Masaya volcano in Nicaragua. Timelapse animations, Various views of dynamic lava lake including close-up and slow-motion of bursting lava bubbles.
In historical times, the volcano has frequently harboured lava lakes of varying sizes. The current lake first emerged in 2015.
As with many other volcanoes, the indiginous people considered it to be a god. This apparently resulted in sacrifice of children and maidens in times of drought in the hope of obtaining rainfall. These were possibly not the only people thrown into the volcano, since it is rumored that during the final months of the Somoza dictatorship (in 1979) the National Guard dropped political prisoners into the volcanoes Santiago crater from helicopters. The prisoners were held at the nearby Coyotepe Prison (La Fortaleza El Coyotepe). However, it is not clear if bodies of deceased prisoners were disposed of in this manner, if live prisoners were thrown in, or whether there is any truth in these stories at all.
After the Spanish conquest, some saw the volcano as a "Mouth of Hell", whilst others were convinced that the lava lake was full of gold. The latter view led to the first descent into the crater in 1538 by Friar Blas del Castillo and later to the recovery of samples using an iron container. In spite of the lack of Gold in the samples, the obsession with the volcanoes alleged gold continued for many years.