They say that in Belgorod and its environs, various devilry is often observed - either flying saucers, or mysterious balls, or the notorious Chupacabra … According to one version, all strange events are associated with the magical past of these places.
Witches and Margarita
Several centuries ago, it was here that they began to refer to the eternal settlement of witches. Apparently, the sorceresses have quite adapted to the new place. In any case, a letter was found in the archives, sent in 1648 by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to the local voivode Timofey Buturlin, demanding that measures be taken to correct the situation in the Belgorod district. The essence of the tsar's claims was that the inhabitants of the district, instead of attending church, were increasingly seen in games with the participation of buffoons. Moreover, this happened even on major Orthodox holidays. As it turned out, the same sages were stirring up the people. As a result, the authorities ordered to beat the troublemakers with whips, send them into exile, and burn the most notorious ones altogether. Nevertheless, they say, the real sorceresses somehow managed to wriggle out, and only the innocent suffered.
Another archival document tells of a church court that was considering the case of a peasant woman named Ulyana. The woman was accused of learning witchcraft from a certain Ukrainian witch, and for the correct result she sold her soul to the devil. The fate of the sorceress Ulyana remained unknown, but information has been preserved that St. Joasaph himself had to come to Belgorod in order to convert people to faith again with his prayers.
Today, near the village of Smorodinovo, the Witmenka yars have been preserved. There, they say, there were secret paths, along which local residents went to the witches for help. Nearby, at the 44th kilometer of the railway, there is a gully, where at one time travelers disappeared without a trace. They say that as soon as they were in this place, a strong wind began to blow, and before the person had time to recover, a whirlwind in the form of a funnel pulled him in, and no one ever saw the unfortunate man again.
Bald mountain
Here, Bald Mountain was allegedly also where witches held their sabbaths. It was here that, on the eve of the ball, Bulgakov's Margarita took place at Woland's.
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Lake of love
On the territory of the present Graivoronsky region, near the village of Pochayevo, there is a reservoir called the Lake of Love. The legend about him is as follows. It was as if a young married couple lived in Pochayevo. And for a long time they did not have children. For some reason, this circumstance aroused hostility from fellow villagers. The spouses were persecuted so that they were forced to leave and settle in a forest dugout. Once the wife came across a clean spring in the forest. It turned out that it flows out of the lake. The woman decided to swim in it and soon gave birth to a boy, and then a girl.
Soon other people heard about the wonderful properties of lake water. They started coming here. They said that the water in the lake not only helps to conceive children, but also grants wishes.
Now the entire surface of the lake is covered with mud. According to old residents, the reservoir no longer wants to be shown to pilgrims. By the way, the dugout where the couple lived can still be seen against the background of birch and oak groves.
Mist horse
There are many abandoned villages in the Belgorod region. And most often these lands are notorious. So, in the Chaplygin region, the surroundings are suddenly shrouded in a strange fog, which more than once made people go astray. Experts say that it is the local goblin who sends delusion to travelers.
Of course, you can't do without ghosts either. So, back in the 20s. last century, the secretary of the local Komsomol organization was told the story of the Kosoy farm, where it was a ghostly white horse. At first, the guy just laughed. But one night he was returning home, and near the aforementioned farm in front of him, as if out of the ground, a blurred white cone appeared, turning into a silhouette of a horse. The horse galloped around the traveler and melted into the air. An eyewitness, who was previously an ardent atheist, remembered this incident for life and believed in mysticism until the end of his life.
House of Horror
Within the boundaries of Belgorod itself there was also a house with ghosts, as evidenced by an article in one of the local newspapers for 1929. It is called "The ghost is terrifying." At that time, in the very center of the city, at the corner of Vorovskogo and Budennovskaya streets, there was a large two-story residential building. Despite the housing crisis, the windows of almost all the rooms were closed - they were empty. Nobody wanted to live in a house that was visited by the ghost of the former owner who was shot by the Chekists. Subsequently, the house had to be demolished.
Phantom tanks
And some believe that a space-time portal is located in the Belgorod region. For example, in 1943 such a story happened. During the battles for the liberation of the region, the Nazis decided to take out part of the archive and various valuables from the city. Lorries covered with tarpaulins with wooden crates were seen driving through Tavrovo towards the village of Nikolskoye. And suddenly, around one corner, they disappeared without a trace, and then they were seen already empty, returning back … Where the load went is unknown.
Two local residents already in our days one late at night were driving from Prokhorovka to Belgorod. When we were passing the Prokhorovskoye field, the car's engine suddenly stopped working. We decided to wait for the ride to ask for help. And then on the road there was the noise of the engine. It looked like a tractor. But instead of a tractor, a German Tiger tank appeared from the darkness! Other tanks followed.
The friends thought that they were shooting some kind of motion picture. But then shells whistled around the Tiger. The tank began to shoot back, and then exploded and caught fire. Our eyewitnesses clearly felt the heat of the flame on their faces … They were so frightened that they started to run back towards Prokhorovka. In the morning, returning to the abandoned car, they did not find any traces of yesterday's incident in this place, including the prints of the tracks of tanks … It turns out that they only saw it all?
Margarita Troitsyna