There are legends that black magicians are able to restore their youth with the help of monstrous rituals. But are they just legends? At the beginning of the 20th century, the police had a chance to investigate the crimes of a woman who committed ritual murders for rejuvenation. And, according to the evidence of the forensic examination, she was quite successful in her intentions.
At the very end of the Russo-Japanese War, mysterious events began to take place in one of the remote villages of the Poltava province. In early spring, a beautiful young girl, Maria Burova, disappeared in the village. She was absent from the hut for a short while, and there was no trace of her. Worried parents ran to neighbors and girlfriends, asked relatives, but Masha was nowhere to be found. When she did not return by morning, her parents and relatives rushed to find her, but all their efforts were fruitless.
Unfortunately for the inconsolable parents, the girl was never found. Her body was not found either. Some suggested that Burova could have fallen under the melted ice that had become unfaithful when she was crossing the river. However, the melt water did not give up the victim. They did not report the incident to the police, considering the incident to be an accident.
The mysterious disappearance of Masha Burova for a long time excited the minds of the villagers, until another, strangely similar to the first event happened: closer to Easter another young and pretty girl disappeared. The village headman suggested that since her body was also not found, she became a victim of gypsies who recently passed by the village in a noisy encampment.
Gossiping, the villagers decided; a beautiful young girl the gypsies took away to the camp and took it with them to who knows where. The incident was reported to the city, to the police. A local sergeant came to the village, stayed for a couple of days, stupidly examined the tracks of the wheels on the muddy road and drove back without really doing anything.
In the summer, two more girls disappeared, and their search also ended in vain. Again the same sergeant came, turned around the village, spent the night with the headman, took a fatter chicken for his labors and left. Exhausted by the unknown, the mother of one of the girls went to the fortuneteller Natalya, who lived on an old farm not far from the village. The fortune-teller spread her cards, paused, then gloomily told the grief-stricken woman:
- Do not search! Your daughter is no more in this world!
Gradually, the life of the village began to enter its usual rut, but after Christmas, the peasants were again stirred up by the news of another tragedy in their village: the daughter of a local saddler disappeared without a trace. The whole village was looking for her, but to no avail. The village hummed like a disturbed hive.
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The village headman went to the city to demand that the authorities take decisive measures: no joke, seven people disappeared in the village in less than two years!
The mystery of the old farm
Soon a young bailiff Nikolai Solovo arrived in the village, along with several lower police ranks. The villagers looked at the police chief with disbelief - they were too young. Meanwhile, Solovo was an energetic, well-educated lawyer with experience in detective work. He was keenly interested in the latest advances in forensic science and even went on an internship abroad.
The polite and very patient detective managed to win over the distrustful villagers and began to meticulously, paying attention to the smallest details, interrogate all the victims and witnesses, recording their testimonies. Then he asked the headman to show him around. For two hours they walked through the fields and copses, along the banks of the river and a flooded meadow, until they returned to the outskirts of the village.
- Tell me, my dear, what are the buildings seen in the distance? - asked Solovo, - That is an old farm, cuts, as they say.
- Who lives there now?
- Natalka Kravchenya, be she wrong! She is a witch,”the headman lowered his voice. - Our people prefer to bypass the farm: Natalka has been making friends with the unclean for a long time.
- Judging by the well-trodden path, does someone go to it? - the bailiff grinned. - And is not afraid of the unclean?
- Yes, women are fools, - the headman waved his hand resignedly. - It happens that they secretly run around to guess.
Solovo nodded in agreement. The farm, or, as it was also called, "cut", Natalka Kravcheni was very interested in him. The trail to him was so trodden that the detective concluded: they obviously walked along it every day. The matter is quite understandable: the war, I want to know about the relatives in the army. Girls are guessing at the suitors …
Stop! Girls? Well, yes, they must certainly visit the fortuneteller, at least one of them. In the villages, the fortune-teller is as popular as the cinematograph in the city! We ought to talk to this Kravchenya. But first, the detective decided to establish surveillance for her. Through binoculars, he made out Kravchenko, a rather beautiful woman of Balzac's age, clearly trying to take care of herself and keep the household in perfect order.
The lower ranks of the police, who arrived with Solovo, watched the farm day after day, however, to the deep disappointment of the bailiff, the observation and inquiry about Kravchen did not yield anything significant. The fortune teller was busy in the yard, doing her usual business. Once or twice, the women secretly came to her to tell fortunes, then they returned to the village. The police department reported that Natalya sometimes went to the city and bought books on occult topics there.
For a professional fortune teller, this is by no means a crime. Nevertheless, the bailiff was alarmed that, as the villagers interviewed by him showed, all the missing girls firmly believed in the power of magic, and Kravchenya always demanded that the “clients” keep visits to her farm a secret so that not a single soul would know! Otherwise, they say, nothing good will come of fortune-telling.
On reflection, the detective decided to secretly inspect the fortuneteller's house and outbuildings. After waiting for her to leave for the city, he, accompanied by a police officer, entered the courtyard, examined the barn and shed, and then made his way into a solid hut. Much to his disappointment, nothing special was found anywhere. As he was about to leave, Solovo noticed a secret hole in the basement, which had been laid with homespun rugs.
Going down into it, by the light of a kerosene lantern, he began to examine and noticed a large chest that sank into the ground. How is it, after all, tightly rammed, almost to the point of stone hardness, the earthen floor in a cold underground should not settle even under such a weight? Sliding the chest, the detective was amazed: such a colossus, and weighs nothing at all. The ground under the chest seemed a little loose.
- Give me a saber, - Solovo asked the policeman. Taking the blade, the bailiff began to carefully rake the earth under the chest with it, throwing it aside with his boot. Literally at a depth of less than one elbow, he saw with horror how among the clods of earth appeared a thin girlish hand, like alabaster, with a silver ring on the index finger …
Ritual killer
On the same day, Natalia Kravchenya was arrested. In the underground of her hut, police officers discovered and dug up the most natural mass grave: it contained seven bloodless corpses of missing girls who had taken it into their heads to secretly read fortunes on the farm near Kravchenya.
Under the weight of irrefutable evidence, she confessed to the crimes she had committed. As it turned out, having obtained some ancient manuscripts, the Poltava witch decided to rejuvenate, using the blood of young innocent girls for this. In the manuscript, Kravchenya found an old witchcraft recipe for blood rejuvenation. She categorically refused to disclose it.
The doctors who examined her noted that the body of the serial killer was twenty years younger than her passport age, and in appearance seemed younger and all thirty: the police were amazed to learn that this, still quite appetizing, woman was over seventy. The detective with difficulty managed to prevent lynching and deliver the fortuneteller to the city.
Considering that women are serial killers, and even on ritual grounds, an extremely rare phenomenon even in world practice, Kravchenya was sent first to Poltava, and then to Great Britain for a comprehensive forensic psychiatric examination - the Russian police were very interested in whether a woman was mentally normal. monster?
Until then, such crimes were recorded only in the 17th century in Hungary and in the 18th century in France. By the way, after Kravchenya, a similar woman-killer appeared in the second half of the 20th century in England. She, too, looked 25 years younger than she was. In the cream of these monsters, the history of forensic science knows no more than two or three semi-legendary cases - like the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, who was well over forty when she seduced with her blossoming beauty the military leader Mark Antony sent to pacify her country.
British doctors gathered a council of the luminaries of psychiatry and comprehensively examined the "Poltava witch". Their unanimous opinion was: Kravchenya is absolutely healthy! Both mentally and physically. When she was again asked to reveal the secret of rejuvenation, she responded with the same categorical refusal. And she did not agree to any compromises. The murders committed by her were of a purely ritual nature - she was sure that in the next world the loving embrace of Satan himself awaits her.
The jury found the murderer guilty, and Kravchena was harshly sentenced. The Poltava witch took the secret of her second youth with her to her grave …
V. Zhukov
“Interesting newspaper. Magic and mysticism №6 2010