In the old part of the city of Chebarkul, at 22 Beregovaya Street, there is a two-story building, which is about 150 years old. Merchants and managers lived here, in the troubled years of the revolution the Cheka apparatus was located, and now the district administration of culture has settled here. For more than a century of history, many events took place in the house, both good and not so. The guardians of the administrative building are reluctant to share that at night the house begins to live "the otherworldly life": from time to time footsteps are heard, the clatter of kitchen utensils, and sometimes a translucent silhouette flickers in the empty corridors …
Photo of a house in the middle of the last century.
The house was built in the middle of the 19th century by the founders of one of the oldest Chebarkul dynasties - the Rokhmistrovs. Representatives of the local elite did not choose the place for their family mansion by chance - the house was erected where the building once occupied by the head of the Chebarkul fortress. According to the local history source - the book "Cossacks - Wars, Ploughmen", in which Evgeny Rokhmistrov (our contemporary and heir to a famous surname) describes the past merits of his ancestors, the author connects the history of the appearance of the house with his great-grandfather Pavel Ivanovich, who decided to start building a mansion after returning from a military campaign against the Kokadan Khanate, so in 1862 the construction of a family nest was started.
By the beginning of the revolution, the Rokhmistrovs' house had already renewed a couple of generations of owners, but with the beginning of the process of restructuring power, the property of a wealthy family was requisitioned in favor of the state.
The modern look of the building.
At first, after the change of owners, the Cheka was located here, then the police, and in wartime the building was transferred to the disposal of the military commissariat, which existed at this address until the beginning of the 90s, when the regional department of culture was transferred to the former Rokhmistrovs' house. At the beginning of the 2000s, the building was renovated and now it has appeared in a more modern form than it was: European siding and plastic window frames changed the appearance of the historic mansion beyond recognition. They did not change the layout, however, now it is difficult to say for what purpose this or that room was used, since it is impossible to determine where the living room, kitchen or bedroom was located. Today, every room has a study.
The modern look of the building.
Despite the rich history of the house, not many historical finds were found during the works. For example, several old sharply faceted forged nails have been preserved in the walls, and several flasks were found in the courtyard.
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However, it is surprising that the house continues to live its own life early, sounds of unknown origin are heard. Despite the fact that there is a lot of office equipment here and in general there is a very typical office atmosphere, according to some employees, after the weekend, when you come to work in the morning, you can feel the unlikely smell of a residential building, as if the owners recently went somewhere.
The fame of the "haunted house" for this building has been entrenched among the residents of Chebarkul for a long time. The source of the stories about the mysterious ghost living in the old mansion was the night watchmen on duty in the old house. They are the ones who share "otherworldly stories", for example: sometimes in the darkness of empty rooms you can hear distinct footsteps, sounds of rustling of kitchen utensils, but the most impressive story is that some watchmen happened to see a white figure flashed in the corridors of a building, similar to a ghostly female silhouette … It is believed that the ghost of the mistress of the old house, Ekaterina Dmitrievna, who was known to the entire Chebarkul village, lives here. She was a true Cossack: tall, stately, with a lively mind and a strong character. According to local legends, it was her soul that could not part with the family estate …