The Parisian cemetery Pere Lachaise is known all over the world not only for its graceful statues and tombstones, but also for its mysterious stories. The heroine of one of them for several centuries has been the Russian lady Elizaveta Demidova, whose crypt is considered almost the main "attraction" of this last haven of departed celebrities.
In the late 1950s, a student named Jacques was hit by a taxi on a street in Paris. The poor fellow died on the way to the hospital. It would seem that so unusual in this event - this happens quite often in everyday life. However, the student's death caused a rumor in certain circles, and soon became public knowledge. And a strange fact contributed to this - death under the wheels of a car was predicted to a young man under rather unusual circumstances.
The fact is that Jacques was one of the hunters for the inheritance of Elizaveta Demidova, whose fabulous size - two million in gold - has haunted adventurers for two centuries. According to one of the urban legends of Paris, a Russian lady, the wife of the fabulously rich Nikolai Demidov, nicknamed the Queen of Spades by the Parisians and buried in the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery at the beginning of the 19th century, bequeathed an astronomical amount to the daredevil who will spend 365 days and 366 nights in her crypt. I must say that this inheritance has not yet been received. There were a lot of hunters behind him, but no one was able to withstand the agreed period. They say that on the very first nights, Elizaveta Demidova herself appears in front of the brave men and predicts their fate.
All prophecies come true exactly, but the trouble is that these predictions are tragic in their essence.
However, Elizabeth makes terrible predictions only to hunters for gold, but to people who come to her mausoleum for help, she gives faithful and kind advice. An example of this is the fate of her son Anatoly and his beloved Adele Herriot.
Judging by what happened to people whom many knew, the legend ceases to be just a legend …
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"Wild" rich man from Russia
The high society of Paris treated the Russian multimillionaire, a descendant of the famous Ural breeders Anatoly Demidov, ambiguously. It seemed that he was a refined aristocrat, born in Florence, who received a brilliant upbringing and education in Paris, where his father moved immediately after the overthrow of Napoleon, but still some of Demidov's antics betrayed him as a "barbarian" from "wild" Russia.
Yes, Anatoly, like all secular lions of that time, had brilliant manners, littered right and left with fabulous sums, changed his mistresses with enviable frequency. But he did not consider it reprehensible to beat his kept women. For example, before parting with a certain lady of the half-world, Fanny Monto, Demidov so far with a whip that she could not get out of bed for a month.
But the courtesan Adele Herriot was not frightened by these rumors. On the contrary, she did her best to get a rich young handsome man as her husband and, for the sake of getting the coveted ringlet, even decided to get pregnant from Demidov. Still, the Russian "barbarian" was in no hurry with the marriage proposal. And then Adele decided to resort to the help of otherworldly forces.
Night in the crypt
Then in Paris there was only talk about the will of Anatoly's mother and her wonderful crypt, which her husband Nikolai Demidov erected in the Père Lachaise cemetery. Evil tongues said that in this way the Russian ladies' man atoned for sins in front of his untimely departed wife.
And about her cruel predictions and their victims were whispered at every corner. It was then that Adele decided to spend the night in the Demidov family tomb to find out her future.
According to the courtesan's recollections, nothing strange happened in the crypt until midnight, but then a dark fog began to thicken over Elizabeth's coffin, from which a beautiful lady emerged. The ghost ordered Adele to forget about Anatolia forever and get rid of his child, since her lover and potential groom is her brother (!). Still, there is no need to regret this loss - after all, Adele is waiting for a meeting with another Russian, however, elderly, but with pockets full of gold.
Fulfilled prophecies
The next day, not yet recovered from the shock caused by the night vision and the predictions of the ghost, Adele hurried to her mother, who was once one of the most famous courtesans in Paris. She confirmed that Nikolai Demidov had really been her lover for a long time and it was from him that she gave birth to Adele.
Discouraged by such a message, the girl broke up with Anatoly, and then, with the help of a skilled midwife, got rid of the child.
Although the parting with the Russian lover passed calmly - without loud scandals, Adele could not move away from a sharp turn of events for a long time. For several months she did not receive friends and did not go out, and when the depression receded, the girl finally decided to go to the opera.
It was there that the fateful meeting for Adele with the imposing aging handsome prince Tyufyakin took place. This aristocrat, who holds the post of director of the imperial theaters, was so carried away by the young courtesan that he took her to full support and even offered to become the head of a new troupe of actors. This relationship continued until the death of the prince, and after her, the former courtesan turned out to be a very wealthy woman.
Son's warning
Although Adele honestly told Anatoly about the night in the cemetery, Demidov did not believe a single word of her. Spoiled by female attention, the young man at first decided that in this way the girl was trying to get rid of her annoying lover, therefore he came up with various horror stories.
However, a few years later, he also decided to spend the night in his mother's mausoleum, not so much in order to find out the future, but to satisfy his curiosity that tormented him. The meeting of mother and son took place, the ghost begged Anatoly not to marry a woman of imperial blood, since by doing so he could ruin his life. However, Demidov did not listen to his mother's advice and soon, flattering his vanity, made an offer to Matilda Bonaparte, Napoleon's niece.
But, hurrying with the wedding, he forgot to ask Nicholas I for permission to marry, which brought down the monarch's disfavor on Anatoly's head. True, the young couple soon begged for the highest forgiveness. But the end in their family life was put by the complaint of a young wife about her husband's cruel treatment.
In 1870, Anatoly Demidov was buried next to his mother in the mausoleum at the Pere Lachaise cemetery.
Unreceived wealth
I must say that the mysteries of the Demidovs crypt remain unsolved to this day. Often, visitors to Père Lachaise, displaying footage of the majestic mausoleum of the Ural breeders, were surprised to notice in the photo among the columns of the tomb the ghostly silhouette of a woman in ancient clothes. Many visitors to the crypt later said that when they visited it, they felt the presence of some otherworldly entity next to them.
But most of all the trouble for the representatives of the law and order arose with those wishing to receive the inheritance of Elizaveta Demidova. Even before the end of the 1950s, many hungry for easy money sought to get into the family tomb, despite the cruel fate of their predecessors. But they too faced severe consequences. Some of the daredevils went crazy, someone after the first night in the crypt laid hands on themselves, and someone was predicted death, like the student Jacques.
To end all these tragedies, the authorities of Paris ordered to permanently close the Demidovs mausoleum for visits, so the legacy of the Queen of Spades has not been received so far.
OLGA AND ALEXANDER BELYAEVSKIE
