Calcutta. The Site of the Black Hole.

The Black Hole of Calcutta was made famous by an account written by John Hollwell, now disputed.

In 1756, the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daulah captured Fort William and took a number of European prisoners who were unable to escape. Over 140 people were believed to have been imprisoned and put in an airless and small dungeon of Fort William. Most of them died and the dungeon came to be known as the Black Hole of Calcutta. How much of the story is true is open to dispute. Far fewer people might have died, and it may largely have been an unintentional accident of war. It did however fire English fears in India for centuries.