We have already written more than once about the mysterious phenomena that people from time immemorial have observed on the Middle Volga. Samarskaya Luka is considered one of the most mysterious points on the map of Russia. Researchers from the non-governmental organization Avesta, headquartered in Samara, have been collecting information about anomalous phenomena in this place for many years.
"Owl Man" over the Usoy River
On the Samarskaya Luka and in the Zhigulevskie mountains there are villages, the history of which goes back several hundred years. It. for example, the village of Shelekhmet. Shiryaevo. Podgory, Valy. Askula, Thor-new and many others. Information about their very first inhabitants is lost in the mists of time. Famous traveler Petr Pallas. who visited this region in 1768, already then called these villages old. For hundreds of years of communication with the wild Zhiguli nature, the local peasants quite often encountered something mysterious. and this then remained in the memory of the people in the form of legends and byliches.
For example, local legends say that not only in current, but also in former times, people more than once saw flying fireballs and other unidentified objects over the Samara Luka, the nature of which remains unclear for scientists. In this regard, the attention of anomalous people is attracted by the Gremyachee tract - a mountain range in the Syzran region, which is located near the village of the same name.
Here, on the very outskirts of the Zhigulevsky mountain shaft, is the source of the Usa River. which completes the Samarskaya Luka to an almost complete water ring. The local mountains are inferior in height only to the highest peaks of the Zhiguli, and on their slopes between the bizarre outlier rocks, many caves, karst funnels and gaps, from which springs gush, were formed in ancient times. It is with these places that many legends and myths are connected.
According to local legends, a dwarf people have been living in the local caves for many thousands of years, which the local Chuvash call uybede-tuale. These words can be translated as "owl man". They say that even in our time, these strange creatures are occasionally encountered by people in the local mountains. Imagine a dwarf as tall as the waist of an average person, but with huge eyes and a face covered with either wool or feathers. It is clear that someone from among those who met such a "horror movie" could call him an owl.
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Chud underground
Another no less mysterious phenomenon of the Zhiguli Mountains looks like this. According to local residents, one can sometimes see strange fireballs of about two meters in diameter and with a "tail" over the Gremyachee tract. They say that the villagers who have lived here for two to three decades have seen this mysterious phenomenon at least once in their lives. In Chuvash it is called patavka-bus, which means "fireball".
As one of the eyewitnesses of this phenomenon told the collectors of folklore, the pathavka bus usually flies slowly and low above the ground. But the most incredible part of this legend says that these balls of fire can … turn into a man! Allegedly, the villagers are aware of cases when such balls, turned into men, came to the village, where … they cohabited with local women! And the children born from this strange union either died or became legendary underground men uybede-tyale.
Another group of myths and legends concerns the underground world of the Zhiguli Mountains, which for scientists to this day remains a real terra incognita. In particular, epic stories about some ghostly men who suddenly appear from under the ground and just as suddenly disappear are very interesting. They are said to be white dwarfs "so transparent that trees can be seen through them."
In the legend of the immortal Ivan Gorny (whose image is intertwined with the image of Stepan Razin), recorded in the middle of the 19th century by the famous collector of folklore Dmitry Sadovnikov, these creatures are called "underground chud". Locals describe them as follows: "Little men, with a bony body, with skin covered with scales, with huge eyes, a deadening gaze and a mysterious property to move consciousness from body to body." The last words, apparently, meant that the underground inhabitants had telepathic abilities.
Fata morgana and the disappearing lake
And almost all local legends speak of ghostly palaces or towers, stories about which run like a red thread through many folk legends. The most famous of them is the mirage of the Peaceful City, which the Holstein traveler Adam Olearius mentions in his book. who visited the Volga region in the 17th century. Other names in the same row are Fortress of Five Moons, White Church, Fata Morgana, and so on. According to eyewitnesses, such phenomena are still occasionally observed on Samarskaya Luka.
Tourists who rest near the Molodetsky and Usinsky burial mounds usually talk about the mirage of the Peaceful City. These stone giants literally hang over the Volga in the western part of the Zhiguli ridge. The same anomalies are still observed among the vast lacustrine labyrinths that stretch between the villages of Mordovo and Brusyany, in the very south of Samarskaya Luka. According to eyewitnesses, here at dawn a ghost town may suddenly appear in front of the astonished traveler, only to disappear again in a minute or two. Those who have seen this mirage say that it resembles a fairytale castle with a white fortress wall and turrets on which white flags fly.
However, according to the collected data, sometimes on the Volga bend you can see other similar phenomena, which are in many ways similar to the Mirny city. Among them is a mirage, which is called the Temple of the Green Moon, in the form of an amazing iridescent tower. This mirage was observed more than once near the villages of Zolnoe and Solnechnaya Polyana, as well as in the area of Strelnaya Gora.
It is also worth mentioning the Waterfall of Tears, a mirage, which popular rumor associates with the famous spring Stone Bowl, as well as with the disappearing lake, which is located in the Yelgushi tract. By the way. this reservoir to this day remains one of the most interesting mysteries of the Samarskaya Luka, since it can disappear in just one day, only to reappear in a few days in the same place. Geologists believe that the explanation for this phenomenon is karst sinkholes. holes above which periodically open and close again due to displacement of underground layers.
Folk legends say that a traveler who sees a mirage can find a secret door behind it to the underground chambers of the Mistress of the Zhiguli Mountains. However, it is not recommended to enter there, because such a traveler risks forever remaining in the bowels of the mountains as the eternal groom of the underground ruler.
Chronomy in the sky
Experts from "Avesta" refer the anomalies described above to the group of chronomirages. It is assumed that they are a reflection of the realities of the distant past, projected into the present. The organization's archive contains several descriptions of such phenomena. which researchers once saw with their own eyes. Here is a record of observations from November 3, 1991, made by the president of "Avesta" Igor Pavlovich:
“About 21 hours 15 minutes above the Volga in the area of Krasnaya Glinka local time, a neat square hole suddenly appeared in thunderclouds.
A red ray ran along its perimeter, which fanned out, flashed and went out. Immediately after this, a vision appeared in the heavenly "window" - the coast of the sea bay, bounded by a ridge of low hills overgrown with forest. A chain of sand dunes ran from the hills to the water. It was a bright sunny day in that distant world, and small white clouds crawled lazily across its sky. Suddenly, over the "otherworldly hills" appeared a lot of black dots. They seemed to have moved from the depths of the image towards the observer. Immediately after this, the clouds surrounding the "window" began to move, began to converge and in one second they closed the square hole in the sky."
One way or another, but due to the unique variety of natural landscapes. and also due to the presence of numerous anomalous phenomena, Samarskaya Luka has long been included in the UNESCO catalogs as a natural and historical monument of world importance. This territory is waiting for its new explorers.
Valery Erofeev. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" № 13 2010