Many people associate the name “Volgograd” with the Mamayev Kurgan and the panoramic museum “Battle of Stalingrad”. But the former Tsaritsyn is an ancient city with a rich history. There are other attractions here, including those surrounded by a halo of mysticism and mysteries …
Cossack theater and the drowned woman
Take, for example, the building of the Cossack theater, where the Gvardeets cinema was once located. According to legend, it was built in the 19th century by the Tsaritsyn merchant, timber merchant Alexander Shlykov in memory of his daughter, who drowned in the Volga as a teenager.
The facades of the building are decorated with bas-reliefs depicting a gray-haired old man and a girl's face, enclosed in a pearl shell. There are suggestions that the old man is a sea god, Neptune or Poseidon, and the girl is a drowned merchant's daughter.
“Shlykov showed her face on the building itself as many as 13 times,” says Roman Shkoda, author of a local history project about Volgograd. - Perhaps this figure indicates the age of the child. Today, after several reconstructions, there are 27 female faces on the building. If you look closely, you can see that all faces are the same and deliberately made ugly. Pronounced bags under the eyes, slightly curled lips, rough features. It is assumed that by doing so Shlykov wanted to achieve an accurate portrait resemblance.
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According to the local historian, the building was originally built for some "public needs". In 1912, a female gymnasium was opened there. True, Shlykov himself was no longer alive then - he died back in 1908 …
Alexander Naumenko, organizer of the network community of architectural local lore in Volgograd, once worked in a Cossack theater and more than once heard stories from the local watchmen about miracles happening here:
- Suddenly, in the corridor on the first floor, there are echoing steps, as if a giant or an adult is walking, but in very heavy shoes. Suddenly the sounds stop right at the border of the corridor with the entrance and echo with the same booming echo on the second floor of the building.
Also, adds Naumenko, on the staircase, when going down to the wardrobe, from time to time they observe the whitish silhouette of a girl in a long dress. They say that this is the ghost of Shlykov's deceased daughter, and the steps in the corridor belong to her father. It is just not clear why these ghosts appear where they never lived during their lifetime.
Meanwhile, the legend of the drowned girl is not officially confirmed. According to available information, the merchant Shlykov had two daughters. Nothing is known about the youngest, except that she studied at the gymnasium. And the eldest, Olga, married another local merchant, Pyatkin, and died in childbirth. Shlykov's only son, Vasily, really drowned in the Volga at the age of 21, and his body was never found …
Murder merchant
Another Volgograd ghost story is connected with a blood transfusion station. Once there was a church with a churchyard on this place. One of her parishioners was the merchant Kotov, who was madly in love with a certain young lady from a wealthy family.
Once, leaving the church, the merchant suddenly saw a carriage passing by, and his beloved was sitting in it in the arms of a young man. In a fit of jealousy, Kotov rushed after the carriage, jumped on the bandwagon and stabbed first the opponent, and then the girl.
After that, the killer was seen on the banks of the Volga, where he tried to wash his bloody clothes. For some reason, no one detained him. Toward nightfall, the merchant returned to the crime scene and stuck a knife in his heart. Since then, his ghost from time to time began to appear at the site of the tragedy. They say that he looks like an ordinary person, but if you look closely, it becomes noticeable that the phantom does not walk on the ground, but floats through the air and his hands glow.
If he comes across a young couple, the ghost may ask if they love each other. Having received an affirmative answer, it tells its story to the lovers …
The Restless Potter and the Dead Bride
In the very center of the Krasnoarmeisky District of Volgograd, on Svoboda Square, you can see a sign: "Welcome to Old Sarepta." Today, excursions are conducted in the abandoned old quarters of the former German colony. The staff of the local museum are convinced that the ghosts of the former residents and owners are found here, who continue to guard their homes.
The fraternal community of Gernguter ("Moravian brothers") founded its colony in the Kalmyk steppes south of Tsaritsyn in 1765 with the permission of Empress Catherine II. They named it Zarepta - in honor of the ancient biblical settlement in Phenicia, which was called Zarepta of Sidon.
In the former trading shop of the manufacturer Goldbach, where the pottery workshop was once located, the ghost of its owner Johann Niedenthal lives. Immediately after his death, the deceased began to play tricks, beat pots at night in the workshop and strum with a potter's wheel. One night, Niedenthal's son, also Johann, entered the workshop and saw before him the ghost of his late father. He sat at a potter's wheel and polished a pot. Hearing footsteps, the old man raised his eyes, looked at his son and … disappeared into thin air.
The next day, young Johann Niedenthal ordered a funeral service on his father's side at the local church, and the "outrage" stopped.
Nowadays, a bar has been set up in the building of the former workshop, and the ghost allegedly contacted the staff of the museum complex, asking them not to forget him. Every day, the caretakers leave a treat to the phantom - a loaf of bread and a mug of beer, which Niedenthal adored during his lifetime.
There is also a legend about the treasures of the dead bride. Allegedly, in one of the underground tunnels that connected all the houses of Sarepta, the body of the brewer's daughter Krautswurst, who died under mysterious circumstances on the day of her own wedding, was buried.
The inconsolable father decided to bury his daughter in an underground crypt along with gold and jewelry. They say that now the restless spirit of the girl walks around Sarepta and looks for her fiancé, and the body is guarded by a certain iron knight who is able to pierce anyone who encroaches on the dowry of the deceased bride with a spear … It is curious that when the burials were transferred from the old German cemetery to a new an empty coffin was found on the slab where Krautswurst's daughter was supposedly buried.
Paranormal club
The estate, which once belonged to the owners of a mustard plant named Glich, is also surrounded by mystical glory. The house, built at the end of the 18th century, now houses the Glitch club, whose interiors are stylized as an old German tavern. Only billiards tables are a tribute to modernity. At the entrance there are portraits of the last inhabitants of this house - Johann Glich and his wife Henrietta Charlotte.
Employees of the Historical, Ethnographic and Architectural Museum-Reserve "Old Sarepta" argue that paranormal phenomena are constantly taking place in the building. In the basement, converted to play table tennis, ghosts seem to gather regularly. This is evidenced by footsteps in the empty aisles, the sounds of breaking dishes. Sometimes people see the ghost of a woman with a child in her arms, who is nicknamed the Guardian. However, it seems to have nothing to do with the German settlement.
There is a legend that at a time when nomadic dugouts still stood in this place, another skirmish happened between Kalmyks and Tatars, and one of the local residents, along with her baby, was walled up alive in the dugout, covered with sand on top. Her spirit now worries the local living inhabitants.
The spirit of a woman with a baby appeared several times in photographs taken in the club's premises. Also in the building of the club "Glich" are shown the ghosts of an old man and a young man in a hat, dressed in an old shirt with lace.
And once a ghost cat appeared in the photo. After a while, a live cat suddenly emerged from the boarded-up basement, which looked very much like the ghost from the picture. She took root in the club and recently even gave birth to three kittens. Once the head of the club-restaurant Svetlana Shoshina, being in an empty room, heard the ringing of keys over her ear. She guessed to open the door, and a cat flew in from the street like a whirlwind …
- Probably, this is how the Keeper asked us to let the forgotten animal in, - Svetlana believes.
The club's staff assure that, in fact, the local ghosts do not harm people, but if someone speaks disrespectfully of the dead, they can mischief. So, several times, when one of the guests of the institution ridiculed the beliefs about ghosts, the light in the room suddenly went out or the alarm was turned off. It is believed that phantoms lead an active lifestyle at night, and "sleep off" during the day …
Maria PODOLETSKAYA