In ancient times, people believed that sorcerers and shamans do not die completely - even in a seemingly dead body a spark of life glimmers. That is why such people have long been buried separately and tried not to disturb their graves. Who wants to deal with a revived dead man?
The graves of the Crimean witches
In the Ust-Alma burial ground on the shores of the Black Sea, more than two thousand years ago, the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans buried their dead. During excavations, many magical objects come across in burials - talismans, amulets and gizmos of a completely unknown purpose. They are especially common in women's graves. In one of them, the skeleton of a middle-aged woman was discovered, next to which lay a silver box. And it contains nine human teeth and one animal. Some of the teeth seemed to bear traces of the treatment. Perhaps the inhabitant of the grave was engaged in healing during her lifetime? In those days, healing was closely associated with magic, and not a single "treatment session" was complete without witchcraft rituals. Probably, the “drug” also performed special rituals with the help of teeth removed from patients. Apparentlyafter her death, the relatives of the witch put her "magic tool" in the grave, fearing the revenge of evil spirits.
The burial of another Sarmatian woman aroused no less interest among archaeologists. She came from a noble family. At her feet, they found a bag containing various objects: bundles of bells, beads, bronze rings, each containing nine things. In addition, the bag contained artifacts that could already be called antiques during the woman's life: axes and maces from the Bronze Age, fragments of some talismans and statuettes. The researchers suggested that the deceased, being a shaman, searched ancient graves and extracted from there what she could use in magical rituals.
By the way, when this burial was opened, one of the archaeologists fell ill with hepatitis. According to the head of the expedition, Alexander Puzdrovsky, diseases that persecute those who take part in the excavation of "shaman" graves are not at all uncommon. Thus, a correspondent of one of the central newspapers, who was present at the opening of the grave of a shaman woman who lived at the beginning of the 1st millennium, was photographed for memory wearing earrings - perfectly preserved massive gold pendant-chains, decorated with inserts of colored glass. Just an hour later, the journalist suddenly had a fever, a sore throat and twisted joints. She was ill for a whole month …
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Connection with the "lower world"
A sacred shaman tree grows on the Kolyma tract, which runs through the territory of Yakutia. Travelers stop in front of him to leave a tribute - money or any personal item such as a hairbrush, scarf or badge … They say that if you appease otherworldly forces, the path will be successful. But this track is considered one of the most dangerous! In addition, a stream flows here, where the water does not freeze even in 70-degree frost; It tastes amazing and doesn't go bad for months.
One way or another, the locals treat spirits and shamanic paraphernalia with special respect. Gifts can be brought to spirits, but in no case should anything be taken from sacred places. You can also not touch things belonging to shamans, and cause them any damage. Otherwise, you will incur the wrath of the inhabitants of the "lower world", with which the shamans communicate.
Russian shaman
In the region of the Middle Kolyma, at the mouth of the Buor-Yuryakh, there was once an Alazey prison - one of the first Russian settlements in the Far North. It was founded in the 17th century by the Cossacks. By the end of the 18th century, they were partially assimilated with the indigenous inhabitants - the Yakuts and Yukagirs. The village of Svatay is located a few kilometers from the prison - they say that the name comes from the Russian verb "to match". It was as if the Cossacks had come here for their aboriginal wives. There were a lot of mixed marriages. Fyokla Berezhnova was born in one of them. They say she was beautiful, kind and had the gift of healing. The locals called her a shamaness and treated her with respect. However, the girl's life was tragically cut short at the age of 19. The father wanted to marry his daughter to a rich neighbor, and she liked the poor Yakut.
The beloved invited Fökla to flee. They harnessed either deer or dogs to the sleigh, and rushed across the ice to the other side. On the way, the sleigh fell into a hole and drowned.
Despite the "shamanic" fame, Thekla was buried in the local cemetery near the chapel. In those places, fires often raged, many burials were damaged, but when they reached Berezhnova's grave, the flame went out. This is what the locals testify.
Interestingly, it was possible to obtain documentary confirmation of the legend. Historian Maria Starostina discovered archival records that on February 6, 1777, daughter Thekla was born in the family of a "plowed peasant" Vasily Berezhnov. There is also a record that Fyokla Berezhnova drowned on December 10, 1796. And next to it there are records of two also drowned Yakuts who lived in the Boydonskaya volost of the Verkhnekolymskaya fortress. They were 68-year-old Matvey Dyachkov and 45-year-old Mikhailo Dyachkov. It was Mikhailo who was Thekla's lover. One might be surprised that a very young girl fell in love with a middle-aged man. But Starostina believes that the age could be recorded incorrectly, which often happened in that era, and in fact, Berezhnova's fiancé could be much younger. Matvey Dyachkov could be Mikhailo's father or uncle.
Terrible revenge
In 1975, Thekla's grave was desecrated - the burial was dug up, and the body was thrown out of the coffin. Soon the police detained three shabashniks from Argakhtakh. Knowing the legend about Thekla, they decided that there must be gold in her grave.
When the shabashniks opened the lid of the coffin, they saw that the beauty's face was practically untouched by decay - the corpse was perfectly preserved in the permafrost. True, they did not find any gold in the grave - only a copper cross on the girl's chest and some iron trinkets - maybe amulets. The Sabbats drank hard and did not disdain to take off the clothes of the deceased and take pictures with the naked corpse. These photographs were later included in the criminal case.
None of the defilers lived long after that. One of the criminals went crazy even before the trial, sitting in a pre-trial detention center. Although all three were sentenced only to suspended sentences, after a few years they all died under different but dire circumstances. And after that, the building of the prosecutor's office was burned down, where the case of the grave diggers was kept along with the shameful photographs. No one even doubted that it was a Russian shaman who took revenge on her offenders.
Dead woman's walks
They say that until the mid-80s of the last century, a certain Mikhail Sleptsov lived on the territory of the former Alazey prison, who volunteered to look after the grave of a Russian shamaness. And as if he more than once saw Thekla walking on the banks of the Alazeya River.
Once in Sleptsov's house a Komsomol propaganda brigade stopped for the night. After the vodka, the old man began to tell his stories about Fyokla, and one of the Komsomol members suddenly shouted that he saw the deceased looking into the windows. The next morning he was taken to a psychiatric hospital.
Nowadays, a road passes through the Alazey prison, leading from the village of Svatay to Argakhty. Local drivers have a tradition: passing by an old abandoned cemetery, they honk their horns to greet a shaman, otherwise some trouble will surely happen along the way. They also say that at night the grave of Thekla Berezhnova shines with a mysterious light.