My great-grandmother Natalya Alekseevna Ivanina lived in the village of Byakovo, Navlinsky District, Bryansk Region. Her husband returned home after the Civil War, but in the war he was seriously wounded and therefore he died soon after. Great-grandmother was left alone with four children in her arms.
She lived poorly, got out as best she could. There was a church in the village, next to it was the house of the parish priest. Prab-grandmother's hut was not far from the church, and she helped the priest's family with the housework.
Once, during Great Lent, Natalya, out of habit, went to help, but the doors were locked, and she entered the house from the yard. Imagine her surprise when she saw that the priest and his friend, a priest from a neighboring village, were sitting at a table on which there were bacon, eggs, and moonshine!
Natalya could not stand such an outrage and arranged a complete dressing down - she has four children sitting hungry, because the fast, and the father advises everyone to endure during sermons, but he himself is fattening. After that, Natalya no longer went to church, but she did not stop believing in God.
The 1930s came, terrible, hungry for the peasants. In order not to die of hunger, Natalya in the Bryansk region took linen, threads, needles, various trifles and went to Ukraine (it is very close) to exchange goods for food. I went mainly to the villages. So it was that time about which I want to tell.
It was late autumn. The day is short, it gets dark early. Natalya was returning from one village, wanted to get to the station before dark, but she delayed and realized that it was impossible to get to the station. It got dark, and it became scary to walk along the empty road.
A small village came across on the way, and Natalya began to ask for an overnight stay. Nobody wanted to let me in, and then in one house they pointed to a hut where a single woman lived: they say, she might let me in. Natalya went there. A woman of about sixty came out, listened to who was going and where, but at first she did not want to let her in.
However, the great-grandmother asked so tearfully that the hostess took pity and allowed me to spend the night. She fed him, but did not leave him to sleep in the house, but made a bed in the entryway. Great-grandmother was immensely happy about that.
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In the middle of the night, Natalya woke up because she heard voices in the house. The hostess and some men were talking. At first, the great-grandmother was surprised: after all, she was sleeping in the hallway, and no one passed by her. But then, when she listened and heard what was being said in the house, her hair stood on end. Visiting the hostess was clearly evil spirits!
Some creepy voice asked: - Who is this lying in the hallway?
- This is a poor wanderer, - answered the hostess and began to ask that she not be touched.
Fortunately, the evil spirits obeyed her and began to torment the mistress. Some kind of fuss began outside the door, the hostess begged to leave her behind.
Great-grandmother was very religious, she read prayers all night without a break. In the morning, the hostess asked her how she slept. She admitted that she heard voices in the house. And then the woman told a sad story about how ill-wishers cast a curse on her, and from then on, evil spirits began to appear to her at night.
She had to do dark things, for example, she secretly expressed milk from village cows. But she did all this not of her own free will. If she refused, evil spirits appeared and began to torment her.
In support of her words, the hostess showed her cellar, filled with butter and cheese. She presented a large piece of butter to Natalia. She took it, because the children need to be fed with something, but she did not eat this oil herself.
The story is genuine, it was told to me by Natalia's daughter, my grandmother Anya. And I believe her.
Magazine "Non-fictional stories" # 26 2017. Olga TKACHEVA, Navlya village, Bryansk region