Several years ago, residents of the Moscow region were agitated by the alarming news of the fires near Shatura: peat bogs were burning, special brigades could not cope with the fire, the issue of evacuating local residents was being considered … But these places have always been strange and forbidden. The old-timers call them unclean.
Huge black snakes
Somewhere in the wilderness, near the village of Pustosh on the border with the Vladimir region, the ancient pagan temple of Shushmor is supposedly located. According to local historian Viktor Kazakov, it was built around 2000 BC. e. a tribe of lake people who worshiped the serpent god Uru. Hence the name Shatur ("shat" means - a small hill, "ur" - the serpent king). Most likely, Shushmore was associated with human sacrifice.
In 1885, several road workers disappeared without a trace in the area. Two years later, an entire merchant wagon train disappeared in the same places. And nowadays people continue to disappear there - both visitors and local residents. They go into the forest and never return.
They say that sometimes huge black snakes are seen in the area of the supposed forest tract - aren't they guarding the sanctuary?
Some people who nevertheless got out of the forest say that they got lost, inexplicably lost their way. Maybe the temple attracts potential victims?
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Nimble old man
However, it also happens the other way around. Here is what Vadim Chernobrov, the head of the Cosmopoisk research association, says: - This place is very deaf and completely unexplored. Of course, one cannot blindly believe all the testimonies, but the story told by one of the summer residents seems to me reliable. She and her son went to pick mushrooms and got lost. And when they were already desperate to get out of the forest on their own, my father saw a strange shaggy old man, very thin and unusually nimble. As this man said, for some reason he and his son really wanted to catch up with him, but they did not succeed. But they left the forest not far from their summer cottage. And as soon as that happened, the old man disappeared.
Disappeared lake
No less amazing are the legends about the Shatura lakes (or swamps). They tell. that there was once a small lake not far from Shatura. They called him differently - some Goryun-voditsa, some Sadness-lake, some Bottomless. Even in ancient times, they said that all sorts of miracles happened there. As if wooden objects in that lake are drowning, and not floating, and the water from there can boil by itself in a pot. There were no living creatures in that lake. But mermaids lived there. They lured lonely travelers with lights. They walked into the light, and ended up on the shore of the lake. The mermaids averted their eyes and lured them to the bottom.
And then the evil pranksters came up with fun - they turned the lake water into silver and promised to richly bestow their victims. Only one tram was found, a rolling pitch, and on the advice of a knowledgeable person, he threw a sack with an aspen cross into the water, and after that the mermaids disappeared, and the lake itself disappeared somewhere overnight.
Half-brother of Ivan the Terrible
And also to the east of Shatura, in the area of the Karasevo lakes. Long and Great, there is a mysterious place called Vorui-town, where the legendary robber ataman Kudeyar once hid his treasures.
The town was built by ancient sorcerers from a tribe that lived in these parts even before the appearance of the Vyatichi. Perhaps the tribe to which Shushmore belonged. Indeed, for the construction of such structures, they usually choose special "places of power" with the appropriate energy.
The uninitiated cannot get into the enchanted zone, as it is constantly shrouded in fog. In summer, it is surrounded by swamps, and in winter, fierce blizzards walk around. However, Kudeyar found a way there, having received magical knowledge from his godmother - the Volokolamsk witch.
According to rumors, the ataman was the half-brother of Ivan the Terrible himself. The Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III lived for twenty years with his first wife Solomonia, but they had no children. In the twenty-first year, the prince sent his wife to a monastery, and he himself married Elena Glinskaya. Solomonia got to the monastery already "in a position" and soon gave birth to a boy. Upon learning of this, the prince sent messengers to her, but, on the advice of the witch, the former Grand Duchess reported that her son was. named Gregory, died. In fact, instead of him, a wooden doll, charmed by the witch, was allegedly buried. Little Grisha was secretly raised by that witch in a forest hut near Volokolamsk.
Where is my Thief-town?
Gregory grew up and began to rob, taking the nickname Kudeyar ("kud" means cruel reprisals, "yar" - a steep bank, a cliff). It was said that the father and the royal brother knew about their secret relative and even saw him. Several times Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich allegedly stopped the pursuit of Kudeyar: as soon as his people would go out on the trail of the robbers, he ordered to turn the horses. Maybe he felt sorry for his brother, his own blood, or maybe he could not do without witchcraft.
One way or another, Kudeyar was able to penetrate into the enchanted Vorui-town. He brought his gang there, hid the stolen treasures, walked and had fun with his comrades, waited out the danger, and then again went out on the robber's path.
There are conflicting rumors about the fate of the famous robber. Some say that before his death he repented of his sins and took monastic vows. Others - that in his old age he forgot where he hid his treasures, and until his death he wandered in the clothes of a wanderer in Russia in search of the treasures he had buried.
They say that to this day on the Shatura swamps they meet an old man in rags who turns to everyone he meets with the words: "Tell me, dear man, where is my Thief-town?"
There were also other seekers of the Kudeyar treasures under Shatura. But, apparently, magic is at work here - once in those places where, according to the legends, the Vorui-town should be located, many of them go astray and generally begin to behave strangely. wandering unconscious along the shores of three lakes.
Margarita Troitsyna. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" No. 19 2010