Trou du Diable

Trou du Diable (French pronunciation: [tʁu dy djabl], Devil's Hole) is a cave situated in Portneuf Regional Natural Park, St-Casimir Municipality, Portneuf RCM, Capital Nationale, Quebec, Canada.

Trou du Diable
Devil's Hole (En)
Geology field lessons, downstream entrance to the cave,[1][2] Saint-Casimir, Quebec
Geology	Karsts in Eastern Canada
Access	Quebec Speleology Society
Website	https://parcportneuf.com/grotte-trou-du-diable/

Speleology

Resurgence^[3] of the small, unnamed watercourse near its mouth in the Sainte-Anne River

Speleology and caving are the study and exploration of caves. Caution is required, caves are dangerous places which carry risks of serious injury or even death.^[4] Note: The Trou du Diable cave is only accessible by guided tours offered by the Portneuf Regional Natural Park.^[5]

The cave underground environment is an immense natural laboratory for caving, geomorphology, geology, biology, climatology and other disciplines.^[6]

The use of a glossary proves to be a valuable aid in defining the meaning of terms and meanings in current use within the speleological fraternity.^[3]

The Trou du Diable is the second largest cave in Quebec, with a little over a kilometer of underground galleries, it's located east of the village of Saint-Casimir.^[1]

We notice:
— the presence of a network of dry galleries, the most typical of which is the pot gallery with beautiful forms of vortex erosion
— the vast dimensions of certain parts of the cave
— the arrival of underground tributaries joining the main channel
— the mediocrity of concretions, which testifies to the importance of dissolution actions^[7][1][8]

• Saint-Casimir Devil's Hole Cave - Trou du Diable (Fr)
• 
  Downstream exit of the stream (unnamed) and the cave
• 
  February icy vault in the cave
• 
  Trou du Diable entrance
• 
  Unnamed tributary of the Sainte-Anne River at its exit,^[9] a few meters from its mouth

• Limestone wall at the downstream outlet
• 
  February 1995
• 
  November 2024

Science, Legends and Superstitions

Saint-Casimir Trou du Diable interpretation center, information panel

Caves are often associated with legends and superstitions of all kinds, dragons, sorcerers and devils like the Quebec caves called fairy hole, devil's hole or bottomless hole. On the Devil's Hole cave of Saint-Casimir, it is said that:

• The stream was used to quench the thirst of the damned.
• The noises heard inside the cave were those of souls forgotten in purgatory.
• The water vapor escaping through the openings, including the Devil's chimney, came from hell.^[6]

It is also said that:
... When New France was discovered, people thought they had found a virgin continent, an earthly paradise, a place where malevolent minds had not set foot.
... Rather, the Devil had taken refuge on this land, enjoying a place where he could take some time off, telling himself that the most prosecuted entity of this world certainly deserved this perfect sanctuary. This is how the Devil found a home in an endless cavern, at the base of a waterfall where he was sheltered by an immense and eternal whirlpool. There he found tranquility and peace, as well as a place where he could drink and feast without being disturbed.
... Sometimes he even allowed himself to torment some poor, lost souls who had the misfortune of falling into the waterfall.
...They called that place ‘The Den of Evil Manitous’. Later, it was named the ‘Trou du Diable’, meaning the Devil’s den. People said it would forever imprison those who fell into it. The Iroquois threw into it the remains of Father Buteux.
Source: Trou du Diable, microbrewy^[10]