In every city there are places that are reputed to be "sinister" or "damned". They are shrouded in legends, which are sometimes based on real historical events. There are many such places in the Russian northern capital - St. Petersburg.
Ghosts of the Champ de Mars
In 1918, Moisey Volodarsky, Moisey Uritsky, Semyon Nakhimson, Rudolf Sivers, as well as four Latvian riflemen from the Tukums socialist regiment, were buried here. From 1919 to 1920, the graves of nineteen heroes of the Civil War were added to them. Burials continued until 1933.
In the early 30s, the cemetery was landscaped, flower beds and lawns were laid out, benches and lanterns were installed … After that, the cemetery of revolutionaries was declared a historical monument and burials on it ceased. However, until 1944 it was called the Square of the Victims of the Revolution.
In 1957, on the eve of the fortieth anniversary of October, the Eternal Flame was lit on the Champ de Mars. In the 70s of the last century, there was a tradition - newlyweds to lay flowers there. But they say that couples who follow this tradition tend to get divorced soon …
There were eyewitnesses who said that sometimes a pale ragamuffin was attached to the wedding processions, appearing from nowhere and then disappearing into nowhere … Sometimes he appeared later in a dream to women participating in the processions. And always later in their families there were some misfortunes: someone fell ill, died or was injured … They say that a ragamuffin is a ghost of one of those buried on Mars …
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Devil in the Rotunda
In one of the entrances of the old mansion of Catherine's times at the corner of Gorokhovaya Street and Fontanka Embankment, there is a round room with columns around the perimeter, crowned with a dome with a balustrade, in the center of which there is an image of a snake … Once it was just a front staircase.
There is a version that the building at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries belonged to the famous St. Petersburg freemason, Count Andrei Zubov, and was originally intended for the meetings of the Masonic lodge …
There were also rumors that a temple of the Satanists was located there. As proof, they cite the peculiarities of the pattern of the balustrade gratings, in which the pentagrams are clearly visible …
In 1861, a three-story building was added to the Rotunda. At one time there was a brothel there. And at the beginning of the 20th century, it was as if Grigory Rasputin himself lived here …
In Soviet times, the three-story extension was destroyed, and the Rotunda was restored to its original appearance. In the 70s, it became a cult place for informal youth - hippies and rock-n-rollers, having received the name "Center of the Universe" from them.
Once inside, you will find yourself in the vestibule, from where two symmetrical cast-iron staircases rise up, leading to a platform with walls painted at the beginning of the last century. Another small ladder, which is a branch from the main one, leads to the left, but does not lead to any door, but ends with a small area.
They say that if you climb the spiral staircase with your eyes closed, you will never reach the very top - as if you are stuck somewhere between realities … And also - that exactly at midnight on the Rotunda site (Rotunda's dead end) you can meet the devil himself …
The spirit of the sorcerer on the Borovsky bridge
On the Borovsky Bridge across the Obvodny Canal, passers-by often feel an inexplicable desire to climb over the fence and throw themselves down …
They say that once every 10 years there is a peak of suicide. So, in 1923 alone, 89 people rushed into the canal from the Borovsky Bridge. Only one survived. And he could not explain the reason why he decided to take his own life … In 1933, 107 cases of suicide took place here. The next peak was in 1943 …
Psychiatrist Efimson found in the archives the medieval chronicle of Eric Abossky, which described the following. In 1300, the Swedes came here, and their leader, Marshal Torkel, founded the Landskronu fortress at the mouth of the Okhta. Swedish soldiers mistreated the local population - Karelian tribes living on the rivers Keme (now Fontanka) and Sutilla (now Volkovka). In an effort to eradicate the pagan faith, they destroyed the cult sanctuaries of the aborigines. And they were cursed by the old sorcerer. The priest was killed, but the warriors continued to fear the curse. Finally, a local man came to the marshal and offered him to remove this curse for a fee. Torkel agreed.
At night, five young Karelians were sacrificed at the site of the destroyed temple. Their remains were buried in the center of the circle, along with the sorcerer's corpse, and pressed down from above with slabs.
After that, the shaman, who undertook to remove the curse, performed the ritual of "sealing" the spirit of the sorcerer. The workers, who laid the heating main, unknowingly let it out … By the way, curbs were made from the slabs of the sanctuary to frame Ligovsky Prospect.
Poklonnaya Hill and the Rasputin Curse
The place at the foot of Poklonnaya Gora is also considered "unclean", where in March 1917, by order of the Provisional Government, the corpse of Grigory Rasputin, who had been killed two months earlier and was buried in Tsarskoye Selo, was burnt from the grave.
They say that as soon as the fire touched the body of the great old man, he stood up in the coffin, waved his hand to the crowd gathered around, and disappeared into the flames.
In 1995, a major accident occurred between the Lesnaya and Ploschad Muzhestva metro stations, caused by a burst of underground quicksand. History connoisseurs immediately remembered that when in 1917 Rasputin's corpse was taken to the place of burning, the axle of the car broke, and while it was being changed, the body of the sorcerer was unloaded to the ground near the village of Lesnoye. The quicksand breakthrough happened just at the scene of the truck accident. The late Rasputin was burned 79 days after his death. And the metro disaster happened exactly 79 years after the desecration of the corpse …
Irina Shlionskaya
