The swamps have always been fraught with mystery and danger, and therefore people tried to bypass them. Pavel Glotov, a resident of Seversk in the Tomsk Region, once recklessly went to one of these places, which was called by the people disastrous. And he almost paid with his life.
FOR CRANBERRY
“I was still young at that time,” says Pavel. - Two years have passed since I began to live in a taiga hut. In that autumn, the berries in the swamps were apparently invisible, as if someone had spilled it on purpose. So I decided to go for cranberries.
And here we have a very bad place for eight kilometers. Witch's swamp. Everyone in the area knows him. A lot of people got involved. Bad glory in the swamp. And the air, they say, is not good over that place. Intoxicating. And I, out of my stupidity, my feigned courage, decided to go exactly to the Witch's Swamp. Collect cranberries, and then brag in front of everyone: here, they say, he was not afraid of the Witch's Swamp, he was there, and even brought a full bucket. Oh, bad head!
Glotov went there, without telling anyone to which place the devil took him. I came to the swamp. I looked around. The place is really not a pleasant one. Near the shore the forest is dead, not a single living tree or bush. The swamp itself is in a small depression: four hundred paces in length and about half of that in width. A gloomy place, depressing at one sight.
Here he was intimidated for the first time. But he hesitated and decided not to go back if he came. And besides, some strange obsessive passion gripped the guy when he looked at the swamp. Unprecedentedly huge, like a gooseberry, bluish-ruby cranberry beads charmed, irresistibly attracted, tickled the eyes with a dull ripe shine.
And so Pavel stepped onto the moss carpet of the Witch's Swamp. Suddenly, under the elastic flooring, a barely noticeable gentle wave immediately ran from the leg. Pavel swayed slightly, as if he were in a boat. Stepping carefully, he advanced another five steps. He stopped and looked at the swamp, at the dead forest.
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Something was wrong! For some reason, the gnarled skeletons of trees were climbing up! Growing up!
- A terrible guess pushed into my head, - continues Pavel. I glanced at my feet. Oh God! A thin layer of sphagnum sagged beneath me into a deep funnel, which continued to be noticeably pressed downward, and dirty liquid oozed up through the moss. She covered her wading boots already above the ankle and slowly but steadily rose, and under the moss flooring something disgustingly gurgled and hissed softly, making its way out.
Glotov cried out involuntarily. Animal fear seized him. He suddenly felt with his whole body: under him - an abyss! For a moment I didn't even know what to do. Fear gripped his legs, and his body treacherously weakened.
And the moss was pushing more and more, and it seemed that it was about to burst, and the Witch's swamp would swallow the guy.
DEATH'S Hug
Pavel desperately rushed forward and, not remembering himself, went, not to the edge of the swamp, but to its center. The main thing was to get away from the insidious trap, where inglorious death was already breathing in his face.
Finally, he came across a harder area almost in the middle of the swamp, stopped and took a deep breath in relief. Sweat covered my eyes, from the recently experienced danger, my body was non-stop trembling. The traveler powerlessly fell down under the only stunted dying spruce in the swamp and fell into oblivion.
After some time I came to my senses. During these minutes, the sky managed to be covered with heavy clouds, and an unprecedentedly thick fog descended into the swamp out of nowhere. From the swamp itself, faintly swaying streams of yellowish steam rose up. Some kind of oppressive stinking smell appeared in the air, which people often talked about when it came to the Witch's Swamp.
- What happened next is considered by science to be self-hypnosis, obsessive visions under the pressure of fear - Paul recalls with a shudder. - I am lying, then, having come to my senses. Suddenly I hear: somewhere behind a veil of fog - groans! Lingering, painful! And very close, but not to be seen. Everything inside me seemed to be cut short! It turns out I'm not alone in the Witch's Swamp! I was alerted. And my heart is beating so hard that it seems that you can hear his ten steps. Around the fog thickened, even the clouds are not visible. And so it felt bad for me. And the groans again. Closer! And I discern that not a man, but a woman groans. Suffering, dull, as if a groan comes from the womb.
Suddenly Pavel saw that far in the fog some denser shadow was moving, swaying smoothly, and approaching him.
“Even my hair stood on end like the wool of an animal. And go away - you can't go anywhere! I raised myself on my elbow, held my breath and looked into all my eyes. And the shadow is getting closer and closer, as if floating in the air, and an unkind cold blows from it. The fog swirls around, and moans are already heard in several places, with a hoarseness. I felt terrible! Here, I think I'm in trouble! Straight to the unclean in the paws! - continues Pavel.
Suddenly this very spot, that is, a shadow, as if turns into a person. First, the hands got out, then the head and neck began to grow from above … The outlines of a maiden appeared. All, as if from a fog, in white clothes, blond hair in a mess over the shoulders. Goes to Paul silently, as if stealthily. Closer, closer. And he can’t just crawl away - he cannot scream out of stupor! And the heart - boom-boom-boom-boom …
SHOOT MASTER
And suddenly the ghost stretched out his long hand to Pavel, not reaching six steps, and beckoned to him with a withered hooked finger. The man tried to grab deep into the moss, but some unknown force tore him from his place, raised him to his feet, and he clumsily dragged after the maiden, like a magnet attracted.
- So, I follow her, as if on a leash, and she still beckons me with her finger, - Pavel shivers. - And her eyes are so inhuman: only squirrels! Bulging, don't blink! And a special look: sucking, devouring! And, scary to remember, to top it all off, she … smiled! It was a wild, frozen smile. The smile of a madwoman, with predatory teeth bared.
The witch (Pavel no longer doubted that it was she) unnaturally shook her angular head and stepped back. Into the quagmire. Suddenly she stopped, dropped her hand with a finger that continued to beckon, threw back her head and laughed deeply: hey-hey-hey …
At the same time, the clothes gently slid off her shoulders and disappeared into the mist. She appeared completely naked and her body was frighteningly beautiful.
With a quick movement, the witch clasped her breasts with her palms, squeezed them tightly and closed her eyes from the pleasure she knew alone. A dark liquid poured out from the large nipples in a tight stream, hit the moss and hissed violently, releasing a thick yellow vapor. The moss seemed to have burned out, in its place was a gaping window of the quagmire. The witch laughed maliciously, stroking her breasts contentedly, and suddenly - disappeared, disappeared without a trace in the motionless fog.
DEAD PLACE
For a long time Paul was in a deep stupor and did not see anything around him. Meanwhile, the clouds began to disperse, and the sun that peeped out raised a heavy curtain of fog over the swamp. Finally, the guy began to recognize objects and remembered what happened to him. But it all seemed like a bad dream, although he was still in the notorious swamp and stood about twenty paces from the withering spruce, not far from the ragged hole of the quagmire.
The empty bucket, which Paul had completely forgotten and did not remember all this time, was still tightly gripped in his right hand. So that he no longer felt his wooden handle.
Sighing deeply and with relief, the traveler hastened to leave the Witch's Swamp. Carefully stepping on the trembling flimsy layer of moss, he did not even suspect how insidious the Witch's swamp was, and that its mistress did not intend to release it at all.
And the swamp itself, it seemed, was alive and had long been angry that its victim had not given up for so long. It was scary to feel his hidden hungry breath under his feet. Every now and then, muffled, horrifying sounds came from under the moss blanket.
Pavel had already reached the edge of the swamp and was about to raise his leg to step on the firm shore, as the edge of the moss beneath him treacherously pushed through and instantly went into a black rotten bog. The man began to plunge into a viscous bubbling dregs. A cold, gripping fear instantly fell upon him again. Convulsively and stunned with panic, he darted his gaze along the low bank, trying to grab any bump that could help. And suddenly I saw a birch, which, as if wishing to help out, stretched its branches from above.
Miraculously, at the last moment Paul managed to grab hold of the outstretched “helping hands”! With all his might, he leaned forward. From below, dozens of hands were clutching at the legs. If the branches could not stand it and broke off, he would have disappeared! The swamp rumbled and croaked, as if not wanting to give the already tightened victim up to the chest. His dirty tongues clinging sticky to his clothes, but still slid slowly.
Glotov made another incredible effort. The swamp continued to drag downward, releasing hundreds of small bubbles, which burst disgustingly and angrily behind their backs, but could no longer cope. Paul wanted to live, he won.
Exhausted, up to his armpits in the slippery swamp mud, he finally scrambled to the shore, clasped his savior birch and … sobbed. It was as if something had snapped inside him. Reason, it seemed, did not yet believe that the poor fellow was still alive.
The traveler was able to continue his way to his hut only after two hours - the shock was too great. He returned already without a bucket, it became the prey of the Witch's Swamp.
Since then I have bypassed him, - says Paul. - I'm afraid. The second time he won't let him go alive. I collect cranberries only in familiar swamps. Because the swamp is a mystery.