the sides of the world shrieked at his roar,
The firmament, the skies, the earth and the mountains.
Mahabharata.
The depths of the Yakut lake keep the secret of the "relic dinosaur" to this day. Fans of adventure and mystical stories about mysterious monsters are haunted by Lake Labynkyr in the East of Yakutia. According to Yakut legends, there is a certain underwater monster in it that devours dogs, deer and even people.
In many versions, they retell horror stories about the death of a whole caravan of Evenks, who faced this monster. In winter, nomadic reindeer herders rode on reindeer sleds on the ice of a frozen lake. In one place they saw huge horns of a certain animal sticking out from under the ice. When the reindeer herders wanted to saw them off, something terrible happened: something huge stirred, the ice began to crack with a crash and almost all the people were under water.
There are many such incredible stories. The local population says that once an unknown creature jumped ashore and pursued a Yakut fisherman, who died of fear. On another occasion, eyewitnesses saw how the "labynkyr devil" stuck his head out of the water and swallowed a swimming dog in one fell swoop. Another incident happened with a local hunter. He tied a reindeer team to an object that was sticking out from under the ice. After he made a fire and suddenly heard a terrible crack: an unknown object swayed, the ice cracked and something huge carried the deer into the abyss.
1986 - an all-terrain vehicle fell under the ice, which divers tried to lift. After another dive into the Labynkyr lake, they were so scared that they agreed to dive with only one condition: "Either put us in a metal cage, or we refuse to dive." One can only guess what they could see in the depths of the lake …
Lake Labynkyr, where the Labynkyr devil allegedly lives, is located in one of the northernmost uluses of Yakutia - Oymyakonsky, not far from the cold pole at an altitude of 1,020 meters. It is quite large (the lake is 14 km long and 4 km wide) and the depth is about 60 meters. The Labynkyr river of the same name flows into the lake and flows through the ice not melting dam. It should be noted that three islands protrude from the depths of the lake, and one of them - 30 m in diameter and 5 m in height - is located exactly in the center of the reservoir and has a mysterious property. Local residents from the village of Tompor claim that this island sometimes disappears under water, then reappears.
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Another of the mysterious features of Labynkyra Lake is that, being near the cold pole, it freezes later than other, more remote from it, water bodies, and even then half. In winter, very large openings with smooth edges appear on the ice of the lake - the local population called them "devil's windows". Sometimes traces of unknown large animals are found near them. Even in 60-degree frost, few people risk moving around the lake, because the ice can fall through in the most unexpected place.
Old-timers of Tompor believe that an unknown animal ("Labynkyr devil") has lived in the Labynkyr lake since time immemorial (the folk epic describes it from the 16th century) and behaves extremely aggressively. Deer are more often the object of his hunting.
Descriptions of the "Labynkyr devil" from different eyewitnesses almost coincide. They all paint it as something "huge, dark gray, with such a huge head that the distance between the eyes is not less than traditional local rafts of 10 logs, which is more than 1.5 meters."
One of the fishermen was terribly frightened when on the sides of his boat he saw two large plates under the water, very much like the huge eyes of an unknown animal. And the local collective farmer Pyotr Vinokurov accidentally picked up a huge animal jaw with teeth on the northern shore of the lake. When it was placed vertically, a rider on horseback could easily pass under it.
Participants of many expeditions witnessed the movement of a large living body in the lake. For the first time, the conversation about "northern monsters" was raised by the newspaper "Youth of Yakutia" back in 1958. In 1961, the journal "Vokrug Sveta" published the diaries of VI Tverdokhlebov, head of the geological party of the East Siberian branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. They confirmed the existence of a large unknown animal in the Yakut lakes Labynkyr and Vorota (also 60 m deep, but smaller in size). Both lakes are located adjacent to each other and can connect to each other underground.
1953, July 30 - V. Tverdokhlebov and technician-radiometer B. Bashkatov conducted observations of the Labynkyr lake from the Sordonnoh plateau. Here is what the scientist wrote in his diary:
“The subject floated pretty close. It was something alive, some kind of animal. It moved in an arc: first along the lake, then straight towards us. As he approached, a strange numbness, from which it grows cold inside, seized me. A dark gray carcass rose slightly above the water, two symmetrical light spots, similar to the eyes of the creature, stood out clearly, and something like a stick protruded from the body … We saw only a small part of the animal, but a huge massive body was guessed under the water …
The monster moved with a heavy throw, rising slightly out of the water, it rushed forward, and then completely plunged into the water. At the same time, waves were coming from his head, born under the water. “He claps his mouth, catches fish,” a guess flashed … There was no doubt: we saw the “Labynkyr devil” - the legendary monster of these places.
After the publication of V. Tverdokhlebov's diary in print, a number of scientific expeditions to the lakes were organized. One of them, which began research in the summer of 1962, was led by the scientist-ichthyologist FN Kirillov. This and another expedition from representatives of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, which worked in 1963, found neither direct nor indirect confirmation of the existence of the Yakut monster. But at about the same time, scientists from Dubna on one of the bright nights three times observed a large object floating in the distance in Lake Gateway and even managed to take several pictures of the footprint it left on the water. It goes along the coast and ends in a large round spot - it seems that an animal has just dived in this place.
1969 - they made the last attempt to find the "feature" of the Labynkyr lake, but it was not crowned with success either. For more than 20 years, scientists have not visited these places. And only in 1991 an expedition arrived here from Estonia. With the help of instruments, she fixed a large crack at the bottom of the lake and discovered a large object of unknown origin. However, official science ignored this fact.
In October - November 1999, the research association "Cosmopoisk" began to study the lakes. Here is what the leader V. Chernobrov said about the first weeks of the expedition:
“It was the 12th day of an exhausting journey through the frosty taiga. This is not to say that it was difficult for us on the way, no, this is not the right word, it is easier to say that something or someone always interfered with the progress. We crossed over the last ridge, and in the gaps between the forest of stunted larches, at last the glittering surface of Labynkyr Lake appeared. Surprisingly, during the severe frost the lake was not frozen!..
This paradox, which we later talked about in Moscow, greatly surprised all experienced taiga residents. The dog accompanying us, barking, rushed first to Labynkyr, and then, without reaching the water - as if something had frightened her there, - with a squeal came back. In the company of people, the fearless husky nevertheless approached the shore even closer, but two meters from the calm surface of the water it stood up tight. The quiet surface of the lake suddenly foamed and a lone wave ran across the flat water."
The expedition had unique instruments that were able to thoroughly probe the bottom of the lake. With their help, at a depth of 39 m, one inclined underground underwater passage and two presumably vertical ones were discovered. The fact that the entire water column within a radius of hundreds of meters turned out to be lifeless - not a single fish was recorded near the passages, seemed a mysticism for the researchers. Maybe this is the "home" of that same "Labynkyr devil"?
Another mystery awaited the researchers on the shore, not far from the underground grottoes. Incomprehensible traces were found here. There were no dents on the pebbles, only ice build-ups - stalagmites formed from the water flowing down from the body that crawled onto the shore. Judging by them, it was possible to conclude that the width of the alleged animal was more than 1.5 m.
Soon the husky disappeared without a trace, which in the evening lay down to guard the boat on the shore. And the next morning, someone loudly, clearly not human, but some kind of "satanic" laugh, was clearly heard around the tent of the researchers. It was repeated several times. Inspection of the area gave nothing: there were no people or animals nearby. It remained to assume that the source of laughter is in the water. Local hunters also said that they did not know anyone who could make or imitate such wild sounds. In the end, everyone agreed that it was not for nothing that these places were notorious.
The next search for the Yakut underwater monster was taken up by the participants of the television documentary cycle "The Searchers". They were equipped with the most modern instruments - echo sounders and a remotely controlled underwater vehicle "Gnome". The echo sounder showed an unusual difference in depths at the bottom of the lake - from 40 to 86 m. There was a crack or an underwater channel.
At a depth of 42 m, the device recorded a large object, but it was not possible to determine what it was. In the area of the underwater channel, strange things were happening: the fish did not come closer than 20-30 m to this place. One got the impression that it was behaving very carefully, as if it were frightened by something. It was surprising and incomprehensible, especially when you consider that no one dived or dived into the lake for decades.
On the screen of the deep-sea probe "Gnome", which explored the area of the crack, the search engines saw an image of many remains and bones of some animals. One of the skulls looked very much like a horse's, although there is no shelter for tens of kilometers around. Perhaps this place is the kitchen of the "underwater line"?
The researchers devised a daring plan to capture the monster. In the beginning they used very strong fishing tackle made of modern material, but at a depth of 49 m they were broken. Then they decided to fish with live bait. An empty 200 liter barrel was used as a float. What was the surprise of the researchers when they did not find it on the surface of the water. It is only possible to guess what size an animal should be to drown and drag such a "float" to the bottom!
At night, strange and very unpleasant sounds for the human ear were heard from the lake. There was some inexplicable tension in the air. The “satanic voice” recorded on highly sensitive equipment was eventually analyzed by experts in Moscow. They concluded that the sound does not belong to any known living creature.
Lake Labynkyr continues to keep its secrets, around which many hypotheses and assumptions arise. In accordance with them, the "Labynkyr devil" has already "tried on" many guises. The simplest and most easily explained is the so-called "fish version". The Labynkyr monster is represented in the form of a giant pike, burbot or catfish. But an overgrown fish cannot live that long, and for the procreation, there must be at least two of them.
Perhaps the lake was chosen by giant representatives of pinnipeds? Among them there are also predators, for example the leopard sea. Or maybe it's a seal or a seal? But then, for reproduction, they definitely need a coastal rookery. Scientists also mention beluga whales, sperm whales, narwhals and killer whales. There is also a hypothesis about a "Siberian dinosaur", but it also does not find logical confirmation: living in ice water, laying eggs there, is unlikely.
It remains to be hoped that the secret of the "Labynkyr devil" will still be revealed sometime. Moreover, the monster from Lake Labynkyr has many "relatives" all over the world. Reports of encounters with exotic creatures continue to come …
V. Syadro, V. Sklyarenko
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