From preliminary conversations with Rancho Laguna employees, it became known that anomalous activity has been taking place on the territory of the recreation center for a long time. This information served as the reason for the research expedition of the Irkutsk-Kosmopoisk group to this area from 5 to 7 September 2014.
The purpose of the departure was to clarify all the circumstances of supernatural incidents at the base and to record possible anomalous episodes. First of all, we tried to collect preliminary information about the camp itself and the anomalies that took place here.
Founded in 2002 and located in one of the picturesque places of the Maloye More - in the Kurma area, the Rancho Laguna tourist center became, in fact, a pioneer in the development of this part of the western coast of Lake Baikal.
According to one of the directors Igor Kuzmin, in the first years of the camp site's operation, this area was practically not covered by the tourism business, and they worked in these places for a long time alone. Gradually, other recreation centers and campings began to appear here. As a result, today their number is approaching the point when the supply already exceeds the demand for recreation.
Figure: 1. Main entrance to Rancho Laguna.
On the territory of the camp site "Rancho Laguna" there is a series of detached houses and cottages, a two-storey building for 12 rooms, a catering complex and a number of other buildings and sites. The total capacity of the base is about 90 people. A distinctive feature of Rancho Laguna is the stylization of the Wild West and its own herd of horses, which largely determined its name.
Figure: 2. Directors of the Rancho Laguna tourist center Igor Kuzmin and Irina Romankova (first on the left) and guide Alexander Gorsky (far right).
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The area in which the camp site is located has a rich history, connected, first of all, with the ancient tribes and more modern peoples who lived here. There is also an interesting geology and landscape, which forms its own microclimate in these places. The name of the village, Kurma, closest to the base, is derived from the Buryat words "humae", "khur-bee" - "reached", "arrived", "profit".
According to legend, the Olkhon Buryats, moving through the mountains from the west to Lake Baikal, reached the shore of the lake in this place, believing that they had arrived in an area where they could live. According to recent studies, ancient people also reached these remote places, building various fortifications on them. So, not far from the mouths of the local rivers Sarma, Zama and Kurma, on high places, walls, watchtowers and burials of the ancient people of Kurykani were found. Some of these burials are located very close to Rancho Laguna, practically on the border of its territory.
Also, these places are famous for their unique Sarma squall wind, flying out of the Sarma gorge and capable of demolishing many obstacles in its path. It was "Sarma" that caused the largest catastrophe on Lake Baikal. On the night of October 14-15, 1901, not far from the Olkhonskiye Vorota strait in the Small Sea, the Potapov ship was thrown onto the rocky shore. The tragedy claimed the lives of 158 people, including 143 men, 11 women and four children.
At the place where Sarma left the gorge, in 1987, ancient drawings made with red ocher were discovered. The drawings are poorly preserved and are clearly visible only after the rocks have been moistened. The composition includes a symbol in the form of a trident, a stylized image of a person and amorphous spots.
Figure: 3. Some unique places of this territory: Sarma gorge (left); one of the ritual places of the Buryats near the village of Kurma (right)
Abnormal incidents at the Ranch
Oddities began to occur from the first year of the camp site operation. One of the first unexplained episodes, similar to the “face substitution” effect, occurred with the director Irina Ivanovna: “I got dressed, went out of the dining room, it was raining and windy outside. I go and they talk to me. I thought that it was Igor followed … For some reason it seemed to me so. He asked something, I answered. But I understand that no one should be there, I turned around and there was no one there. And what I asked, what I answered - I don't remember."
Later, tourists began to periodically report about the "devilry" taking place in the house number 1 (room 1a). So one of the brightest episodes was associated with the movement of objects. A husband and wife, who came to rest here from Izhevsk, rented room 1a. When they returned to their house from the bathhouse, they found that their hats from the top shelf were neatly shifted onto their shoes.
A similar "trick" with the hats of the guests happened twice in one day. Later, during an excursion to the island of Oltrek, closest to the base, the same tourists discovered unknown white spots in their photographs, which they could not find a natural explanation for.
Another inexplicable episode in room 1a happened to a young girl from Yekaterinburg, who was vacationing here with her mother. Before leaving, the young man gave her a ring as a sign of their engagement, but the young lady herself was still in thought. During spending the night in a "restless" room, every morning the ring was on another finger.
The girl and her mother were worried and complained to the director Irina Ivanovna about these oddities. She explained in response that indeed in this room sometimes "not everything is calm" and invited them to move to another. But the tourists did not accept the offer and decided to leave the camp site earlier than planned.
Figure: 4. House number 1 and "restless" number 1a.
When room 1a was empty, those who lived in the other half of the house (room 1b) repeatedly heard chomping, creaking floorboards, snoring and other strange sounds from there. So in one of the cases, a man who spent the night in the neighborhood in 1b woke up from sounds coming from room 1a. A little later, on the same night, the sensor at the entrance to 1a spontaneously triggered, causing the lamp to light up.
Along with the number 1a, the workers of the camp site consider the number 6 of the two-storey building to be "restless". Repeatedly an incomprehensible glow was observed in the room, at night there were rather strange dreams. And once, someone invisible pushed the cleaning maid here.
In addition to indoor anomalies, there were unexplained accidents in the open air. For a long time, several camp workers reported that they saw the "ghost of a woman", which every evening passed along the same route in the backyard of the dining room. The ghost paid no attention to the witnesses and quietly disappeared into the wall of the dining room.
Study
Based on the information collected, our group decided to conduct research both on the territory of the camp site and outside it - in places historically associated with ritual objects: ancient burials of Kurykans, ritual places of the Buryats, rock paintings. The management and staff of the Rancho Laguna camp site provided comprehensive assistance for our research.
As a basis for our research, we proceeded from a hypothesis that suggests that a number of environmental factors may be associated with the tendency of susceptible persons to experience certain abnormal sensations, including those associated with visions of ghosts. A number of serious studies indicate that many cases of the phenomenon of ghosts and poltergeists are induced by the influence of factors such as geomagnetic activity, ionizing radiation, as well as electromagnetic (EMF) and electrostatic fields. It is believed that certain changes in the EMF can affect the physiological state of a person, thereby provoking visions of ghosts and other abnormal sensations.
Therefore, at all survey sites, we measured the electromagnetic field in the low (Cell Sensor Gaussometer, 3-30 Hz), medium (DT-1130 meter, 50 Hz – 2000 MHz) and ultrahigh frequencies (ATT-2592 meter, 50 MHz – 3 GHz). On the territory of the camp site, with the help of instruments, rooms 1a and 6, the dining room, and also the place where the woman's ghost appeared were examined.
In all surveyed places, the excess of the electromagnetic field was within the background values - the microwave field strength was 5–7 mV / m, the magnetic induction in the low frequency region was 0.5 milligauss. A single burst of a microwave field with an intensity of 2–3 V / m was recorded in room 1a near the stove, which is significantly higher than the background.
Figure: 5. Carrying out measurements of the electromagnetic field: number 1a (left); number 6 (right).
Bursts of a low-frequency electromagnetic field were recorded near several historical sites - next to the ancient burials of Kurykans on Oltrek Island (a short-term burst of more than 20 milligauss) and in the immediate vicinity of rock paintings at the entrance to the Sarma Gorge (two bursts of more than 20 milligauss). These bursts of magnetic field induction did not find a natural explanation, due to the absence of a number of known sources of such fields.
Figure: 6. Inspection of historical sites near the camp site "Rancho Laguna": study of ancient burials on Oltrek Island (left); b) measurements of fields near the rock paintings in the Sarma gorge (right).
Figure: 7. Inspection of historical objects near the camp site "Rancho Laguna": study of ancient burials on Oltrek Island (left); b) taking measurements inside a ritual object near the village of Kurma (right).
It was decided to focus the main attention on the most "restless" place of the "Rancho Laguna" tourist center - house number 1. During the entire stay in room 1a, 24-hour video monitoring was organized. For this, the ORIENT video surveillance system with 4 wireless infrared cameras was used. From time to time, the cameras were programmed to respond to movement. Due to the small area of the room (see the plan), there were practically no “blind spots” for the cameras in terms of visibility. Additionally, audio recording was carried out on several voice recorders.
The experts of the group spent the first night (September 6) together with cameras in room 1a. Measurements of the electromagnetic field and air temperature were carried out periodically during the night. At about three o'clock in the morning, the leader of the group, Nikita Tomin, clearly heard the voice of an elderly man from the hallway, but no one was found there during a check. Detailed analysis of the videos did not reveal any incidents or anomalous episodes in issue 1a. At the same time, an unidentified sound was found on one of the dictaphone recordings, similar to a sharp knock (Fig. 11).
Figure: 8. Plan-diagram of the house No. 1 with the place of installation of IFC video cameras.
Figure: 10. Tracking IPC cameras via laptop.
The next night (September 7) it was decided to spend in the next room 1b. At the same time, it was decided to leave the IPC-video cameras in room 1a with the possibility of remote monitoring from the neighboring room 1b. Also in the "restless" room, an additional fixed camera Panasonic HC-V500 was supplied as a backup. In addition to the cameras, Cell Sensor and DT-1130 devices were left in the tracking mode in 1a, i.e. when a certain threshold of the electromagnetic field was exceeded, an audible alarm was activated.
Figure: 11. Unidentified sound recorded in room 1a (September 6, 2014 night).
Throughout the night, the group's experts did not notice any strange noises or incidents recorded on video cameras.
Figure: 12. T-shirt moved from room 1a to the street.
At about 06:30, a T-shirt of one of the researchers was found on the ground near the exit of room 1b, which was supposed to remain in room 1a. The T-shirt was cold to the touch, folded neatly next to the porch (Fig. 12). About 15 minutes earlier, the leader of the group Nikita Tomin passed in this place, passing from room 1a, but there was no T-shirt yet.
The "restless" room itself was not locked for the night, which was unnecessary, since anyone who entered would be automatically captured on camera. As a result, we could not find a natural explanation for how the T-shirt was moved from number 1a to the street.
Figure: 13. Chamber lecture on the study of anomalous phenomena in the Irkutsk region.
It is also important to note that after the departure of the expert group, a series of unexplained episodes took place at Rancho Laguna, for example, in room 1a, a light spontaneously came on. This information is currently being verified.
In addition to conducting research, the head of the group Nikita Tomin gave a chamber lecture at the Rancho Laguna on the topic of scientific research of anomalous phenomena in the Irkutsk region. The lecture presented the latest results of the study of "restless" houses and buildings in Irkutsk, the UFO phenomenon in our region, as well as the anomalous folklore of the Baikal region.
Conclusion
According to a number of studies, natural zones of supernatural activity are associated with the action of a number of subjective and objective anomalous factors. Objective is understood as a certain range of biological, geophysical, meteorological and even technical anomalies: unusual values of physical fields, the presence of faults, underground water sources, the presence of a stable specific microclimate, malfunction of devices and equipment, etc.
Against the background of objective anomalous factors, subjective ones are distinguished, associated with a special feeling of this place by a person, which can often be associated with the specifics of the folklore of "restless" places (ritual objects, ancient cemeteries, general "notoriety", etc.).
Some foreign researchers believe that abnormal sensations, including vision of ghosts, can be caused in certain sensitive people by the action of special electromagnetic fields. Such fields can have several causes, including natural variability of the Earth's field, tectonic plate movements, local geological factors such as rock-based quartz, magnetic properties of minerals, and man-made electrical devices.
These reasons could explain the long periods between abnormal episodes at the camp site, as well as the selectivity of abnormal sensations (the ghost of a woman was seen by certain workers, abnormal episodes in room 1a did not occur to all tourists, etc.).
One way or another, the measurements of electromagnetic fields carried out on the territory of the camp site "Rancho Laguna" indicated the absence of persistent magnetic anomalies here. At the same time, the devices recorded short-term bursts of the magnetic field of ultra-low frequencies (3-30 Hz) of more than 20 milligauss, in places historically associated with ritual objects (rock paintings of the Sarma gorge, burials on Oltrek island).
These facilities are located in close proximity to Rancho Laguna. It will be fair to note that the field measurements were carried out once or several times in a limited period, which is not enough for final conclusions.
It is also assumed that anomalous events can occur more often with the combined influence of the physical energies of the environment (electromagnetic fields) and the so-called contextual factors, such as belief in ghosts or suggestions that the situation is accompanied by extraordinary events, etc. Such psychological attitudes can cause special psychophysical states in potential eyewitnesses, when the latter become more susceptible to abnormal experiences.
Unfortunately, we do not have detailed psychological portraits of witnesses to anomalous episodes at the camp site. As well as there is no exact information, to what extent they were informed in advance that anomalous phenomena periodically occur at Rancho Laguna. Therefore, in this situation, it is difficult to assess the degree of influence of contextual factors.
At the same time, the presence of historical sites associated with local ritual objects near the camp site can play an important role. In such circumstances, from a psychological point of view, folklore can have a strong influence on the context of perception of these places as anomalous. Thus, the mystical context of these places, as well as, possibly, the action of an unknown anomalous factor on the part of ritual objects, may be one of the important triggering anomalous events taking place at the Laguna Ranch.
Meanwhile, in the presence of the group's experts, at least one anomalous (poltergeist) episode took place - the movement of a T-shirt from room 1a to the street. A natural explanation for this event was not found, therefore, with a certain assumption, we can label it as a manifestation of paranormal activity.
So far it seems obvious that an unknown anomalous factor may be acting on the territory of the Rancho Laguna camp site, which, if a number of conditions coincide (cosmophysical, physical, biological, etc.), can induce unexplained accidents. For a more detailed answer to the question of the abnormality of these places, it is necessary to conduct additional research and observations in the "Rancho Laguna" area.
Acknowledgments
The Irkutsk-Kosmopoisk research group expresses its deep gratitude to the management of the Rancho Laguna camp site for their help and comprehensive support in conducting research.
Nikita Tomin
