St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful, but at the same time the most frightening cities in the world. In North Palmyra, there are many things that terrify and cause depression, such as narrow and dark alleys with unexpected turns and dead ends, gloomy courtyards, wells, mysterious sphinxes and mythical palaces and monuments. And even the legendary drawbridges are associated with many spooky stories. Thus, the famous Liteiny Bridge gained gloomy fame even during the construction period.
UNHELIEVING EDGE
St. Petersburg is called “the city built on bones”. According to legend, serfs were widely used during its construction, and a large number of forced laborers died. The harsh climate, impenetrable forests, cold rivers and bogs had a most detrimental effect on the health of the builders. Disease and high mortality became commonplace, people died like flies. The German traveler Gerkens put it this way: “The climate in this area, both in winter and in summer, is very harsh, cold, with winds, fogs, rain or snow, and due to numerous swamps, it is very unhealthy. As a rule, a constant frosty winter lasts more than half a year, and the rest of the time, in addition to June and July, for the most part it is entirely April and autumn weather. However, Peter I was adamant and firmly decided to found a fortified city here. And in order for the hail of his name to heal as soon as possible, he ordered Muscovites, Novgorodians, Pskovians to be resettled here, they were very reluctant to move to a new place, blown by the cold piercing winds of the Baltic. And although numerous rivers and rivulets, by order of the king, were chained in iron shells, pacified and suppressed, the water sometimes showed its capricious and ruthless disposition, overflowing the banks and flooding the streets and houses. At such a time, the inhabitants of the northern capital remembered that the place where the city was built was considered from ancient times to be bad, not adapted for life. From time immemorial, hardy Finno-Ugrians settled in these inhospitable lands, occasionally pagan Slavs came here. The latter built strong huts here and worshiped their formidable idols on the temples, offering sacrifices in the form of animals, grain, and various gifts. Despite the harsh climate,pagans lived here in harmony with nature and in harmony with themselves.
According to legend, the famous Liteiny Bridge was built on the site where the pagan temple was once located. The main thing in it was a huge stone - Atakan. The tribes that once lived at the mouth of the Neva deified the boulder, worshiped it and made sacrifices, including human ones. If you believe the myth, prisoners captured during civil strife were killed, and their blood was sprinkled on this stone. Once doomed to death, the captives prayed to the Neva River, asking her to save them from terrible death. The river heard their prayers, changed its course, and a terrible stone lying on the bank ended up at the bottom. Alas, the bloodstone Atakan began to take revenge: either the boat with the fishermen would go to the bottom, or by a strange coincidence, some sailor would be overboard, or the child would be dragged into the whirlpool by an unknown force … Atakan was bloodthirsty, he wanted as much blood as possible. His hour came in the second half of the 19th century.
BLOOD VICTIMS
The City Council decided to build a permanent Liteiny Bridge instead of the previous floating one. The reason for the construction was a strong ice drift, which tore off the floating ferry in April 1865. On April 22, 1871, officials announced that an international competition for the project of the Liteiny Bridge was opening. Contestants submitted 17 applications. The competition was won by an English firm that presented a project of an arched four-span bridge with two drawbones on both banks of the Neva. But later, the Special Commission of the Ministry of Railways made a number of comments on this project and invited engineer AE Struve to develop a new version of the bridge, which he did. Already on August 30, 1875, the first work on the construction of a new crossing over the Neva began. The Duma signed a contract with AE Struve for the construction of the bridge in four years.
Promotional video:
The bridge builders faced enormous difficulties. In this place, the river is as deep as possible - 24 meters, and the bottom consists of silty clay, on which it is very difficult to fix the supports. The engineers decided to install caissons as the foundation for the supports of all river bulls. But working with caissons is fraught with danger. The metal boxes turned upside down were lowered onto the ground under water. Air was pumped into them under high pressure. This allowed the workers, inside the huge boxes, to mine the river bed and build the foundation for the bridge support.
Difficulties began already with the sinking of one of the first caissons to the bottom of the Neva. Where, according to the project, one of the supports was supposed to stand, there was a sunken barge with a stone. While trying to plunge into the ground, the caisson came across a giant boulder. Less than a month later, with a sudden rise in water, the caisson was flooded. On September 16, 1876, due to a sharp subsidence of the support, semi-liquid soil burst into the caisson. At this time, 28 excavators were working in the caisson. 18 people got out immediately, five more people were rescued during rescue operations, five were killed.
A year later, another fatal disaster struck. On September 9, 1877, one of the caissons exploded. The massive ceiling of the caisson was thrown back tens of meters. Nine workers at the top of the caisson were killed. The muddy soil instantly rose into the caisson and flooded the people working in it. Work to eliminate the consequences of the disaster lasted about a year. In the summer of 1878, the bodies of 20 people were removed and work began on filling the caisson chamber with masonry.
The disasters not only delayed construction, but also caused huge additional costs. The cost of building the bridge skyrocketed. The bridge was completed on September 30, 1879 (one month late). No one undertook to name the exact number of those killed during construction work.
NO REST
Already at the very beginning of the construction of the bridge, ominous rumors spread around the city that the Atakan stone was taking revenge on people for disturbing its peace. Whether it is true or not, is unknown, but since then Liteiny Bridge and the area adjacent to it have earned a bad name. The townspeople called the bridge "a severe giant." It is said that on dark, moonless nights, a black whirlpool of such force suddenly appeared under the bridge that it drew in the unfortunate people who were near the river. And from the whirlpool then "all kinds of evil spirits climbed out", which "made filthy faces and screamed shameful words." And, like a magnet, this whirlpool of all local suicides attracted to itself. It was rumored that during the reign of Anna Ioannovna, by her order, a witch, Biron's favorite and mistress, was immured alive in the wall of the bridge. And since then, when someone commits suicide there,you can hear the poor girl laughing …
Old-timers, who know a lot of Petersburg secrets, assure that this bridge is sometimes shrouded in fog in the blink of an eye, and people who find themselves on it at a bad hour suddenly disappear without a trace. Where do they go? Rumor has it that in a parallel world, from where there is no return. Petersburg guides specializing in excursions to the mystical places of the Venice of the North, assure that this bridge is a transition to another dimension.
Liteiny Bridge is a place where you can sometimes see the famous St. Petersburg ghosts. So, here in 1991 the ghost of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was shown more than once. Since then, if the leader of the world proletariat visits the bridge, it is only on "significant" days, for example, November 7, the anniversary of the October Revolution, or January 21, the day of his death.
Sometimes other heroes-revolutionaries also "walk" on Liteiny Bridge, and sometimes whole companies of soldiers and sailors of the Civil War march there, also suddenly dissolving in the night darkness.
According to astrologers, the mystical events taking place on the bridge are associated with the magic of numbers. The bridge is 396 meters long. If you add these numbers, you get the number 9. It corresponds to the planet Neptune, which is responsible for secrets, mysticism, everything irrational, otherworldly and symbolizes the dark side of the human soul. In addition, Neptune is the patron saint of the water element. Is it any wonder that Liteiny Bridge has turned into one of the most mystical places in the northern capital ?!
Ksenia SVETLOVA