In the north of the Moscow region there is a small village called Spas-Korkodino, known to our contemporaries primarily as the alleged birthplace of the great Russian writer Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin - the author of the famous "Minor", as well as Pyotr Alekseevich Rassadkin - a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a famous pilot and Hero Soviet Union. However, the villagers remember another amazing, if not even strange story, which few people now know.
If you look at the modern map, you will notice that Spas-Kordkodino is located in a very picturesque corner. Around the village there are fields and forests, and very close two rivers carry their waters: Sestra and Lutosnya. Probably at the beginning of the 20th century, these places were even more beautiful and attracted many travelers, such as a certain Moscow retired official named Morozov. Tired of the bustle of the capital, he loved to come to Spas-Korkodino, rented part of the scrap for the summer months and spent time walking around the neighborhood. He especially loved to raft down the river on a small fishing boat - after such small trips he returned to the village with shining eyes and enthusiastically told the locals about the beauties of the nature near Moscow, which they themselves had not noticed for a long time, as is often the case with local residents. But they listened to him more out of politeness, and when Morozov walked along the village street, some even tried to turn into some front garden, so as not to waste precious time on "empty" conversations.
But one day the situation changed radically. Returning from his next rafting down the river, Morozov publicly declared that there are … crocodiles in the nearby rivers! And the proof of his words took from the bag a small dead crocodile, which he caught in a thicket of reeds nearby. At this point, no one could resist and the whole village gathered to look at the outlandish beast. Word of mouth quickly spread the surprising news throughout the area, and soon avid reporters arrived in the village. Already with them, Morozov again went to the banks of the Sestra River and in front of everyone, walking through the coastal thickets, he brought out another small crocodile - also dead. In addition, he told everyone his theory, according to which these dangerous reptiles lived and live in many rivers near Moscow. And in confirmation of this - the historical name of the village Spas-Korkodino. On Schubert's map of 1860, it is called the Savior-Crocodile, which is undoubtedly no accident.
It would seem that after that all the newspapers should have been full of screaming headlines, like "terrible reptiles appeared in the reservoirs near Moscow", but for some reason there was no sensation. In our days, it would certainly be so, but reporters at the beginning of the 20th century were skeptical about what they saw and practically nothing appeared in the press.
But this did not stop Morozov. He took both captured crocodiles and took them to Moscow to the scientific luminaries. Biologists examined the animals and confirmed: “Yes, these are indeed crocodiles! But how did they end up in the Moscow region? " Having contacted their colleagues from St. Petersburg, scientists suddenly found themselves on the trail of "Moscow region" lizards. It turns out that one museum ordered several of these reptiles from India from India, and during the long journey, two of them died. But then a mysterious buyer suddenly appeared and bought two dead crocodiles. As you may have guessed, that was Morozov.
The hoax and quick exposure also did not make a noise, and soon everyone forgot about everything. Why did Morozov joke like that when he was already in old age? Nobody knows. Either he wanted to stir up the locals, whose life, in his opinion, was especially boring, or to bring a little adventure into his own everyday life. One way or another, but he went down in history.
Later, several more people reported that they found crocodiles in the swamps in the deep Shatura forests. Someone said that they saw the lizards with their own eyes, while someone reported only about footprints on the shore, but wide publicity, and most importantly, all these stories did not receive confirmation. It is difficult to believe in statements about the appearance of crocodiles in the Moscow region, if only because not a single species of these reptiles will be able to withstand the Russian winter and will simply die.
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As for the name of the village, it appeared thanks to its owner, who became Prince Fyodor Mikhailovich Korkodinov in the second half of the 17th century. According to church custom, the village was also called Spassky, and after the General Survey, the historical name was added to the name: Spas-Korkodino. Subsequently, the village changed its owners many times and this was inevitably reflected in its name. So it managed to be both Savior-Crocodim, and Savior-Korodil and even Savior-Crocodile, which is reflected on Schubert's map.
Coordinates of Spas-Korkodino village: 56 ° 23'28 "N 36 ° 55'33" E
Author: Philip Teretz