At the beginning of the last century, mysterious and bloody events began to take place in one of the remote villages of the Poltava province. In March 1904, a girl, Masha Borova, disappeared from the village. For some business, she was away from home for a short time and disappeared. Parents, relatives and not indifferent residents went around all the surroundings, the forest, the river bank, but they did not find Maria. Her body was not found either.
The police did not report this, considering it an accident. A month later, a few days before Easter, another young girl disappeared. The peasants decided that the gypsies had stolen her. This time it was decided to report it to the police. A sergeant came to the village, stayed for a couple of days, interviewed the residents, made some notes, and left. Another girl disappears in June, another one in July. The mother of one of the girls went to the local fortuneteller Angelina. The fortune-teller spread out the cards, was silent for several minutes, and then told the woman:
- Do not search! Your daughter is dead!
Time passed, and gradually life began to improve, everyone began to forget about the missing girls. In mid-December 1904, the village was again shaken by the news of another tragedy: a saddler's daughter disappeared. The girl was not found either. The village headman personally went to Poltava to demand decisive measures from the authorities. After all, it got to the point that young girls were afraid even during the day to go out into the courtyard of their houses.
Soon a young policeman Nikolai Sokolov appeared in the village, and with him several of his assistants. The polite detective managed to attract villagers who do not trust outsiders. Then he asked the headman to show him all the surroundings and introduce him personally to all the inhabitants. Most of all, the policeman became interested in Natalia Kravchuk, who was considered a witch in the village and was feared. Sokolov was surprised at what a sixty-year-old woman looks like: an even posture, fair skin, red and healthy lips and not a single gray hair. Natalia could be given no more than thirty years.
The investigator asked to issue him a search warrant for the suspicious house. Together with his assistants, Sokolov searched the entire house, in which he found occult literature, amulets and other ritual objects. However, there was nothing in the house that would indicate that Natalya Kravchuk was a murderer, until one of Nikolai's assistants flew into the house. The young policeman drew attention to the suspicious mounds in the garden. 39 graves were found in the weeds. On the same day, Natalia Kravchuk was arrested. Natalia Kravchuk confessed to the crimes.
Later, the witch said that she used to look for victims in other villages and cities, and recently she was lazy and killed local girls. How exactly the rejuvenation ritual took place, the witch did not tell even under torture. The investigation lasted several years. Natalia was examined by doctors and psychologists, the council of doctors unanimously recognized the accused as absolutely healthy physically and mentally. It was rumored that Natalya was approached by an influential person in the country who promised to release the witch in exchange for the secret of youth. However, Kravchuk refused. The court found Natalya Kravchuk guilty, she was executed in May 1908.
Mysteriously, within three years after the execution of Natalia Kravchuk, Nikolai Sokolov and all his assistants disappeared without trace. And the village in which the witch lived disappeared from the map by 1913. Some of the residents knew how, other people just left this place.
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