Several people went on an overnight hike and late in the evening came across a forest guard's guardhouse. It’s scary in the forest at night, so we went in. Behind the seagull is a forester (strong Old man) started stories...
- Well, what can I tell you?.. It’s dangerous in the forest. There are no snakes, no wolves, no bears. Even they don’t get along with those who are really in charge here. If you go somewhere in the forest at night, pay attention to the fact that sometimes someone will follow you. You walk along, shine a flashlight, and immediately there is such silence, even the insects don’t chatter. And behind you, behind the tree, there is some rustling. You turn around and there’s no one there, you shine the light and you don’t see anyone. As soon as you turn your back, there’s a rustling sound, as if someone had taken a couple of steps, then you’re already closer, and then there’s silence again. My grandfather also told me that you should never, under any circumstances, wait for it to come, much less look at it - he used to say that in his village such curious creatures were found in trees, from where they were lowered on ropes and then fed vodka for a week. Some people completely disappeared, as if through the earth, some went crazy, and gray hair appeared on everyone. So if you hear a clear rustling behind you and don’t see anyone there, turn your back, swear properly, and, without turning around, walk quickly.
Oh, this forest is old, a lot happened here. Here we saw soldiers who had not returned home from the war, but they were peaceful and would not do anything terrible. But suicides are evil, they can easily kill. They can't get out of the forest, so new person for them - like a fly that can be mocked. Those who have drowned can easily end up in water up to their necks - and you will think that you are walking through a clearing. They cannot do anything above the neck - there is an Orthodox cross on it. Previously, the trees on which they hung themselves were cut down and burned, but now they no longer do that. So, if you set up a camp under this tree, the dead man will not let you live - he will push someone into the fire, or bring a branch down on someone’s head. And if you fall asleep, he will start strangling you by the nose. They are the most evil here.
But those who were innocently killed and those who died untimely are the good ones. If someone drowns in a swamp, they will take the unwary mushroom picker away - they will show him a mushroom in the other direction, or they will jump in the trees like a squirrel - and the mushroom picker will be happy to go after it. So remember, if some little animal is running in front of your nose in the forest, it’s someone’s kind soul that wants to save you.
And there are a lot of soldiers, there are a lot of soldiers here. When you sleep at night, listen. They, too, are sometimes nearby, and on a quiet night you can hear them singing songs or talking. And if you see them in the evening, build tents in this place without fear, they will bad place won't stop. And at night you can even see their silhouettes between the trees when you are asleep.
And you can easily fall through the ground here. There are a lot of swamps, but it’s hard to understand right away. It happened that two people were walking, the first one walked through normally, turned around - but the second one was not there at all, in a second he was pulled into the quagmire. In this case, they say that it was the merman who dragged him away, and now he will evil spirit. So don’t even walk near the swamps at night - your eyes will be so blurred that the swamp will seem like a solid clearing. And remember the name...
But here, in the lodge, I don’t advise you to spend the night. I’m used to it, but you guys, I see, are city dwellers, so it will be very unusual for you - here sometimes at night all sorts of evil spirits scratch at the door and puff. Sometimes he knocks on the window with a claw or screws in the pipe. But keep your eyes peeled from the outside too. To go to the toilet, go to some place where there is no running water or swamps - the spirits, oh, how they don’t like it when someone shits in their house! They will push, pull, and on the way back they will completely confuse you - you won’t find a rest stop.
We often got lost here - the city is nearby, all sorts of rabble run here. Fifteen years ago, bandits would come and throw someone’s corpse in a bag into a ditch. It will be overgrown with grass, flooded with water - and unnoticed. There are not very many of them in the forest, but along the road there are plenty of them. It happens, they even appear, they catch a car on the road, they throw themselves under the wheels - restless souls, they are like that, they cannot stand the fact that someone is still living, and they must forever wander along the road. Bandits, it also happened that they would bring someone alive, kill him right in the forest and bury him, and even pour machine oil on him so that the animals wouldn’t find him. So once a guy lived here not far away, he heard how on quiet evenings in some places someone was quietly crying. I found a place, called a cop I knew, they came and actually dug up a corpse that had been lying there for a long time.
And goblins are generally a common thing. You used to walk through the forest, and in the distance, from the black hollow of some old oak tree, a face would stare at you. And just like that, pale, eyes huge and black. He just looks and looks. And when you start approaching it, either the branch will crack, or the bird will start singing sharply - you will be distracted - and the devil has already disappeared. Under such trees even at the most heavy rain you can’t hide - the goblin specifically helps the tree, makes it spread out, so that whoever hides under the tree can bite something - a man is sitting, it’s raining, his ears are itching - he thinks that the rain, they say, is causing water to drip on his ears, but comes home - bah, and his ear is all dotted. Or neck.
It was the goblin who bit him.
And never go to sleep near forest lakes - after all, suicides also went there. Girls, mostly. They drowned themselves. So at night they will call you there. If there are only guys on the shore, that’s fine, they’ll figure it out, but if there’s a girl among them, then good luck with it - the spirit will find a beauty, say, they say, the water is warm, let’s take a swim, and some fools will take it and climb.
Here the village was next to the forest for about thirty years - it was convenient, good - mushrooms, firewood, all sorts of medicinal herbs. We would live normally, but evil spirits from the forest would come into our houses as if they were visiting us. It used to be that the housewife would wake up in the morning, go to the barn, and the cow had almost no milk, and what was left was terribly bitter. And if there is also blood on the udder, then it’s as if some little devils came to drink milk at night. And some of the guests who returned late saw them anyway. It used to be that a man was walking, and a cat was sitting on the fence, his eyes shining. Well, a man is drunk, for him any living creature is like a loved one. Well, he’ll come up, call him affectionately when he starts, pull his hand towards him and see that it’s not a cat at all, but some kind of shaggy and shabby skull sitting on the fence and it’s not his eyes, but his eye sockets that are empty. And he chatters his teeth. As soon as the person crosses himself, there is nothing, it’s a moonlit, bright night. So we tried not to walk around at night.
There was such a case - newcomers built their own house (this was a long time ago) and decided to live. It looks like good people, even became friends with ours. And then more and more often they began to come exhausted, as if they were carrying stones at night. We ask: “What?”, and they just wave their hand. Then they said that every night someone walks through their rooms. No footsteps are heard, and the floorboards creak. Sometimes they notice someone in the corner, someone is standing there and looking at them, but the owners can’t even move - they are paralyzed by fear. Or the baby will wake up covered in bruises the next morning. Yes, there was a lot of things until they called someone from the city and they dug up the entire basement for them. It turns out that during the war there was already a village here, so all the men from there were driven to work, and the women and children were shot and thrown into a pit. And the house was built on this pit. So they immediately left there, they didn’t even bother to sell the house - it was boarded up and stood there, all the kids were running there.
Oh, and they told us a lot about this house! Of course, a lot of people probably came, but one guy with white temples came running one day and told how he looked out the window, and someone’s scary mug looked at him from there. The lower half of the mouth, he says, is missing, the eyes are dented and green, and there are brown rags on the face. So after that, children were forbidden to go there, but who listened... One child fell from the roof (it’s good that it turned out okay), others fell into the floor and broke their legs, who heard screams from there, but everyone already believed it - it happened at night, when There’s not even a moon, you go to the house, wait until the wind stops - and a quiet groan or cry comes from the house. And the dogs generally ran around him on the tenth road - if they run with their owners, they bark, as if there were a herd of bears, and if you get even closer, they howl and run away, no screams can be used to call him. Then they burned the house, out of harm’s way...
But this has already happened to me. He was little and was left alone at home. Well, I started to misbehave, of course, I found the matches that were hidden from me. “Oh, what a joy!” - I sit on the floor, set them on fire, and they burn for a second and immediately go out, as if someone was blowing them out. I want to laugh - I light it, the match flares up and immediately blows out - but there is no breath or breeze! I told my parents when they came - they prescribed me, of course, they said that it was my guardian angel who helped me.
There was so much going on in the houses. The brownies are the same. It often happened that there were no mice or cockroaches in the house, but at night there was fussing and groaning behind the stove. Those who had cats during the day, for no apparent reason, began to roll around on the floor, purr and play with the air - this happened to almost everyone, apparently, old people love cats. But not everyone was like that. It happened that people’s cups in an empty room would fall off the table by themselves, or someone would hit them on the cheek at night. You wake up and there is no one.
In this case, they say, you need to ask whether the brownie came for good or for bad. After all, he can both help and harm if the owners did not pour him milk and put him behind the stove.
There was another case when a witch was tortured by demons at home. Then the communists ruled, they were opposed to obscurantism, and so that our village would not have problems, the residents themselves drove their witch out into the swamps. This was before the war, I wasn’t even born then. So, some residents (women, of course) often ran to her. Well, one day, after strong-strong thunderstorm came across her body. They told me that all the windows in the hut were broken, there were black spots everywhere on the inside, as if someone had burned matches, and the grandmother herself hid in the corner, dying of fear there.
They also say that drunkards and fools have their own guardian angels, especially fools who have never committed any evil. There were many cases, I don’t remember them all. So many drunks were dismantled by German shells into pieces, but not a single one exploded (we have this rubbish scattered all over the forest, now at least the diggers come, find them and hand them over where they need them, but before this was not the case). They are harmless, village drunks. And not only them. Here we had a case with Vanka the Fool. On Easter, people went to church in one crowd, and he was somewhere behind (I was little then, but I remember well). It was windy then and it was drizzling. And when Vanka stopped to pick something up from the ground, the wind blew particularly strongly and an old wooden pole (they say they forgot to paint it with some special paint so as not to rot) broke in the middle and collapsed right in front of his nose along with the wires . The fool fell, people immediately rushed to him, and there was not a scratch on him, only his face was all white, like ammonium chloride - even though he was a fool, he realized how lucky he was. There were many tales about how stupid he became - they said that he was under a strong spell, and because of this he went crazy, they said that he quarreled with a witch and she cursed him - before normal guy was, one might say, the first guy in the village.
Farther away in the forest there is an abandoned village. Not even a village, just a couple of half-burnt houses (there was a war at that time). Now everything there is overgrown with young growth, trees even grow through the roofs. Nobody goes there - those who went there said that even if there is hubbub and chatter in the forest, the place is always quiet and gloomy, there are not even birds or insects. They said that when you come there, it seems that it is full of people - this never happens in the forest, but there you can directly feel, they say, how someone is walking between the half-burnt walls, watching in the cracks.
There's a lot going on in old forests, so it might not be a very comfortable place for newcomers like you.

For many, the domestic taiga, which we sometimes hear about in the news and TV shows about animals, is simply a vast territory covered with coniferous forest.

This is a wrong opinion. Taiga is not only a harsh world wildlife, but also a little-explored area with its own unique properties and ancient secrets.

Alone in Taiga?

Get to those protected areas There are two ways: fly to Norilsk, then to Dudinka, then by helicopter to the village of Tukhart, then by hunting trails, sometimes along the river in a motor boat, and sometimes on foot in a few days of travel. Or, if you are a difficult guest, rent an all-terrain vehicle and rush directly from Norilsk. Whatever path you choose, you still end up wandering around the taiga for several days. And in that area it is disastrous, wild. In appearance safe place It may turn out to be a swamp, so it would be stupid to go there without a guide. And it’s dangerous to be alone, even with all-terrain vehicles, three hundred kilometers from the nearest village. Although there is almost nothing to be afraid of in the taiga. Animals, unless you invade their lair, prefer to stay away, and people rarely appear in those parts.

I myself visited there only on occasion. First, we walked along the route with the drilling crew and explored, so to speak, the road to the field. And then I invited one local old-timer, grandfather Isai from the Nganosan people, the indigenous inhabitants of this wild land, to go on a hunting expedition. Grandfather refused for a long time, muttering all sorts of nonsense about “spikingly evil animals, however,” but for a couple of bottles of white wine he agreed to become my guide. Although it is difficult to judge who will help whom, the grandfather was old and frail-looking, but he knew the surrounding forests perfectly. We got together soon. We went out on a motor boat, walked along the river south for a day, then walked through the channels for a long time. At the end, they left the boat on a hillock, dragged it so that it would not be washed away by the current, and went on foot further west into the swamps. Wonderful hunt. You are an unafraid beast, just know, load your gun and shoot at it.

So by the end of the second day we had a decent amount of trophies and decided to return. Old man Isai became worried and suggested that we no longer spend the night in the forest, but go to the motor boat without stopping or stopping. It’s unclear where the old devil got his strength from - I was at the limit of my capabilities. Here I couldn’t help but believe in the men’s stories that Isai is the last Nganosan shaman and can do things that others cannot do. I just didn’t dwell on it then. I decided to just agree. Although, a person assumes, but Taiga disposes. I didn’t understand what happened, but we didn’t make it to the boat before dark. Grandfather is almost hysterical. He yells at me not in Russian, swears at the vodka for which he agreed to take me here, and he almost cries. I felt ashamed, please forgive me. And he just snorts and looks around. Suddenly he grabs me by the waist belt and with such superhuman strength drags you somewhere with you. It felt like an hour had passed. When the forest parted, we came to an abandoned village. Hunters build these so that they have somewhere to hide from bad weather and snowstorms.

A small hut made of whole timber. Instead of windows there are loopholes. The door is small and low. It's dry and warm inside. Isai literally dragged me inside and began to frantically lock the door. He rolled everything that was inside the hut onto it, and plugged the loopholes with rags. I look at all this and silently go crazy - the shaman doesn’t say a word, and is clearly preparing for something. It was already dark when Isai sat down opposite me to catch his breath and lit a single torch to light a cigarette.

He smokes and looks into my eyes. And I stared into his eyes, thinking:

“It was Isai who gave me a test for some reason.”

And he says with sympathy:

“It would be better if you were afraid sometimes, but you wouldn’t end up in such shit, Sanya!”

Say no more. Time passes and nothing happens. The old man sits hugging his carbine. I start to doze off, stress and fatigue have taken their toll. And in my sleep I hear a knock on the roof. It was like a child was running around. The steps are quick and light. But heavier than squirrels and martens, definitely. And then there was a whistle from behind the door and another knock, but stronger and with pressure on the door. The dream vanished as if by chance. And Isai pressed his finger to his lips, shook himself and showed me, they say, sit quietly. And so on until midnight. Creak. Knock. Whistling. An uncomfortable feeling, as if they are trying to scratch you out of your shell. Then everything suddenly stopped. But we never fell asleep. And in the afternoon we immediately went to the boat, it was a kilometer from the place where we spent the night.

I’m not interested in what came to us there at night, because I don’t want to go there anymore.

Southern taiga

In the spring of 2006, a cave with unusual rock paintings was discovered in the southern taiga. Three months later, a private expedition of five people led by Nikolai K was sent to the site to explore the forest dungeons. The main goal of the trip was to explore the caves and strange rock art without attracting too much attention to themselves. The potential enormity of the find carried not only historical, but also financial value.

A day after the researchers arrived at the site, they received an alarm signal and a rescue helicopter was sent to their camp. When the rescuers returned, they needed to urgently take the only survivor (Alexey R.) to the local intensive care unit. Purple streams of blood flowed from the researcher’s eyes and ears, and the condition was assessed as critical. The patient was in a semi-fainting state and was constantly whispering something. Under the influence of strong antibiotics and tranquilizers, Alexey felt better by the morning, and he was able to talk about what happened. Here is an excerpt from his testimony:

“I said that the huntsman’s find did not promise anything good, but he didn’t want to hear it... That’s how it all turned out. In the evening, closer to night even, I went to gather some firewood, and the others were at the tents... And then suddenly there was a loud noise! A scream, a roar or a rumble... I can’t say what it was, but it still looked like a scream or something... Or a lot of screams... Inhuman... Very loud... My ears were blocked, my eyes darkened, and I fell... I don’t remember how I got there later their own, and there... In short, everyone is dead. I came up and looked, and they were bleeding from their ears... I took the walkie-talkie from Kolyan... I don’t remember what happened next... I probably passed out..."

The next day Alexey died. According to unconfirmed information, the heart could not withstand strong medications. According to information from other sources, the patient died from inflammation of the brain.

All the dead researchers had damaged eardrums and some internal organs. It seemed that the people were at the epicenter of some kind of explosion, but there was no external damage to the bodies. What could have caused noise with such an impact in the remote taiga is completely unclear.

The entire area was “combed” up and down, and in the end, a small cave caught the eye of the task force. In it, rock paintings of unknown content and a deep natural tunnel into the bowels of the earth were discovered. Fearing wild animals and cave-ins, law enforcement agencies left the cave.

A year later, another expedition came to this place, but the cave was never found. In its place was a huge boulder, behind which there was nothing. It was as if the ill-fated dungeon was a wound for the taiga, which had overgrown without a trace.

Anything can happen in Taiga

This was a long time ago, somewhere in the 80s. They went to pick berries and mushrooms on Gaz-66. A common occurrence for all of us, nothing special. The place had already been chosen in advance, so there was no need to waste time searching. The forest they went to was far from people; one might say more simply, they went to the taiga. Those who went there know that anything can happen in the taiga. The mushrooms and berries didn’t take long to look for, they just showed themselves to be taken. Time flew by quickly and it was already getting dark. It was already getting cool, the blue sky, which had shone so blue during the day, was slowly dissolving into the approaching darkness. A cool breeze blew across the face, which was no longer as cheerful as at the beginning of this walk; fatigue was taking its toll.

They were already returning back to the car from the last trip for mushrooms; there were no longer as many mushrooms in the buckets as at the beginning of the day, these mushrooms were too familiar to them, and they were no longer so eager to look at where more mushrooms were growing. A car appeared in the clearing, to which they had already returned 50 times today, but this time was the last, now they put buckets in the car and go home. Having poured the last batch of mushrooms into a plastic bag, they got into the car with a calm soul...

Slowly turning the ignition key, the car shuddered, but did not start, the starter spun at idle. The driver tried again, but the result was the same, he tried a couple more times, but nothing changed, only the echo of the iron horse, in which something was spinning inside, spread throughout the taiga. They thought it was strange, the car was as good as ever, but for some reason it wouldn’t start. Do you really have to tinker with the car now? They decided to wait a minute and try to start it again, but if it doesn’t start, they’ll have to dig around. Looking blankly at the windshield from fatigue from the height of the car, they heard a loud crunch of branches nearby. The gloomy light made it impossible to see what was already 30 meters from the car and there was no point in looking closely at what was crunching there. They both shuddered; the bear was still missing right now. There was no point in making noise now, let him go away on his own. The crunching of branches became even louder, and a loud growl could be heard...

Bears don't growl like that, and wolves don't crunch branches like that. Fear began to roll in, and my heart began to beat, choking, and it grew darker every minute. The thing that broke the silence of the forest, from its loud growl, it was heard that it was approaching the car. They sat pressed into the car seats and carefully looked at what was ahead, trying to see who it was...

A large silhouette appeared at the end of the clearing, and it was from there that the growl came. Those sitting in the car almost stopped breathing so as not to be seen or heard. The creature, seeing something unfamiliar and as big as a car, stopped and stopped growling and began to stare intently. Fear began to constrain movements. The silhouette of the creature was visible at the end of the clearing, and it was large and unlike any other animal of its size. The creature slowly began to approach, its heavy steps could be heard even in the car. What would it be like to see it in all its glory? Goosebumps, hair-raising, trembling gripped those sitting in the car, but they did not break the silence and sat in silence. The creature disappeared from sight and neither its heavy steps nor growls could be heard. Either it's gone or it's lurking.

The door handle slowly began to open the driver's door, causing the driver's eyes to widen and he grabbed the handle and grabbed onto the door. The door began to twitch. Apparently someone from the other side opened the door, realized that someone was bothering him and started even stronger. The second person sitting in the car was simply stunned and turned white; probably, even at night his pale face would have been visible. The door shook with such force that the Gaz-66 car was shaking, but the driver clung to the door so tightly as if glued to it. The next thing was a blow to the door, so that the door trim and the door itself tore like paper.

The driver saw his hand, this was not the hand of some animal with such claws and so large that, putting this hand on a person’s head, the hand would clasp the head like a ball. From fear, the driver’s strength increased, although from the hand from which he grabbed the handle, blood flowed and the handle cut into the meat of his palm. The car began to shake, impacts on the car began to be heard, as if they were hitting it with a battering gun. All this brought both those sitting in the car to the last stage, and they screamed with a squeal of fear as they had never screamed in their lives. The car shook a couple more times, and everything went quiet. That it was a respite or gone. But both of those sitting still screamed like they were cut for a minute. They never got out of the car until the morning, the creature no longer showed itself, either it was guarding when they got out, or maybe it was frightened by their scream, or it left. You could hear them screaming for probably a couple of kilometers.

The next morning, they tried to start the car, surprisingly it started with half a push, after which the car took off and drove away from this forest. The car had dents all over and the door was torn as if knives had been used to cut it.

Stories of the Karelian taiga

I have repeatedly heard strange stories in the remote taiga corners of Karelia. They were told by individuals and entire villages. Many eyewitnesses of these events are still alive and tell their children and grandchildren about it. These are stories about sorcerers and werewolves, who, it turns out, live with us and are our contemporaries. I bring two such stories to the attention of readers.

In general, there are probably not many corners in Russia (even remote ones) like the Karelian hinterland, in which the people's faith in various forms of magic and numerous beliefs is so strong. She carefully preserves the diverse experience of older generations, associated with an original and deep view of the world, which is in many ways different from the modern “cultured” worldview.

Christianity has brought humanity to a new qualitative level of God - and self-knowledge, however, it is no secret that the pagan world is forever imprinted in the human soul; the world for many is much more real and vital, having an undying magical and practical tradition of knowledge and interaction with the forces of Nature. Paganism is a direct, open “conversation” that allows us to live a united and living life with Nature on an everyday, practical level. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the Karelian outback, along with the Bible, one can find literature on witchcraft and witchcraft... It is not surprising that these so incompatible religions coexist in the souls of many people.

It is possible that it is this amazing combination of seemingly incompatible beliefs that creates the specifically unique aura of a remote Karelian village, behind which hides an often completely unexplored spiritual world, a world full of originality and mystery.

In the small village of Suisar, twenty kilometers from Petrozavodsk, in the 80s of the last century there lived a very powerful witch, revered not only in the village, but throughout the entire district. At that time, she was already advanced in years and rarely left the house, receiving visitors in her little room. She knew and could do everything. Penetrating eyes with a steely shine pierced through you, seeing your most secret. “Whoever comes to me with a lie immediately starts beating and shaking him. “I can’t lie,” the old woman said more than once. That's why few people came to her.

She had amazing “power” over nature and animals. They said that when a connecting rod bear unexpectedly came to the village in winter, she, coming close to the roaring beast, asked him to go back to the forest and not come again. The ashamed giant purred apologetically and hastily trotted off into the taiga, and she returned to the house, first low to the ground, bowing only to the powers and gods known to her.

Her help was selfless. “My life is my song. Whoever wants to listen, let him listen. I don’t charge anything for this,” she laughed.

One day they turned to her for help: a cow had disappeared. They searched all evening, but it was all in vain. They ran to her. “The nurse is alive,” she consoled; after listening to the request, she left the house and went outside the village. Having reached the crossroads, she stopped and stood in silence for a long time. Then, with a prayerful request and a low bow, she turned to the “forest of the northern side” to give the cow, not to keep it. In the complete calm, the tops of the trees swayed from side to side, the leaves rustled, and roadside dust whipped up like a snake. “She’s not there,” was all she said. She then turned to the “forest of the eastern side,” but the same answer came. And only the “forest of the south side” nodded its spruce mane in unison. “Your nurse is alive,” she repeated once again to those who accompanied her, taken aback and in disbelief. - Wait!” And without looking back she went home.

A little time passed, a bell was heard, and everyone saw a cow running (!) towards them from the “forest on the south side.”

Her death was quiet; she passed on her skills and knowledge to inheritance. But they still remember her, they remember her strongly, how strongly a human heart can love and remember

In the 90s, traveling around the Pudozh region, I noticed “tales” about a certain strange man, whom popular rumor dubbed “the werewolf.” This man - Fyodor Ivanovich Dutov - was a hereditary sorcerer and healer who enjoyed a bad reputation due to his absolutely unsociable and grumpy character. They said that he possessed a certain “knowledge”, thanks to which he could turn into any animal. There were rumors that occasionally from his house, located on the edge of the village (I give the village without a name, based on ethical considerations), inhuman screams were heard, turning into wolf howl. During these days (more precisely, nights), the village was literally flooded with wolves, leaving the local residents in awe. The wolves were shot, and the next morning their corpses disappeared; Dutov took them to the forest and buried them. They were afraid of him, avoided him, spat on him, but... did not touch him. They believed in his witchcraft power, that he could send damage, the evil eye, or any incurable disease.

One day an event occurred that finally assigned Dutov the nickname of a werewolf. Dutov suddenly disappeared from the village. Day after day passed, but he did not return, but they noticed that at this time a pack of wolves appeared in the vicinity of the village, giving no rest either day or night. They decided to make a raid, set traps, and went out in groups to shoot. The results were disastrous when suddenly at night the village woke up from a heartbreaking howl, a cry of pain and suffering, picked up by the wolf's polyphony. And the next morning they saw Dutov returning with a pale, haggard face and a poorly bandaged hand, bleeding. They rushed to the place where a terrible, ominous cry was heard at night, and in one of the traps they saw a gnawed wolf paw and numerous traces of wolves. No one even touched the trap; horror drove people from this place. And from then on Dutov appeared only wearing a mitten right hand, regardless of the time of year. His hand remained in that trap forever.

The life of this man was terrible, his death was terrible. It came two years after the events described above. Dutov at this time was about sixty years old. Apparently he felt death approaching. It is unknown what he experienced in those moments. They say that he screamed terribly for 24 hours, and in the evening he appeared on the porch of his house, looked at the village, at the people and... cried. And then he rushed into the forest, deafening the silence with either a heartbreaking human scream or a heartbreaking wolf howl.

Winter taiga

Winter hunting in the taiga gives an unforgettable experience. Since childhood, I loved going to my grandfather and his hunter friends. I even had my own gun there. Adults always took me with them on walking trips into the forest. So this time, when I arrived (a large roundup was about to take place on a connecting rod bear that was killing cattle), they took me with them, but told me to stay behind. We had two Siberian huskies with us, who led us along the trail. The group itself consisted of five adult men, two experienced old men and me, a boy of seventeen years old.

For half a day we walked on wide skis in the snow, and finally a windfall appeared ahead, in which there was a bear’s den. It was already evening, and we, moving two hundred meters away, set up camp. Everyone immediately went to bed, leaving Vasily and the huskies on patrol.

Early in the morning I woke up from noise. Everyone had already stood up and were vigorously discussing something. Coming closer, I saw that Vasily was sitting with his back to a tree, his chest and stomach were torn, and a grimace of inhuman horror was frozen on his face. The Laikas huddled cowardly at people's feet. Grandfather picked up Vasily’s gun and examined it. The cartridges were intact. How so? Experienced Hunter I was so scared of something that not only didn’t I shoot, I couldn’t even wake up the others!

Most believed that Vasily had broken a connecting rod, and the raid began. Having surrounded the den, we took positions behind the trees. Peter took a long spear and jumped, as if with a pole, to the top of the windbreak above the beast’s lair. Having thrust the spear into the passage, he began to poke around there, apparently wanting to wake up the bear. But suddenly something sharply pulled the spear down. Peter could not resist and fell screaming after her. His terrible cry: “There’s no bear here...” was cut off in the middle. We all backed away, and Peter's severed head flew out of the hole and landed in front of me. Screaming in horror, I turned around and started running. Behind me I heard screams and shooting, someone's roar and the squealing of huskies. Without looking back, I ran forward, falling into the snowdrifts, until I suddenly collapsed into the void under the snow. The fall knocked me out.

Coming to my senses, I saw that I was lying in a wolf hole. I was very lucky - the stakes were sticking out around me. No shots were heard, and I thought that the hunters had managed it after all. As I started calling for help, I heard someone’s footsteps.

I'm here, I fell! Get me out!

The footsteps approached the edge of the pit. I couldn’t see who was standing there, but I suddenly felt scared. There was a heavy snoring sound from above that a person could not have uttered. I crawled to the wall and, pressing my back against it, raised my gun.

Who is there?!

The answer to me was the guttural roar of the creature, whose face finally appeared above the pit. Bloody huge jaws, eyes burning with dull anger, ears pressed down - he resembled some kind of creature from a nightmare. I screamed out loud and frantically shot at random. The bullet scratched the creature’s face, and it began to rush around the pit, trying to reach me with its long paw with curved claws. I pressed myself to the ground and screamed something, tears of despair poured from my eyes. The creature raged around me all day, but the stakes saved my life - it never dared to jump down. I was very cold and understood that if I didn’t think of something, that I would die not from the fangs and claws of the creature, but from the cold, but I couldn’t get up and start moving somehow - my death was waiting in the wings from above in the form of a huge paw of the creature . I tried to scream again and suddenly, to my happiness, they answered me - the rescue search team was looking for us, stuck in the taiga. The creature raised its head and jumped to the side. I didn't see her again.

Rescuers found me. Based on my tip, they found the others, or rather, what was left of them - bloody scraps of clothing and a gun...

The horror of the taiga

Cold autumn wind and an endless nasty fine rain enveloped everything around, making their way through the dense thickets of the forest, the two travelers, wet to the skin, struggled forward. Behind them, in the early morning haze, the lights of a small village could still be seen, but there was no turning back, the year was not productive, and in order not to die of hunger, several men went into the taiga to hunt. They divided into groups of two or three people and headed towards different sides. The village was located in the very heart of the taiga, for many hundreds of kilometers around there was not a single living soul, there was nowhere to wait for help. It was already evening, the rain had not stopped all day, empty-handed and exhausted, grandfather Matvey and his grandson Vadim sat down under a large spruce branch to rest and decide what to do next. - What's that there? – the guy pointed to something dark, barely visible through the thick branches of the trees. “It looks like some kind of house...” “This is an old hunting lodge,” the old man answered a little alarmed, “there’s a bad reputation about this place.” Many years ago, several people mysteriously died in this house, everything was covered in blood, but their bodies were not found... - the grandfather paused, looked around and continued, - After that, everyone who did not stop here for the night never came back...

Night comes quickly in the taiga, nothing was visible at a distance of several meters, and the fire did not want to flare up in the damp grass.
- I don’t believe in all these fairy tales! – Vadim said decisively. “Let’s go into the house, nothing will happen to us, I don’t intend to sit under this spruce all night getting wet and freezing!” He stood up, threw his backpack over his shoulder, and headed towards the locker. The grandfather tried to stop him, but to no avail, and he had no choice but to follow his grandson. The fire instantly flared up, warming the frozen people with its warmth, the guy collected the straw lying around and made two beds. The rain drummed monotonously on the roof, calming the hunters, the fire was already barely smoldering, everything around was plunged into darkness.

Suddenly Vadim woke up from a strange sound; through the noise of the rain some rustling and slurping could be heard. He called the old man in a whisper, but there was no answer. Slowly and trying not to make noise, Vadim crept to the place where the old man was sleeping, but he was not there. The guy returned to his place, he felt uneasy, he continued to hear strange sounds from somewhere above in the attic. A few minutes later, the eerie chomping sound was replaced by a barely audible whisper. No matter how hard he tried, the guy could not distinguish a word. Suddenly he heard a creak approaching him, as if someone or something was coming down the stairs from the attic and slowly heading towards Vadim. The rain suddenly stopped, a large bright moon, illuminating part of the room with its light through a small window. His nerves were on edge, grandfather Matvey had disappeared, something incomprehensible was approaching him, and the guy was seized with panic.

Who is there?! – Vadim cried out, unable to bear it.

The creaking and whispering stopped, and a shadow flashed in the moonlight. It became very quiet in the hut, the silence simply hurt his ears, he could hear his heart beating wildly. He felt someone's gaze on his back. Horror, fear and the desire to run gripped the young man; he turned around and saw his grandfather, but he was terrible. A gray sunken face, rolled eyes and a chomping, bloody mouth with terrible teeth, the creature extended its arms and headed towards Vadim. He ran out of the house and disappeared into the night taiga, branches whipped him in the face, cutting his skin until he bled, but the guy didn’t pay attention to it, he ran as far as possible from this place. Suddenly Vadim ran out into the clearing, he froze in horror, this terrible gray house stood in front of him again.

The young man rushed into the forest again, but after a while he returned to this terrible place again and again.

Enough! “The guy fell to his knees, his strength left him, his brain refused to understand what was happening in this damned place, Vadim lost consciousness.

A black cloud covered the moon, and the taiga plunged into darkness again, the rain began again, and in its monotonous noise the same slurping sound was suddenly heard. His terrible grandfather was kneeling over Vadim’s already lifeless body, tearing off pieces of bloody meat from the corpse, he greedily swallowed them...

All the men returned from the hunt with good catch, the village was saved from starvation, only two were missing - the old grandfather and his grandson. Residents tried to look for them, but to no avail.

A couple of young people wanted variety in lovemaking and for this purpose they went to the nearest forest about which there were bad rumors.

Locals tried to go nearby in search of mushrooms or berries. But young people, as usual, do not believe the rumors, and then severely pay for their carelessness. This story is taken from real life, but with a little artistic addition.

LAST VICTIMS IN THE FOREST

The car stopped at the edge of the forest. It was only a little dark, but the forest was almost completely dark. The girl jumped out of the car and ran into the forest.

— Lisa, where are you going? — the guy became worried. He heard scary stories about the forest from his friends and was afraid that the girl would get lost.

“But if you catch up, then everything will be fine,” I heard in response.

Grigory closed the car and ran after him. dark forest to look for the girl, but she was nowhere to be found.

- Lisa! - Lisa! Where are you? - Gregory called, but there was no answer. A log fell under his feet and Grigory, stumbling, fell head over heels down a small hill. He lay down for a while, and then got up and moved his limbs. There were no fractures, only minor bruises. He raised his head and froze. At some distance from him, red lights appeared in a circle, as if from lanterns. They didn't move, they just hung in the air and flickered with red fire. Suddenly, a creature similar to a person appeared in front of him, but in some kind of terrible mask. The next moment a stick flashed before his eyes and Grigory received swipe on the head. His vision went dark and the guy fell.

Four days later, a local huntsman came across the car as he was making a round of his territory. I didn’t find any passengers anywhere. It was clear that they hadn’t been near the car for a long time; it was covered a little with dust and fallen leaves. The dog found drops of blood on the ground and barked loudly, calling its owner. There was also a bloody stick with which the man had been hit. The huntsman called the police.

Investigators, with the help of local residents and the military, combed almost the entire territory forest area in the area, but neither the missing people nor their dead bodies were found anywhere.

An examination of the condition of the car determined the day when it was left here and the number of passengers in the car. An interview with witnesses showed that that evening eyewitnesses saw luminous balls in the forest and in a field near the forest, and were sure that these balls had taken the missing people with them.

This supposedly happened before, but the missing people were not found. Investigators decided that these were local legends, and the criminals could have buried the missing people anywhere in the forest, the forest is large, and it is almost impossible to find graves.

This uncertainty gave rise to rumors and legends. A week-long search for Lisa and Gregory did not yield any results; there were no theories about their disappearance. Another serious “hang” will completely spoil the statistics of detection rates and the investigator for especially important cases Nesterenko decided to transfer the investigation of this case to the shoulders of the FSB, and there is a good reason, these are not the first people missing in this forest.

THE INVESTIGATION IS LEAD BY FSB AGENTS

The next day, FSB investigators arrived at the scene of the incident. paranormal phenomena Mikhail and Sonya. They noticed small circles of burnt grass.

- Sonya, but people spoke the truth about fireballs that kidnap people, and here are the traces left by them.

- Do you want to talk about the aircraft of some mystical aliens? “It’s more like the places where local pioneers made fires,” Sonya objected.

- Maybe so, but I remembered the recording of the last interrogation of the victim in similar situation who managed to survive. Do you remember how he said: -" Fireballs… They wanted to kill me and take me away like the others…. They wanted to profit from my flesh... The main thing is not to let yourself be killed and you can be saved... I managed to escape... It’s very scary... Don’t let yourself be killed... If they kill you, they will eat you...". True, he later went crazy from such stress and was placed in a psychiatric hospital.

“But it was in a completely different place, almost a thousand kilometers from here.”

- So what, it means the aliens have chosen another place and are now “working” here, although there are doubts that in some other world there live creatures that feed on human meat. Maybe they’ve had some strange cataclysms and have nothing to eat, so they go hunting—Mikhail voiced his version.

“Misha, look what I found, come here,” Sonya’s voice was heard from a nearby small clearing in the forest. Look, there's a stake in the center of the black circle of burnt grass.

— This is a sacrificial stake, it is also called a stake for protection against evil spirits.

Suddenly a local huntsman appeared in the clearing.

- You are still looking for something or have already found something.

- Yes, they found it, it’s not in any police report.

“So what, there are plenty of such stakes in the forest, so report them all,” answered the huntsman.

“It is possible that sacrificial rituals were carried out near these stakes, and you were still silent. It is possible that there is a certain sect of Satanists or other worshipers evil spirits about which we know nothing at all, similar to the “white brotherhood” sect.

“But there are no sects in our area, I know that for sure,” the huntsman assured Mikhail.

- So the newcomers, we need to make an ambush only when they arrive. The scary story about the forest continued

CULTISTS ARRESTED

FBI agents resorted to the help of local police, from which people were allocated for an ambush in the forest.

Scary dense forest at night... and a lot of mosquitoes. Fortunately, I only had to wait a week.

On one of the quiet warm nights, in the distance, in the clearing, the noise of cars was heard. The night watchmen became wary and began to move towards the noise, but everything fell silent.

Suddenly, in a completely different direction, many red balls appeared above the trees arranged in a circle, and another ball of large diameter began to approach that place, which slowly floated out from behind the crowns tall trees. The police immediately called for help and provided the coordinates, and they themselves moved in the direction of the red balls.

Various singing was heard and a large fire appeared through the trees, surrounded by people in masks and black capes with hoods. Suddenly they became alarmed, looked in our direction and, seeing the weapon, ran away. They ran so fast that there was no point in chasing them, and the forest was already blocked by the police; those running away were not going anywhere.

We approached a fire that was burning around a similar pillar. Nearby lay a bag from the morgue, and in it dead man. The red balls turned out to be Chinese celestial balls with lit candles, but only attached to the ground with nylon threads. That largest ball disappeared without a trace. In the confusion, we didn’t even notice where he had gone.

All members of the sect were arrested, except for the leaders of this gang, which killed and roasted people at the stake. When asked about that white ball of large diameter, all those interrogated immediately fell silent; it was impossible to get a word out of them. They all got what they deserved.
But the matter did not end there. Local fishermen, having heard about the liquidation of the gang in the forest, immediately wanted to fish in the forest lake. They threw a seine into the lake, but what they pulled out shocked them, and they ran away from the lake with only their heels sparkling.

Luckily, we hadn't left yet and made it to the lake. On the shore there was a net in which there were many human bones. The examination established that the lake contained the remains of all those who died over several years, as well as our wanted couple.

The bones were completely clean, with traces of scratches from teeth. It turned out that the sectarians ate human flesh fried over a fire, or someone else ate it, and threw the bones into the lake. They could not burn a person, otherwise there would have been a persistent smell of burnt meat in the forest, but there was none. It was not possible to establish any information about the white ball.

This is how it ended scary tale about the forest where people died.

I spent my entire childhood in my house, my parents did not allow me to go further than the yard, because there was a forest nearby and you never know what could happen to a little girl there. The forbidden fruit is sweet, every day I looked out the window at this forest, it seemed as if it was alive. The trees whispered to each other, and it seemed to me that they saw me and looked at me in the same way as I looked at them. Spruce trees were visible in the foreground; they were so dark that looking at them became a little creepy. And now I'm already adult girl, but the desire does not disappear anywhere. Yes, I decided to disobey my parents.

One day I decided to go there and see what was there. In the morning I collected all the most necessary things, some food and went to that place. But I couldn’t go there, something pulled my hand, I just stood on the line between me and the forest. I turned around and went back home. My heart was beating like crazy, I tried to disobey my parents’ orders. I needed to calm myself down. After I took a bath, I sat on the windowsill again and looked into the distance. It was too difficult for me to get ready again and go there, I had to do it gradually. I decided that I would go to that place every day and until I felt that I was ready, I would not go there.

So two weeks passed, and I felt that I could go there. A light breeze blew on me, it was so warm and gentle that my body was warmed by it. I got up and went straight into the forest. There was a small path that was clearly trodden by a person. I realized that walking along such a path, I would definitely not get lost and would return home on time. Only in the forest do you understand how silence really sounds. There was absolutely no one around me, and the trees lined up so evenly that they formed a kind of arch. It got completely dark.

I decided that it was time to return home and continue my journey tomorrow, but as soon as I turned around, something unimaginable happened. There were several paths around me, although I clearly remembered that there was only one. Which one to choose? How to get home? I didn't know. And then something stirred in the bushes. It moved quickly and suddenly a large wolf's muzzle peeked out from behind the trees. But it was not a wolf. The wolf should be small, like a dog. And this creature had gigantic size, it was much bigger than me. Fangs became visible; this creature's teeth were white, like the clouds in the sky. All the fur stood up and looked like the spines of a hedgehog. It became scary. What will happen to me? I will die? Really now?

It began to approach, and my first reflex worked instantly, I didn’t even have time to think. My legs ran so fast that it seemed to me that I could now overtake a whole car. But it was faster and stronger than me. I didn’t look back, something attacked me from behind, and I hit my head on a stone. That's the last thing I remembered from this situation. I woke up in an incomprehensible hut. But I knew for sure that a person lived in it. It was tidied up, the stove was flooded, and there were flowers on the table. My head was bursting with pain; it felt as if my brain had simply melted. It was too difficult to get out of bed; it was easier to just lie in it, so the head would hurt less. The door opened and a man walked in, he had distinct brown eyes, hair black as night, and rough features. A wolf skin hung on his shoulders. My heart was beating with excitement; I didn’t know what kind of person he was. With the same menacing gaze, he looked at me and asked how I ended up in the forest. Didn't they ever tell me not to go into this forest? Of course, they said, but curiosity for a woman is, first of all.

A minute later I recognized him as that same monster. . But I thought they only exist in fairy tales, but it turns out that fairy tales sometimes come to life. He told me that he was born this way, that he simply cannot control himself when night comes and I simply cannot survive that night. He had no sympathy, he didn’t want to let me go, supporting a person’s life in order for the meat to taste better was, of course, insensitive. He was hungry, but I didn’t want to become dinner either. The only reason I survived was because he was full that night and I stayed for later. After he left, I waited a few minutes and found the strength to break out the window and run away somewhere. I agreed to everything except death. My legs carried me forward. It was already getting dark. Without stopping for a minute, my legs kept rushing and rushing, and then I heard a terrible wolf howl. He's chasing me. And now I see the edge of the forest, here is my last push, and the wolf is already behind me. A couple of seconds and I jump out of the forest threshold, turn around and see these glowing eyes. He couldn't get out of it. I was saved. I will never go into this forest again.

This terrible horror story happened to me five years ago. I was 19 years old then. Me with my two best friends decided to go hunting...

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