Our village Yelnya is located on the territory of the Borodino Museum-Reserve. The old Smolensk highway once passed not far from us. Around the 1780s, a church was built in Yelnya.
It is known from the chronicles that our church was destroyed many times by the Poles, the French, the Germans … However, each time it was restored. In anticipation of new raids under the foundation of the church, the local population dug underground passages that extended far beyond the courtyard. In hard times, people hid in the dungeons, hid property from invaders.
In 1941-1942, the church was badly damaged during the invasion of the German invaders. Subsequently, it was completely destroyed. At the present time, there is a village cemetery on this site. This is where the incident that I want to tell you happened.
In 2005, during August, a ghost was repeatedly seen near the old church cemetery, nicknamed the Black Monk by local residents. He wandered around the cemetery, sometimes coming directly to the houses. The villagers saw the Black Monk on several occasions. But it was worth trying to get closer to him - and the ghost disappeared.
Not far from the cemetery there is a former manor's garden and a pond, where young people often had picnics. I talked to the guys and it turned out that they saw the Monk many times.
True, I have never been able to meet a ghost. And then I decided to catch him. One night he set up an ambush: he chose a place behind a tree and, armed with binoculars, began to observe the cemetery. About half an hour later, I saw a Black Monk walking (or swimming) across the field about 50 meters away from me.
I examined him very well through binoculars, did not get scared and decided to follow him. The black monk did not look back, and I followed him to the nearest ravine. There he began to descend. I quickened my pace to catch up with him, but the Black Monk disappeared into thin air right before my eyes.
And then I decided to help the soul of the Monk, which for some reason did not leave our world. I turned to the clergy of the Mozhaisky District and the administration of the Borodino Museum. They decided to hold a prayer service at the cemetery with the installation of a large cross. After that, the Monk was never seen again.
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True, soon after the installation of the cross in the evening and at night, moving luminous columns could be seen in the cemetery. They flew smoothly across the territory of the churchyard. Out of curiosity, young people often threw sticks and stones at these posts, but nothing interesting happened. Soon these columns also disappeared. I think the Monk's soul has finally found peace.
Nikolay Semenovich Pynikov, Yelnya village, Moscow region