Veliky Novgorod is an ancient city. But who said that there is no place for modern urban legends in it? We decided to check what mystical facts survived in our city in the 21st century and arranged a survey on social networks. Do you know what the editorial office was filled with? Ghost stories! And not about some mossy perfume in an abandoned cemetery, but about the most modern ones. We have chosen the brightest in our opinion.
Alley of Death
Yes, we have one. Moreover, every Novgorod citizen certainly walked along it, since it is located in the Kremlin. These luxurious lindens became the "Alley of Death" for a reason: as the legend says, during the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis hung partisans on them, and, according to Novgorodians, you can hear groans and screams under them at night.
We questioned the police at the post near the alley. To our question, the officer on duty immediately pointed with his hand at the fat linden trees near the Kremlin wall.
- Yes, here it is, the alley. Several years ago, Estonians came to us and told us that they were hanging on these trees (not the visitors themselves, if anything!). In general, for 13 years of service here you have seen enough of everyone. There is a public place - in the same place the court decisions were announced - at night there is the rustle of an overcoat. I heard it myself.
- Aren't you afraid to work here? You never know what.
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- Why should I be afraid (laughs). I have what I have (points to the holster). If anything - I will shoot!
Colonel Kovalevsky
The senior technician, senior warrant officer of the separate 110th regiment of military transport aviation Evgeny Kulakov told us about Colonel Kovalevsky. And he not only told, but also showed the abandoned barracks in Krechevitsy, where, according to stories, the colonel appears.
We arrived at the place in the evening, and although the sun was still high, it made a gloomy impression. It is sad to see what remains of the military unit, and even earlier - in the 19th century - there was also a dragoon regiment. Now - ruins, broken glass and overgrown terrain, which all threaten to turn into an airport. Almost another urban legend, if you think about it.
But back to the commander of the dragoon regiment of His Majesty's retinue, Kovalevsky.
- At least there is a rumor that he walked here, - says Eugene. - I stood in a dress - here was my first dress, it was the beginning of 1989. Maybe I told myself that, but at midnight - steps. And the spurs rang. I went out with a flashlight - no one was there. And there was a long corridor, wooden boards … And in the end I went out, locked the door and spent the night on the bench here. I didn't go there in outfits anymore.
We also looked at the booth where the outfit was sitting. The atmosphere in the building is really heavy and there is no desire to go into a remote corridor, especially since you can fall into the basement, and this will be worse than meeting a ghost.
By the way, we also looked at the neighboring cemetery. There are still several graves of the 19th century - the colonel's comrades-in-arms, judging by the inscriptions on the gravestones.
House Berg perfume
The building in which the restaurant "Berg's House" is located was built in the 19th century by the merchant of the 2nd guild, Emily Ivanovich Berg. By the way, it was one of the most expensive mansions of the Trade side - the insurance value of the house in the nineteenth century ranged from 6 to 12.8 thousand rubles. After 1922, the building was no longer owned by the Berg family.
Where did the stories of screaming and moaning in the basement come from? If you believe unofficial sources, there was a dark page in the history of the Berg House: in Soviet times, it housed the Novgorod branch of the State Political Administration under the NKVD of the RSFSR, and according to unconfirmed reports, interrogations of Novgorodians were conducted in the basements, who were suspected of conspiracies against Soviet power. Perhaps, it was these rumors that eventually grew into stories about the ghosts of people tortured in the basements of the building.
Countess in white
One of the most popular urban legends was the Countess Orlova-Chesmenskaya, whose ghost, according to the opinions of Novgorodians, often appears in Vitoslavlitsy.
Orlova-Chesmenskaya during her lifetime was a very rich and noble lady, had the status of a chamber-maid of honor of the empress, but along with social life she paid a lot of attention to spiritual life. She acquired the estate near Veliky Novgorod in 1828 - at the end of her life. "Solitude" - as she called the estate, where she came to rest from the bustle of the world.
She chose the place for a reason: Archimandrite Photius, abbot of the Yuryevsky monastery, was her spiritual father, and the countess helped the monastery a lot even after the death of the archimandrite. By the way, she bequeathed most of her funds and the estate in present-day Vitoslavlitsy to the Yuryevsky Monastery.
Where did the legend of the Lady in White come from? We asked the head of the museum of folk wooden architecture "Vitoslavlitsa" Olesya Gavrilova for an opinion.
However, there is another version about the reburial: allegedly the last abbot of the Yuryev Monastery still quietly buried the remains in the Church of the Annunciation in Arkazhi. According to Olesya Nikolaevna, the old-timers of the village of Yuryevo looked after the grave to the last, confident that the remains of Countess Orlova and Archimandrite Photius were buried there. But these are all legends, because no one did the exhumation, and there can be no documents.
- So you still meet the countess at the estate?
By the way, a woman in white and a woman on the road are often found in the folklore of different countries and cultures. And in our region, Internet users report three ladies at once: near Vitoslavlitsy (apparently, this is the countess), on the road Kresttsy-Veliky Novgorod and near the village of Vitka.
Meat pine forest
Probably, there is hardly a Novgorodian who has not heard about the ghosts of soldiers in Myasny Bor. About shouts of "hurray", that at night ghostly soldiers come up to sleeping people and look at them, or go on the attack. About magnetic field anomalies and much more. We will not argue whether this is true or not - each person decides this for himself. But we cannot help but share one story (the author's spelling is preserved).
There is an opinion that a person sees what he wants to see - this position is held by skeptics when it comes to, among other things, Myasnoy Bor. Let's not take on the role of a judge: we haven't seen it ourselves.
By the way, here's what is interesting: according to some sources, a local madman predicted the glory of Myasnoy Bor, who said that the name of the village would justify itself and a lot of blood would be shed here. Whether it existed or not, but in some ways the prediction came true: the number of soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War here still cannot be counted, and therefore there is nothing surprising in the fact that people saw, see and will see ghosts here.
Cute but cute …
Novgorodians also told about other anomalies. So, in the house number 4 on Kochetov street sometimes the spirit of a man appears. As the urban legend says, he was killed in the market, on the site of which a house is now built. Another "market victim" allegedly lives in the clothing department of the Gagarin market.
And finally, a story about a meeting with the Novgorod “old woman Nessie”, which Alena Kostina told us.
Maybe it was the same sturgeon, the story with which made a splash a couple of weeks ago, or maybe not … Who knows!
Olesya Lyakhovskaya