"Demons" in this case are not a figure of speech, not some kind of Zinoviev-Kamenev opposition. And not even Bulgakov's Woland, who arose a little later in Moscow. It's just that the criminal chronicle of 1925 notes several cases in which evil spirits appeared in a natural way. And since the church was persecuted in those days, the police and the courts had to deal with it
But the other world is a mysterious, uncertain business. Is it possible to deal with what no one sees? However - why "nobody"? For example, Korney Kalamarchuk, the trial of which was then going on in the Ukrainian village of Chernikhovo, very much even saw.
Red Dragon
The devil (according to Kalamarchuk - "dragon") looked like this: seven heads, each with seven horns and a tail 25 miles away. When the judge asked how the defendant was able to take a look at such a whopper, he replied sullenly that "the tail is bachyv." Here in the newspaper report follows the remark: "laughter in the hall." Although, if anyone laughed, then, rather, the Komsomol members brought to the court. The general public listened to the story with full confidence.
Kalamarchuk was a “prophet” of the “Korneevites” sect, popular in those years among the peasants of Ukraine and southern Belarus. "Korneevtsy" emerged from the "Malevans", followers of the Ukrainian peasant Kondrat Malevanny, who declared himself "the firstborn of God" in the late 1880s and called for a new, sinless way of life. After Kondrat's death in 1913, the movement split up. Kalamarchuk headed one of the communities in the Zhytomyr region. Outwardly, judging by the newspaper reports, he was an ordinary Ukrainian village man: tall, stumpy, stern. He lived in rural labor, prosperously - eight acres of land (five more he rented), eight cows, five horses. The people of Kornei revered: before talking to him, they were supposed to prostrate themselves, crawl, kiss the bast shoes. Everyone knew that in the evenings the "prophet" converses with God.
The "Korneevites" disliked the Bolsheviks, called them "red dragons" ("dragon" - the devil) - but rather because of the primordial peasant dislike for strangers city people who enter the huts, whose name is incomprehensible to requisition bread, horses. However - no more: "all authority is from God." Only somehow a story happened that any government, from God or not, had no right to get away with.
A few years earlier, Roots had declared an official marriage a sin: "Adam and Eve were not married." "Marriage is the bond of Satan, the ring is a devilish hoop, cohabitation with a wife is fornication, children born of him are an unclean trash." Motivation? Since 1914 there was no rest for people - the First World War, the Civil War. “Christ told the world: the time will come when kingdom against kingdom will rise, brother against brother. Ten kings, ten languages will begin to fight. You can't give birth to children at such a time. " How to deal with carnal problems? There were rumors that the joy of the "Korneevites" was ending in a sin. But this is about many sects talk, but evidence was not presented at the trial. The court generally worried about something else.
Iosif Tsymbalyuk, a peasant from the village of Novopol, asked to join the sect as a mature man, the father of four children. Like any neophyte, he was eager to be holier than the Pope (more precisely, the prophet Korney). I came to the idea that having made children, I had sinned grossly. He decided to "cleanse himself" - and at night he beat all his sleeping babies to death with a stove grip.
Naturally, they arrested and tried: Tsymbalyuk as a murderer, Kalamarchuk as an ideological inspirer.
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At the trial, Tsymbalyuk, however, explained that the "prophet" had nothing to do with it: he himself was to blame. Crying. Why did you kill? "Something came over me." Who's guilty? "The Dragon". But the court was especially interested in Roots: it was required to "reveal the background." He behaved with dignity: he never called upon to kill children, but what to do with Tsymbalyuk is up to you. The court regarded it as a test: "I endure torment." He answered questions in monosyllables, evasively, although he did not renounce his views. It was then that the judge managed to draw him into a conversation about how communication with God occurs and what an unclean person looks like.
Tsymbalyuk was given eight years, Kalamarchuk - two years.
Village exorcism
If Korney's story can form the basis of some thriller, then the incident in the village of Teplovka, Serdobsky district, is more of a comedy. Izvestia (1925-12-11), of course, ridiculed the local policeman Skobelev, sarcastically published the protocol he had drawn up - but maybe he was not such a fool? And on the contrary - a kind of sharp-witted Aniskin who quickly resolved a sudden conflict?
Khrapov, a peasant from Teplo, turned to Skobelev. His wife and cow fell ill at once. The healer Vdovin, who was summoned for consultation, from the neighboring village of Yuryevka, said: someone sent demons. Who! Don't go to the fortuneteller! - it is clear that the Khrapovsky neighbor is Mishin. They just had a fight with him. And Mishin's grandfather is a famous witch. Khrapov went to make up, asked to take away the demons - Mishin was not in any. He just laughed ominously. Khrapov demanded to bring the neighbor to justice.
Skobelev went to the scene. Having made sure that the victim Khrapova was moaning in bed, and the cow was mooing and wasn’t eating anything, the policeman took an extraordinary step. He sent for the suspect - after which (we quote the protocol), “taking into account self-confidence, he gathered the citizens of the village. Teplovka and administratively ordered by citizen. Mishina repeat the words of the sick Khrapova; those. I forgive you and take the demons back. " (I wonder what "administratively ordered" such a thing - did he put a revolver on the table?) Anyway, after 20 minutes, "the sick Khrapova declared that now it was easier for her, since the demons did not torment her." Then came the healer Vdovin, for whom a cart had been sent the day before. Immediately realizing that the police had already solved the issue, and depriving Skobelev of the aura of the hero of the day was a dumb thing, he said that all that remained was to consolidate the effect. “He took the Gospel out of his jacket and asked for a pot of water,he began to slander and when he finished his ceremony, he poured a cup of water and began to give the patient to drink, and also sprinkled it. " “At the request of Khrapova, I performed the same ceremony on a cow. But the cow still didn't eat."
… For those who think to giggle at the village superstitions of the twenties, we note: people do not change. Only historical circumstances change. Therefore, take a look at the appendix to this material - a plot from the "dashing nineties".
Everyday business
The third crime story is more of an everyday one. But also not without the participation of otherworldly forces.
In the village of Bugrova, Omsk province, there lived a certain Peshkov, a reveler guy. He had a young wife, Anna. And they lived together for only a week, but Anna immediately became pregnant after the wedding, and Peshkov went on a spree again. Soon he had a new girlfriend. Anna, on the other hand, cried and begged to return - not understanding how she was hindering her husband from living.
And then one wonderful day Peshkov came to his wife and started about the following conversation. Do you want me to come back? Well … My soul, of course, does not lie with you. But I was at the grandmother-witch, she said that the matter is fixable. You and I need to come to the well for three nights in a row. And so no one can see! - because it's just the two of us. From the well, you yourself must pull out a bucket of water three times, from each bucket we will both take three sips. This water will bind us.
The wife agreed. The first night everything went well. Came in the second. But it was difficult for a pregnant woman to turn the collar because of her belly. Peshkov suggested: sit on the well blockhouse and pull the chain with the bucket with your hands. Anna sat down. Then Peshkov threw her into the well. Then he went to bed. Nobody saw! And if that - I have no idea, she threw herself out of anguish. Only Anna did not drown. Leaning her hands and feet against the walls of the well, she managed to hang. She began to scream. And - wow! - someone heard a cry.
Peshkov was given eight years. How did he justify himself? It is clear how: "The demon has beguiled." Maybe it really is?
Bad apple
The author told his friend - a crime reporter about the feat of the policeman Skobelev. He laughed - and told in response the story he heard … well, let's say, from the officers of one of the special services. We will give it - without names and with changed details.
Crazy 1990s. A serious person comes to the detectives, the head of a large company. Explains: he has a deputy. It seems to be an old friend, but then they had a fight, and the deputy demanded the division of the business. The chief refused. The deputy pursed his lips: nothing, soon I'll be the master here myself.
Then they seemed to be reconciled. And after a while, sores begin to fall on the chief. A full-blooded man is literally wasting away before our eyes. Doctors only prescribe mountains of pills, clearly not understanding anything.
In a couple of months, the company has a corporate party. The chief with a sad smile explains to the chief accountant why he drinks modestly: health … pills … everything after that scandal … The chief accountant's eyes widened. It turned out that the deputy recently boasted with her - they say, he went to a certain sorcerer. I paid. The sorcerer took the apple, whispered, wrapped it with thread, gave it to the visitor and ordered it to be hung at the houses. Since then, the apple hangs - and dries. It dries up, but the chef withers away.
The detectives were not bothered by the bull's eye. But maybe something radioactive was thrown into the man's office? Or, say, mercury was spilled? We decided to secretly check. Only everything turned out to be in order. It only remained to shrug.
The rest came to light by chance, after a few years. The worried chief, after the refusal in official structures, went to the people, to whom many turned in those days in slippery situations. To strong guys, workers of the iron and soldering iron. They asked for a lot, but they did not toil with thin materials either. They just piled up to the deputy's house: where is the bull's-eye? Oh, don't, it hangs on the chandelier. Ah, hanging … Well, take your mobile, call your sorcerer!
The sorcerer arrived and saw: the client was covered in blood, in the corner his wife was tied up, and in the apartment there were terrible people with an electric heating tool. “Your apple? Take it off! And remove the spell! And without Durilov, otherwise we'll take care of you. The sorcerer realized that the spell is a charm, but rather obey. He took off the apple, whispered over it, went out onto the balcony - and threw it away into the darkness of the night.
Believe it or not, the boss stopped withering after that. And the deputy quit and disappeared from the horizon.