A distinctive feature of the Kobyakov settlement, causing mystical fear among the local population, is a unique system of underground passages. The first catacombs were dug by ancient settlers for cult purposes at the beginning of our era. Subsequent generations zealously entangled the mounds with a network of new labyrinths.
As a result, a real underground city, which is full of mystical secrets, is spread under the modern Aksakai. At the end of the 19th century, archaeologist Khitsunov discovered an underground passage from the center of the ancient city to its harbor. There is information that during the Great Patriotic War, local residents hid here from the Germans. Then the caves were bombed.
And now the dungeons and catacombs hide their secrets. Many legends excite the minds of "black archaeologists" and treasure hunters. One of them tells about the Sich treasury of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, who, after the abolition of the Zaporozhye Sich by Catherine II, hid their gold reserves here. It consisted of 32 barrels filled to the brim with gold ducats and Venetian guilds. The Cossacks went light to Taman. More than two centuries have passed, and the "money move" has not yet been discovered.
But the most mysterious and mystical story is associated with the "golden horse". According to legend, somewhere deep, deep underground lies a horse of pure gold weighing from 3 to 7 tons. It is based on a historical fact: at the end of the 17th century, the Cossacks suddenly attacked a Turkish fortress and took possession of numerous goods, among which there was a "golden horse". The Turks set off in pursuit of them. A thirty-thousand-strong army was posted along the entire bank of the Don, and the Sultan's fleet was on the river.
120 Cossacks left the Kobyakov settlement and suddenly disappeared along with the loot. And 10 days later, the Cossack squad also suddenly appeared in Cherkessk. Legend has it that the Cossacks hid their prey in the dungeons of the Kobyakov settlement, and then attached wheels to the boats and rolled them through the caves. Many scientists believe that the "golden horse" actually exists. But no one has been lucky enough to find him so far.
The legend about Stenka Razin's treasure did not pass by these places. In the archives of the local history museum of Aksai there is even a record dated 1940 about how a local Cossack reported to the city department of culture that, according to the story of his grandfather, the ataman's treasures were hidden in one of the hills. And the director of the museum V. Yeladchenko claims that earlier these cellars were called "Stepan Razin's cellar" and this name, apparently, is not accidental, since the ataman stayed here with rich booty after campaigns in 1667-1669 on the Volga, Yaik and Persia …
There are many other stories: about the treasures of the Mongol-Tatars and Turks hidden in the catacombs, the hiding places of the Kornilov officers and even the buried "common fund" of bandits from the Zadonsk post road. Meanwhile, the most valuable today "fossils" were found in these places in 1987. In one of the kurgans of the Kobyakovsky necropolis, the burial of the Sarmatian queen was found. Archaeologists recovered from there a golden hryvnia, a tiara with a deer and many other jewelry. In recent years, 116 more burials were found on the territory of the settlement, but most of them, unfortunately, were plundered by black archaeologists.
But the ancient Aksai never ceases to present the next riddles. For example, archaeologists find strange children's burials every day. They explain this in different ways. According to one version, in the II century AD. e. the inhabitants of the settlement faced an epidemic of an unknown disease. However, for what reason did it concern only children? Another version is more plausible: the Sarmatians, who were at war with the Miots living on this territory, could forbid them to cultivate land plots or destroyed their crops. As a result, children, as the weakest part of the population, were doomed to starvation. However, these are only speculations, and the mystery of the 300 children's burials remains unanswered.
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In the 1950s. The military became interested in the labyrinths of the settlement hidden from prying eyes. 1949 - it was planned to locate the underground headquarters of the North Caucasus Military District (North Caucasian Military District). But the subsequent tragic events forced the command to abandon this plan. Initially, a cave and a series of branched passages were discovered underground. And suddenly a soldier disappeared. A search team was sent to search for him by the military, but they never found the missing person. Moreover, two soldiers have now disappeared.
The search continued and they ended with a terrible find: the dismembered bodies of two soldiers. They were cut by something unusually sharp (like a giant razor) at chest level. Walkie-talkies were also hit by a strange knife. When they were taken apart, they did not see a single crack in the microcircuits - the cut was so neat. Further searches were terminated. The commission's conclusions about the reasons for the deaths of the servicemen were classified, and the dangerous entrance to the mystical catacombs was blown up and tightly walled up. What really happened in the dungeon remained a mystery.
After that, the military decided to use the nearby underground labyrinths of Mukhina gully. Here they began to carry out secret tests of powder simulators of nuclear explosions. According to eyewitnesses, such experiments were accompanied by a deafening roar and a 200-meter column of flame. At the same time, houses and sheds went underground in the nearest yards. Even more incredible is said about military equipment, which never returned from the ground. There is a version that a top-secret laboratory was located on the lower tiers of the catacombs. Its task was to conduct experiments … on teleportation of tanks from Aksai to the Moscow region. However, this is most likely just speculation.
Another secret remains the legends about the underground creatures living in the labyrinths of the settlement. According to historical sources, the ancient inhabitants of these places brought human sacrifices to a certain Dragon, who from time to time crawled out of the bowels of the earth. This is confirmed by the unique archaeological finds that occur in all layers of the settlement. On various objects there is a repetitive image of a mysterious beast - either a wolf with large fangs, or a boar-cleaver.
It is strange that it is found only on objects found in the Kobyakov settlement. Nowhere in Russia, and even more so in the world, there are no such images. Many explorers of the Aksai dungeons try to solve this riddle, but often their search ends in tragedy. Thus, the local tracker O. Burlakov died a mysterious death: his body was also found cut in half, but for some reason only bones remained from the upper part.
A strange incident occurred in Aksai, in the basement of a local cannery there was a collapse, as a result of which an unknown underground passage was discovered. The watchmen with the dogs tried to get there, but someone's angry roar and a huge fast-moving body made them run without looking back. For several more days, the employees of the plant were afraid to approach the manhole, and the dogs did not approach this room at all for more than a week. The underground passage, of course, was soon walled up.
Visiting diggers (diggers) were convinced that walks through the underground labyrinths of the Kobyakov settlement are unsafe. Making their way through one of the caves with the dog, they were forced to stop abruptly, because at one of the turns the dog suddenly whined pitifully and rushed back. An incredible sight appeared before them: the walls of the passage in the place where they had just stood, suddenly began to quickly converge, and then they parted back. Another time, the researchers barely had time to bounce off the collapsing floor, which immediately assumed its original position.
As you can see, a whole system of ancient traps operates in the undergrounds of the settlement. It is worth stepping on some invisible valve - and the wall will move aside or the entrance to the cave will be closed. Who built these traps and who they should cut, crush and hack remains a mystery. It is possible that they were installed by those who wanted to close access to the hidden treasures. Or perhaps they were priests - after all, all the Akai churches are connected by underground passages.
Vyacheslav Zaporozhtsev, the keeper of the funds of the local museum-fortress "Customs outpost of the 18th century", a historian and ethnographer, knows a lot about the secrets of the undergrounds of the Kobyakov settlement. Here is what he says: “Once I was looking, and light was breaking through from the basement window of the fortress museum. I am completely at a loss. I remember: a few minutes ago I turned off the electricity in the basement with my own hands. I open the basement door, look down … The cat, following me, reared its fur and jumped out of the basement with a wild howl."
V. Zaporozhtsev went down into a gloomy dungeon and could not believe his eyes … the woman who wandered through the bypass gallery simply could not be there - except for the keeper, no one remained in the fortress. And yet, a strange person silently slipped past, almost hitting the stunned museum worker.
The face of a stranger was hidden behind her loose black hair, but Vyacheslav Borisovich could see the clothes well. It was a white dress with a wide long hem and a graceful corset. It was not difficult for a professional historian to recognize the outfit worn by women of fashion in the mid-19th century. The woman entered the wall and disappeared … When the curator of the museum jumped out of the basement, the light there went out by itself.
Vyacheslav claims that he came across the "woman in white" more than once and always in the same gallery. In addition, a mysterious knock is often heard from under the walls of the museum. Perhaps a restless or innocently murdered soul has settled in his dungeon?
Not only the underground labyrinths of the settlement are filled with various anomalies. Geological exploration showed that under Aksai, at a depth of 40 meters, there is an underground lake, and at a depth of 250 meters, the sea is splashing! Another river flows under the Don bed. Perhaps that is why the cars and trailers that fell from the Aksai bridge disappeared without a trace? Divers examined this section of the river and found a bottomless funnel in the Don channel, where the water pulled its prey with monstrous force. Only a steel safety rope saved the submariners from certain death.
Another mysterious phenomenon of these places was studied by the scientific expert of the Association "Ecology of the Unknown" A. Olkhovatov. It turns out that UFOs are frequent guests of the Aksai sky. Geophysicists assert that this is a common occurrence for Kobyakov. The only difference is that not ordinary "flying saucers" are found here, but unidentified underground objects that soar into the sky for only a short time.
However, no modern scientific theories can explain the appearance of the “woman in white” settlement in the catacombs and the mystical death of desperate underground explorers. Therefore, scientists can only keep silent and pause thoughtfully.
History of Kobyakov settlement
The Don land keeps the memory of millennia to this day. It seems that in our time in the steppe air one can hear the neighing of Scythian horses, the whistle of Sarmatian arrows, the ringing of Khazar swords and lingering songs of Slavic knights … In Russia there are few places where there would be so many historical monuments.
And there is a truly mystical place on this ancient land - Kobyakovo settlement. On the Russian archaeological map, researchers give him the palm among the mysteries and secrets of nature and history. A large number of legends, folk beliefs, as well as strange facts that defy explanation are associated with the Kobyakov settlement.
Nowadays it is difficult to imagine that there was once a periphery of the Greco-Roman civilization on the territory of modern Rostov-on-Don. In the Tanais delta (as the Don was called in ancient times) there was a large antique center with the same name. The city of Tanais is one of the most ancient in Russia. It was founded in the 3rd century BC. e. it was the northernmost Greek colony. Here the civilizations of the Hellenes and the steppe nomads intertwined.
The city was inhabited by ancient Meots. There is a version that Tanais wanted to become an independent city-state. But the Bosporan kingdom severely punished its inhabitants for this. King Palemon destroyed the city and the Meotian settlements that were part of it. Fragments of residential areas, the remains of streets and courtyards have survived to our time. The defensive walls and towers were reconstructed. Entering the ancient gate, you can pick up a fragment of an amphora that was broken two thousand years ago.
The beginning of Rostov-on-Don was laid by the daughter of Peter the Great, Empress Elizabeth. The Temernitskaya customs was founded on the border bank of the Don, and soon a powerful fortress, named in honor of St. Dmitry of Rostov, arose on this place.
Just a few kilometers from Rostov-on-Don is the small town of Aksai with a rich historical past. The first documentary evidence of the existence of a Cossack settlement within the current city dates back to 1570. The state archives contain letters from Ambassador I. Novosiltsev to Ivan the Terrible, which speaks of a meeting with the envoy of the Turkish Sultan at the "Aksai mouth". There, in the 1720s - 1740s. there was at first a tsarist, and then a customs outpost. During the Azov campaigns of Peter 1 and later, the village of Aksai served as a sentry post on the outskirts of Cherkessk, the capital of the Oblast of the Don army.
Between Aksai and Rostov-on-Don there is a mystical Kobyakovo settlement. It is a huge hill on the banks of the Don. During archaeological excavations, several settlements of various peoples and eras were found there at once. The earliest of them dates back to the 4th century BC. e. The Sarmatians, Polovtsians, Tatars and Russes lived on the territory of the settlement. According to legend, there in 1185, in the camp of the Polovtsian Khan Kobyak, the captured Novgorod prince Igor Svyatoslavich, the hero of the legendary "Lay of Igor's Regiment", languished there. A hundred years later, this place was the border between Russia and Turkey, which then owned the fortress city of Azov.
There are many legends and beliefs associated with the Kobyakov settlement. There are many mystical facts, some of which have not found a reasonable explanation to this day. The local population passes from mouth to mouth the legend of the treasures of the Alanian king Indiana. When he found out that the Tatar Khan was at war with him, he wanted to hide the treasures away from human eyes. Under the guise of the funeral of one of the soldiers, they dug a deep grave, where they placed the jewelry. After that, a huge mound was poured on this place.
Several centuries later, this story received an unusual continuation. And it is connected with the name of the mysterious Italian - Joseph Balbao (Isaphat Barbaro). 1450 - this Venetian merchant wrote a book about his 16-year stay in the Genoese-Venetian trading post of Tana (now Azov). Subsequently, it turns out that the Italian was in fact a politician and military leader. A busy crossroads of trade routes between Europe and Asia was located just in these places, at the mouth of the Don.
Simultaneously with Balbao, a man from Cairo named Guldebin arrived in Tana. His mission may well be called secret. The signs of the Kontebbe burial mound (Kobyakovo settlement) were allegedly indicated to him by a Cairo Tatar, in whose family the legend about the secret of the treasure of the Alan king was passed down from generation to generation.
This information further strengthened Balbao's intention to find the treasure. 1437, autumn - he appeared in these places with a whole detachment of hired workers who began to excavate the mound. But due to the onset of cold weather, the work had to be suspended. In the spring of the following year, Balbao announced that "signs of a treasure had been found." The work boiled with a vengeance. As you can see, then the workers stumbled upon the underground catacombs that exist under the Kobyakov settlement to this day. When they appeared and are natural or artificial formations is unknown.
Soon the Italians left, leaving huge pits and two underground passages leading into the depths of the mound at the excavation site. According to the official version, Balbao did not find the treasure. But the entry in the diary of the Venetian says otherwise: “We found everything as predicted …” According to another version, the mysterious Italian was looking for treasures of a completely different kind there. In the 16th century in Europe, in parallel with Christianity, there were many secret sects that worshiped the ancient Asian and African gods: Dushara, Osiris, Marduk.
And Balbao belonged to one of them - the "Church of the Blood". 1926 - an expedition of archaeologists in one of the caves of the Kobyakov settlement discovered a mysterious room with an earthen vault and pilasters. Scientists believe that this is a Byzantine crypt - an underground chapel. Perhaps the excavations of the Venetian occultist were connected with this. The true "object" of his search also remained a mystery.
V. Syadro, V. Sklyarenko