Ghosts and ghouls and strange happenings abound all over the world. Every country has it's own weird tales to tell - all are reported to be true, told by people not given to wild flights of fancy. What do you think?
| Spooky |
In an experiment carried out live on Russian TV in 1992, a researcher helped 10 teenagers to summon their 'spirit doubles'.
They were asked to send their doubles somewhere, and they all chose the wreck of the Komsomolets, which was a nuclear submarine that sunk in the Barents Sea near Murmansk. The teenagers then described what the 'spirit doubles' were seeing when moving around the vessel. Each person drew what they could see, and all the pictures were virtually identical. At the end of the session, the 'spirit doubles' were sent back to the moment when the submarine sank. Again the descriptions of the terror of the crew were also similar.
| Ball of Fire |
In 1908, a fiery ball was seen streaking across the Siberian sky before crashing to earth near the Tunguska River. The explosion was heard 800 km away, and destroyed a 130km wide area, blasting millions of trees out of the ground. At the centre of the explosion, some trees were left standing, although their branches had been stripped. New trees grew alarmingly fast, and a strange species of insect was found. These phenomenon were identical to the effects created by the first atomic bomb explosion on Hiroshima, but the atomic bomb was unknown until 1945.
General opinion at that time was that an Unidentified Flying Object had gone out of control and exploded. Scientists now think it may have been a small comet which exploded with the force of a 20 megatonne bomb.
| Prehistoric Dog-Food |
For over several hundred years, the Yakut, people from Yakutsk in Siberia, have used defrosted mammoth meat over 10,000 years old, to feed their dogs! Although supposedly extinct for thousands of years, sub-zero temperatures in this area preserved the bodies. So many of these mammoths were dug from the frozen ground that the Yakut people believed the creatures had once lived like moles beneath the ground.
A Russian hunter followed some oval tracks around 60cm wide, in 1918. He found a giant dung-heap and branches broken from trees 3 metres from the ground. When he spotted an elephantine giant with massive, curly tusks, he fled. He had not believed anything could be so large. Recently, the Evenk people, who live in the Siberian forests, say they've hunted live 'shaggy elephants'. Experts say that the Evenks' descriptions match those of a mammoth! In these uninhabited forests which cover 8 million square kilometers, any number of mammoths could be living, seen only by the Evenks.
| Surprise! |
A Siberian fisherman caught a giant pike in 1987 and discovered it had a tail sticking out of its mouth. Curious, he cut the fish open and found his dog, still alive, inside. The dog had just been swimming in the river a few minutes before!
| Ivan the Terrible |
Ivan the Terrible was born in 1530. Some historians say that as he was born a bolt of lightning split the sky. His father, Vasily III, died when Ivan was only three, so he was made Grand Prince, and his mother ruled Russia on his behalf until she was poisoned five years later. The prince was a violent child who liked killing animals. When he finally took power, in 1547, he became the first Russian ruler to be called 'tsar'. At the age of 16, he took a beauty called Anastasia Zakharina for his wife. She had a steadying influence on the tsar, as until he wed her, he would spend his days telling rude jokes and playing tricks at court. They had 6 children, but in 1560, Anastasia died. Ivan was filled with rage and grief, and grew increasing mad and violent. He became suspicious and jealous of everyone and threw hundreds of nobles into prison or exile. Many of these people had been his closest friends. He married a woman who originated from the Caucasius region in the south. She adopted the Christian religion and took the name of Maria, but despite this, she encouraged Ivan's violence and together they organised a mass execution in Red Square. Then she died in mysterious circumstances. Many thought that Ivan killed her. In 1565, Ivan set up the Oprichniki, a feared force of 6000 bodyguards, whose job was to track down the enemies of the tsar. The Oprichniki's saddles for their horses bore two emblems - a hunting dog, to symbolise pursuit of enemies, and a broom, to symbolise the cleansing of evil, and the sweeping away of his enemies.
Thousands were captured and killed by the Oprichniki, often brutally. The force played a major part in the Massacre of Novgorod in 1569, torturing over 60,000 people to death. The sinister organisation was eventually disbanded in 1572. Ivan married again, this time to Marfa Saburova-Sobakina, a survivor of the Novgorod Massacre, and she died almost immediately after the wedding. He married a further four times during his life-time!
The final years saw a change in Ivan. In 1581, he killed his son and heir, also called Ivan, in a fit of temper. Almost immediately afterwards, he was bitterly regretful and descended into a state of terrible despair. He began to reflect on the many evil deeds he carried out during his life-time and started to think he had to make amends, in view of his strong Christian beliefs. He send the names of around 3000 people who he had had killed to monasteries throughout Russia, and sent large amounts of money to the monks, so that they would pray for the victim's souls.
In 1584, Ivan's astrologers predicted he would die on 18th March, and they were correct. He was playing chess with a friend when he died. He was 53. No-one was quite sure whether his death was destined or simply the result of a badly lived life.
A strange puzzle emerged over 400 years later, when the body of his third wife was dug up - it had not decayed at all!
| The Ghost on the Throne |
Just days before Catherine the Great, express of Russia, died, in 1796, a weird event occurred. Several of her attendants saw her leave her bedroom and head towards the Throne Chamber, then minutes later, heard her call for them from her bedroom! Catherine was duly told what had happened, and everyone hurried to the Throne Chamber. There, they all saw a ghostly double of the empress, sitting on her throne, bathed in a eerie green light! When Catherine fainted from shock or fright, the phantom vanished. Could the ghost have been warning of the forthcoming death of the empress, just two days later, from a stroke?
We finish with a strange tale which has been told of Russia. True? Make up your own minds, don't ask me!
A Deadly Case
An ex-soldier had always been curious about Russia, and, when he had the opportunity, visited Moscow. Whilst there, whenever he left his hotel, people tried to sell him gold, amber jewellery and icons. He told the most persistent man that he'd been a soldier and hadn't come to Moscow to buy anything of that nature. The Moskovite then said he might have something that would interest the ex- soldier, if he would only follow him.
Intrigued, the ex-soldier followed the man into a nearby building, down into a tiny, dingy basement room littered with boxes and suitcases. A large, pale man sat at a table, counting foreign banknotes. The two Russians talked in low voices for a minute or so, then the large man introduced himself as The Bear.
The Bear then produced a small suitcase from under the table and placed it on the table-top. In broken English, The Bear explained he could offer all the ex-soldier needed to make a bomb.
Curious, the ex-soldier edged closer, as the suitcase was opened. He stepped back in horror when he realised the suitcase contained a large slab of radioactive uranium.
As he raced from the dingy room, he mumbled that there had been a big mistake. The Bear was found later that week dead from radiation sickness. No word has been heard of either the ex-soldier or the Moskovite, or their present condition!
That's all for this edition, folks. Next time we'll be taking a trip to Canada and investigating their hauntings, spooky tales and strange events. Bye and be careful who or what you talk to!
LIz Green
