The old story came to life after getting acquainted with the memoirs of Kadyr Natkho, which had just been published in Maikop, Viktor Kotlyarov, a local historian and publisher from Nalchik, explained his story.
Mysterious bonfires of Tyzyl
… The end of the nineties of the last century. Kabardino-Balkaria, like the whole country, is still going through a crisis of perestroika - in particular, the tourism industry has been completely destroyed. People survive, and when they survive, there is no time for rest: the flow of tourists has almost completely dried up, health resorts and camps are empty. In the gorges of the KBR, where even in Soviet times, the voices of sightseers did not fall silent, it is completely deserted.
This preamble is needed to make the future clear. From a resident of Kendelen, who, due to circumstances, changed the factory entrance to look after the sheep herd, I learn the following. In the Tyzyl Gorge, where he is a shepherd, strange things began to happen. At night, someone kindles bonfires that burn for long hours. Who it might be is not clear.
The fact is that the Tyzyl Gorge is a dead end. In its upper reaches, it is possible to descend from the surrounding mountain ranges, but it is very difficult. In the dark, it's almost unrealistic - the descent angle is incredibly large. Along the gorge itself, a more or less normal road has survived only to the Tyzyl camp site, previously owned by the Nalchik semiconductor device plant.
The road was further, but only in the fifties and sixties of the last century, when the village of Solnechny was founded here. Subsequently abandoned, as the mines drilled for the extraction of polymetals turned out to be unprofitable. But the point is not even that there were no roads to the place where bonfires were burning at night.
None of the tourists walked along the gorge itself, and a resident of Kendelen was sure of that: you couldn't just slip past him - the road from the sheath before his eyes. Nevertheless, rumors about bonfires burning at night somewhere in the area of the abandoned village of Solnechny began to circulate constantly. Local residents told about them, by the will of circumstances (most often associated with hunting), caught at night on the mountain ranges surrounding the gorge. One of them is the foggy and inaccessible Inal.
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Someone, seeing a flame in the night, especially in a completely abandoned place, was surprised, shared with friends. Those, in turn, tried to check and made sure that the fires were not fiction. It turned out that in the gorge, where no one goes, where not only tourists, but also local residents forgot their way (for the latter, there is nothing attractive in these places, not even pastures and hayfields), nevertheless, someone lives.
It was a swag that one of the Kendelenites, having become interested, decided to check who exactly. I went down from the top, from the side of the famous massif of Mother-in-law's teeth (Mount Naujidze), wandered through the ruins of the village of Solnechny, climbed the surroundings, but did not see or hear anyone. I began to look for places where (as I saw from above) a flame was burning, but I could not find a single fireplace.
It was weird. No one visited the gorge (one cannot get into it unnoticed, since it begins directly behind the village of Kendelen), no one was seen in the gorge itself, and the fires, nevertheless, continued to burn at night. Probably, it was then that there were rumors that something was unclean here …
I heard about the mysterious bonfires a couple of years after they were noticed for the first time, that is, at the very beginning of the two thousandth. I was eager to see for myself, to figure out what was the matter; and if there are no those who kindle fires, find out what is the reason for such a massive hallucination. But I immediately ran into difficulties - for a very long time I could not find a fellow traveler, and going alone into such a wilderness, and besides, completely not knowing the road, was quite risky. Moreover, it was necessary to advance with an overnight stay - at least one, but rather two.
However, with regard to fellow travelers, I'm not entirely accurate - a couple of people agreed to keep me company, but set their own conditions. One only after the completion of haymaking, and therefore, somewhere in the beginning of September; the second tried to convince us that we would not get far on such grass as we had grown in this summer, we had to wait until it settled down, which postponed the campaign to October.
And the bonfires were seen in past years precisely in July and early August. It is not known whether this was due to the time of the year, or a specific month, but the trip to the gorge, which was so adventurous in nature, threatened to end in nothing. Nevertheless, I found a guide. And quite unexpectedly. I met in a minibus with Iskhak, whom I knew from the university. And although he was twelve years older than me, at one time we communicated quite closely.
We started talking, remembering our student years. We started talking about Tyzyl and Iskhak became interested, especially since he, as it turned out, was from Bilym, he was a shepherd in his youth, and he knew the gorge.
In search of a clue
… We got there hard. Yes, the broken UAZ of one of Iskhak's acquaintances threw us far enough, but the descent turned out to be very difficult - sheer and protracted, which took several hours. In addition, the vile did not give rest, and we did not take care of repellents. We went down to Sunny when the sun was already leaving the mountains. We looked around. Complete absence of traces of recent human presence. We pitched a tent directly under the wall of one of the destroyed buildings and had a snack.
Here, below, in one of the branches where the now abandoned village was once located, it was difficult to understand exactly where the lights were seen. The only thing we knew for certain: near Solnechny. But what does it mean - nearby? And if behind a branch? After all, then the small hills surrounding the village will not allow you to notice anything. We decided to climb higher in order to expand the view.
Let's go light, taking only binoculars with us, but what will you see through them at night? The decision was essentially correct, but to climb up in the deepening darkness (the sun had already set and the blackness hid everything around), focusing only on the stars and the moon (they were so close that it seemed we could reach with our hand), without a flashlight (about it we also not taken care), on dense, sufficiently tall grass - joy, frankly, small. And although the rise was not so steep, the loose earth now and then leaves from under our feet, small stones fly down and the noise they make dies down somewhere below.
The silence is complete. Even the river is practically inaudible. We decide to stop. The starry canopy of the sky overhead, the dark silhouettes of the mountains hiding its edge, we are alone. Nobody and nothing. Despite the recent heat, the cold begins to penetrate under the summer clothes - we took the sweaters, but they remained downstairs in the tent.
An understanding of complete stupidity comes: he believed some rumors. Someone from above saw a fire, or rather the light from something incomprehensible, but I fell for it, wandered the devil knows where, and now I have to freeze and suffer. Nothing happens. Iskhak suggests going down to the tent, especially since it will take a lot of time and will be very difficult.
Frustrated, we carefully begin to move down. After taking a few steps we go out to a mountain bend from which a view of the valley opens and … And we both freeze in surprise: somewhere there, apparently in a small clearing, which we paid attention to while descending and which we even glanced at, but walked along its edge, a fire is burning …
Silent dance by the fire
That this is a bonfire is beyond doubt. And although it is far enough away, it is clearly visible how the tongues of flame rise up. With a sharp movement, I bring the binoculars to my eyes, focus frantically and literally freeze from what I saw. People are dancing around the fire. Their silhouettes are visible in the reflections of the flame. I see that the dancers are holding hands, forming a circle. And this circle is in constant rhythmic movement.
How many of them it is impossible to understand, but you can guess that at least a dozen. Not less, because the fire is large enough, and they form a circle at a distance from it. The flame illuminates silhouettes, it is clearly visible in the gaps of bodies. But the music, which, according to the logic of things, should accompany this kind of dances, is not heard.
I listen attentively, strain my ears … No, there is complete silence. I give the binoculars to Ishak. He focuses it for himself and immediately cries out in surprise in his native language. And already turning to me: “Who are they? What are they doing here? Naturally, I have no answers. For a while, we stand in silence, passing the binoculars to one another and not knowing what to do next.
I don't want to go down to the dancers. Moreover, just thinking about it makes you uncomfortable. The feeling that this will not lead to anything good unites us. Where did these people come from, I try to reason out loud in a whisper. We didn't see anyone when we came here. So they were hiding somewhere. And since they were hiding, everything can be expected from them. Moreover, there are so many of them.
They are neither tourists nor locals. They are aliens and who knows what their intentions are. Times are difficult, anything can be … Ishaq agrees: we should not go to the fire. We watch the dancers for a while. Their movements are unpredictable: they are sometimes smooth, even too slow; sometimes sharp, leaping, as if to the beat of the music, which sometimes slows down the pace, sometimes speeds it up. But the music is not heard.
Maybe she's not reaching us? But the clearing is located right above the river, the noise of which is still audible. He cannot drown out the music. And it does not drown out, since it simply does not exist. And this makes it even more uncomfortable. A shiver runs through my body over and over again, and I cannot understand whether it is from the cold of the night or fear from an incomprehensible sight.
The thought comes: "What if they see us ?!" And unexpectedly for myself, I start repeating over and over again feverishly: “If only they did not see us! If only they didn't see us! " And I myself do not notice how, repeating this incantation once again, I replace the phrase "did not see" with "did not feel".
There is something so strange and unusual in the silhouettes of the dancers that the thought comes: these are not people. With every step it becomes more and more strengthened in my mind, and when we (with incredible precautions) get to the tent (it's amazing how we found it in such darkness!), This thought takes possession of both of us. But who then? We lie in silence in the tent, the cold coming from the ground discourages sleep. What's a dream?
The action seen and, apparently, continuing on the lawn, so shocked our imagination that it is impossible to fall asleep.
“These are not people…” Ishaq whispers faintly.
“This…” he cannot utter the next word for a long time and finally exhales: These are genies…
I can't help saying, “What kind of genies? What gins can be in our time? But Ishaq repeats this word over and over. Who are they and where are they from? … With the first rays of the sun, we climbed out of the tent, collected it and began to decide what to do next. By and large, the set goal was achieved: we learned that, in fact, fires burn at night in the Tyzyl Gorge in summer. Moreover, for several years.
Another question - who is so fond of these places, who are these unknowns who come here year after year? And why exactly here? And what is the meaning of their dances around the fire, so similar to ritual? Even if they are followers of some sect, how do they end up here, because no one enters the gorge from the side of Kendelen and does not enter from the upper reaches? Do not descend from the sky? There was no answer to these questions, but I really wanted to know.
I, reasoning out loud, offered to meet with the night dancers, to which Ishaq categorically refused. His argumentation was convincing: “If they (Ishaq diligently avoided the word“people”) are hiding, then they have something to hide. And if they do not want this, and we find out, then everything is possible. And if they decide to get rid of us, then we will not do anything. We will not run away - from all sides of the mountain. If we don't hide - by and large there is nowhere, and if we hide, they will find it anyway; they will starve to death - there are a lot of them, but there are only two of us. And then we will stay here forever."
The picture drawn by my companion turned out to be impressive. The phrase "we will stay forever" especially sunk into the soul, after which a bump overgrown with grass appeared before my eyes, under which, apparently, I could be. In short, I almost agreed with Ishaq's arguments, but curiosity did not allow me to give up so easily. “And if we go back not from the bottom, but from the top, and look from there? - I suggested.
- It's early morning, they danced all night and now they probably sleep without hind legs. We'll move quietly and just take a look at their camp. After all, they should have broken it somewhere? They do not sleep in the open air? We will not go down. Let's just see. Ishaq was persuaded with great difficulty. But there was a rational grain in my proposal - this is also the way home, albeit a little longer. And we moved on. It was not yet six in the morning.
The dew that fell during the night instantly wetted our shoes and clothes. The grass was thick and in a number of places it was so wide that sometimes only our heads could be seen from it. It was difficult to climb, but, nevertheless, soon we got to the hill, hanging over the lawn, where a fire burned at night. In principle, it was no more than a hundred meters to it.
Having chosen the most convenient place for the review, we began to examine the lawn. She was all before her eyes, illuminated by the bright morning sun. And it was empty. Completely empty. I looked at Ishak, he at me and we again began to gaze down. There was no one on the lawn. Absolutely nobody.
I untied my backpack, took out my binoculars and began slowly, literally meter by meter, inspecting the lawn. Nobody and nothing. I didn't even find a fireplace, which was surprising at all. “What does this mean? - looked puzzled at Ishak. - Where did they go? And most importantly when? What are these early birds? We must go down. We must definitely go down. Now there is nothing to be afraid of - they are gone. And we moved down. Here it is, a clearing. An untouched carpet of greenery said that no one had walked here for a long time.
Having dispersed in different directions, we walked around the entire territory up and down in about half an hour. The paths made in the grass that had lain after us showed that we could not miss anything. “Maybe they hid the firebrands? - I said and myself was amazed at the absurdity of this thought. There was not only a bonfire, but even a platform where a fire was burning and unknown people were dancing. "It turns out only one thing - we confused the place where they burned the fire," - I said and added.
- We must look from above again. Wait, I'll quickly run away. And he literally rushed up, fearing that Ishaq would stop me. In a matter of minutes, I climbed several tens of meters and, out of breath, stopped. Taking a breath, he began to look around. Apart from the lawn on which Ishaq stood, there was no other nearby.
Yes, not that nearby, it was not even further - everywhere, one by one, hills were piled up, smoothly flowing into the mountain range. What nonsense? Whom did we see at night then? Who was dancing by the fire? Was it a hallucination? Both at once? And what caused it? Alcoholic? We were absolutely sober, especially since Ishaq is a believer and does not drink at all. Tired?
Something I have not heard that she gives rise to this kind of vision. Being in a geopathogenic zone? But many others have seen bonfires before us. There was no rational answer, and I didn't want to believe in an irrational one. So we left the valley where the abandoned village of Solnechny is located, not understanding what we had witnessed. Were there?
Contact? With whom?
And now, many years after that story, which has not found a reasonable explanation over the years, I came across a book of Kadyr Natkho's memoirs “In Search of Myself”, which begins like this … “I also remember an interesting story, more like a legend or a fairy tale, than in reality. They said that in those days (the author is talking about the thirties of the last century), genies were present in real life, and people often encountered them in different situations.
Sometimes, returning from the city at night, residents saw large groups of genies dancing around bonfires in the fields near our village. In addition, they constantly talked about strange happenings between the aulchans and the jinn … Here I will interrupt for a while and remind who the jinn are.
“The word“jinn”is derived from the Arabic word, which means secret, hidden, since the jinn are usually invisible to the human eye. Jinn are separate beings from humans. They have their own world with their own animals. They exist in a universe parallel to humans. But even though humans cannot "cross" or enter the jinn world, jinn can and often do so. Jinn have a strong influence on the events in people's lives."
And here is what Kadyr Natkho writes further: “People considered jinn to be the keepers of treasures. Endless stories were spread about how people unknown to the aul residents tried to unearth hidden riches, and the jinn hindered them or supposedly hindered them. It was said that the aul people constantly saw the "genie of the post", which delivered treasures to the genies.
Every evening at sunset we noticed how he disappeared behind a mound, located at some distance from our village. Among those who found themselves in a ridiculous situation were my father, uncle Saleh and their friend Indris Hamafok (Hun). Once, as a child, I myself witnessed a meeting with a genie. Once I begged my parents to take me to the city with them. We set off early in the morning when it was still dark.
The horses, rested during the night, walked at a good pace for a long time. They suddenly stopped abruptly, snorting in fright. The father tried to force them to go further, urging and urging on with a whip, but the horses stood rooted to the spot and could not move, no matter how hard they tried. “We must have touched the gin shylyakh'e” (translated as tripod), said Dad, and Mom began to whisper a prayer.
The father got out of the cart, stroked the horses on the head and withers, patted their ears, prayed, tried to calm them down and, holding the bridle, led him a hundred meters forward. “We passed the tripod genie,” said my father, sitting down in the cart. He spurred on the horses, and they set off at a brisk trot even more energetically than before. I saw it with my own eyes.
It is said that people saw the jinn again after the Socialist Revolution. They left the area, calling and lighting their way with lanterns. Nobody ever saw them again. It is clear that such an answer to the question, who danced (is dancing?) At night in the Tyzyl Gorge will not satisfy many, including me.
But there is no other yet. That is why I will remind here the story that I reproduced earlier (it was published in our book “Kabardino-Balkaria: 50 mysteries, incredible and mystical, published this summer).
So that you don't see too much
So, one of the residents of Kendelen (now deceased) became blind in childhood under very strange circumstances. It happened to her in the thirties of the last century. She, a girl of six or seven years old, early in the morning drove the cows out of the yard and was about to return back when she saw a woman and a girl walking from somewhere from the upper part of the village.
She called the woman a gypsy, explaining her impression by the fact that she was wearing a bright, flowered dress. Her daughter was also wearing the same dress - red, shimmering in the morning sun. The girl lagged behind the woman a little. With an unperturbed look, she walked past her age-mate, who intently and with quite understandable envy (for the reason, of course, the dress) looked after her.
And then the young "gypsy" suddenly looked around and made a gesture telling the children about their superiority over others. In any case, this is how the young inhabitant of Kendelen perceived him, who could not restrain herself and uttered an insulting word in response. The woman heard this word. She turned around, went up to the girl, looked at her for a long time, and then asked: "Do you see me?"
“I see,” the girl replied. Then the woman covered the girl's left eye with her hand:
- And now you see?
“I see,” came the answer. The woman closed her other eye, and the answer was again:
- I see.
- You shouldn't! The "gypsy" ran her hand over the girl's eyes, and she … stopped seeing.
And I never saw her again, although they showed her to the doctors, they took her to Nalchik, but even there no one could explain why the child suddenly went blind. A resident of Kendelen has lived her entire life in the dark. Whom she saw, for which she was severely punished, remained unknown. As well as where the "gypsy" coming from the Tyzyl Gorge came from to Kendelen.
By the way, none of the local residents saw her again. Therefore, the story of the blind girl was perceived as a child's fantasy, and the very fact of blindness was associated with the wind, which covered the child's eyes with sand. The girl's relatives later said that she left the house seeing, and returned not seeing.
Everything falls into place, if we assume that the "gypsy" and her daughter came from another world, and the blind girl had the ability from birth to see what is not given to us. It remains to assume that the entities that danced in the clearing in the Tyzyl Gorge came from another world parallel to us.
If someone is embarrassed by this conclusion, or, even more so, amused, take what was told as another Kotlyarov's swag. Better yet, climb the Inal ridge, stay on it for the night, before that you will find a place from which you can see the village of Solnechny. And when the gorge disappears into darkness, look down. Maybe you will be lucky and you will see a fire, if, of course, they are still burning. Just hurry up - August will fly by quickly …