At the end of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. in one of the remote villages of the Poltava province, mysterious events began to occur. In early spring, a girl, Maria Burova, disappeared from the village. For some reason, she was away from home for a while and disappeared. Parents, relatives went around all the neighborhood, forest, river bank, but the girl was not found. Her body was not found either.
The police did not report the disappearance, considering the incident to be just an accident. Closer to Easter, another young and pretty girl disappeared. The peasants decided that the gypsies had taken her with them. What happened was reported to the city, reported to the police.
Soon a sergeant came to the village, stayed for a couple of days and left without doing anything. In the summer, two more girls disappeared, and their search also ended in vain. The mother of one of the girls went to the fortuneteller Natalya, who lived on a farm not far from the village. The fortune teller spread out the cards, was silent, and then told the woman:
- Do not search! Your daughter is no more in this world!
Time passed, and gradually life improved, they talked less about the girls, but after Christmas the village was again stirred up by the news of another tragedy: the daughter of a local saddler disappeared without a trace. The girl was not found.
The village headman went to the city to demand drastic measures from the authorities - seven young girls disappeared in the village in two years. It got to the point that women, even during the day, were afraid to leave the house to the well, not to mention to work in the field or in the forest to work.
Soon a young police officer arrived in the village - bailiff Nikolai Soloviev, and with him several lower police ranks. The polite and very patient detective managed to attract peasants, usually not very inclined to trust strangers, and began to carefully question all the victims and witnesses, diligently recording their stories. Then he asked the headman to show him the outskirts of the village and the places where the girls were looking.
It was he who became interested in the old farm, where, as the headman explained to him, Natalya Kravchenya, known in the village as a witch, lives. The woman was already 65 years old, but her skin was whiter than milk, her hair was darker than a raven's wing, and her lips were brighter than a ripe cherry.
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The headman said that the locals were bypassing the farm, but the bailiff noticed the presence of a well-trodden path to Natalia's house. It turned out that women from the village secretly go to her to tell fortunes. Nikolai immediately realized that he needed to look for traces of the missing girls on the farm, because what girl does not like to tell fortunes about suitors …
The farm was monitored. But nothing suspicious was found. A beautiful witch with the figure of a young girl ran the household, did ordinary things like all women of that time. The only unusual thing was that, according to the police department, Natalia was born almost 65 years ago!
Solovov was surprised: he would never have given the mistress of the farm to look more than twenty-five years old. Several times women came to her to tell fortunes, but then they returned to the village without incident.
Sometimes Kravchenya went to the city and bought books on occult topics there. This, of course, was not a crime, but the bailiff was alarmed by the fact that, as the peasants showed, all the missing girls were fond of mysticism, and Kravchenya always set a condition for those who visited her farm - so that not a single soul knew about the visit.
The investigator decided to inspect the fortune-teller's house and her outbuildings. After waiting for her to leave for the city once again, he, accompanied by a police officer, entered the courtyard, visited the barn and the stable, and then made his way into the house. Nothing aroused suspicion, but Solovov noticed a hole in the underground disguised with homespun rugs.
Going down there, by the light of a lantern, he began to inspect and drew attention to a large chest, which sank a little into the ground. How so? The soil in a cold basement, tightly compacted almost to the point of stone hardness, should not settle under the weight of the chest.
Sliding the chest open, the detective was amazed at how light it turned out to be. The ground beneath him looked a little loose. The bailiff began to carefully rip the ground under the chest, pushing it aside with his boot. At a depth of less than one elbow, he saw a thin maiden hand with a silver ring on the index finger appeared among the clods of earth, as if fashioned from alabaster, a thin girlish hand.
On the same day, Natalia Kravchenya was arrested. In the underground of her house, in the presence of attesting witnesses, the police found a grave: in it lay seven bloodless girls' corpses. The fortuneteller confessed to the crimes she committed. However, she did not consider the murder of girls a crime, since they gave her their blood and youth voluntarily.
During the investigation, it turned out that, having started to grow old, Kravchenya wanted to rejuvenate and for many years, bit by bit from various occult books, had been restoring an ancient witchcraft recipe using the blood of innocent girls. After long experiments, Kravchenya completely restored the recipe, but refused to reveal its secret, even when she was promised pardon and freedom for its disclosure.
It is worth noting that the doctors who examined the sorceress noted the fact that her body is younger than her actual age of forty. The woman was completely healthy physically and mentally.
Natalia was sent first to Poltava, then to Kiev, and from there to the UK for a comprehensive forensic psychiatric examination. The council of doctors unanimously recognized Natalia as absolutely healthy physically and mentally.
On the offer of doctors and investigators to speak frankly about the secret of rejuvenation, the witch categorically refused.
Patrick Eldridge writes: “They say that a very influential person in Europe contacted her through intermediaries, promising to arrange a pardon in exchange for the secret of rejuvenation. But Kravchenya rejected this proposal, insisting that the murders he committed were purely ritualistic."
The jury found the Poltava witch guilty and sentenced to death. Kravchenya never revealed the secret of her youth. But she has a niece, whose trace is lost in 1888, however, it is known that in 1904 a guest came to Natasha. Perhaps she kept the secret of youth.