Locals have been observing such a strange phenomenon in the Zhiguli mountains for a century and a half. However, this does not mean that something like this has never been noticed here before - just written evidence of earlier observations has not been preserved
This beautiful place in the middle reaches of the Volga was named Samarskaya Luka - from the word "bend". The most famous is the northern, elevated part of this Volga peninsula, which has long been called the Zhigulevsky mountains.
Due to the unique variety of natural landscapes, as well as the representatives of flora and fauna living on its territory, Samarskaya Luka is now included in the UNESCO catalogs as a natural and historical monument of world importance, subject to protection.
However, the Volga bend has long been included in another, no less well-known list, which has been compiled by world organizations researching anomalous phenomena on Earth and beyond. Anomalous people believe that Samarskaya Luka with the Zhigulevsky mountains is one of those points on the map of Russia where unusual and largely mysterious processes manifest themselves ten times more often than in other parts of the planet.
Pillars of Hard Light
Locals have been observing such a strange phenomenon in the Zhiguli mountains for a century and a half. However, this does not mean that something like this has never been noticed here before - just written evidence of earlier observations has not been preserved.
The earliest story about this Zhiguli mystery was recorded in the form of a local tale by the famous collector of Volga folklore D. N. Sadovnikov (dated from 1870 to 1875).
“After Ilyin’s day, Ivan Mukhanov, a man from Shiryaev, went to the forest for firewood, but he was delayed. And then the twilight caught him. He was greedy, he loaded the firewood notably - the horse could hardly trudge along. Well, Ivan does not lose heart, the road is familiar. He purrs a song under his breath and looks so that the wheel does not slide into the hole. And already the night had descended over the mountains, with each step darker and darker. The first stars appeared. Well, Ivan thinks: "It's still seven miles to the house, no more, I'll get there by midnight, and I'll unload the load tomorrow."
Then suddenly the horse jerked and began to snore. "Are the wolves really?" - Ivan shuddered. Only suddenly, by accident, he glanced to the left: priests, light over the mountain! Really, he thinks, he lost his way and drove past his village? Looked around. Although it is dark, the road is clear. Yes, and the horse sensed the proximity of the house, started almost at a run. Vedomo, a village nearby, only three versts left.
And the light above the mountain flares up and stands like a pillar. Now he was already behind the cart. Goosebumps ran down Ivashka's spine - otherwise the goblin wants to knock him out of the way. Thank God, the horse rushed up the hill in an instant. How many times Ivan was baptized, he does not remember, the last time he overshadowed himself with a sign when he entered the gate.
And then from the old people I heard that it was the mistress of the Zhigulevsky mountains after Ilyin's day, she went out for a walk at night, and the light from the door of her underground room was standing over the mountain all night.
This Zhiguli tale echoes reports on the so-called "pillars of hard light" collected by independent Samara and Togliatti researchers, including the non-governmental research organization "Avesta". Here are just some of the facts recorded from eyewitnesses.
May 1932. Early Sunday morning. In the pre-dawn semi-darkness, an observer (his name and surname was not preserved), who was on the outskirts of Samara, saw a strange ray that arose over the mountains on the opposite side of the Volga. The beam had no visible source. For some time it hung in the form of a pillar over the mountains and over the Volga, then sharply sank down onto the water, causing clearly visible waves. After contact with water, the phenomenon disappeared.
August 1978. Summer camp "Solnechny" near the village of Gavrilova Polyana (eastern outskirts of Zhiguli). At about 11 pm, during the evening ruler, a vertical column of light appeared in the sky, which was seen by about 200 children. For several minutes he hung motionless over the mountains, then began to descend.
Further evidence is contradictory - the overwhelming majority of eyewitnesses simply lost sight of the object, but several people assured that bright rays hit the object in different directions (including in the direction of the camp). After that, he disappeared from sight.
End of August 1988. Several observers on the embankment in Samara, around midnight, saw green light spots over the Volga and distant Zhiguli. They appeared in the air one after another, then disappeared just as quickly. The spots looked like ellipses and vertical stripes.
This information is collected by "Avesta". Its representatives travel to Samarskaya Luka and the Volga Islands almost every year to study the Zhiguli mysteries. And almost every summer season, the dossier of "Avesta" is replenished with descriptions of observations of some phenomena.
Is there a scientific explanation?
This is how Oleg Vladimirovich Ratnik, the vice-president of Avesta, a teacher at the Samara International Aviation and Space Lyceum, commented on the reports about Zhiguli "pillars of hard light".
- I was able to observe the phenomenon described above personally, and it happened in August 1998. Our research group at that moment was in the Kamennaya Chasha tract in the Shiryaevsky ravine. After midnight we suddenly saw "something" appear over the mountains. We did not notice the object immediately, it seemed to thicken out of the air and shone brighter and brighter with every minute. When they paid attention to it, it looked like a typical “column of hard light” emerged from the local legend.
By the way, residents of Zhiguli villages also call it simply "candle". Imagine a long, cylindrical, shining clot hanging in the air against the background of a forest-covered night ridge, and you will get a rough idea of such a "candle". It was difficult to judge the size of the object at that time, since it was not possible to determine the exact distance to it. Nevertheless, some members of our group estimated its length from 5 to 10 meters, diameter - about half a meter. From the moment the observation began, the "column of hard light" was slowly moving all the time in the direction from the mountains to the valley, and after about an hour it melted into the air as slowly as it had appeared.
It was here and on this very day that we arrived because it was at this point in space-time that there was the greatest likelihood of meeting a mysterious phenomenon. And we calculated it on the basis of an analysis of local legends and traditions, which for about a hundred years have been collected by ethnographers and folklorists on Samarskaya Luka. To be honest, we didn’t really hope that we would be able to notice anything, but as you can see, this time our group was lucky.
At the same time, scientific data say that this phenomenon does not belong at all to the field of mysticism, but, on the contrary, has a completely realistic, natural basis. In particular, Samara physicists believe that such a vertical glow of air can appear when it is ionized, and it, in turn, usually occurs in the zone of action of powerful electromagnetic or radiation radiation.
What exactly can be the source of such radiation in Zhiguli remains to be understood by specialists. However, the latest geological studies in the Middle Volga region show that our region is included in the zone of distribution of underground uranium and radium deposits. In particular, in the region of Samarskaya Luka, rocks with an industrial content of radioactive elements lie at a depth of 400-600 meters from the earth's surface. It is quite possible that in the Zhiguli mountains there are "windows" through which this natural radiation periodically breaks out, after which layers of ionized glowing air appear over the mountain ranges.
This is just one of the local phenomena
The aforementioned "pillars of hard light" are far from the only mysterious phenomenon in the list of Zhiguli anomalies known to local researchers since ancient times. The most popular among other phenomena is the so-called mirage of the Peaceful City, which is mentioned in his book by the foreign traveler Adam Ole-Ary, who visited Samara in the 17th century. Among other descriptions, there are also legends about ghost towns called White Church, Fata Morgana, and so on. Researchers from "Avesta" refer them to chronomirages, which are reflections of objects from the distant past, projected into our present.
In addition to a number of phantoms of the Samara Bow1 +, there are also reports of various undead - mysterious creatures similar to white dwarfs, suddenly appearing as if from under the ground in front of the traveler. Other legends tell about the Zhiguli elders
- fine gray-haired old men who can also unexpectedly appear and disappear anywhere in the Zhiguli mountains. And, of course, the Volga bend is a place of frequent sightings of UFOs, which appear in the form of fiery flying balls, cigar-shaped objects, glow and reflections in the sky and other physical phenomena, the nature of which has not yet been established.
