There is no exact date when the St. John the Baptist Monastery was erected. It is believed that it was built in the 15th century. According to legend, the future tsar, Ivan IV, was born on the day when the monastery was consecrated, which is why he was named Ivan. The thunderstorm that raged during his birth was a sign of the tough temper of the future king.
The monastery was famous for its strict charter. Perhaps that is why not only criminals and schismatics were placed in it, but also representatives of noble families, from whom relatives decided to get rid of.
One of the most famous inhabitants was Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova, better known as Saltychikha, who tortured about 100 people to death.
Catherine the Great learned about the bloody fun of the landowner. Enraged, she deprived the landowner of all civil rights and ordered her to be imprisoned in an underground prison. They kept Saltychikha in complete darkness. Only on major holidays was she allowed to listen to the service without going into the temple. A few years later, the prisoner managed to get pregnant from a soldier who was guarding her, hoping for a softening of conditions. But the child was taken away immediately after giving birth, and Saltychikha herself was transferred to a dungeon with a lattice on the window. Anyone could drop in here to see the prisoner. After spending 33 years in captivity, Saltychikha died without repentance.
But even after her death, she was not destined to leave the monastery. One of the first to see the ghost of a bloody landowner, while still a child, now a monk of a monastery near Moscow. She and her mother visited the St. John the Baptist Monastery. The boy ran around the yard. And suddenly I saw a scary, dirty old woman running, with disheveled hair, who stretched her arms with long nails to him, calling him a son. The child got scared and ran to look for mom. It is noteworthy that no one saw the old woman besides him.
To see the ghost of Saltychikha is a bad sign. Most often, she is met in the underground passage of the monastery and at the place where her house once stood. The old woman swears dirty and showered her counterparts with curses.
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And in the forest near her former estate, they sometimes see the ghosts of the girls tortured by her, who cry and ask to be buried in the cemetery according to Christian tradition.
But the ghost of a cruel landowner is not the only one that can be found in the old monastery. See here quietly praying nuns. They do not bring harm to anyone.
Occasionally they meet a young crying girl. She presses the letter to her chest. They say that this is Princess Tarakanova, who was imprisoned in a monastery without fault. It is believed that she is trying to warn of danger.