Samara non-governmental research group "Avesta" has been collecting bit by bit data on anomalous phenomena on the territory of the Middle Volga region for more than a quarter of a century. For many years, the main object of study of the "Avesta" was Samarskaya Luka with the Zhigulevsky mountains. And recently, scientists have begun to investigate a number of mysterious objects of the Middle Trans-Volga region.
Mysterious rings
The research group "Avesta" was formed in 1983 at the Kuibyshev Aviation Institute (now the Samara State Aerospace University). It included young scientists-enthusiasts who decided to devote themselves to the study of age-old mysteries and anomalies of the Samara region. The researchers gave the name "Avesta" to their group in honor of the sacred book of the followers of the prophet Zoroaster, or Zarathustra, who founded a religion called Zoroastrianism and introduced the cult of fire worship into it. According to some reports, many centuries ago, it was the Zhiguli Mountains that were one of the world centers of Zoroastrianism.
The so-called Kruglovushka (the accent is possible on both the second and the third syllables), which has long existed near the village of Sezzhe, Bogatovsky district, Samara region, belongs to the number of those objects that interested the Avestans. Scientists have recorded on video and photographic film a characteristic ring structure between the local lakes, similar to concentrically located ditches with water and earthen ramparts. This gave reason to believe that on the site of Kruglovushka thousands of years ago there were settlements of ancient people.
Over the past 20 years, the Avestans have been constantly analyzing the legends and epics of the Middle Volga region, and one of the results of the study of mythological material was the discovery in the Samara region of dozens of zones with signs of abnormality. For many years in a row, researchers have been conducting regular observations in a number of such places, including in the Shiryaevskaya valley and other points on the Samarskaya Luka, in the Gremyachee and Devil's finger tracts in the Syzran district, in Vavilov valley (Pestravsky district), and so on. Kruglovushka became one of such anomalous zones identified by the Avestans.
Oleg Ratnik - Vice President of Avesta
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Time has stopped
The first information about this mysterious zone, the researchers received back in 1991, and soon they were able to visit the vicinity of the mysterious "white spot". Then, from the stories of the inhabitants of the village of Sezzhe, they understood that Kruglovushka is an island of a regular round shape, located on one of the local lakes. However, scientists were able to see with their own eyes the entire ring structure of Kruglovushka only after the famous in Samara aeronautic enthusiast, engineer Viktor Pilyavsky, joined their work. He built a unique paraglider with a motorcycle engine a few years ago. This aircraft allowed the pilot to survey the surroundings both at a considerable distance from the ground and from an extremely low altitude. And now, with the help of the paraglider, the researchers were able to obtain new data about the mysterious anomalous zone in the Bogatovsky district.
Here is what the vice-president of "Avesta", teacher of the Samara aerospace lyceum Oleg Ratnik told about what he saw:
- The island, which the villagers call Kruglovushka, has about 50 meters in diameter, it is densely covered with thorny bushes and low trees. There are three well-visible, concentrically located water rings around it. And the entire system is surrounded by a clay-earthen rampart up to 30 meters high and 400-500 meters in diameter. The local population from time immemorial noticed that various mysterious things regularly happen at the Kruglovushka itself and around it. For example, sometimes at night a strange glow rises over the island, sometimes overshadowing the light of the stars.
Samara onion. View from space
The villagers also told the researchers about a kind of "blue fog" that can suddenly appear over the center of Kruglovushka, spread widely over the water and then just as suddenly disappear at the very border of the forest. In addition, the island seems to attract lightning during a thunderstorm. At least, "heavenly arrows" hit here several times more often than in other parts of the neighboring forest. Apparently, all this is happening for a reason, because the devices brought by scientists 10 years ago registered a slightly increased level of radiation in the Kruglovushka area. Instead of eight to eleven "background" microroentgens per hour, 24-30 microroentgens are periodically recorded here. But physicists are well aware that radiation can precisely cause local ionization of air, which leads to the emergence of various electrical effects at a given point. But then the question arises: where, near a peaceful village, lost in the vastness of the Samara Trans-Volga region, can the notorious source of radiation come from?
"Tailed Star" and "Special Place"
Local residents have long been saying this about Kruglovushka: “The lake is special. Directly from him, from farm to village, seems to be very close. But few people walk past Kruglovushka. It seems to be nothing at all to go, but you go, you go - and you just can't get there, it seems like you are standing in one place. From this legend, the employees of "Avesta" concluded that, for unknown reasons, in the vicinity of Kruglovushka, the properties of space and time can sometimes change. In short, something like a "gateway to the Looking Glass" appears, which so far has been visited only by Alice - the heroine of the famous fairy tale by Lewis Carroll.
And not so long ago, researchers from Avesta heard another legend, seemingly shedding light on the origin of the “strange lake”: “It was a long time ago, even before Stenka Razin walked around our edges. There were almost no Russian villages on the Samara River at that time. But one night over the forest trumpets seemed to sound, the earth trembled, the hills danced, and a "tailed star" fell from the sky. And then a "special place" was discovered."
Despite the hypothesis of the "heavenly" origin of the local anomalous phenomena, the researchers still believe that the system of regular concentric circles and ramparts near the village of Sezzhe is the creation of human hands. In any case, in these places archaeologists excavated settlements of the Early Iron Age (the beginning of the first millennium BC) many years ago. Many such finds happened in the vicinity of neighboring villages, for example, near Andreevka, located 10 kilometers from the Sezhee. Therefore, it can be assumed that the Kruglovushka arose at about the same time.
Icon in the lake
According to the president of Avesta, engineer Igor Pavlovich, the circular structure of Kruglovushka gives it a certain resemblance to Arkaim, another ancient settlement that was discovered in 1987 by aerial photography in the Southern Urals. Arkaim turned out to be at least half a thousand years older than the legendary ancient Greek Troy. Scientists believe that it was built by the Zoroastrians, who at that time were very numerous in the vast areas of present-day Eurasia. However, at the beginning of the first millennium BC. this ancient civilization suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth. The reason for her disappearance is still not clear to historians, and to this day it remains one of the greatest secrets of the Ancient World.
The ancient settlement of Arkaim was discovered by aerial photography
The current inhabitants of Syezhye are not too moved by these scholarly disputes. For half a century the villagers have had another legend about Kruglovushka. According to her, one winter, at the beginning of the 50s, a local collective farmer was walking on the ice of the lake. Suddenly, unexpectedly, she saw an ice-hole in which an icon with the image of Nicholas the Wonderworker was floating. After catching the icon out of the icy water, the woman took it to the local church. Since that time, the lake on which Kruglovushka stands has been called by the locals the Holy One, and the various miracles that occur here from time to time are explained by nothing other than God's Providence.
According to legend, Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker patronizes the village of Sezzhe and its environs
Now this lake is an object of worship of villagers, in connection with which an Orthodox cross was erected on its shore many years ago. On religious and patronal holidays, a procession of the cross is always performed here, ending with a mass ablution. However, everyone can plunge into the waters of the Holy Lake at any time - for this there is a special swimming pool on it. They say that with the help of such water procedures, sufferers have already been cured of a variety of diseases more than once.
In addition, Lake Kruglovushka near the village of Sezzhee, as well as nearby water sources, are now registered with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Samara Region as a unique natural monument of regional significance.