It is interesting why an ordinary physical phenomenon, or rather, as they write in reference books, "a spatial optical phenomenon expressed by a visually perceptible silhouette appearing on an arbitrary surface due to the presence of an object between it and a light source" causes us so many emotions, vague sensations, and maybe even fears? After all, this is an ordinary shadow. The place that we close with our bodies from the sun. But what if not us and not our own?
Unclean house
This story can still be heard from the old residents of the small Ural city of Miass. During the Great Patriotic War, a lot of evacuees appeared here in the Urals. Disadvantaged people dreamed of at least some kind of roof over their heads.
Dreamed about this and dashing dashing woman with two children - Pelageya Afanasyeva. The family was still allocated housing on the outskirts of Miass, settled in an old abandoned house. The locals avoided this house, considered it unclean, but Pelageya was also glad to have such a refuge. In addition, after what she had experienced, the woman did not believe in God or in the devil.
From the very first days, the new tenants began to notice something strange. And day and night, from under the floor came some knocks, grinding, rustling. At first, Pelageya thought that it was hungry rats or mice who felt a human presence in the house. However, the character of the sounds soon changed. Human steps, sighs, creaks of floorboards began to be heard. The house seemed to be living its own mysterious life. And one night, the family suddenly woke up with the feeling of someone in the room. Jumping up, Pelageya decisively turned on the light, and all three, taken aback, saw a black shadow appear from somewhere under the floor, judging by the outlines, female. She was clearly visible on the freshly whitewashed wall. As if moaning softly, the shadow moved towards the window. Neither a person nor an object that could cast a shadow was observed in the room.
Pelageya and the children, bound by fear, watched as the shadow, slowly slipping along the wall, disappeared. From that moment on, the terrible guest began to visit the Afanasyevs almost every night. Everything happened according to the same scenario: a shadow appeared from somewhere under the floor, slowly moved along the wall towards the window and disappeared into nowhere.
There was no harm from such visits, but the family could no longer tolerate the extreme fear. Despite the harsh winter, the unfortunates were forced to leave the house. At the request of Pe-lagi, the police visited their homes several times, which also witnessed all this devilry. Finally, after examining the house and opening the floorboards, the militiamen found the half-rotted corpse of a woman wrapped in sackcloth. Someone remembered that once in this house there lived a "witch" who had disappeared before the war. After that, the house was called unclean and avoided it. When the body was buried at the local cemetery, the Afanasyev family returned to the house. No one bothered them at night anymore.
Hanger
Here is another story similar to the story of the Afanasyev family, although it happened much later, in 1987. On the outskirts of a village, a young family bought a small house for almost nothing. While bargaining, his wife Natalya, a practical woman, realized that something was wrong with the house, but such a suitable price did its job.
For almost a month, the newlyweds lived peacefully in the house. But the oddities soon began. Once the husband was at work, Natalya was busy with the housework. Suddenly, she felt a slight movement of air, as if someone invisible had passed by her. And at the same moment, on the wall, bathed in the bright sun, the woman saw the shadow of a man, as if wrapped in a hoodie. She looked around, but there was no one else in the room. Holding her breath, Natalya watched the strange phenomenon and soon realized with horror that it was nothing more than the shadow of the gallows, which was slowly swinging on an invisible rope.
The shadow disappeared suddenly, as if it was not there. Natalya even thought that she had dreamed it all - from the heat or overwork. But the "guest" appeared the next day and then. Both Natalia's husband and neighbors "met" him. It was they who told that an unsociable gloomy man once lived in the house. It was rumored that during the war he was a policeman. And then one day a gloomy loner took and hanged himself. Where he was buried, and whether he was buried at all - no one knows anything about that. Probably, it is his spirit that roams the house, the villagers decided. Natalya and her husband did not manage to get rid of the uninvited "guest", they had to leave the village.
1941 to 2001
Well, many newspapers wrote about what was happening in the small German town of Bietigheim in 2001. Here is an excerpt from one such article: “The inhabitants of Bietigheim observe the appearance of human shadows on the walls of some houses every day. Shadows appear by themselves, there are no objects casting them in the foreseeable space. Some shadows even move as if they were alive. When this phenomenon became widespread, the local authorities ordered to start studying it. As scientists and parapsychologists found out, something similar was happening in the city 10 years ago, in 1991.
True, then they did not attach much importance to this - in those days it was believed that this was simply impossible in reality. Now Professor Franzfeld from the University of Berlin said that although he does not believe in mysticism, what is happening in the city is an undoubted fact, which has been confirmed by dozens of photographs and videos. Coincidentally or not, shadows appear in Bietigheim on the anniversary of the horrific mass execution of Jews in 1941. Then thousands of the unfortunate were taken out of the city and destroyed. According to local residents, shadows of townspeople innocently killed by the Nazis appear on the walls of houses. Scientists are still finding it difficult to give a scientific explanation for this phenomenon."
The case is really quite mysterious, to be sure. Although from the point of view of parapsychology, it is quite possible that the energy field of the once perished people for some reason did not disappear, did not disappear, but in such an amazing and strange way it manifests its essence.
They say that in order to get rid of such persecution, you just have to say: "Shadow, know your place!", And it will disappear. Just to muster up the courage and cold-bloodedly say something like the shadows of those who died at the hands of the Nazis somehow does not turn his tongue.
Vladimir LOTOKHIN
Secrets of the 20th century August 2010