Every year in Arkhangelsk, wooden buildings collapse, houses fall off the piles, and their residents constantly risk being under the rubble. According to local researchers of the unknown, the matter is not at all in the meager budgets of the mayor's office and not in poor housekeeping. This is a farewell "gift" of the ancient Chud tribe, who allegedly lived in the Pomeranian land thousands of years ago.
Arkhangelsk can hardly be called a stone jungle. Most of the houses are built of wood: log buildings, wooden walkways, carved gazebos evoke tenderness among tourists tired of concrete and glass in large cities. But not all residents of Arkhangelsk share this affection for the guests of the city. They were convinced from their own experience that romantic antiquity is fraught with many dangers.
You will not be surprised by the news about the collapsed house of the Arkhangelsk residents: every year in Arkhangelsk, several residential buildings descend from the piles. Considering that most of the buildings are wooden, the scale of the housing disaster becomes threatening. Nobody feels safe. And almost no one remembers the ancient prohibition of the mysterious tribe that once lived in the local forests. A taboo that was often violated by local loggers when they were building the capital of Pomorie.
Arkhangelsk is a flesh of fleshly Russian city. All Russian cities were completely wooden. At the end of the 19th century, Arkhangelsk was the largest wooden city in the world!
Yuri Barashkov, local historian, for the program "Urban Legends"
With proper construction and proper care, a house made of wood will last for over a hundred years, but nowadays, wood color is expensive for the city. According to employees of the rescue service in the Arkhangelsk region, a particularly dangerous period for the descent of houses from the piles and collapses is the winter-spring off-season. It is at this time that you should be especially vigilant while living in a wooden house.
Today in the Arkhangelsk region 289 thousand square meters of housing are recognized as emergency. Just think about this figure! Given that the total dilapidated fund, according to our data, is almost two and a half million squares. Of course, large cities occupy the lion's share: the regional center comes first, then Severodvinsk and Novodvinsk.
Promotional video:
Valentina Prilepina, acting Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Arkhangelsk Region, news29.ru
Old-timers say that the reason that some houses are standing for a long time, while others are destroyed, most likely, that during the construction they used forest from sacred groves, which were never allowed to be used for domestic needs: a house built of such a tree burned down, a boat - she was drowning, the lumberjack was dying in terrible agony. However, if you choose the right site for felling outside the sacred grove, then the tree will only benefit a person.
Yuri Popov, Arkhangelsk researcher of anomalous phenomena, "Urban Legends"
reference
Chud (chud white-eyed, eccentrics, Chutsk) - a character of Russian folklore, ancient people, aborigines of the area. Not to be confused with the historical name of the real Finno-Ugric peoples. This mythological character is close in meaning to the European elves and gnomes, it is found not only in Russian folklore, but also among the Komi and Sami. Similar legends are known in Siberia among the Siberian Tatars and Mansi about sybyrs, among the Altai about Buruts, and among the Nenets about Sikhirta. In the people's memory, information about the Chud past of the remains of earthen fortresses, burial grounds and settlements was preserved. They had names supplied with the adjective "Chudskoy" - for example, the tract, where the fortress used to stand, could be called the Chudskoy town.
Studying the city archives, the researcher even found some facts, which he considers to confirm his version. We are talking about sacred places around Arkhangelsk, where gorgeous forests grew. According to legend, a mysterious white-eyed Chud tribe lived here, about the existence and origin of which there is no documentary or archaeological evidence. They lived in forests, where they chose areas with the most powerful energy and considered them sacred. The tribe disappeared long ago, but the spell remained.
The Arkhangelsk Region is one of the greenest areas in Russia, with forest lands here amounting to more than 22 million hectares. It is not surprising that the region has historically developed on the basis of logging and woodworking, but even here there are sacred places where it would never occur to anyone to cut wood. For example, in the Kenozero National Park, more than 40 untouchable groves have been preserved.
We have lost the culture of perception of living nature. Inhabitants of the provinces are still keenly aware of contact with nature, feel its influence. To stand under a tree, to be imbued with its spirit is a special human trait that dulls in the city. Not everywhere there are warnings, for example, crosses are a sign of a later culture, a sign of Orthodoxy, which replaced paganism. Before the arrival of the Slavs, Finno-Ugric tribes lived on these lands, and before them the white-eyed chud lived - they are considered the indigenous inhabitants of Pomorie.
Yuri Barashkov, local historian
Even before the revolution, an ancient legend was passed from mouth to mouth about how a chud died. Unable to defend their lands from the invasion of the Novgorodians, this mysterious tribe buried itself alive. According to legend, at dawn, all Chud people gathered in the sacred grove and began to dig holes. When the sun rose over the forest, a terrible refuge for the exiles was ready. On the edges of the pits there were numerous posts, over which a flimsy semblance of a roof made of boards was laid, and these boards were covered with stones from above. And then the Chud people climbed into the pits with all their belongings and, chopping down the columns, filled up themselves.
Now no one knows why and why they accepted death in this way. Almost nothing is known about the white-eyed Chud today: what kind of people, what they believed in, what magical abilities they possessed, what forces of nature they supported, and most importantly, why they chose such a terrible, painful death for themselves - burial alive.
The places of their burials are considered to be forests with spreading tree crowns, under which you can observe many hillocks. Some even believe that the souls of the dead find refuge in these majestic trees. But these are the forests that surround Arkhangelsk.
Chud blood is still present deep in the root system of the northerners one way or another, if only because all geographical names in the Russian North are of Finno-Ugric origin. Therefore, when the Slavs came here, and these are primarily Novgorodians, there were separate tribes here, the region was very rarely inhabited. All kinds of incest began, and nothing remained of this chud.
Yuri Barashkov, local historian
The practice of cabinetmakers also provides indirect confirmation of the theories of anomalies. Arkhangelsk woodcarvers have their own method of calculating "Chud trees". Since ancient times, Pomeranian craftsmen have carved the so-called chip bird of happiness from a tree and put it on a pole. She was considered a talisman and always turned towards a kind person. According to legend, it brought good luck only if it was made with good intentions and from a good tree. And if made of cursed wood, it could play a sinister role. Only a professional can understand what material a bird is made of.
When you cut wood, you can clearly see the grain texture. In an unsuitable material, it is discordant, as if twisted. Fantastic drawings are often clearly visible on the cut: animals, fish and other unknown images.
Igor Stoyko, woodcarver