Spirits. Russia

Nina Vladimirovna Tsvetkova from the Leningrad region writes to the Commission on:

"Hello, Gennady Vasilenich!

I received your letter asking me to write about an incident that happened to us in the early 60s. I will be happy to do this, but I warn you in advance that the details (their clothes, how they held their hands, how they sat on horses, etc.) I don't remember. Moreover, we were very small and ran so fast with fear that we had no time for it: what they were wearing and what they were like.

It was in 1964, in the month of July (since we swim at the end of June, in July). We took a swim and walked to the path that leads to the road. It was about seven o'clock in the evening, the weather was sunny. And suddenly, three horsemen appeared on the road that leads to the lake. I remember well that they were wearing helmets with horns.

When they saw us, they rushed after us, and we, therefore, went away from them into the forest. There was a small forest nearby.

I remember I ran after Valya, and my sister followed me and screamed all the time: "Take off your jacket, or they'll see!" My jacket was red.

It seems that one of the riders was wearing a bright red shirt. I could see between the trees. They stopped and shouted at us.

I won't say for sure, but, sort of, they shouted: "Girls, what are you afraid of!" They shouted, in my opinion, in Russian.

We waited until they left and ran home. The road they were driving on leads to the lake, and since there are woods, meadows and paths in the forest, I don't know where they could have gone. But we didn't see them anymore.

I'm thinking now, if it were our fellow villagers, we wouldn't be afraid of them, but we wouldn't rush to run.

I'm sorry, but I don't remember what they were like. That's why I didn't draw them for you. I drew the area in the plan, but it doesn't matter.

If you don't understand, Valya will explain. I hope she'll figure it out. That's the end of it.

Goodbye. N.Tsvetkova".

Writes Sidorova V.K.: 

This happened around 1965 near the village of Rugozero in the current Muezersky district. I'm 20 years old now, which means I was about seven years old then. There were four of us: Me, Lena Kurguzova, now Sidorova, Nina Kurguzova, now Tsvetkova (both live near Leningrad now), they are a year or two older than me, and two-year-old Natasha Tsvetkova.

We went to the forest in the afternoon, about three o'clock. There were raspberries then, we were picking them. We walked away from the morgue shed at the hospital, which we called the morgue, for about half a kilometer, and on the way "there" we passed through the place where we then met "them". We came out of the bushes and saw "them" three hundred meters away from us. As soon as they saw us, they immediately galloped towards us, began shouting something, waving their arms... We immediately ran into the bushes, but managed to notice that two of them raced along the road to the lake, and one stopped in front of the place where they ran away and began to shout at us.

We ran through the bushes, lost our sandals, looked back.

They were dressed in something very bright, multicolored - red, red, or something, and on their heads were either helmets or helmets, and on top of them were horns, like devils, pointed, but not quite. Their height was probably normal.

Lena was wearing a bright red ski jacket with a lock... or Nina, probably because Lena screamed when they were running: "Take off your jacket, otherwise they'll notice us!.." Or maybe Nina shouted to Lena.

Later, the adults did not believe us when we told about this case at school and in the village. And we came all scratched because we were running through the bushes in fear.

Did "they" seem to have boots with narrow heels and socks?. Lena said that they were probably Germans who stayed in the woods here after the war.

Their horses were black, heavy, downright heavyweight, fat and well-fed.

They saw us immediately, as soon as we came out of the bushes on the road and saw "them" and a gap in the forest at the edge. They stood there on the mountain like three heroes - and then they did not rush at us along the road.

SIDOROVA V.K.

We were also afraid for some reason that "they" would take away two-year-old Natasha Tsvetkova from us.

About ten minutes later, we went back to the same road, there was no one there, and we went home along the road.

Sidorova Elena writes:

You are very excited by your letter, I really want to help you, and I will write what I remember.

It was (if my memory serves me right) in 1964, in the month of June, in the evening, since we had already come from kindergarten and went swimming at Vanch Lake, the time was between 6 and 7 p.m., to be precise. The weather was warm, the sun was still shining, but it was closer to Lake Rugozero. But we were wearing warm blouses so as not to freeze after swimming.

Suddenly we noticed that three horsemen were riding towards us. We were stunned at first, and when they noticed us and drove towards us, they ran screaming to the side - into the forest. "They" shouted something to us and even when we made our way through the bushes, we heard "their" screams.

We were scared by the strange appearance of the riders. I don't remember exactly the color or style of their clothes, and I don't have any drawing skills, so it's best to turn to my sister Nina Tsvetkova with this question. But what struck us all was some kind of horns on his head.

I remember that they seemed to be helmets with horns, metal (there were horns like that).

The horses were large, larger than those that were available in the village, dark, I had not seen such a suit before, but I do not remember whether "they" were in the saddles. After all, we saw them for a moment, and then we ran without looking back towards the forest.

When we were running through the bushes, Nina lost her sandals, while I was running after her, tripped and fell, then I caught up with her and began to take off her red sweater so that "they" would not notice us from afar. She was just crying in fright and didn't understand what I was asking of her.

After recovering a little, we cautiously left the forest, again on that ill-fated path and rushed headlong home.

When we told our parents, no one believed us. But among ourselves, we often recalled this episode, but with laughter.

It seemed to me personally back then that there was nothing hostile in the screams of these horsemen, but these horns did not give me peace, so I personally had only one thing: to hide so that "they" would not see us.

What was our feeling? I was shaking, my arms and legs were shaking, but it was most likely from fear and running fast.

That's all I could tell you in short.

...

SIDOROVA ELENA