Harry Potter: Things We Bet You Didn’t Know About Azkaban Prison

If you ask us what’s the scariest place in the Harry Potter series, one would easily know the answer – Azkaban prison. Harry never visits but did hear a lot of horrifying stories to understand that he would never want to go anywhere close to that place. Guarded by creatures called dementors, who tortured the prisoners by using their powers of spreading sadness, despair, and grief. There’s actually way more to the history of Azkaban than most HP fans know. Also, well, there are terrifying facts that might scare up almost any Harry Potter fan out there.

Sirius Black Had To Swim Through The Sea To Escape Azkaban

The film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban didn’t show how Sirius made his great escape after 12 long years of being locked up in Azkaban.

However, the book reveals that Sirius had regained his inner spirit when he comes to know that Peter Pettigrew – the one who had framed him for his own deeds – was alive and Black had this strong urge to take his revenge.

Sirius transforms into a dog by using his Animagus powers, slipping between the bars and he was so skinny that his dog form was almost skeletal which was enough for Sirius to slip, with the blindness of the dementors preventing them to notice. Finally, Sirius swam all the way, meaning he actually swam through the North Sea to get his freedom while maintaining his dog form all the while.

‘Azkaban’ Is A Name Derived From Alcatraz And The Demon Abaddon

Related: 7 Darkest Spells In Harry Potter

It’s a unique name, isn’t it? Azkaban is a name that writer J.K. Rowling and the inspiration behind it is based on actual, real lore and locations. Derived from the Alcatraz prison, also situated on an island and is considered to be the Muggle equivalent of  Azkaban. Moreover, the second prospect is the demon Abaddon, whose name stands for “place of destruction.”

Minister Eldrich Diggory Made an Attempt To Reform Azkaban But Died Mysteriously

Damocles Rowle, who was Minister for Magic, was the one who made a decision that Azkaban would be the best place to keep and torment prisoners, and until that point, all the criminals moved to the new location.

Fifteen long years later, Minister Eldritch Diggory, who was the minister then, made a visit to the prison for the very first time and he was in total shock to see what he saw. He was alarmed with its state, realizing that it was a crime to punish the humans with such a level of high torture of just being around dementors as Diggory also noticed that the cellmates had gone crazy.

The Minister decided to remove all dementors from the prison and when he was on the verge of making it official, he mysteriously contracted Dragon pox and died in a few days, and the reform died with him and Azkaban continued to be guarded by dementors.

Dementors Allowed Bellatrix Lestrange And Her Allies To Escape Azkaban

The Daily Prophet reported that Azkaban inmates had broken out of the dangerous prison by themselves, but all members of Order of the Phoenix believed that Voldemort visited the prison himself. But the hideous truth is that it was the dementors who let the prisoners out safely. Thanks to a deal, the dementors had made with Voldemort, who promised all of them easier and nicer victims to feed on rather than being just guarding prisoners for the Ministry. In the end, the dementors managed to free Bellatrix Lestrange and her evil supporters. This also shows us the persuasion powers of Voldemort as he turned quite successful in controlling the whole Azkaban itself.

Azkaban Was Originally A Location Where A Dark Wizard Killed Muggles

Azkaban’s history is quite horrifying, and we somewhat know that. It was a rock where an extremely dark and powerful wizard named Ekrizdis made his lair, after which he started luring Muggle sailors and then tortured them. As it remains, the way he tormented and killed these Muggles was so terrible that even wizards do not really go into its detail.