The summer season has come, and with it the time for hunting and fishing. However, going to rest on the shore of the lake, you need to be extremely careful. The fact is that relict monsters live not only in Scotland, they are found in other countries …
Ladoga Nessie
One of the most popular summer fishing spots for residents of Northwest Russia is Lake Ladoga. But, although predators dangerous to humans are not officially registered in these places, local residents talk about a monster that eyewitnesses have seen more than once in the waters of Ladoga. The famous writer and ethnographer of Karelia Aleksey Popov has collected an impressive collection of descriptions of encounters with a mysterious creature, and he shared a unique chronicle with the author of this article. The most interesting case, according to the researcher, occurred in the early 2000s.
Ecologists studying coastal forests, while vacationing, unexpectedly noticed an animal in the lake, like two drops of water similar to the Scottish Nessie. The first above the water appeared a huge head with a toothy mouth, located on a long neck. The body of the monster remained under water, but judging by the waves that it raised, its length was at least twenty meters. Fortunately, the lake monster did not see the people watching him and soon disappeared into the waters of Ladoga.
Local fishermen, in turn, confirmed to Alexei Mikhailovich that they often see this creature in the lake. In particular, a resident of the village of Mantsinsaari, Pitkyaranta region A. S. Konovalov shared a story about how in 1973 he noticed a large dark body in Ladoga while fishing. At first, the fisherman assumed that someone's boat capsized and hurried to the site of the alleged shipwreck. However, coming closer, the fisherman saw an unknown gigantic animal right in front of him. In fright, Konovalov rushed to the shore at full speed. Only when he was on solid ground, he was able to see the giant monster with wide eyes. There are dozens of similar descriptions of Ladoga Nessie. It is possible that a population of some prehistoric monsters lives in the lake today, so you need to be extremely careful when fishing on Ladoga.
The Berendey Swamp Monster
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The most amazing thing is that once the author of the article himself had a chance to witness a meeting with an unusual animal during an expedition to Berendeevo swamp, located a few tens of kilometers from Pereel vlya-Zalessky. According to legend, once on the territory of a huge swamp there was the kingdom of the legendary king Berendey, and in the period from 1964 to 1979, archaeologists have repeatedly found objects in the swamp from ten to five thousand years BC. More than once, in the swamp and the nearby Wolf Mountain, treasure hunters tried to find gold of ancient Slavic tribes. It is believed that the swamp hides many unsolved mysteries today. In order to solve them, the author of the article with a friend went to the center of the Berendey swamp.
At first, the road ran along a narrow embankment. To the right of it was a swampy lake, and to the left was a bog. Soon strange round holes with a diameter of about one and a half meters appeared at the edge of the embankment. It was impossible to determine who dug them. But the most surprising thing happened next. Suddenly, the companion of the author of the article, who was walking first, stopped rooted to the spot.
In the next instant, from the bog, located to the right of the embankment, along which we were walking, a mysterious creature the size of a large mastiff with the head of a lizard and a thick tail flew into the swampy lake to our left. Having plopped into the lake, it immediately disappeared under water. Despite the shock we experienced, we waited for some time to see if the monster would emerge to photograph it. Alas, this did not happen. Later it turned out that according to medieval chronicles in the north of Russia some animals "givoites", repeatedly described by European travelers, once lived. The same creatures, according to historical chronicles, attacked Pskov in 1582 and "ate many people there." According to scientists, the monsters, most likely, were ichthyostegs - something between a fish and an amphibian. The so-called Russian crocodiles had two paws,toothy mouth and thick tail. Later they were all killed. The last of the ichthyostegs was caught in the swamps of Belarus in the middle of the 19th century. It is possible that the population of these monsters survived in the huge Berendey bog.
The devil lives in Yakutia?
Yakutia is a country of lakes. There are over a million of them on the territory of the region. However, due to the harsh climate, only local residents - Yakuts and Evenks - can admire the beauty of the reservoirs. Perhaps this is for the best, since in one of the local lakes, according to hunters, there is a monster known as the Labynkyr Devil. The monster got its name from the name of the lake in which it lives. At the same time, it is possible that the monster can appear in other places, since it moves equally well both in water and on land. The legend about the existence of a prehistoric monster with a large body covered with dark gray hair and a huge muzzle, where the distance between the eyes is about a meter, has existed in Yakutia for over a hundred years. In this regard, it is difficult to say whether there is one long-lived monster or a whole population in the lake.
It is noteworthy that not a single road leads to the lake, and the nearest settlement is more than a hundred kilometers away. It is not surprising that the meetings with the "Labynkyr Devil" took place mainly among local hunters, who claim that the creature is extremely aggressive. Once the monster completely swallowed the dog, and the owner barely escaped from him. It is interesting that the stories about the "Labynkyr line" appeared much earlier than the discovery of the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. In addition, it should be noted that the existence of the Yakut monster is not just a folk story. Ethnographic expeditions that have traveled to the lake more than once recorded more than three dozen stories about the observations of this monster, but, unfortunately, they could not photograph it. According to the description of eyewitnesses, the body of the monster is about seven meters long, a huge head ends with a toothy mouth-beak,and the paws are shaped like flippers. In general, several species of waterfowl lizards considered extinct are suitable for this description.
Plesiosaurus vs Batu
Sometimes monsters living in the waters of Russian lakes not only frighten local residents and random travelers, but also show themselves to be real patriots. A prehistoric monster, according to legend, living in Lake Brosno in the Tver region, has repeatedly stood up to defend its native land from foreign invaders. The first time he dined on the horses and soldiers of Khan Batu, who recklessly entered the lake to drink water. The next time, during the Great Patriotic War, he allegedly swallowed a German pilot who crashed and fell into the waters of the lake. Since several centuries have passed between these events, it is logical to assume that not one, but entire generations of these creatures live in Brosno. Eyewitnesses claim that the local monster looks like an extinct plesiosaur with a large body, a "dragon" head and a long narrow tail. However,modern scientists are skeptical about the legend, suggesting that eyewitnesses take hydrogen sulfide emissions for a monster. Rising from the bottom to the surface of the water, hydrogen sulfide bubbles really look like the back of a giant creature. At the same time, when it bursts to the surface, hydrogen sulfide often produces an explosion that the locals could mistake for the growl of a monster. It is possible that random travelers, the same warriors of Batu, really died during such an explosion, and the survivors, due to illiteracy, attributed this to an attack by a water monster. But this version does not explain the repeated observation of the animal's head by eyewitnesses. And the depth of the lake - more than one hundred meters - is enough to hide the population of plesiosaurs that survived from prehistoric times. Rising from the bottom to the surface of the water, hydrogen sulfide bubbles really look like the back of a giant creature. At the same time, when it bursts to the surface, hydrogen sulfide often produces an explosion that the locals could mistake for the growl of a monster. It is possible that random travelers, the same warriors of Batu, really died during such an explosion, and the survivors, due to illiteracy, attributed this to an attack by a water monster. But this version does not explain the repeated observation of the animal's head by eyewitnesses. And the depth of the lake - more than one hundred meters - is enough to hide the population of plesiosaurs that survived from prehistoric times. Rising from the bottom to the surface of the water, hydrogen sulfide bubbles really look like the back of a giant creature. At the same time, when it bursts to the surface, hydrogen sulfide often produces an explosion that the locals could mistake for the growl of a monster. It is possible that random travelers, the same warriors of Batu, really died during such an explosion, and the survivors due to illiteracy attributed this to an attack by a water monster. But this version does not explain the repeated observation of the animal's head by eyewitnesses. And the depth of the lake - more than one hundred meters - is enough to hide the population of plesiosaurs that survived from prehistoric times.which the locals could mistake for the growl of a monster. It is possible that random travelers, the same warriors of Batu, really died during such an explosion, and the survivors, due to illiteracy, attributed this to an attack by a water monster. But this version does not explain the repeated observation of the animal's head by eyewitnesses. And the depth of the lake - more than one hundred meters - is enough to hide the population of plesiosaurs that survived from prehistoric times.which the locals could mistake for the growl of a monster. It is possible that random travelers, the same warriors of Batu, really died during such an explosion, and the survivors due to illiteracy attributed this to an attack by a water monster. But this version does not explain the repeated observation of the animal's head by eyewitnesses. And the depth of the lake - more than one hundred meters - is enough to hide the population of plesiosaurs that survived from prehistoric times.
Inhabitants of wonderland
If the prehistoric monsters living in the lakes of Russia are for the most part the only anomaly for these places, then in the case of Seydozero the picture is different. The Lovozero tundra region on the Kola Peninsula has an incredibly wide list of such attractions. On the shore of the Seydozero, MSU professor Valery Demin was looking for an entrance to the caves of the Hyperboreans, where an ancient image of an old man Kuiva flaunts on a sheer cliff - the trail of an ancient giant allegedly incinerated by laser weapons. A Bigfoot was repeatedly seen near the lake, which was noted in the documents of the Lovozero District Committee of the CPSU. It is not surprising that in Seydozero travelers have repeatedly seen a prehistoric monster.
About ten years ago, the author of this article had a chance to talk with the head of the expedition "Russian bio-gene" Alexander Gurvits. Alexander Borisovich told how, during numerous visits to Lovozero, he personally had more than once seen both the lake monster and the Bigfoot. However, from a scientific point of view, the scientist could not explain such a high concentration of unusual phenomena in one place.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №23. Author: Dmitry Sokolov