Kaban is a system of three lakes in Kazan, which are located in the historical part of the Tatar capital. In 2012, mystical events began to take place on its banks. Then the film crew of the adventure film "Treasures of O. K." (working title "Treasures of Lake Boar") Further events plunged the filmmakers into horror.
The wild boar consists of three parts (lakes), extending from north to south and connected by channels: Near (Lower) Wild boar (northernmost), Far (Middle) Boar and Upper (Boriskovsky) Boar
STICKS IN WHEELS
At first, nothing foreshadowed trouble. Actors, cameramen, make-up artists, dressers, stuntmen were accommodated in the hotel. A real Tatar house was built on the Kazanka River - the home of Azim's grandfather. A floating base was built on Lake Kaban. The main characters of the film, played by Alexei Vorobyov and Maria Kozhevnikova, felt great.
Trouble began literally on the very first day of shooting, accompanied the shooting until the very end and did not even stop after. The author of the idea and producer of the film, Andrei Nikolaev, is still sincerely perplexed as to how they managed to finish the film.
“Everything was against us from the moment the idea was conceived 5 years ago to its implementation. Some signs were given to us from above, but we did not understand them, and only when we started filming did we realize that this was a mess. There were constant problems, but we could not give up. We understood that this must be done without fail."
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From the very beginning, the crew members had the impression that someone was deliberately putting a spoke in their wheels. “Almost every day there were some misfortunes. Someone broke an arm, someone - a leg, the stuntman dislocated his shoulder. Alexey Vorobyov, the leading actor, received a head injury.
Once the supporting actress was so twisted by the pain in the abdomen that she had to call an ambulance, the girl was taken to the hospital, and the doctors immediately proceeded to the operation. It turned out - peritonitis. And here the real mysticism happened: my previous film was called "Yaroslav", and my last name was Nikolaev. So, the name of the surgeon operating on the actress was Yaroslav Nikolaev. That's a coincidence? Maybe! But there were a lot of such coincidences”.
From the filming of the film
In the continuation of all the misfortunes, three people from the film crew were attacked by local hooligans. They wanted to rob the guys, but they fought back the bandits, they did not expect this, got angry, beat the participants in the filming, so much so that they ended up in a hospital bed. In addition, valuable things were taken away from everyone - phones, purses with money, watches, rings.
When the film crew finished shooting in Kazan, the filmmakers and actors breathed a sigh of relief - all misadventures will finally end. It wasn't like that.
The group moved to Crimea. There, on the lake near the village of Skalistoye, new underwater scenery was built. Who would have thought that the entire group would almost die from an electric shock after the turned on transformer almost fell into the water. If they weren't lucky, the group would have missed divers and actors.
Am I a trembling creature?
Mystical and often tragic events haunted many of the creators of "Treasure". Those who broke an arm or a leg can be said to be even more fortunate. In November 2012, 21-year-old dancer Anna Yudina disappeared in Kazan, who participated in chase scenes at the Kamala Theater.
After performing at the Legend nightclub, the girl got into a taxi at about 5 am (this was recorded by CCTV cameras) and drove home. The taxi driver dropped her off at the house, but Anna did not go up to her apartment. Relatives sounded the alarm. The dancer did not get in touch - both of her phones were treacherously silent. Later one of them was found smashed to smithereens.
Yudina's body was found 5 months later - almost on the eve of the film's premiere, scheduled for May 1, 2013. Just a coincidence? In the morning, the public utilities were checking the state of the sewage pumping station in the village of Derbyshki and stumbled upon a body.
They called the police and the investigators arrived. It was not possible to establish the real cause of the girl's death, so the body decomposed during its stay in the sewage treatment plant. Anna was buried in a closed coffin. The investigation never got on the trail of the killer.
Unfortunately, the misfortunes did not end there. An even more eerie story is associated with the sculptor Morris Tsiklauri.
The famous Kazan artist was offered to cut out figures of the Tatar goblin Shurale for filming the film. Morris happily agreed.
On October 4, 2012, employees of the enterprise found a man's head on the conveyor belt of a waste recycling plant on Vasilchenko Street. A few days later, on Mozhaisky Street, at the site behind the garbage containers, the janitor found two legs in a sports bag.
Tsiklauri was detained on the same day. The investigating authorities charged him with murder. On the eve Tsiklauri invited a friend to his home, with whom he began to drink. Having thoroughly pumped up alcohol, the friends entered into an argument that ended in a fight.
The artist stabbed an acquaintance in the chest and neck with a knife. The 31-year-old young man died from his injuries. The sculptor dismembered his body to make it easier to get rid of.
The most surprising thing is that a few months before the murder, the artist posted his own photo on a social network with an ax and the inscription: "Am I trembling creature or do I have the right?" Now Tsiklauri has a lot of time to get an answer to this question - he received 9 years in a maximum security prison.
The troubles of the film participants did not end there. On the eve of the premiere, literally an hour before it, the car of the general producer Vadim Byrkin and the Kazan actor Baybulat Batullin had an accident. The actor was lucky - he escaped with scratches, but the producer received a serious head injury.
Upon completion of the film, the leading actor Alexei Vorobyov went to conquer America, but instead got into a major accident on one of the roads in Los Angeles. He suffered a serious head injury and several fractures, which made him unable to attend the premiere of the tape.
THE CURSE OF THE LAKE
The author of the idea for the film, Andrei Nikolaev, by the way a native of Kazan, has been collecting information about Lake Kaban for about 20 years. Before taking part in the filming of the adventure tape, he managed to shoot several documentaries dedicated to the history and legends of the mysterious reservoir. According to him, Boar is a special, mystical lake.
And the reason for this is the treasures hidden at its bottom. According to legend, anyone who wants to find the treasure will be cursed. Of course, Andrei knew well about the curse, but he did not believe in mysticism, and he considered stories about treasures to be grandfather's tales, until he himself witnessed mysterious events.
An old legend says: at the bottom of the Boar, treasures are hidden under the thickness of silt and mud. In June 1552, the troops of Ivan the Terrible approached Kazan and began an assault. The ruler of the Kazan Khanate, Khan Ediger, decided to hide his wealth from the Russians, but he could not think of anything better how to drown them in the lake.
The khan's treasury was the property of the mint: gold and silver coins, gold ingots, and finally, the jewelry of the khan and his many wives: emeralds, sapphires, rubies, silver dishes, hookahs. After the capture of Kazan, the khan reasoned that it was better to go into the service of the Russian tsar, which he did. For this he was appointed khan of the Siberian Khanate, but later he died at the hands of his rival Khan Kuchum.
Since then, there have been numerous attempts to find the treasure. Alas, often instead of treasure hunters found their own destruction in the waters of the Boar. The old people said that the treasures were guarded by spirits - the water spirit of Su anasa and the snake Ajana. Formidable guards day and night make sure that no one gets the treasure. Gold, they say, is not given because the blood of Muslims is on it. The drowned in the lake are the work of evil spirits.
Impressive persons believe that the Pig affects people in the most unpredictable way: everyone who approaches him seems to lose themselves and are forgotten. And if you look at the water for a long time, then you can go crazy and eventually commit a terrible crime, which, in fact, happened during the filming of the film.
Natalia KOSYAKINA, magazine "Steps of the Oracle" No. 17 2016