St. Petersburg has always attracted travelers. Tourists came not only to admire the masterpieces of architecture or the paintings in the Hermitage. There are dozens of places in the city on the Neva that are said to have been subjected to ancient curses.
"Bad" places
One of the most mystical places in the Northern capital is the Obvodny Canal. In the 19th century, the townspeople called him "Obvonny" and "ditch": industrial waste and sewage were poured into an artificial reservoir, so the water in the canal often smelled bad. However, it acquired a truly ill fame in the 1920s. Then the builders discovered granite slabs laid out in a circle, painted with obscure symbols. Human remains were found under the slabs. Archaeologists were summoned to the site of the work, who determined that the burial was made in the XI-XII centuries by the ancient Scandinavians and, most likely, was a place of pagan sacrifices. The workers threw stones with incomprehensible inscriptions on the curb. After that Borovoye Most began unmotivated suicides of a large number of people. Mysterious deaths occurred in 1923 (89 cases), 1933 (107 cases),1943, etc., repeating itself every third year of every new decade. By 1993, the number of suicides reached 303 per year.
Another bad place is the Egyptian sphinxes on the University Embankment. They appeared in the Northern capital more than 180 years ago and were installed in front of the Academy of Arts. Ancient legends describe the Sphinxes as the guardians of their hometown, but in no case should they be disturbed or taken away from their hometown. Tourists and passers-by have long noticed how the expression on their faces changes during the day: in the morning it is calm and peaceful, in the evening it changes to vindictive and ominous. Mythical creatures mysteriously attract death: it is believed that drowned people from all over the Neva River upstream in some unmistakable course swim to the Sphinxes.
Another channel, Griboyedov, fell into disrepute for the assassination of Emperor Alexander II. Sophia Perovskaya, a terrorist and organizer of the murder of the emperor, was executed in March 1881 on the Semenovsky parade ground. Since then, the ghost of a woman with a blue face with a handkerchief in her hands periodically frightens passers-by in cold March.
Ghosts in temples and cemeteries …
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The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, built on the site of the king's assassination, is considered the home of another ghost. Visitors to the temple have repeatedly drawn attention to the mysterious lens flare in photographs from the temple. This effect appears in almost all images from the building, which is believed to indicate the presence of a ghost in the temple. Who it belongs to remains unclear. Researchers note that during the years of the blockade, a morgue was located in the cathedral, and the dead Leningraders were brought here. Perhaps one of them is the visitors.
Another ghost lives in St. Isaac's Cathedral. The temple was built in 1818 - 1858 according to the project of the architect Auguste Montferrand, the construction was supervised by Emperor Nicholas I. According to legend, the architect Montferrand was destined to die as soon as the temple was completed. Since then, visitors have seen a strange shadow-like silhouette. It is believed to belong to the famous architect.
Ghosts in St. Petersburg, as expected, inhabit cemeteries, but in the Northern capital, stories about restless souls acquire a special aura. The Smolensk cemetery is recognized as the most terrible. According to one of the legends, soon after the revolution, clergymen from all over the city were arrested, brought to the Smolensk cemetery, built on the edge of a huge grave dug in advance and offered to either renounce the faith or lie down alive. All the priests (say there were at least 40 of them) preferred martyrdom. They say that for another three days moans were heard from the grave, and the ground in this place moved. Then a divine ray fell on the grave, and everything was quiet. According to legend, the souls of these priests still wander along the alleys of the cemetery, whispering prayers.
Another legend of the Smolensk cemetery is kind. According to legend, the young woman Ksenia, who lost her husband at a very young age, distributed all her funds and, dressed in her husband's greatcoat, set off to wander. The girl walked around the city and told the people she met prophecies that at first seemed insane, but always came true. After the death of Xenia, the townspeople began to come to her grave and ask for help, later a chapel was erected on this place. And the woman herself was canonized and became the patroness of St. Petersburg under the name of Xenia of Petersburg. There is a belief that if you walk around the chapel three times and make a wish, it will come true.
… in castles …
Another suitable place for ghosts is castles. It is believed that the Mikhailovsky Castle is inhabited by one of the most senior deceased - Emperor Paul I. Previously, the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth was located here, in which the future ruler was born on September 20, 1754. Paul I was a superstitious man and decided to build a castle here so that death would find him where he was born. Ironically, the emperor was destined to live in his creation for only 40 days - in March 1801, Paul I was strangled by conspirators in his own bedroom. Death was accompanied by strange coincidences. The inscription above the castle gates consists of 46 letters, the same age was the emperor on the day of his death. 40 months and 6 days passed from the moment of Paul I accession to the throne until his death. As eyewitnesses say,The ghost of the ruler remained in the palace and restlessly wanders around in search of consolation. You can see Paul if you come to the castle at midnight and look through the windows of the former emperor's bedroom.
… museums and parks
The Hermitage is famous not only for its cats, but also for its ghosts. According to legend, from time to time another royal ghost wanders through the dark corridors of the museum - Emperor Nicholas I. The most august person does not limit her habitation to the walls of the Hermitage and sometimes appears in a house on the Champ de Mars - another mystical place in the Northern capital. Catching this ghost is quite difficult: during the day the museum is flooded with tourists, and at night the museums are carefully guarded. Only ministers who do not want to reveal all the secrets of the Hermitage can confirm or deny the existence of ghosts.
Another suitable house for ghosts is the Kunstkamera. Immediately after the 1917 revolution, the skeleton of a French giant disappeared from the collection. Since then, the ghost of the giant wanders in search of his head.
Revived Emperor
Another giant, who, it is said, was seen on the streets of St. Petersburg is the founder of the city, Peter I (his height, we recall, was 2 meters 3 centimeters). Residents of the northern capital have repeatedly reported about the revived "Bronze Horseman" - the most famous monument to the king. He became the main character of the poem of the same name by A. S. Pushkin. The plot is based on a real historical event - the terrible flood of 1824, which claimed thousands of lives. After the incident, people began to curse the "father" of St. Petersburg, who founded the city in such a dangerous place for life. According to legend, the spirit of Peter could not stand the accusations, "came to life" and began to take revenge on the townspeople. Later legends linked this ability of the emperor to his pedestal. It is made of thunder stone - part of an ancient pagan sanctuary. Peter continues to come to life now. On rainy autumn nights, they say, he jumps off his horse,bypasses his city and returns back, assuming the previous position.
Sabbats on the Champ de Mars and the portal to hell
Mystical Petersburg is not limited to royal ghosts and strange deaths. In the very center of the city, there is the Field of Mars - a grandiose memorial complex of the northern capital, located on 9 hectares in the very center of the city. Several centuries ago Chukhon tribes lived on the territory of the memorial. Various rituals were held here, in particular, shamans accompanied the dead to the Lower World - the soul had to be “transported” there on the fortieth day after death, otherwise it would turn into an evil spirit and harm the living. Shamans not only ensured the transition to the Lower World, but also watched over the already dead so that they did not return back. The ancient sorcerers knew the evil spirits who arranged their sabbaths on the banks of the Neva. About the legend, one such Sabbath got a living person who managed to save his life only by those whothat playing the kantele fascinated mermaids and drowned men. Before the construction of the Northern capital began, the Chukhonts were expelled, and finally the shamans cursed the Field of Mars. Legends about the "lost place" quickly spread both among the people and at the royal court: Empress Catherine never again spent the night in the palace built for her, and ordinary people tried to bypass this place.
An unremarkable house on the corner of Gorokhovaya and the Fontanka River became famous for its rotunda, a gallery of six turquoise columns, an elegant cast-iron staircase and a dome at the top. Many believe that the rotunda is a portal to hell through which the devil enters the Earth. Earlier, the building belonged to Count Zubov, who organized meetings of members of the secret Masonic lodge in the Rotunda. Anyone who dared to look at the meeting of free masons without demand was threatened with instant old age, madness, and even death. Another legend associated with the Rotunda says that right below it there is an underground passage leading to the Vitebsk railway station, and if you sit in a certain position on a certain step of the staircase, you can see the seventh column that suddenly appears. The extraordinary acoustics of the rotunda also give it a mystical aura:if you stand facing any wall and whisper something quietly under your breath, the words will scatter with a booming echo throughout the square, in order to return to the place where they were pronounced.
Not everything is so gloomy: the tower of griffins, kind Rasputin and happy Semimost
Another magical place in St. Petersburg is the Griffin Tower on Vasilievsky Island. This is an annex to the house of the pharmacist Wilhelm Pel, built in the 1730s. At that time, people considered pharmacists to be something like alchemists. Popular rumor quickly endowed the mysterious tower with supernatural properties. According to one version, one of the descendants of Pel was a warlock and flew through the pipe at night, turning into a crow. On the other, there is a nest of griffins in the tower, invisible to the human eye. The frightening structure attracted curious Petersburgers who came to the tower to make secret wishes.
Another favorite place of the townspeople and guests of the Northern capital was the house in which Grigory Rasputin was killed. The elder was famous for his remarkable sexual strength. To the house to this day, bundles of letters addressed to Rasputin, asking for help in personal matters. At home. As they say, the deceased himself wanders. The ghost does not show aggression and keeps order in the house, but sometimes he "hooligan", touching the intimate places of the residents and guests of the house.
Success in these and other issues can be tried in another place - Semimost - a special place in the city, from here you can see the seven bridges of the northern capital: Kashin, Smezhny, Pikalov, Novo-Nikolsky, Staro-Nikolsky, Mogilevsky and Krasnogvardeisky. The point, oddly enough, is located on the "pernicious" Griboyedov channel. According to popular belief, if you make a wish on July 7, at 7 pm, then it will certainly come true. Skeptics who do not believe in urban legends will be able to take picturesque photographs at this place.
