In December 1913, the provincial newspaper "Saratov leaf" reported a mystical incident in Kamyshin. The correspondent of the edition in the section "Uyezd Pictures" published an article under the intriguing title "Someone in White".
"Some strange creature appeared in Kamyshin, apparently of unearthly origin: either a Martian or a Beelzebub!" - the newspaper reports. Immediately calling the creature "someone in white", the correspondent departed from the previous versions and referred to the opinion of the reeds themselves, writing: "Many claim that this is a real witch who can turn into a pig or a toad, and disappears only from a blow from aspen with a stake backhand."
According to the newspaper, the creature dresses in a long, white robe at night, stands on high stilts and walks through the streets, terrifying those oncoming. This leads to the fact that the residents are agitated, frightened, and the maids have ceased to obey the owners and refuse to go out at night on errands. It would seem that the smartest people - the deputies, as they were then called "vowels", also did not attend the Duma meetings. "And even the cinematographs were empty …" - the correspondent reports.
Kamyshan tell about the adventures of the “white” more diverse things: for example, “last night a schoolgirl met him, who from fear fell ill with a nervous breakdown; today they sent several townsfolk to the hospital, one of whom lost his tongue when he met a “white man, and the other lost both legs.” At the same time, the creature, as the correspondent states, “were not seen only by the night guards and non-commissioned quarters”. These are police officers.
But the reeds are not like that to lock themselves and sit quietly. On December 12, good news spread throughout the city: the witch ("white") was killed, or at least shot and brought to the fire yard. She lies there in a white robe, stretching the entire length of the yard …
To the fire yard (today the corner of Gorokhovskaya and Sovetskaya streets) a line of people were drawn to "see the killed ghost, which kept them in fear for a whole week." But everyone was disappointed: there was no witch.
“Nevertheless, the fear has passed. The residents of Kamyshins have come to their senses,”the correspondent concluded his article.
PS From the author I will add: with Gorokhovskaya Street, which has retained its name for several centuries, various kinds of devilry have always been associated. Now a certain ghost of a convict who had fled and killed was walking along the street, then they noticed all the nonsense.
Promotional video:
Gorokhovskaya Street was in the back (black). The neighboring ones - the Embankment and the Astrakhan (today the Republican) - are ceremonial, and this is the "backdrop": yards went out here, they took out manure and brought in hay for livestock. More common people worked here - maybe that's why all kinds of evil spirits were most often seen here.
Author: Leonid Smelov