Sometimes one has the habit of walking amongst piles of books, old in some cases, of offer in others, which are not given too much attention from the beginning. This was how La Catalu'a Misteriosa (sic, 1977) came to our hands, the author of which was D’Arbó, a well-known journalist of paranormal subjects. The book included a chapter “Geological Mysteries” [p. 137] that mentioned a fantastic underground river in Montserrat, the access to which seemed impossible today.
The story was fascinating. At the beginning of the 19th century, a monk, Father Gerard Joana (1769-1841), eager for adventure and explorer, in addition to a positive scientific spirit, enters through a cave located at the foot of the mountain and seems to find, almost by chance, a deep ravine with a river that crosses through its bottom. This is the story that D’Arbó tells in his book, summarised of what Abat Miquel Muntades himself wrote in his work Montserrat, su pasado, su presente y su porvenir (1866).
Father Joana in his studies on the mountain, and not satisfied with the observations, prepared for a new expedition. To this end, it was done with all the necessary means to enter the Cova del Salnitre, in Collbató.
"In this way, he entered through one of the holes that one of the rooms of the Cave had, always carrying a compass with a north direction, convinced that he would arrive either with the well of Santa Magdalena, or the well of the rock of Lloro.
Indeed, overcoming difficulties and saving distances, he could reach much inside the mountain and so much that, for all the signs, he understood that he was very close or under the hermitage of Santa Anna.
Gojós himself and his companions as much as they had deepened, believed that they could come much later, when they found such a large ravine and such surprising distances, that no matter how much they lectured and thought, they had to convince themselves of the impossibility of saving them.
And what scared them the most was the great noise made by the waters that ran through the ravine.
Then they decided to retreat, always guided by the strings they had left to advance, with the aim of studying and providing themselves with new tools for a new expedition.”
[Muntadas, cited work, p. 34-35].
This is the story narrated by the Abbot and reproduced in La Catalu'a Misteriosa. D’Arbó also adds that
“on the road from Collbató to Monistrol, there is an exit from this also mysterious underground river of Montserrat. A mouth through which water flows intermittently according to the rains of the area. Another mouth, also of this river, is located in a cave in Monistrol, which is called exactly like that of Collbató, Les Mentiroses; so there are two known mouths of these mysterious river, La Mentirosa de Collbató and Les Mentiroses de Monistrol; both mouths are intermittent and have more or less flow according to the rainy season. But it turns out that there is a third mouth, and it is also the main one, as the river emerges in the open air from the interior of the earth, in the same Plaza de Monistrol, a short distance from the other mouth of Les Mentiroses de Monistrol and in this mouth the influx of water is continuous.
[D'Arbo, cited work, p. 141].
As a first approach to such an alien subject, we thought it was convenient to explore on the ground directly, trying to recognize the basic elements that D’Arbó cites in his book. So, a month later we found ourselves walking through the narrow streets, charming on the other hand, of a town at the foot of our mountain: Monistrol of Montserrat. We had read that here the famous underground river emerged from the ground, in the central square whose name is significant in itself: Font Gran.
It also gives this municipality the mouth of the intermittent Mentirosa de Monistrol. After a few goings and coming through the winding streets, we managed to locate the surgences, and for our luck – although at that time it was a bit annoying – it took a few days raining, so the water came abundantly out of the Font Gran and the “trop-plein” of the Mentirosa.
There, in the very centre of Monistrol de Montserrat, while a gray day surrounded us and dropped a weak rain, which slipped through the wet pavements, and the fog dragged painfully among the capricious forms of the sacred mountain, which gave it a strange, almost magical appearance, we were contemplating “the exit of the mysterious underground river of Montserrat”. Indeed, a large amount of water came out, which added to the one that did for the Mentirosa, gave a significant flow. Significant, but not a great river, not even a river. We could call it, if we felt generous, a flowing stream. This happened after days of heavy rain. We had met with the first exaggeration of history...
Antoni Ardanuy Dellà
Jordi Ardanuy Barón
Extracted with brief adaptation of: The Misterios underground river of Montserrat. A complete study of the well-known underground river of Montserrat and its relationship with the Caves of Salnitre. L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. Edition of the authors, 1995.
Comment: Magnificent book, but very short. In an animated way it is perfectly clear that there is no mystery about the presence of water in a mountain, which does not seem obvious for some walkers and credules. But it is also evident that the existence of a fabulous river is a legend exploited by the suffixes of parasciences.