Our research experience shows that a poltergeist (regardless of the reasons that caused it) is always a provocation, which entails certain social consequences for everyone who is closely involved in it. And the events in Marax have clearly demonstrated this. Thanks to the increased media attention (and only him), an ordinary case of "teenage poltergeist" has turned into a Hollywood horror thriller with police, priests, family secrets and official attention of local authorities. Experts of "Cosmopoisk" conducted their own investigation of this story and tried to find simple answers to the mystical formulation of the question.
A brief background to the outbreak of the "noisy spirit" in Marax
On the evening of February 11, 2018 in the village. Maraks of the Kolpashevsky district of the Tomsk region in the house of pensioners Zhukovs objects began to fall and move. According to Alexander Zhukov, it all started with the flight of a knife that flew next to him and stuck into the wall. Although his wife Natalya claims that "it all started with stools," and then "a bucket of potatoes fell in the kitchen." Then a bookcase collapsed in the room of their adopted son Igor. Almost immediately, a monitor and a system unit fell in another room, and a little later frames with photographs began to fall from the walls. It is known that two weeks before the start of the main anomalous incidents, the light itself began to go out. Such interruptions occurred regularly from 7 to 9 pm. A few days before the start of the poltergeist, the lights blinked and knocked out the traffic jams in the house.
The exterior of the Zhukovs' house (photo: Andrey Filimonov).
On February 12, the family went to the local police station. The order was sent to the indicated address. In the house, police officers found a mess: "things are scattered, furniture knocked down." At the same time, the police came to the Zhukovs' house three times. Nobody believed the first brigade, the second also reported that something incomprehensible was going on in the house, and finally the head of the Kolpashevo police came to the Zhukovs for the third time. Together with the police, relatives came to the Zhukovs' home - two adult daughters with husbands, who also became eyewitnesses of a strange disorder.
The consequences of the pogrom in the Zhukovs' house, captured by the camera of Alexander Zhukov's mobile phone (screenshots from the Central Television report).
On February 13, police major Yevgeny Artamonov drew up his famous "star" report to his superiors, in which, in particular, he noted the following: “while the police officers were in the bedroom, a wardrobe fell, after which books fell from the hinged shelf. There was no rational explanation for these events”. In an incomprehensible way, the report got into the Internet. One of the first to publish it was the popular news channel Mash, which was the reason for the unprecedented interest in this ordinary case of the media of all stripes: from local to federal. The journalists successfully unleashed a loud statement that the phenomenon of the “noisy spirit” was officially recognized by state structures.
Report of Police Major E. A. Artamonov.
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It is known that the Zhukov family has lived in Marax for four years. We moved from the neighboring village of Beloyarka when the school was closed there. Before that, several families lived in the house, but no oddities were observed. The Zhukovs raised ten children, of which exactly half were adopted at different times. The youngest, Igor Yakovlev, is fourteen. His real parents were deprived of parental rights. The Zhukovs took custody of him. It was Igor who became a possible “poltergeist carrier”, a focal person. At least in his presence all the anomalous episodes took place. As the media reported, on the eve of the start of the poltergeist Igor was severely beaten at school.
An additional "loud" moment in the media space was the fact that the police turned to the local diocese for help. Father Alexei, a priest of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Togur (Kolpashevsky district), visited the "restless" house and conducted a consecration ceremony there. Later, he also baptized Natalia Zhukova and Igor Yakovlev, who decided to do this against the backdrop of developing supernatural events. The priest claimed that he personally observed anomalous phenomena in the Zhukovs' house, in particular, he saw with his own eyes a wardrobe and a chair that had spontaneously fallen in Igor's room, scattered things in the bathroom, as well as books that fell from the shelf. Also, Father Alexei said that an egg flew into Igor's face.
Alexander and Natalia Zhukov 5 years ago (photo: Administration of the Tomsk region).
The poltergeist stopped as soon as Igor was sent to live with relatives in Kolpashevo (or, according to other sources, in Togur). Natalia Zhukova herself is also visiting relatives in a neighboring village for a while. According to the latest information, the Zhukovs' house is now quiet. However, on February 20, Kosmopoisk received a message that Igor had returned home, which, in turn, launched a new round of activity by the “noisy spirit”. It became known that the police came to the house again and "it was visible through the windows that they were lifting cabinets, books from the floor."
Igor Yakovlev (photo from Vkontakte personal page).
Father Alexey (photo: Victoria Muchnik).
On February 16, our colleague, the famous Tomsk poltergeist researcher Viktor Fefelov, visited Marax. He spent several days in the village and tried to restore a detailed picture of the events. As a result of his investigation, he came to the conclusion that this case is authentic, i.e. real anomalous incidents took place in the Zhukovs' house. In particular, V. Fefelov in the area of the "restless" house managed to fix the "geological fault" by the method of biolocation. According to the researcher, this could be a determining factor in the development of a poltergeist outbreak. However, like many others, he did not manage to talk directly with Igor, who was as isolated as possible, including with the participation of the guardianship authorities, from any outside contacts.
Cosmopoisk investigation
According to the protocol of the sector for the study of the poltergeist phenomenon of the ONIIO "Cosmopoisk", initially we conducted more detective investigation (rather than research) in order to find possible rational explanations for the events in Marax. Through social networks, our team managed to interview a large number of local residents of the village who, to one degree or another, were associated with this story, including: neighbors of the Zhukovs, classmates and friends of Igor, former residents of the "restless" house, etc.
First of all, from these messages it was possible to understand that the Zhukov family in Marax was disliked. The main complaint was that Natalya was allegedly constantly beating, yelling at children, especially Igor. This was confirmed by the boy's classmates. Teachers at the school noted that Igor constantly comes untidy, uncollected. There was even a report (unconfirmed) that Natalya Zhukova was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Also, some residents of Maraksa noted the "unsociability", "lack of communication" of the Zhukov family, which in a small village is expectedly considered a negative sign with all the far-fetched clichés.
However, some local residents sympathized and even sympathized with this family, making allowances for the fact that it is not easy to bring up ten children in the realities of the Siberian province. The acquaintances of the Zhukovs' family reported that Natalya is actually a “soulful, sensible woman” and as a primary school teacher (by profession) “gets along well with children,” and the local population simply “demonized” the poor woman.
Despite this, Igor's friends confirmed to us the information voiced in some media publications that on the eve of the start of the poltergeist the teenager had a serious conflict with Natalia. Igor has good vocal abilities, he successfully performed in the casting of the NTV program "You are super!". He was offered to go to Moscow, but his adoptive mother did not let him go. There was a version that Igor, harboring a grudge against his stepmother, decided to recoup his household through falsification of a poltergeist. In addition to the likely problems in the family, Igor had conflicts with his classmates. Also, on the eve of the "noisy spirit", the boy was seriously beaten after school, which, in turn, was confirmed by the teacher. There were reports of bruises and bruises on Igor's body, but officially the traces of beatings were not certified by either the police or the guardianship authorities. However, one of the local residents told us,that he saw Igor that day after school and did not notice any signs of beatings on him.
Igor Yakovlev at the casting of the NTV program "You are super!" (photo: www.kolpadm).
At the Zhukovs' house after the cessation of the "poltergeist" activity (photo: Victoria Muchnik).
The main argument in favor of the reality of supernatural forces in the Zhukovs' house was that officials (policeman, priest) allegedly became direct witnesses of falling objects. However, the experience of our research shows that direct eyewitnesses often misinterpret unexpected events that have occurred. For example, in cases of moving objects, they record only the final result of these actions, which means that it cannot be reliably said that the object moved by itself, i.e. was the fact of an anomalous phenomenon. But under the influence of psychological factors (for example, the initial general attitude that a “noisy spirit” is rampaging in the apartment), they hastily label such events as supernatural.
We managed to find out that the author of the scandalous report, Major E. V. Artamonov, did not actually see the actual flights of objects. He only noted the general disorder in the house and heard (but did not observe) the sound of objects falling in other rooms. However, he could not say for sure if anyone was in those rooms or not. Obviously, the police officers only testified in the report what happened in the Zhukovs' house and noted that they could not find a known explanation for this. However, the media interpreted the content of the report in the light they needed, passing it off as desirable for reality.
In fairness, it should be noted that some journalists were betting not only on supernatural interpretations of the events in Marax. There was an attempt to connect the movement of objects in the Zhukovs' house with an earthquake that really took place in these places, though three weeks before the start of the anomalous episodes. The geophysical hypothesis has previously been discussed in the specialized literature that some cases of poltergeist can be caused by weak earthquakes or vibrations caused by groundwater flow or tides. However, numerous critics of this hypothesis indicate that the resulting vertical and horizontal vibrations cannot act selectively within the framework of one house or apartment. Moreover, if such vibrations lead to the movement of objects (all the more heavy), they, in turn,should also cause damage to the building itself.
We also received reports that the Zhukovs' house was already "restless" before. Several people reported that the former mistress "sold the house for a penny," because after the death of her husband, a "noisy spirit" began to rage there. One of the publications also mentioned that a year ago the Zhukovs had already called the police to their home with complaints of paranormal activity. However, there is no reliable confirmation of all this. In one of the reports, the former owner of the house claimed that nothing strange happened to her. Her husband did indeed die, but no strange events followed. On the other hand, perhaps the woman simply did not want to advertise anything on camera.
According to the latest information, Igor returned home and now everything is calm there. On the other hand, we received a message that after the teenager returned, he saw police cars again near the Zhukovs' house. It seems like "something strange" is happening in the house again. However, given the close attention of journalists to this story, a new round of activity of the "noisy spirit" would be promptly announced in the media. But, apparently, the phenomena really stopped, and with them the interest from the media structures.
Summing up, we can say that certain events did take place in the Zhukovs' house with a seeming violation of causal relationships, which is confirmed, first of all, by independent eyewitnesses - police officers, representatives of the local diocese. In the interpretation of our sector, this can also be attributed to the general concept of the poltergeist phenomenon1. However, as the investigation showed, there is no reason to believe that this series of unexplained episodes was based on supernatural forces, for example, the activity of some extrahuman mind or a variant of spontaneous psychokinesis. Very often, a large group of adult eyewitnesses can be misled by purposeful leprosy of adolescent children, imitating the actions of "evil spirits". As a rule, this makes it possible to identify only the organization of full video monitoring of the room. Such,unfortunately, it was not possible to hold the Zhukovs in the house for a number of reasons.
It should also be noted that in the practice of researching authentic poltergeists2 one has to deal with the "substitution phase", the essence of which is that the phenomenon is trying to "blame" a particular person, most often on the focal face (for example, in the person teenager). The episodes occur in such a way that researchers have the impression that they are being produced by the focal face or other family members. This impression interferes with the work, since it focuses all the attention of the researchers. At this moment, the objectification of the phenomenon is required, for which the apartment is sealed, fingerprinting, special means are used, etc.
The most surprising thing for us in this story is that an ordinary case of "teenage poltergeist", the likes of which our sector records up to 10-15 a year, suddenly found itself in the center of attention of the Russian media space and became resonant. The history of the Zhukov family and the life of the small village of Maraksy lined up in a mystical mini-series like the sensational "Stranger Things", where in each episode (article, reportage, news) we learned more and more new secrets, secrets, unsaid details, and another came out of the closet skeleton. The mystical force that allegedly persecuted the teenager suddenly became the background of very specific social problems not only in his family and close circle, but also in the village. The story itself teetered on the thriller level, with readers following the events in Maraxthey tried to guess whether the “noisy spirit” was really or “very strange things” just a common but skillful prank, falsification. And it looks like the season finale is yet to be seen.
Notes
1. Poltergeist is physical and psychophysical processes and phenomena occurring in the everyday sphere of a person's life with an apparent violation of cause-and-effect relationships.
2. Outbreaks of poltergeist, when experts, as a result of research (with all careful attempts), cannot find rational explanations for all or part of the phenomena occurring in the area of the phenomenon.
Authors: Nikita Tomin, Dmitry Savva