Diggerism - a passion for researching underground city highways, passages and tunnels - became popular in many Western countries in the 60s of the last century. In the 1980s, it also captured the Soviet youth, having received serious development in Moscow and Leningrad. With the onset of a new Vienna, diggerism reached the Trans-Urals, the cities of which keep many underground secrets.
Tomsk
The greatest interest among Siberian diggers in the last decade has been caused by Tomsk, one of the oldest Siberian cities, founded in 1604 by decree of Tsar Boris Godunov. In many respects, this interest was promoted by the legend of Sadin, or Frankgrassion, an ancient city that was once located on the site of modern Tomsk. There is information that back in the 17th century, the first Russian settlers made unsuccessful attempts to find the mythical city. However, only in the second half of the 20th century, after the start of active development of the historical center of Tomsk, builders began to come across mysterious passages and underground structures, information about which Tomsk diggers became actively interested in several decades later. In particular, in 2002, a concreted and half-flooded room was found under the TsUM building,from which several tunnels with brick and log floors went in different directions. According to the researchers of the Tomsk underworld, such tunnels penetrate the entire central part of the city and go away from the Voskresenskaya Mountain towards the Tom River. In 2005, a group of enthusiastic diggers led by Igor Domnin managed to get through an earthen hole in the Campus area into a huge vaulted room, in which the figures of four knights in rusty armor were discovered. Behind the backs of the ancient warriors, the outlines of the entrance to the next room, laid with well-hewn stones, were guessed. The Diggers decided to rise to the surface in order, armed with the necessary tools, to continue studying the amazing find the next day. However, the collapse of the ground, which happened soon, did not allow I. Domnina shut down.
In 2007, in the collapsed underground of one of the old houses on Rosa Luxemburg Street, at a depth of five meters, the researchers were blocked by a stone bricking up the opening. The boulder was dotted with mysterious signs that vaguely resembled Egyptian hieroglyphs. One of the historians of Tomsk University put forward an amazing suggestion that such signs may have a protective meaning and represent the text of a certain magic spell.
Such facts allowed a number of diggers to conclude that in the Tomsk catacombs, most likely, some relics or treasures belonging to unknown civilizations of the past are kept, and even, perhaps, the famous Golden Baba (a legendary idol, an object of worship of the indigenous inhabitants of the North), traces of which are lost in these parts.
Vladivostok
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The study of Vladivostok's underground began in 1997 after rumors spread around the city: they say, under the very center of the city, where Uborevich Street runs, there is a certain underground bird that eats people. The Vladivostok diggers, of course, did not find any bird, but they managed to make a number of wonderful finds and interesting observations in the catacombs of the old city fortress. In particular, the researchers marveled at the unusual intricacy of its labyrinths. The diggers' closest attention was drawn to the tunnel that went towards the sea north of the port water area. About 500 meters from the coastline, the tunnel passage was blocked by a strange structure of stones and thick metal rods. So far, no one has been able to figure out what is behind it,however, in 2009, the digger Sergey Burakov, together with two comrades, heard strange sounds coming from behind an impregnable obstacle, reminiscent of the noise of working mechanisms. It is also noteworthy that in the place where, presumably, the mysterious tunnel should go out to the sea, eyewitnesses from time to time observe strange luminous objects emerging from the water.
Diggers enthusiastically explore the dungeons of the fortress # 3, where, as it turned out, there are very ancient burials of people, which no one dared to touch to this day. In addition, it is known that the legend of the White Grandfather, who allegedly appears here from time to time, is associated with this fort.
Omsk
And the catacombs of Omsk, according to modern diggers, keep the secret of the famous gold of Admiral Kolchak (the gold reserve of the Russian Empire), which disappeared without a trace during the Civil War. In the first third of the last century, there was an opinion, confirmed by the information of the Moscow Geographical Society, that there were no underground passages near Omsk. However, already in the mid-1930s, while digging a foundation pit, builders accidentally dug up a secret passage, which became interested in the employees of the local NKVD administration. There is information that even then the Chekists suggested that the royal gold could have been hidden by Kolchak right here. Soon it was rumored in the city that local children, eager for everything mysterious, disappeared without a trace in these tunnels. After several months of examining the excavations, the passages were buried, forgetting about them for two decades,until in 1957 the beginning of the ice drift cut off part of the Omi coast, as a result of which the entrance to the underground was exposed.
A surge of interest in the Omsk catacombs occurred at the beginning of the 21st century, when, while conducting engineering surveys in the basement of the regional prosecutor's office, workers stumbled upon vaulted brickwork. A year later, there were reports that diggers on the territory of the city's oldest CHPP-1, built back in 1910, found a previously unknown basement with several - one and a half meters high - branches-branches, in one of which they found shackled a human skeleton with fragments of a decayed White Guard uniform. This find made me recall the stories of old-timers that Admiral Kolchak in the fall of 1919 ordered the destruction of people who, at his direction, had hidden the values of the royal treasury.
In 2003, during the demolition of an old building located not far from the Seraphim-Aleksievskaya chapel, the wooden floors that were hidden deep underground collapsed. In the resulting cache, the builders found several army boxes with melee weapons, bank notes and silver coins of the tsarist minting, which gave reason to talk again about the secret of Admiral Kolchak, which has not been revealed to this day.
Novosibirsk
Despite their relative "youth", the underground structures of the capital of Siberia - the city of Novosibirsk - also keep many secrets, over which enthusiastic researchers have been fighting since the mid-90s of the XX century. In particular, of particular interest to diggers is the mysterious four-story building under the Opera and Ballet Theater, which resembles a huge bunker. According to historians and local historians, it was built in 1943 by special order from Moscow, and, quite possibly, it was one of the many underground shelters intended for the top leadership of the USSR. In 2001, researchers of the Novosibirsk undergrounds discovered a tunnel with a narrow-gauge railway laid in it, which led to the Novosibirsk railway station and the building of the River School. In the same year, while digging a trench near this educational institution,the tunnellers reached a gallery of brickwork, where two cadets of the school soon descended for the sake of curiosity. According to one of them, after walking a little along the gallery, they saw how it expanded, and soon found themselves in a huge tunnel, reminiscent of a subway, with electric lights and a railway track. According to the diggers, this tunnel in the 40-60s of the last century led towards the city airport, covering the buildings of the headquarters of the Siberian Military District and the Air Force, as well as the KGB school on Krasniy Prospekt, and was one of the most secret underground facilities in Novosibirsk. Alas, with the collapse of the USSR, complete information about this and about many other mysterious structures in Siberia, unfortunately, turned out to be irretrievably lost.walking a little along the gallery, they saw how it widened, and soon found themselves in a huge tunnel, reminiscent of a subway, with electric bulbs and a railway track. According to the diggers, this tunnel in the 40-60s of the last century led towards the city airport, covering the buildings of the headquarters of the Siberian Military District and the Air Force, as well as the KGB school on Krasniy Prospekt, and was one of the most secret underground facilities in Novosibirsk. Alas, with the collapse of the USSR, complete information about this and about many other mysterious structures in Siberia, unfortunately, turned out to be irretrievably lost.walking a little along the gallery, they saw how it widened, and soon found themselves in a huge tunnel, reminiscent of a subway, with electric bulbs and a railway track. According to the diggers, this tunnel in the 40-60s of the last century led towards the city airport, covering the buildings of the headquarters of the Siberian Military District and the Air Force, as well as the KGB school on Krasniy Prospekt, and was one of the most secret underground facilities in Novosibirsk. Alas, with the collapse of the USSR, complete information about this and about many other mysterious structures in Siberia, unfortunately, turned out to be irretrievably lost.encompassing the headquarters of the Siberian Military District and the Air Force, as well as the KGB school on Krasny Prospekt, and was one of the most secret underground facilities in Novosibirsk. Alas, with the collapse of the USSR, complete information about this and about many other mysterious structures in Siberia, unfortunately, turned out to be irretrievably lost.encompassing the headquarters of the Siberian Military District and the Air Force, as well as the KGB school on Krasny Prospekt, and was one of the most secret underground facilities in Novosibirsk. Alas, with the collapse of the USSR, complete information about this and about many other mysterious structures in Siberia, unfortunately, turned out to be irretrievably lost.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №6. Author: Sergey Kozhushko