Who among us has not encountered mirages in our lives? For example, when driving on an asphalt highway, when on a hot sunny day near the horizon you can see a trembling mirror haze, reminiscent of small pools of water glittering in the sun's rays. But there are mirages of another year.
Pictures on the invisible screen
Cases when the plots of mirages differ little from ordinary terrestrial species are quite easily explained, as a rule, by the peculiarities of optical phenomena in the atmosphere of our planet, depending on the time of day, temperature, humidity, pressure and season.
There are even special places where very realistic mirages of natural landscapes appear quite often, literally several times a year. But there are also mirages of a slightly different kind, when landscapes that are clearly non-existent on the planet are observed (for example, giant gymnosperms and conifers or peacefully grazing long-extinct herbivorous reptiles), which allows us to conclude about such a rare natural phenomenon as chronomirages.
Chronomics, although quite rare, are still observed in various parts of our planet. And sometimes we do not even suspect that very close to us there are such unique places where pictures of the distant past are periodically displayed, as if on an invisible screen of a mysterious cinema, plunging casual observers into mystical awe, and sometimes simply into superstitious horror.
Acquaintance with an eyewitness
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I never thought that I would personally not only have a conversation with a repeated observer of chronomirages, but also receive comprehensive information from him about the geography of the anomalous place where all this happened, and even an invitation to visit him together on occasion in order to make sure the story is true.
Nikolai Ivanovich and I touched on this topic after he read one of my novellas of adventure fantasy. In it, he was struck by one chapter, where one of the anomalous places in the south of the Samara region (by the way, absolutely fictional!) Is described too realistically. He seriously thought that the author had been there several times himself, and decided to share his personal experience of being in one of such anomalous zones, located in the Penza region, not far from his native village Berezovka, Neverkinsky district, on the Kadada river.
It makes no sense to indicate more precise coordinates of this anomalous place, both for reasons of safety of those hot heads and pseudo-researchers who will not fail to take advantage of the opportunity that has come up to satisfy idle curiosity, and for reasons of ecological balance of the nature of this area (recall the sad fate of zone "M" in the area the village of Molebka, Perm region, in a short time, polluted by an uncontrolled influx of anomalous enthusiasts in the 90s of the last century). As for the real danger to a person in this zone or near it, this will become clear further from the words of an eyewitness.
Facing the unexplained
For ease of perception, we will call this anomalous zone "Penza tract". Nikolai Ivanovich's first encounter with her occurred at the age of seven or eight, when he, together with his older brother and his friends, went fishing on the Kadada River. The path that led to the cherished river backwater ran along the edge of the forest, several kilometers from the village, but not far from the forestry house where their father worked. It was at this very edge that he had the first chance to face the unknown and incredible.
When the guys passed the edge of the forest, they noticed a group of not quite ordinary people at the very edge of the forest. Those, like shaggy bums, were dressed in strange clothes - seemingly made of animal skins. In their hands they held long sticks without tips. The guys, the oldest of whom was about twelve years old, called out to the strangers, but they did not react to the call. Then one of the boys threw a lump of dried earth in their direction, almost hitting the very midst of people. And again, no reaction from the "hunters", as the guys later dubbed them.
After that, the boys lost interest in what was happening and went to the side of the river, as they were going, to go fishing. And Kolya stayed. So what then guided his actions: simple curiosity or something else, he does not remember years ago. Only, being left alone, he fearlessly moved towards the strangers, some of whom, as it turned out, were sitting around the fire and roasting something on the fire.
Vladimir Gorevoy