At the beginning of the last century, the Russian Empire still existed, which later turned into the Soviet Union, and later disintegrated into separate states. It is difficult for us to imagine that era today: after the revolution, the new government expropriated noble and merchant mansions, closed and destroyed churches. And sometimes the only thing that reminds of the past is the ghosts of their former owners.
Dismantled church
One of these haunted houses was built in Kaluga on Lenin Street, 100, on the site of the old church of the Archangel Michael. According to historical sources, the wooden church stood here in the 17th century. In 1687, a stone church with five domes and a side-altar of John the Warrior was erected instead. In 1813, a bell tower was added to the church, money for this was provided by the Kaluga merchant Yakov Bilibin. The church was closed in the early 1930s when the authorities decided to demolish the building and build an elite residential building in its place. The temple was dismantled, part of the brick was used for the construction of a kindergarten, and part for the construction of the same house. It was decided to leave the church basement, which stretched along Darwin Street, and set up a boiler room in it. The burials of priests were found in the basement, their remains were taken out in an unknown direction. According to the current residents of the house, ghosts regularly appear here. This usually happens every autumn, in late October and early November. Mysterious dark silhouettes are seen in different parts of the house. At this time, pets behave anxiously, and people in their apartments are "covered" by freezing cold and a feeling of fear …
Ural perfume
There are many old houses with ghosts in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg. In the house number 3 on Chapaev Street, in the building of the former estate of the Oshurkovs, there is the children's department of the Herzen Library - "Malaya Hertsenka". It is believed that the spirits of the former owners of the house live there. Occasionally, library workers hear someone walking up the stairs in an empty building. At night, a melody is heard from a deserted room - someone is playing the piano. And in the morning hot water flows from the taps, although no one turned it on. Even spots appear on the floor that cannot be erased, and later they disappear by themselves. However, it is not a fact that it is the ghostly inhabitants of the former estate that are playing pranks here. Once there was a police station here, so the energy in the building is not very favorable. The Memorial House-Museum of Pavel Bazhov is located on the same Chapaev street, at house No. 11. There you can allegedly see the ghosts of both the most famous writer and his household. True, museum employees claim that they have never met ghosts, but they have heard incomprehensible rustles coming from different corners of the wooden building more than once.
House-Museum of Pavel Bazhov
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On Karl Liebknecht Street, 44 stands the estate of the Rastorguevs - Kharitonovs, now the Palace of Children's and Youth Creativity. Employees and schoolchildren who study here in numerous circles pass from mouth to mouth legends about ghosts, which are sometimes seen in spacious halls: reflections of a thin, pale girl in a light dress, or young men in bloody clothes flicker in the mirrors. They say that the daughter of the merchant Rastorguev fell in love with a young master from serfs, who often visited her father on business - he worked on the construction of Rastorguev factories. The father was told about the novel, and he ordered the master to be screwed to death, and the daughter was put under house arrest. But one night she contrived you to go into the garden and drowned herself in the pond. And here they hear someone's groans and rustles. They say that the souls of serfs cannot rest,who built basements under the building and often died from poor living and working conditions. And in the basements there are countless treasures, "guarded" by skeletons on chains … But the entrances there are walled up. Zheleznov's estate is located on Rosa Luxemburg Street, at number 56. In the windows of this red-brick mansion, you can see the ghost of a woman in a white robe. They say that this is the wife of the merchant Alexei Zheleznov, Maria Efimovna. They say that a woman suffered from kleptomania and during walks, going into shops, she would certainly steal something and hide it in the folds of her dress. The husband, who usually followed her, slowly approached the merchants and paid for the goods stolen by his wife to avoid the noise. Maria Zheleznova died under strange circumstances, suddenly and prematurely. It is believed that her spirit is now frightening passers-by.
Warlock's wife
In Dnepropetrovsk, on Orlovskaya Street, there is a two-story stone house. Its windows are tightly boarded up with boards, and the courtyard is surrounded by a high fence. The house was built at the beginning of the 20th century. They say that its first owner was a merchant who, moreover, was engaged in witchcraft and warlock. He married a very young girl (apparently bewitching her) and constantly kept his wife locked up. From time to time she helped him in witchcraft.
It so happened that one of the clients of the merchant-sorcerer, a local landowner, fell in love with the beautiful merchant's wife. He seemed to turn to the sorcerer about his unhappy love for another woman, but when he saw the mistress of the house, he immediately forgot about his old feelings - the landowner found more and more new excuses to come to the house of the warlock. In the end, the admirer was able to win the heart of the sorcerer's wife, and they became secret lovers. But the merchant-sorcerer, of course, found out about everything. A scandal erupted, and the wife announced to her husband that she was leaving him. The sorcerer could not endure this. The day after the showdown with his wife's lover, misfortune happened. On the way from the country estate, where the landowner was going to settle with his beloved, his horse carried, the cart turned over, the rider fell out of it, unsuccessfully hit his temple on a stone and died on the spot. A few days later, during a night thunderstorm, a fire broke out on the top floor of the merchant's house. Neighbors heard screams and saw human figures rushing about in the reflections of the flame, but they could not help: no one dared to throw themselves into the raging fire … The fire was extinguished only in the morning. The walls of the house survived, but the second floor and the attic were burnt to the ground. The charred corpse of the owner was found in the building, but the body of his wife was never found.
The cause of the fire was never established, although many versions were put forward: who said that the warlock was careless with combustible substances that he used for witchcraft purposes, who blamed the lightning strike for everything, and who claimed that it was arson. Soon there was a rumor that the sorcerer cursed his house before he died. It was also argued that the painful death was the price for a magical gift given to the merchant by the devil. Like, the hour of reckoning has struck, here is the devil and appeared for the soul of the sorcerer. Since then, the ghost of a sorcerer allegedly lives in the house, who prowls around the attic at night in search of a potion that can help him return his wife. Later, the former house of the warlock was renovated, and tenants appeared in it. The inhabitants of the second floor constantly heard some creaks, rustles and sighs at night. Sometimes footsteps were heard, as if someone was walking in the attic,and in the morning they found scattered things there. Gradually, the frightened tenants left the house. Nobody wanted to rent apartments here either. In the early 1970s, a local policeman moved into an apartment on the top floor. They say that he specifically asked to provide him with housing in this particular house in order to dispel rumors of ghosts. However, a month later the district police officer left the ill-fated house - all the rumors turned out to be true! He saw with his own eyes how in the middle of the night some shadows moved along the walls, as if someone alive was wandering around the room. Before moving out, the policeman tightly hammered the windows of the second floor with boards. In the 1990s, a company moved into the building and equipped a warehouse on the second floor. But the very next day after the goods were brought to the warehouse, the boxes were broken open, things were scattered around, a complete mess reigned around_. In this case, the locks were not touched. Soon the tenants also moved out. After them, several more firms made attempts to settle in a strange building, but each time similar stories happened. The house cannot even be consecrated: during the ceremony the candles go out, holy water is spilled, and the prayer book falls from the hands of the priest to the floor and slams shut. After such signs, the clergy categorically refuse to continue the procedure, believing that the evil spirits that have settled in the former house of the warlock are stronger than them.that the evil spirits that settled in the former house of the warlock are stronger than them.that the evil spirits that settled in the former house of the warlock are stronger than them.
Larisa Komrakova