"Roads of Death" - this name stuck to sections of roads with increased accident rate, in places, as if attracting accidents, which at first glance are difficult to explain by natural causes. These roads are the most common type of "bad spots" of our time and unlike many other "bad" places, they are usually documented.
During the study of aspects of sacred geography in the Leningrad region in 2009-2013. the author recorded several such sites (probably there are many more), some of which will be discussed below. "Bad" places can be called a kind of antipodes of holy and healing places, and since everything in the world is interconnected, it is interesting to consider some of their features, although in general, much less attention and efforts have been paid to this topic.
Observation # 1: from the point of view of folklore
1. Places requiring sacrifices
In the folklore of the Leningrad Region, you can find references to places that, with some degree of convention, can be called the forerunners of lost places on the roads - natural places that seemed to attract the death of people. Information about several such places has been collected by ethnographers in different parts of the region, for example, in the western regions we are talking about some water bodies and stones. These places and their strange properties were probably known to people from ancient times and the local population adapted to them by sacrificing animals.
It was believed that if this is not done, then a person will die in this place. Such superstitions were most often associated with water spirits, but were very widespread. As an example, we can cite a case typical for the Leningrad region from the village of Orly (Kotko), Kingisepp district:
“The local residents explained the sacrifice of a ram as follows: I was born and raised in the village of Kotko. There were many children there, and every summer one of the children drowned in the river. Then they said that Kirloaks comes to grab you. Then they took a large ram from the village herd. And then they beat him up and threw his guts into the river so that Kirloaks would not touch the children, and everyone believed in that."
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However, they have little in common with the "roads of death" - the fact that reservoirs in ancient times were also "roads" and the fact that in both cases the death of people is tied to specific places.
2. Devil's roads, "bare roads", roads of spirits
Another folklore phenomenon, also known in some areas of the North-West, is the so-called "devil's roads", sometimes also called "bare roads" (village Ladva, Podporozhsky district). These "roads" are also considered dangerous places where you cannot sleep or build houses. It is believed that ghosts, devils, etc. roam these roads. In reality, in such places strong local eddies or gusts of wind are sometimes observed (“the trees bent to the ground,” as one of the eyewitnesses said during one survey in 2009).
In some cases, the "bare road" is a line that is suppressed, or less expressive in relation to the background, of vegetation, along the edges of which especially lush trees grow. Where the "damn road" crosses the "usual" one, the surface is often destroyed, the passage of the "damn road" through any structure can be easily identified by symmetrically located cracks on opposite walls, by moss spots, etc. featured.
Among Western researchers, such natural manifestations are called "black stream" (Cowan D., Stark A.), in Russia - "stripes of biophysical anomalies", in some cases they are associated with underground water veins, faults and other natural manifestations. "Roads of spirits" are known in many cultures and traditions, the most famous examples are in Western Europe, China, Central America, but this phenomenon can also only indirectly relate to the considered here lost places on modern roads.
Actually the phenomenon of "roads of death" has arisen already in our time, in connection with the development of transport, and although he did not form a special folklore, local residents in many areas can tell about such dead areas. For example, there is a widespread popular belief that "roads of death" arise where modern roads are laid through old cemeteries and burial grounds, but this version is often not verified. It is quite possible that it does not always reflect the real state of affairs.
For example, the author is aware of a case when one road in the Luga region was covered with sand mixed with bones, and there was no increase in accidents there. On the other hand, it cannot be said that in such places the roads pass through the GPZ (GPZ - Geopathogenic Zones). For example, at one well-known "bad" place in the Gatchina region, past which the road turns, there are no many accidents, although the substation located in the forest itself breaks down for no apparent reason with an enviable frequency.
Also, several other prodigal places, past which the roads pass, do not have an increased accident rate. The place of single observation of the chronomire in the Gatchina region, where there were also several accidents and there is a smooth turn, cannot probably be attributed to the "roads of death". In general, surveys of the modern local population do not allow identifying possible convincing reasons for the formation of areas with an increased accident rate, do not associate them with any ancient beliefs.
3. Characteristic features
The hallmarks of the "roads of death" are:
1. Usually "road of death" is a straight section of the road without sharp turns and visible difficulties.
2. Little movement.
3. More or less tolerable asphalt surface.
4. Evidence of numerous accidents in these places (more often expressed in eyewitness accounts than in roadside wreaths).
Emergency crossroads, such as near the village of Pizhma, as well as sections of the highway with a lot of traffic (like in the village of Kipen), difficult terrain, sharp and unobservable turns, a probable change in the driving mode ("city - countryside") here, for obvious reasons are considered.
Observation number 2: features of "bad" areas
Identifying the "roads of death" is not just recounting wreaths on roadside posts and trees, but primarily interviewing local residents, working with ancient geographical and modern geological and archaeological maps, identifying possible microtoponymy, searching for messages in the media, etc. In addition to all this, an important source of information is the assessment of the place itself, taking into account its features. Here are some examples:
1. Gatchinsky district, section of the road from Siversky village - Belogorka village
Information about the increased accident rate in this area can be traced back to Soviet times. According to more up-to-date information recorded from a local historian and local resident Stanislav Stepanov: “There were really many accidents there in different years, many people died on the Belogorka-Kirovets highway, I knew three of them, in total 5 people 6 over the past years”. There are also isolated observations of a section near the road, into which lightning strikes during a thunderstorm. The specific features of the site include the absence of tectonic faults, the presence of a substation and power transmission lines near the emergency site, a slight drop and change of the forest-field landscape.
2. Gatchina region, a section of the road at ur. Kolmolovo
Of the features of the place, one can name the absence of tectonic faults, power lines, changes in landscape zones and heights. A characteristic feature is the old Finnish name of the nearest tract, Kolmolovo, with the same root with the word "kolomki" (burial ground). Perhaps the ancients knew something about this place and noted their understanding in toponymy? This place is poorly studied.
Monument on Kozya Gora (photo by V. Mizin, 2009).
Kozya Gora is almost imperceptible in the plain landscape of the Izhora plateau (photo V. Mizin, 2009).
3. Volosovsky district, Goat mountain
The characteristic features of the site are: a fault, a change in landscape zones “forest-field”, a depression, a turn of power lines, an old quarry. Perhaps the toponym also indicates some bad properties of the place known in the old days. The area near the stones collected from the field in a ridge along the road is considered especially emergency. When examining the site in 2009, no traces of the possible cult purpose of the rolled stones were found.
Diagram of the emergency section on the Sokkolovo - Korpikovo road (compiled by D. Kurdyukova, 2013).
4. Gatchina district, section of the road Sokkolovo - Korpikovo
Reports about this "road of death" from time to time come across in the media. For a clearer idea of the topic, we will quote one of these messages:
“- Do you see the cross? - asked the guy when our photo session ended. - Here two years ago the head of the criminal police died, went to overtake and … Then two more crosses. This place is generally some kind of damn, there are constantly beating. I asked about the cross of the police, and they confirmed that, indeed, it stands at the site of the death of Alexander Savalainen, the head of the Gatchina criminal police. - And the place is really strange. Last year I went here in winter for an accident. So imagine, "Fiat Dukat" jumped off the road to the side of the road and jumped about 50 meters through the snowdrifts, then pulled out onto the road, caught up with the car in front and drove into its rear! Moreover, - the inspector said thoughtfully, - he says that the speed was low … ".
Monument over the common grave, which is the center of the damaged section of the road (photo by D. Kurdyukova, 2013).
The characteristic features of this place: the absence of faults, the change of landscape zones "forest-field", not far from the turn of power lines. Despite the already familiar and outwardly banal combination of factors, this place deserves a separate discussion. Its peculiarity is that the center of the damaged section of the road is a monument above the mass grave, located exactly in the middle between two streams crossing the road.
This monument has interesting features, its shape forms a "vizier", consisting of a "V" -shaped stele and a "pedestal" aligned with its center, oriented towards the road. The "direction" formed by these two structures is easily fixed by biolocation (and has some noticeable inertia) and is visually determined by the surrounding vegetation.
So, opposite the monument across the road, the trees are lower than the neighboring ones, this could be called an accident, but on the "forest" side of the monument - just behind the center of the stele there is also a withered tree, behind it there are several more damaged trees, although far from the monument in the forest it is the direction is not traced. Another interesting point is the binding of this emergency site to a burial (albeit not an ancient one), although the road here does not pass through the graves, but nearby, nevertheless, such a neighborhood also correlates with well-known folklore stories.
A withered tree from the forest side along the axis of the monument (photo by D. Kurdyukova, 2013).
Some lowering of the tree line can be traced almost exactly (with a slight shift towards the forest) opposite the monument across the road (photo V. Mizin, 2013).
Based on the inspection of this place, it can be assumed that a completely possible reason, or one of the reasons in the aggregate of factors of negative influence on this place, is an ill-conceived architectural solution over the burial, creating a conditional "zone of tension" focused on the road and affecting not only people, but also on trees.
Perhaps the dismantling of such an unfortunate monument or its replacement with a more thoughtful architectural composition can affect the strange accident rate on this level place. Although, in general, the ridiculous Soviet habit of arranging cemeteries and revered graves in the most unexpected and ill-considered places cannot be called successful and reasonable.
Possible preliminary conclusions
This list can be continued, but the characteristic features can be noted from these brief descriptions. First of all, it should be noted that, despite the external simplicity, lack of much movement and directness, the "roads of death" have their own characteristics, which include a change in landscape zones, small depressions, the presence of a man-made factor - power lines, in some cases, apparently can play role and unsuccessful architectural decisions.
An attempt to identify the relationship with tectonic faults did not give any tangible result, but the statistics associated with the binding of emergency sections to power lines shows that this factor may be very significant. Naturally, the causes of accidents are subjective and the role of the human factor is most important in them, but under some conditions, it is likely that it can be aggravated many times over and the fact that in another, "usual" place will not lead to anything, on "dead" areas leads to sad consequences.
It can be assumed that a high accident rate may be based on a combination of several factors that, under certain conditions, affect a person. In favor of the version about the influence of such places on a person, and not on technology, the fact that sometimes even pedestrians (clause 3) and cyclists (clause 1) can face troubles here, although much less often. Undoubtedly, the factor of changing the environment - a closed space - a forest, and an open space - a field, a difference in heights can play a role here.
It is interesting to note that sections with an increased accident rate apparently more often correspond to a combination of a straight road and a turn of a power line than a road turning under a power line, it is possible that when turning a person controls the transport more carefully than on a straight section, other reasons are also possible.
Taking into account the observations and comparisons made, it can also be assumed that in such places a simple scheme "where it is thin, there it breaks," can also play a role, i.e. a person in an unstable state (illness, fatigue, etc.) will be more at risk. Morning, evening, new moons (item 4), difficult weather conditions, magnetic storms and days of eclipses can also be the most dangerous moments in such places. Moreover, at other times the danger of these places may not be higher than any other. However, this is only an assumption, not yet confirmed by statistics.
In general, this small review is in many ways only preliminary observations, but it is quite possible that in the future the phenomenon of "roads of death" will be considered by the relevant organizations and institutions in more detail, accessible maps of such places will be compiled, the places themselves will be marked with warning signs, recommendations on security, or these areas will be neutralized.
Preliminarily, we can say that there is no mysticism in the phenomenon, and a detailed study of places with high accident rates can not only explain a lot, but also reduce the danger of these places for people.
Vyacheslav Mizin
