Pavel was looking forward to the May holidays of 2007 with special impatience. On the 2nd, as part of a speleological expedition, he was supposed to go to Karachay-Cherkessia, to explore the deepest cave in Russia - Barlog's Throat. Spread over several levels, it has a reputation as the most dangerous cave in the Caucasus. Narrow manholes give way to large grottoes with overhanging stalactites, deep gaps, which are extremely difficult to notice in the dark, turn into an extensive network of passages lost in the bowels of the mountain …
Caution: bottom bottom
In full gear, illuminating the path with flashlights on miner's helmets, the group descended to the upper level of the cave, then after 300 meters along a narrow and slippery manhole passed to the second bottom. We got to the mine leading to the third level and stopped. The instructor categorically forbade going down further, as the passages of the lower bottom are a very intricate labyrinth in which cavers disappear every now and then. The group moved to the grotto visible ahead, and Pavel, who closed the group, at his own peril and risk, nevertheless decided to look down.
After securing the safety line, he began to slowly slide down the long tunnel. Five minutes later I felt support under my feet, looked around and realized that I was in a small cave with low arches. Half a meter right in front of the young man, a huge stone rift darkened, and the sound of falling water was heard from there. Silvery reflections ran along the walls of the cave, interspersed with shapeless shadows. At this moment, Paul was suddenly seized with inexplicable horror. There was a feeling that besides him there was someone else in the cave. One careless movement - the foot slipped off the stone ledge, and the young man flew into the rift. From what happened next, Paul remembered only that he plunged into some kind of viscous and sticky fog.
Noticing the disappearance of Pavel, the guys went back to the hole leading to the lower bottom, and saw a fixed safety rope. There was no doubt about where their colleague had disappeared … When Pavel woke up, the instructor, without hesitation in expressions, scolded him for his reckless act, but he did not even hear him. Paul was tormented by a terrible headache and nausea, everything around seemed somehow vague and unreal.
Due to the emergency, the instructor ordered to stop exploring the cave. Waiting for the morning, the group ascended to the surface and on the same day arrived in the village of Urup. Here Pavel was carefully examined by a local doctor, but he did not find any serious injuries, except for abrasions on the crown of the head and behind the ear. And the headaches and nausea that tormented Paul were gone. The young man was determined to continue the expedition, but a strict instructor sent him home to Tver.
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The first bell
A few days later, the first incident happened to Paul, which alerted and even frightened him. The young man went to visit his aunt with his uncle, who lived in a small village 50 kilometers from the regional center. At the house of relatives, Pavel literally collided face to face with an elderly woman in a black dress coming out of the gate. Despite the summer heat, she was all wrapped up in black cloth - from head to toe. “It's strange,” thought Pavel, “I know everyone in the village, but this is the first time I see this old woman.”
Auntie greeted Pavel cordially, but almost from the doorway told the sad news: Uncle Misha suffered a stroke and now lies completely paralyzed. Pavel's heart, as if anticipating something unkind, ached, his temples, as then, in the cave, squeezed unbearable pain, nausea came. For some reason, I recalled a strange woman in a black dress. The young man cautiously asked his aunt about the guest, whom he encountered at the gate, as he could, described her. A relative turned pale, whispered in fear that this was how her mother-in-law looked.
- It was in a black dress and a black scarf that we buried her 20 years ago. Did she come for her son? - Auntie clasped her hands.
Together with Pavel, they rushed into the next room, where Uncle Misha was lying. He was dead.
Strange visions
From that day on, Paul's life slowly began to turn into a nightmare. To his horror, the young man realized that from time to time he sees something that others do not notice. Then suddenly at work he will notice a man next to the cooler disappearing into the wall. Then, being visiting an old teacher, he will see an unfamiliar old man on the sofa, muttering something soundlessly and waving his sinewy arms.
Not long before the sudden death of his father, Paul began to notice a woman in their apartment, who relentlessly followed a strong and not yet old man. Paul decided not to tell his mother, but prepared himself for the worst. A week later, my father died of a massive heart attack.
The greatest shock for the young man was a visit to the cemetery on his parents' day. The weather was warm, the sun was shining. Pavel and his mother put the grave in order, remembered the deceased, wept. But soon a light rain began, and they were going home.
They say it is true: when leaving the cemetery, do not turn around. But then some force forced Paul to break this unwritten rule. He looked around and froze with horror. Next to the graves here and there ghostly figures sat and stood, looking longingly after their leaving relatives.
An old-timer's story
The constant forerunner of all of Paul's visions was severe headache and nausea. They always tortured him for a few minutes before the appearance of otherworldly entities. At first, the young man believed that bouts of wild pain were the consequences of falling into a stone crack in a cave and a possible injury. More than once or twice he went to the doctors, but they only shrugged their shoulders, claiming that he had no pathology. Pavel also turned to psychics. They said something about the pierced energy field and the special effect of geomagnetic fields on the body. But he did not believe in this nonsense, and therefore did not attach any importance to the words of specialists.
Without losing hope of finding an explanation for his unexpectedly revealed gift, Paul began to look for people who had ever descended to the third bottom of the unfortunate cave. And soon he went out to an elderly man from Omsk. Almost 20 years ago, he tried to explore the lower level of the Barlog Throat, but just like Pavel, he fell into a rift. Then he was also rescued by friends who were nearby. It turned out that the former speleologist also sees a lot of strange things, only he does not tell anyone about it. The only thing he advised Pavel was to turn to local old-timers who know a lot about the tricks of the malicious cave.
During the next expedition to Karachay-Cherkessia, Pavel, through his friends in Urup, found a man who enjoyed the reputation of a sorcerer among local residents. For a long time, the old man pretended not to understand what they were asking him about. It was only when the caver frankly told him his story that he discovered the secret of the cave.
According to local beliefs, at the lower bottom of the Barlog's Throat, in the very fault where Paul fell, there is a gateway to the kingdom of the dead. In time immemorial, people and animals sacrificed to the gods were thrown there. Since then, the cave has enjoyed a bad reputation.
“By chance you opened the door to the world of the dead,” the old man said. - And you can never close it. This is bad news. But there is also a good one: there is nothing dangerous in your gift. You will just live with him for the rest of your days. Consider it as payment for your curiosity."
Magazine: Steps of the Oracle No. 6, Sergey Borodin