The mountain - the pass near Goose Lake has long been called Ubiennaya or Ubienka, as the locals used to say. According to the official version, it got its name because of the constant battles between the Cossacks and the Manchu invaders, which took place over 200 years ago. Here robberies and attacks on trade caravans took place. Now at this place "Obo", many come to pray. My husband and I are no exception, we always stop on our way home.
On that day we left the city late, and found ourselves on Ubienka at dusk. It was cold outside, it was drizzling and I didn't want to get out of the warm car. But custom is custom. We drove in, got out of the car, opened a bottle of milk - to bring the spirits of the area.
Having finished the ceremony, we were already going back. But someone called out to us. This was a man of about 30 years old, he was soaked through and through, and he was so pale that he felt uncomfortable. With growing concern, we watched him come out from under the tree and head towards us. The closer the stranger came, the more uncomfortable we became. Not only was he heavily overgrown, but his clothes were also very strange. And then I realized that his rags reminded me very much of the Cossack uniform, the one that hangs in the museum and is drawn in history textbooks.
With a strange, limp gait, he walked very slowly, stumbling over every twig. There was a feeling that the man was moving away, then approaching. Soon, we clearly saw a brown stain of dried blood on his chest. My husband and I firmly grabbed the arms, the car was right behind us, but we were paralyzed from horror and had no strength to run. And then I realized that I was not letting him approach. We were standing under the very tree where everyone is tying ribbons, hiy-morins and hadaks. For about half an hour the ghost of the killed Cossack circled around us, and then it disappeared into thin air …
Gerelma D.