There are enough anomalies in Belarus: researchers encounter miracles and poltergeists, receive reports of fireballs, ghosts, UFOs and huge snakes.
Sputnik turned to Belarusian enthusiastic researchers who are looking for anomalies of various kinds in their home country: they figured out where to see a miracle or meet a UFO in Belarus and how to investigate them.
A team of enthusiasts "Ufokom" studies everything inexplicable: they work with archival data, go to the "fields" to personally verify the presence of an anomaly, conduct analyzes and measurements. Everyone is busy with their own business, the project coordinator Ilya Butov is mostly poltergeists and miracles.
Appeals from eyewitnesses, reports in the media, mentions of the unusual in books become the basis for going to the "place". In some cases, they are sent on a reconnaissance trip - to fix an anomalous case. In others, on an expedition for an in-depth study of many days.
There is no established algorithm of actions - there are many techniques that are used depending on what is being studied. They measure various indicators with the help of instruments, arrange video cameras, interview eyewitnesses, and in some cases even take blood from members of the expedition for analysis and study the composition of the phytocenosis (vegetation growing on the site).
Belarusian anomalies: fireballs near Buda-Koshelevo and Vileika
As Ilya Butov says, there are enough places in the republic where something unusual is happening. “Anomalous zones act cyclically: they appear, then disappear: that is, they can be active for some time, and then simply disappear,” he shared.
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The place in the village of Nezhevka, where the circles were seen. PHOTO: EVGENY SHAPOSHNIKOV (UFOKOM).
For example, in the past year, enthusiasts went to "hunt" for fireballs to nearby small villages in the Buda-Koshelevsky district of the Gomel region. At first, pillars of fire with balls inside in the same place were noticed several times by local hunters with a night vision device, later similar messages came from a nearby settlement.
“We interviewed the locals and were shocked: literally every person there faced this anomaly. It is noteworthy that in the reports of our predecessors nothing of the kind was recorded in this area, Butov recalled.
A similar phenomenon was seen in the well-known Vileika anomalous zone - a village near a local reservoir. “But it should be borne in mind that the activity of ball lightning is tied to many reservoirs, Vileika is no exception. In any case, this area stands out - there they are noticed more often,”he said.
UFO in Polissya, poltergeist in Zhodino and wonders in the west of the country
Some unusual phenomena are localized. In particular, there are such areas in Polesie: in several areas there were a huge number of UFO sightings, with which this is connected - is still unknown.
Radiometric survey in the Baranovichi region / PHOTO: VICTOR GAYDUCHIK (UFOKOM).
“In the Baranovichi region a few decades ago a UFO hung and a group of military personnel came into contact with it. On the one hand, it is a reliable case, on the other hand, it is contradictory. There have been other anomalous incidents. We have been exploring this place for a very long time, but we have not found answers to all the questions,”said the enthusiast.
Miracles (including the so-called renewal of icons, the appearance of images, world and bleeding) have a specific link to certain regions - they are noticed mainly in the west of Belarus and a little - in the Gomel and Mogilev regions on the border with Russia, moreover, they almost none in the center of the country and in the Vitebsk region.
But a poltergeist is not characterized by a clear place. “A significant incident happened recently in Zhodino. People turned to us after the fact, so we did not have time to reach the peak of activity. But for a month the Belarusians shared their apartment with something else: things flew around the house, there were notes on furniture and mirrors, notes. We also went to the fiery poltergeists (when almost buckets of water were burning), bloody (when blood was gushing from the walls),”Butov recalled.
In general, poltergeists in Belarus are rarely recorded: according to Butov, large cases of ghosts, moving objects or spontaneous combustion occur every two to three years. But such a phenomenon as poltergeist-like phenomena or the observation of a ghost after the death of a person who lived there is very common.
A sign on the outskirts of the village. This is the place where mass observations of glowing balls begin / PHOTO: EVGENY SHAPOSHNIKOV (UFOKOM).
If not enough: huge snakes and crop circles
Cryptozoology is less developed in Belarus - observation of unusual animals - nevertheless, expeditions take place annually.
“We have received reports of very large snakes (their heads are about the size of a child), but they are dated back to the 1970s. We searched for them several times in Polesie, but did not find them, but we collected many stories about them. Presumably, they became extinct as a result of land reclamation. This year we will be exploring the swamp, where we noticed large black lizards,”the enthusiast shared his plans.
Several times I had to go to the messages about the appearance of crop circles. Many years ago, a resident of the village of Nezhevka (Slutsk District) noticed such an early morning in her own garden: it appeared at night, without disturbing either the owner or her sensitive dog.
The tower from which the observations of the hunters who noticed the fireballs were conducted / PHOTO: EKATERINA MARKOVETS (UFOKOM).
According to the enthusiast, there have been fewer anomalous phenomena recently than in the 1990s. This is due not only to cyclicality, but also to the improvement of the population's life: the worse people live and the more problems there are in society, the more anomalies occur.
“In addition, recently people have become withdrawn, they do not report anomalies (especially, about poltergeists) - they are afraid of being branded as crazy. Some turn up impressed and then close,”he complains.
About unusual readings on devices
In some cases, anomalous zones can be detected thanks to instruments that produce atypical indicators. In the already mentioned Baranovichi region, researchers recorded a change in almost always the constant resistance of tungsten - using a special sensor.
Church of the Kazan Mother of God, where several anomalous phenomena were noticed at once / PHOTO: ILYA BUTOV (UFOKOM).
“The fact is that this indicator does not change under normal conditions - it is the same during movement and at different temperatures, in general, something really unusual has to happen for it to change. We used it near a road section rich in accidents; the indicator changed when we were there, and bounced back as soon as we left the point. Returning there after some time, we were unable to achieve the same results again. We still don't know how to explain this,”Ilya Butov recalled.
Enthusiasts also managed to record unusual indicators of the level of the electromagnetic field on poltergeists and near myrrh-streaming icons. The interlocutor of the agency recalls: in the church of the agricultural town of Barkolabovo, Mogilev region, several anomalous phenomena were noticed at once - an icon was streaming myrrh, the ministers encountered a ghost and periodically heard chants in an empty church.
“We arrived there with a set of devices, measured various indicators and recorded an increased level of infrasound, which affects a person and can cause certain visions (this has long been confirmed by foreign researchers). We compared the levels in other churches, according to our assumptions, it may be generated by the special design of the local temple. It is not known whether this effect was intentionally or accidentally created,”he said.
Measurement of infrasound levels in one of the Belarusian churches / PHOTO: ILYA BUTOV (UFOKOM).
Where Belarusians go for thrills
According to Butov, there are no sites in Belarus where people go en masse to tickle their nerves. And the most "promoted" places with ghosts - Nesvizh and Mir castles - cannot be considered anomalous zones.
“The first one, personally, attracts me with its ghost story, but we did not record anything anomalous, although we spent the night there several times, visited the underground passages. The legend about the ghost of the Mir Castle personally seems to me artificial, and there we also did not notice anything supernatural,”Ilya Butov said.
Belarusians often turn to him for advice on where to spend the night for a thrill - looking for houses with ghosts.
In particular, they mention an abandoned house in the village of Gorodki near Volozhin: according to legend, in the 1920s, Polish soldiers were buried under it, who now will not allow the daredevil to spend the night here; they say that even in the family that received the plot, all the men were tragically killed. They often recall the section of the road near the village of Stygane in the Grodno region, where a ghost allegedly left last year. “And some Belarusians, who want extreme sports, choose the traditional way - they go to the cemetery at night,” he said.
