear them playing below us. They want you to think that they are children and they want you to go down there. They've figured out how to appeal to our parental instincts and then go for the throat while we're still floundering about wondering where the unseen children are.
After the raised platforms it's a pretty straightforward series of tunnels leading back up to the main chamber and blissful sunlight once again. We pretend it's all stories and special effects and draw straws to see who has to go back and lock up the infants just in case they find their way up to the walkway and decide to make a break for it.
Then we open again same time the next morning and hope that we close with the same number of people.
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