The former capital of the golden taiga, the village of Barguzin and the surrounding villages and forests are surrounded by treasures. This is what old-timers say since the time when gold miners in the north of Buryatia hid gold in secluded places in Bounta, Yeravna and Barguzin taiga.
- I recently learned that a native of the village of Poperechnoye, Yeravninsky District, dug up his grandfather's gold. Now a rich grandson lives in Cyprus, - writes our reader Gennady Skvortsov.
- In the Barguzinsky region, hidden gold is also often found. It turns out that treasure hunting was a fairly common occupation among residents of the northern gold-bearing regions of Buryatia, although it was considered very risky.
- It was said that the one who hides his treasures from prying eyes performs all kinds of charm spells over them. There is a belief about burying a treasure for a certain number of heads. This meant that, for example, a treasure hidden for thirty heads brings death to thirty treasure hunters and opens only to the thirty-first, - Gennady cites terrible statistics.
In fact, the secret of the Barguzin treasures can be easily explained. Bandits hunted for successful gold miners. They knew all the paths along which, for example, the Chinese went to their homeland with gold. They were called pheasants, and the robbery was called "nibbling a pheasant." So the prospectors had to hide some of the gold. And whoever returned to their treasure, who did not …
Photo: gorizontsobytij.ucoz.ru
- Treasures are shown underfoot in the form of lights above the place where they are buried. They also said that the treasures appear in the form of a burning candle. In this case, it is recommended to hit the candle with your hand and say: "Amen, amen, break up!" After that, the treasure should appear immediately as a chest, cauldron or barrel full of coins or jewelry, continues Skvortsov's story.
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But it is difficult for a person to get rich from the treasure, the popular belief says, since most of them are spoken of and without spells it is not given to a mere mortal. According to an ancient legend, a treasure buried in the ground turns from a heap of coins and treasures into a kind of independent creature, which is guarded by invisible forces.
In the old days, treasures were hidden under vow, that is, before the treasure was buried, the owner uttered a certain magic phrase. Most often, the vow contains information about who and how can get this treasure.
There are treasures "for the first comer", "for the lucky one." And there are those who require human sacrifice and speak for one / several human lives. Often in past centuries, treasures were hidden for a certain time, that is, for a certain period of time, the treasure must lie in the ground, and no one will be able to find it ahead of time. After this time, any first comer will be able to find the buried treasure. Treasure hunters also like to talk about treasures that are "shown" to seekers in the form of lights, smoky trails, wandering fireflies, etc. In swampy areas, such treasures supposedly come to the surface to dry out.
- They say that many treasures are buried near the roads, especially with the famous
Barguzinsky tract. Because the robbers had little time to bury the loot, so they dug not far from the crime scene. Especially when there is a lot of gold, you cannot carry it far, - explains our reader.
Therefore, pits were made as for dead horses. Under the corpse of a horse, and sometimes of dead people, they put belongings that could not be carried away with them. A hole with a treasure was hastily dug in, a simple cross was placed on top. So they hid their treasures for a very long time, over the centuries. Treasures were hidden in the graves during both the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War. There are not too many hunters to destroy other people's graves, but the owners of the treasures themselves could not always return for their treasures.
Unusual pig and cockerel
It is believed that treasure can be found on an ordinary day. In the form of an unusual pig, silver appears to people, in the form of a cock - gold. According to legend, if you hit such animals with your hand, then a scattering of valuable coins will immediately open to the lucky one.
It is also believed that treasures appear to people in the form of good old travelers. Such an old man usually turns to casual travelers with a simple request. If you find time to help the wanderer, he will thank you with countless treasures. If not, the traveler will walk past you with them. Here the treasure serves as a kind of reward for kindness.
The treasures of Stepan Razin are considered special, for popular rumor stubbornly believed and considers Razin a great sorcerer. According to popular legends, the treasures of the rebellious chieftain are hidden in the ground on a "human head" or "several heads". To get them, the treasure hunter must destroy the "conspired" number of people, and then he will get the treasure without much difficulty.
Sometimes the treasure is for the “lucky one”, but this is very rare. Then the sign of the treasure appears in the form of a black cat or dog. In this case, a person should follow such a cat and, when she stops and tortures, do not fail, hit her with all his might and say: "Spread out!" And then dig in this place.
Angarsk treasure
It was believed that the treasures of one treasure are shown only once, while the other can be used several times. So, in the newspaper "Irkutsk Vedomosti", published at the beginning of the XX century, an article was published about how one fisherman found a treasure of gold coins on the bank of the Angara. Taking as much as he could carry at one time, he promised the treasure to return the borrowed money by a certain date. At the appointed time, he kept his word, and soon again used the treasures of the treasure. This went on for several years.
The fisherman became rich, engaged in trade and became a highly respected merchant in Irkutsk. But one day, either out of forgetfulness, or out of greed, he did not return the coins taken from the hoard. As a result, the treasure disappeared and was no longer revealed to him. Soon the merchant went bankrupt, lost all the property he had acquired over the years of dealing with the treasure, got caught stealing and ended his days in … Ilimsky prison.
Old cemeteries
In Siberia, the belief that many treasures are hidden in old cemeteries is still alive today. The dead and all evil spirits vigilantly guard the riches created by blood and tears, and woe to those who dare to disturb their peace. We have already written about the old Barguzin cemetery.
The Tomsk Museum of Local Lore contains the "Witch's Notebook" - a shabby handwritten book in black leather binding, dated to the nineties of the 19th century, which, in addition to conspiracies, witchcraft rituals and witchcraft recipes, describes the blood-curdling ritual "burying the treasure for repose."
The unnamed author of "The Witch's Notebook" advises to take a handful of earth from the nine-day grave of a drowned man or a suicide, mix it with jewelry, put it all in a vessel and seal it with a wax seal with an inverted cross.
Photo: contkarecgens.16mb.com
Then it is recommended to catch a black cat, kill it, strip the skin from the animal and wrap it in a sealed vessel. After that, on a full moon, one should come to the cemetery, find the freshest grave, dig it up and put the jewels there, saying three times: “Disperse, river, disperse, heaven, and the old cat rise from the dust. My seal is strong, my word is true. Amen! . Having buried the grave, you need to spit on it three times and leave the cemetery with your back forward.
Kolchak's gold
Many legends and stories are associated with the famous gold reserve of Admiral Kolchak, which was hidden during the retreat of his army across Siberia to the east. For eight decades, government agencies, archaeologists, history researchers and adventurers have searched in vain for ten and a half tons of precious ingots, Tsarist coins and jewelry created by the best Russian, Italian and English craftsmen of the 16th - 19th centuries.
Various places of possible burial of the treasure were named - Omsk, Novosibirsk, Tobol, Irkutsk. The archives of the NKVD preserved the protocols of interrogations of dozens of officers of the Kolchak army. Among other questions, the Chekists were interested in information about the disappeared gold reserve. However, none of those arrested knew the burial place of the largest treasure in Siberia. Over time, the belief was formed that Admiral Kolchak took the secret of the location of the gold reserve with him to the clear waters of the Angara.
Photo: wiki.uspi.ru
In winter, through the taiga, covered with a fathom, or even two-seated snow cover, along the ice, in which horses and deer often fell through, cutting a path for themselves among a dense forest and dead wood, in summer drowning in swamps and exhausted from flocks of mosquitoes and midges, seekers go happiness ruled by the Tungus, Soyot or Orochon. They go to a completely unknown land, on which the foot of a white man has not yet stepped …
But rich gold has been found. We need to start developing it. They reached the taiga through steep mountains, across rivers dotted with waterfalls and rapids, whole carts with tools and supplies in order to pull out as much precious metal as possible from the bowels of the earth during the short Siberian summer. A bunch of people gathered at the mine, amicably set to work. Axes clattered, century-old larches and cedars fell under the pressure of iron, a stormy mountain stream, intercepted by ditches, began to give its power to water wheels, and the perpetually frozen soil, thrown onto washing devices, disintegrated into small components, began to emit grains and sparkles of yellow metal.
As the mine was being developed, a mine settlement grew up in a remote, often extremely difficult to access taiga. And if the wealth and size of the placer favored this, then soon a whole mining center was formed. Roads began to be built to this center, and winter huts were built along the roads, that is, a kind of very primitive post station device. And initially, a completely isolated mining center connected with populated areas, and the gloomy wild taiga ceased to be inaccessible. Man walked into it more boldly and more and more subjugated her. In different directions from the main Siberian tract, from the mighty water arteries of Siberia, like tentacles, mining roads penetrated into the taiga. Tens of thousands of people moved into the taiga along these roads, carts with all kinds of good went, and a stream of gold flowed from the taiga,very quickly transformed the appearance of Siberia …
L. A. Yachevsky, geologist