For many centuries tens of thousands of people lived, died and were buried in this regional center. Their graves are scattered throughout the neighborhood. Some of the old graveyards are now occupied by houses and shops of the modern city. But from time to time it seems that the spirits return to this world and begin to take revenge on the living for the disturbed peace.
"Bone" square and black deli
Melitopol has a central Victory Square. In 2009, the local government decided to renovate it. One of the stages of the reconstruction was the replacement of tiles. But during that period of time, when the old tiles were removed, and the new ones had not yet been laid, showers were frequent in the city. Rainwater began to erode the ground, and human skeletons "climbed" to the surface.
Imagine the reaction of a married couple walking down the street who accidentally noticed a skull literally under their feet, staring at them with empty eye sockets! Little of! Near the monastery of Sava the Sanctified, which is 800 meters from the square, an excavator pulled a mountain of human bones out of the ground with a bucket. The working, strong-looking guys were not in the mood for jokes. Working in the former cemetery isn't all that fun.
There is another bad place not far from the square - a black grocery store. And although the name is unofficial, on the Internet map of Melitopol it is indicated exactly that way. The name was given to him by local residents. They say that in 1970 there was a shop, the walls of which were decorated with black tiles by the builders. This can often be seen on the facing of cemetery graves. After the construction of the grocery store, the locals could more than once be convinced that this is a really black place.
For example, with a difference of 10 years, two nearby residential high-rise buildings exploded there. Several people died, dozens ended up in hospital beds. The official version was the ignition of the gas used by the residents. Maybe the explosions were really random. Or maybe not. After all, the gas pipe runs underground. What if one of the underground bone inhabitants raged and decided to punish the "neighbors"?
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The dead seek revenge
There is one more place in Melitopol that took away a considerable number of human lives - this is Bohdan Khmelnitsky Avenue. This part of the city often appears in police reports. Road traffic accidents occur there with alarming frequency. Maybe this is due to the sloppiness and inattention of the drivers. Or maybe the reason for the massive accidents is that the road of the avenue passes by a black grocery store and "bone" square?
The dark forces also have their favorite corners. For example, at times a grave evil may lurk among the green oases. For example, if in the night parks of Zaporozhye the bulk of the representatives of this "evil" are drunken rascals and gopniks, then in Melitopol's Gorky Park, in addition to drunken fights and robberies, accidents, murders and suicides often occur. So, recently a man hanged himself there, who, according to his relatives, was going to start a new life: he was looking for a job, wanted to start a family. What (or who) pushed him to suicide is unknown.
But the old people tend to blame everything on the dark spirits that live in the park. Locals try to bypass this park in the evening and at night. Rare "lucky" who have to be in this area at night say that they have heard blood-curdling sobs and frightening rustles there. And this is not surprising. After all, not far from the central entrance to the park is the Bratsk cemetery.
By tradition, it is near him that a tribune is installed for every city holiday. And festive events take place on the graves of two and a half thousand people. It is quite possible that at night the souls of the dead are at least somehow trying to take revenge on the wicked who disturb their peace.
Tombstone houses and school
There are about ten cemeteries in Melitopol. One of the oldest and most mysterious is the old Jewish cemetery. There is another cemetery across the street, a newer one.
Near the graves of the deceased, there are private houses, apparently, of the most courageous residents of Melitopol. Locals claim that not so long ago they saw how old gravestones from the Jewish cemetery were used by some people to build their homes.
There are rumors that the foundations of the nearby school are also made of old gravestones. True or not is unknown. But the school was closed because the parents did not want to send their children to it.
Grave Call, or Non-Photogenic Dead
There is another mysterious power in the abode of the dead. She can penetrate a dream and control the elements. “As a child, I often had a dream: on a sunny day, I wander through some strange cemetery. There are no people around, but I'm not afraid … - recalls Dmitry from Melitopol. - I'm trying to find a way out or someone who can show the way to him, but all in vain. In general, some kind of strange dream."
Dmitry is no longer a child, but the addiction to mysterious places has remained since then. Now he is a true explorer of cemeteries. He has already visited many graves and saw many strange things. He recently managed to work in an old Jewish cemetery. I went there with a camera to take pictures of old graves and monuments. But before he had time to take a couple of pictures, a heavy rain with hail began. Dmitry decided to postpone the photo session. As soon as he left the cemetery, the elements calmed down. Coincidence or not, who knows.
The Legend of the Amazons
Even the myths of love in Melitopol are built on graves and death. For example, the Kiziyarsky brook flows near the city, which goes through the gully of the same name. Many centuries ago, the Melitopol landowner Pyotr Dzyakovich wrote down a whole Nogai legend about the origin of this name. In short, it sounds something like this: “A long time ago in the Kiz-Yar gully lived a tribe of women-Amazons. The warriors were brave, they were good at archery, cut with a sword, rode on horseback and often defeated men from a neighboring tribe in battles.
A beautiful warrior led the Amazons. This was until she was captured, where she fell in love with one of the men. But the Amazon did not dare to become his girlfriend for life. She begged to let her go in exchange for the mercy. But the warrior could not live without love, so she ordered her fellow tribesmen to burn themselves at the stake. Since then, the name of the Kiz-Yar beam has appeared (“kiz” is a girl, “yar” is a beam).
Legends are legends, and in 1948, on the territory of a silicate plant, which is located just in the Kiziyar gully, workers accidentally found an ancient burial of a woman in the ground. On her head was a golden diadem. The chest, arms and legs were also adorned with jewels, and next to them lay a sword, a cauldron and a horse saddle, decorated with gold plaques. So don't believe in folk tales after that.
Ghost hunt
In many Western countries such a hobby as ghost hunting is widespread. People with photosensitive cameras and cameras walk through cemeteries, ancient castles, abandoned psychiatric hospitals, prisons where the death penalty was carried out, and try to catch paranormal phenomena in the lens.
In Ukraine, this fun has not yet become fashionable. But we decided to give some tips for fans of extreme and horror movies. So, for ghost hunting, we need a camera with good sensitivity and a matrix of at least five megapixels. We insert a memory card (the more, the better), go to the old cemetery and start taking pictures of everything. Ghosts are too transparent for the human eye, and the sensitivity of the camera is much higher. If you are lucky, you will be able to capture a real ghost.
Ernest Romalisky