Pavlodar surprises many visitors with the beauty of its architecture, but the locals perceive some buildings with caution. Largely thanks to the legends that go around in society. But there are those who are quite seriously sure that there are places in the city that are fraught with something mystical.
Damned skyscrapers
In Pavlodar, at the intersection of Tauelsizdik Avenue and Chokin Street, there are three skyscrapers that have been attracting suicides for 20 years. According to the residents of these houses, they themselves are counting the dead. Today this figure is close to 30. Every year, several people fall here, there have been cases when those who decided to take their own lives landed on passers-by.
Despite the fact that there are enough easily accessible high-rise places in Pavlodar, suicides still go to these very 16-storey buildings. Psychologists say that what attracts people to these houses is that they are located in the city center. Some residents, however, express the opinion that their houses are still cursed.
In the entrances, from where people go to the balconies to jump off, there are a large number of ambiguous inscriptions. The reasons for suicides are usually commonplace: unrequited love or debt.
Guests from another planet
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Another mystical place is not quite in Pavlodar, but in the Pavlodar region. In January 2008, an unidentified flying object fell on the territory of the Maisky district, as people said. He flew over the village of Koktobe and fell into the Belaya river. The object itself was not found, however, impressive traces remained. The ice, 50 centimeters thick, looked like it had been split by several tons of TNT.
After the incident, specialists from the Emergencies Ministry went to the scene and began to study the phenomenon. The divers began to explore the bottom, but found nothing. No radiation was detected here, and the possibility that the debris of the launch vehicle fell into the river was ruled out, and the meteorite was not found. However, the radars did not notice anything at that moment.
A week later, the work was stopped, saying that it was nothing more than a natural phenomenon. The ice, they say, burst itself. The official version was announced, but the locals still believe that it was a UFO, and, they say, the aliens are good at hiding.
Park at the cemetery
The city garden, as the inhabitants of Pavlodar themselves call it, was built on the territory of an old cemetery. This was done in the first half of the 20th century. According to the well-known local historian Ernest Sokolkin, not everyone moved the graves from here, but only those whose relatives survived. Others remained underground.
Initially, they tried to build buildings on the territory of the city garden, but the plans were corrected by a fire that destroyed what had already been erected. As a result, a park appeared on the territory of the former cemetery, in which attractions were installed.
For many years, people have been saying that the city garden is the most mystical place in the city. Over the years, more than one person has stated that he saw here the ghost of a certain girl who walks at night and frightens visitors to the park. It's hard to say whether this is true or just a violent imagination.
But the city garden still retained the fame of a place where the spirits of those who were once buried in the cemetery come out at night into the human world.
Many years later, a large-scale construction project was started in the park. Now a water park is under construction here. The city garden itself resembles the times of the Soviet Union. Largely because of the swing, requiring a complete replacement.
Derov's ghost
In the old part of Pavlodar there is a local history museum, which is located in the house of the merchant Derov. The building was built in 1899 and is considered one of the oldest in the city, and legends associated with the house appeared by themselves.
The first of them is a tunnel that connects the house and the bank of the Irtysh. It was allegedly built by Derov himself, so that he had easy access to the river. The owner of the house was a merchant who brought products to the city by the river. However, to this day no one has found the tunnel, although rumors about it are constantly circulating.
The second legend is the ghost of Derov himself. At the beginning of the last century, a fire broke out in the house and people began to extinguish it on their own. Everyone in the area rushed to save the structure, and they managed to calm the flames.
According to local historian Ernest Sokolkin, some began to say that they saw the spirit of Derov, who helped people save their home. And that, they say, he still lives in an old building. Again, no one can reliably confirm or deny this legend.