111 years ago, an event took place not just on a global, but on a universal scale - a mysterious object entered the Earth's atmosphere and exploded like a powerful nuclear bomb.
It happened on June 30, 1908 in the area of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. The earth shuddered, and the sky was flooded with blinding light, as if a second sun had been lit up. This event went down in history under the name of the Tunguska phenomenon.
Hundreds of scientists tried to answer what it was. And the main one is Leonid Kulik. He is called the father of the Tunguska meteorite, although he reached the epicenter only 20 years after the event.
However, upon closer examination of the archives, it turned out that as early as June of that same 1908, scientists were already in those places. A full-fledged scientific expedition of the Russian Geographical Society worked.
What was she doing there? And why is there no evidence of her contribution to the study of the phenomenon? This is the new mystery of the Tunguska meteorite.
Forgotten Expedition
The ethnographic expedition of the Russian Geographical Society was led to Podkamennaya Tunguska by Aleksey Makarenko. Its purpose was to collect materials on the settlement of the Evenks, their way of life and shamanic customs.
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Aleksei Alekseevich cannot be called an armchair scientist. In his youth, he worked in a tavern, a smithy, and an editorial office. I was looking for gold, survived the link. In general, the person is experienced. And fearless. It was said about him that he always wrote the word “Museum” with a capital letter, and “God” with a small letter. And in search of museum rarities, he did not hesitate to destroy Evenk graves and holy places, which horrified the natives.
Scientist Alexey Makarenko.
Strange silence
An interesting detail: at the end of May Makarenko climbed with guides up the tributary of the Podkamennaya Tunguska - the Chunya River and ended up near the future area of the meteorite fall. How long he spent there, for a long time remained a mystery, which gave rise to all conspiracy theories. Moreover, for some reason he ignored in his notes the event, about which the whole of Siberia was subsequently buzzing.
Version 1: extraterrestrial
Conspiracy theorists believe this silence is not easy. That, being on the Chunya River, visiting a shaman, Makarenko with tungus could reach the mouth of the Kimchu in a week or two, and then climb to Lake Cheko, and from where it was already a stone's throw to the border of the dump. There, the Tungus victims of the explosion were wandering around, who would show the way to the very epicenter.
Why would Makarenko have definitely moved there? First, the interest of the researcher. Secondly, he studied shamanism, and the Evenks immediately blamed the god of thunder and lightning Aghda for the mini-apocalypse.
Suppose he got to the place and found something there that he could not write about and that he had to keep secret all his life. Ufologists are sure that he discovered the wreckage of a UFO or came into contact with aliens - otherwise he would not be silent …
Version 2: terrestrial
In any case, the main question is: where exactly was the researcher at 7.14 a.m. on June 30, 1908? The scientist's books diligently bypass this moment. The answer was hardly found in only one source - in the diary of Alexei Makarenko, which is kept in the archives of the Russian Ethnographic Museum in St. Petersburg. Among the numerous entries there are also those dated June 17 (just June 30 in the new style - see the photo of the page). Judging by it, at the time of the meteorite fall, the scientist was already quite far from the place - he was sailing the village of Yartsevo. And this is not even Podkamennaya Tunguska. This is already Yenisei. But even there he felt the echoes of the event - "thunderclaps on a clear quiet morning", "earth tremors."
The same entry from the diary: “d (village) Yartsevo 17. VI Clear quiet morning, thunderclaps. (c) d (village) Shchadrov heard and felt the shuddering of the earth in the morning. I heard the same phenomenon on Tunguska."
For the scientist, it is insulting to tears. He just missed the event for a few days that would bring him worldwide fame. And the father of the Tunguska meteorite would not be considered Kulik, but Makarenko.
Besides, he had every chance of finding the meteorite itself! It is easier to search for wreckage by literally hot tracks, and not by cold ones, twenty years ago …
The truth is somewhere near
One could put an end to this, but the ellipsis asks for … After all, there are inexplicable moments.
Makarenko writes in his diary that he had already heard such a bolt from the blue on Tunguska. So something already fell in those places a few days ago?
Another mystery: the last dated and location-based record falls on June 17 (30). Next are the timeless work notes on the compilation of the Tunguska dictionary. Although he can still sail and sail along the Yenisei …
There is not a single record of testimony about the Tunguska diva, although there were plenty of witnesses on the whole way back, and this was the main topic of conversation in this part of Siberia. Moreover, the Tungus, we recall, complained about the tricks of Agda, and this was directly related to the scientist's research.
Finally, we do not have exact data where Makarenko was after the day of the meteorite fall. In principle, nothing prevented him from attaching the boat to the steamers going up the Yenisei and Podkamennaya Tunguska, returning to Chunya, and then climbing to the epicenter. And to find there something that at first "… barely fit into our boat", and then mysteriously "… was lost on the Siberian railway", as the ethnographer himself later wrote about the fate of the cargo of mysterious artifacts. If all this was stolen or confiscated by the authorities, then it is understandable why he chose to forget about this story forever …
Alexey Makarenko died during the war in besieged Leningrad in 1942.
At the same time, another researcher of the Tunguska phenomenon, Leonid Kulik, also died strangely …
EVGENY SAZONOV