The purpose of the stones is one of the biggest mysteries of the site, with theories ranging from the sensible to the outlandish. Part of the speculation comes from the alignment of the stones, which is aligned to the sunset of the winter solstice and the sunrise of the summer solstice. This has led people to assume that the site had either astronomical, astrological, or religious importance to those who built it. Excavations have shown a large number of burials at the site, a higher-than-expected proportion of which reveal illness or deformity, which has led some academics to see the site as a place of healing, similar to later pilgrimage sites around Europe. The burials also reveal that people traveled extremely long distances, from the Mediterranean, France, and Germany, to Stonehenge. The stones are also at the center of several myths, from the folk belief that the devil brought the heel stone to Stonehenge from Ireland to the Arthurian legend that Merlin the magician erected the stones. In the 20th Century, the stones became increasingly significant to the growing followers of Neopaganism and New Age spiritualism, although it’s not clear what kind of religious practices were originally followed at Stonehenge. English Heritage offers visitors the chance to enter the stone circle at the Summer and Winter Solstices and at the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, partly to facilitate religious practices.