This book contains stories about people and houses of Moscow. Stories about those whom we do not know at all or know very little. In urban legends about Moscow, the author, journalist and Moscow expert Oleg Fochkin, through personal perception, spoke about unusual places in the capital that we pass by every day and even if we notice them, we very rarely know their real fate. For several years, the stories collected by the author were published in the newspaper “Evening Moscow” and caused a great response from readers. In fact, this book was the result of a conversation with readers who added to it and offered their travel routes around their hometown. German Settlement and Petrovsky Park, Zamoskvorechye and Tverskaya, Maroseyka and Kolomenskoye... And these are just a few names that we have to walk through together and rediscover them.
From the series: Moscow (Ripol)
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The given introductory fragment of the book Urban legends (O. V. Fochkin, 2015) provided by our book partner - the company liters.
Crypt of wish fulfillment
German (Vvedenskoye) Cemetery
New Year is not only a holiday. For most students, this is also just another session. And although we can joke that the session is also a holiday, it is unlikely that many will agree with us.
And when this “long-awaited” “X-hour” approaches, some students use all possible means and methods to get the coveted grades and credits.
Thus, Chinese students suddenly remember the presence of nearby Buddhist or Lamaist temples and put out whole armfuls of candles to the glory of God so that he will help them in the exam.
Students from Leipzig, Germany, definitely go to the city's most famous beer hall, Faust, to rub the statue of the character of the same name, touch it between the horns and bring luck to their side.
Many of our young men and women put the treasured nickel under their heels...
There are also many places in Moscow where students, and not only them, come to ask for help.
One of these places... The German (aka Vvedenskoe) cemetery, where the crypt of the Erlanger family is located. This is where many residents of the capital and its guests come to leave a note with a cherished dream or simply write their desire on the wall.
I probably wouldn’t have remembered this place if the other day my son hadn’t received a call from a classmate worried about the outcome of an important exam. Knowing that we live nearby and know this area of Moscow well, the girl asked to be taken to the crypt of “dreams come true.”
“Alena, maybe you can hand over everything yourself,” the son tried to weakly resist.
But the girl was adamant, and, taking me with her as a guide and additional support, our group went to one of the oldest cemeteries in the capital, which appeared in the pestilence of 1771, at the same time as Vagankovsky and Danilovsky.
It should be noted that I did not particularly resist this campaign. The places around are historical: Nemetskaya Sloboda, Lefortovo... Memories of the time of Peter the Great.
And the architecture here has been preserved, creating the illusion of immersion in the past.
Only the tram will occasionally rumble, but that’s if you follow the beaten path...
Along the way, I tell my son and his girlfriend about these places, because I have the right to do so. Exactly 25 years ago, together with friends and like-minded people, we created the ecological and cultural association “Sloboda” here, which saved architectural monuments from what seemed to be inevitable destruction - at that time, the Third Automobile Ring, still under construction, was planned to be carried through Lefortovo, barbarously breaking everything that came in the way. We managed to save something. And during the research, we ourselves significantly expanded our knowledge about these places. By the way, many of today’s leaders of “Arkhnadzor” also started in “Sloboda” with the rescue of the chambers of the merchant Shcherbakov. But that's another story.
I ran to that German cemetery on dates... Here stood the building of a branch of the Pedagogical Institute, the windows of which looked out onto the graves. And future artists and teachers-defectologists expanded their knowledge by looking out the windows at the cemetery crows.
What amused me most was that the road to the cemetery leads directly from the street called “New Road”. A greater discrepancy cannot be imagined.
This is what I’m talking about along the way.
German cemetery
The cemetery on the Vvedensky Hills was the only one in the city intended for non-believers. According to legend, Lefort’s grave is located somewhere here. But no one knows where. Persistent researchers continue to search for it today.
"Western Christians" were buried here until 1917. The situation changed during Soviet times, when the religious component seemed to fade into the background. And people of all faiths began to be buried here.
The cemetery is located on the high northern bank of the Sinichka River, which flows into the Yauza from the left. The titmouse has been flowing in the pipe for a long time, but the relief created by its bed has not changed.
Finally, having climbed the New Road, we enter the gates of the cemetery.
Previously, the ashes of those killed during Stalin’s repressions were buried within its walls, but over the years there have been fewer and fewer relatives, and now these places have been occupied by “new Russians” killed in skirmishes of the 90s, or those who took care in advance to rest in historical place.
There is also a memorial to German soldiers at the Vvedensky cemetery. True, these are not Nazis. This is a mass grave of World War I participants who were captured by Russians and then died here. On the obelisk there is an inscription: “Here lie German soldiers, faithful to duty and who did not spare their lives for the sake of the Fatherland. 1914–1918."
At the other end of the cemetery there are two French mass graves - pilots from the Normandy-Niemen regiment and Napoleonic soldiers. Over the grave of the French who died in Moscow in 1812, a majestic monument fenced with a massive chain was erected. Instead of pillars, this chain is supported by cannons from the era of the Napoleonic wars, dug into the ground with their muzzles.
Another revered grave of the Vvedensky Cemetery is the burial of Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz (1780–1853), a doctor famous for his philanthropy. Dr. Haass became an example of sacrifice in Russia. His expression “Hurry to do good!” became the motto of Russian medicine.
Not only did he not charge the poor for treatment, he himself sometimes donated money and even his own clothes to his needy patients. Haaz became especially famous for helping prisoners and convicts.
On the fence of Haaz’s grave there are real shackles, in which the exiles went to Siberia. These shackles should remind of the special care of the “holy doctor,” as the people called him, for prisoners.
It was Haaz who ensured that instead of the heavy twenty-pound shackles in which exiles were previously transported, a lighter model, nicknamed “Haaz’s”, was developed for them, and also that the rings at the ends of the chains in which the prisoner’s hands and feet were shackled were covered with leather. Former prisoners still bring flowers to Haaz’s grave today.
Perhaps, among them, only one other grave enjoys such respect and popularity - Sonya of the Golden Hand on Vagankovo. True, Sonya herself was never in this grave...
Haaz, who spent all the money on the suffering, was buried at the expense of the police. Twenty thousand people followed his coffin! Perhaps this was the most crowded funeral in Moscow.
The writer Vikenty Veresaev interestingly describes an incident from the life of Dr. Haas:
Once, at a meeting of the Moscow Prison Committee, of which the Moscow Bishop Metropolitan Philaret was a member, Haaz so zealously defended the interests of the prisoners that even the bishop could not stand it and objected: “Why are you, Fyodor Petrovich, interceding for these scoundrels! If a person is in prison, then there can be no use for him.” To which Haaz replied: “Your Eminence. You deigned to forget about Christ: he, too, was in prison.”
Filaret, who, by the way, was very zealous for the needs of the common people and was later canonized, became embarrassed and said: “It was not I who forgot about Christ, but Christ who forgot me at that moment. Forgive for Christ's sake."
General Pyotr Palen (1778–1864) also rests here, who in 1812, being with his corps in the rearguard of the 1st Russian Army and holding back the enemy many times superior in number, allowed Barclay to retreat to Smolensk and, thus, saved the army, which means , and the entire campaign.
Here you can also find the burial place of the family of famous Moscow pharmacists and pharmacists Ferrein (the current well-known entrepreneur Bryntsalov named his pharmaceutical plant by this name). There are also many pre-revolutionary foreign businessmen here, among whom were the Erlangers.
As soon as we approached the crypt, we saw a woman there, a cemetery attendant, who was washing away the inscriptions on the wall of the crypt.
“We clean the walls regularly, but it’s useless, new people constantly come here hoping for a miracle,” says Natalya.
In the chapel above the Erlanger family crypt, built by the architect Shekhtel, there is a mosaic “Christ the Sower” by Konstantin Petrov-Vodkin.
Natalya said that these inscriptions and notes are called “sorrows” to the Lord.
Alena, who came with us, was embarrassed and carefully inserted a note with her request into the small window of the crypt.
And Natalya, apparently delighted by the unexpected listeners, said that one of the most interesting stories that happened in Moscow cemeteries in the 1990s is connected with this chapel-crypt. The parish of the Church of Peter and Paul, located on nearby Soldatskaya Street, undertook to raise funds for the restoration of the chapel. And the priest blessed a certain ascetic, perhaps even a blessed one, to stand near the chapel with a mug - Tamara. She cleared the crypt under the chapel from earth and centuries-old debris, settling in a hut in the cemetery. At night the cemetery was closed, and Aunt Tamara, as the cemetery workers called her, was left completely alone in her hut. In the morning, workers opened the gates of the cemetery, and they were met at the fence by a cheerful, smiling man with a copper mug around his neck. But one day Aunt Tamara disappeared and never appeared on the Vvedensky Mountains again.
They say that sometimes she is still seen today in Moscow near various churches: as if she stands there with her constant mug and keeps collecting donations for some good purpose.
Moscow experts managed to find out the name of “Blessed Tamara” - Tamara Pavlovna Kronkoyans. Ten years of complete disability, the doctors’ verdict (she will die that night), her last prayer, and suddenly - a miracle! She remained alive. She came to the German cemetery, where she lived for twelve years in an ordinary iron trailer, both in the heat and in the cold.
With the alms that were given to her, she restored from the ruins a unique chapel with a fresco by the great Russian artist Petrov-Vodkin “Christ the Sower.”
She also used alms to build a copper chapel on the abandoned grave of Elder Zosima (Zecharia), Schema-Archimandrite, the last confessor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra before its closure after the revolution.
This is how a beggar woman, unknown to anyone, became the keeper of Orthodox shrines at the Vvedensky cemetery... Tamara lost her mother early and grew up in an orphanage. She simply could not calmly look at the abandoned graves. She affectionately called the cemetery a town.
...And Alena, thanks to whom we came to the German Cemetery this time, ultimately passed her exam with an “excellent” mark. She is sure that the chapel helped her. And the son assures that even without this Alena knew the subject better than anyone in the group...
From the history of Vvedensky cemetery
After the revolution, the artist Viktor Vasnetsov and his brother Apollinary Mikhailovich were buried at the German Cemetery; one of the most famous publishers, Ivan Sytin; architect, author of the project for the Museum of Fine Arts named after Alexander III (named after Pushkin), the department store "Mur and Meriliz" (TSUM), "Tea House" on Myasnitskaya Roman Klein. Later - the constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov; actors Anatoly Ktorov, Alla Tarasova, Tatyana Peltzer, Rina Zelenaya, Lucien Ovchinnikova; singer Maria Maksakova; director Yuri Ozerov and his no less famous brother, sports commentator Nikolai Ozerov; writers Mikhail Prishvin and Stepan Skitalets; Robert Shtilmark - author of "The Heir from Calcutta"; Leonid Grossman and Lev Gumilevsky; Alexandra Kazantseva; poets Sofya Parnok and Dmitry Kedrin; Vera Inber and parodist Alexander Ivanov, as well as Irakli Andronikov; Vadim Kozhinov; rock musicians Anatoly Krupnov and Alexander Losev; physicist and Nobel laureate Ilya Frank; film director Abram Room and many, many other famous people of the country.
And here is the grave of Lucien Olivier, a famous Moscow restaurateur, author of the legendary salad, as well as one of the founders of the Evening Club newspaper supplement Igor Tabashnikov, who died tragically in 1993.
History of the Erlanger family
Anton Maksimovich Erlanger, despite his name, was a native Muscovite. True, only in the first generation. His father, a composer and conductor, worked at one time at the Mariinsky Theater, then moved to Moscow. Anton Erlanger's maternal grandfather was the Dutch artist van Brussels.
But more than art, he was attracted to industrial production and entrepreneurial activity. Anton Erlanger built the first large steam roller mill in Russia. This multi-storey giant, processing up to forty tons of grain per day, grew up in 1881 on the territory of Sokolnichesky Field. Based on this model, Erlanger himself and other Russian grain manufacturers began to build mills throughout the country.
Erlanger created the first professional publication in Russia on flour milling and grain trade, “Melnik”. In 1892, Erlanger opened the Moscow School of Flour Mills at his own expense. It still exists today, only it has a different name: “Technical and Economic College.”
After the death of the “mill king” in 1910, the mill in Sokolniki passed to his brothers, and in 1918 it was nationalized. In 1930, the mill was named after... People's Commissar Tsuryupa, which the enterprise bore until perestroika times. Today it is a joint-stock company called “Mill Plant in Sokolniki”.
Anton Erlanger donated a lot to charity, established scholarships, helped the poor...
By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 176 of February 20, 1995 “On approval of the list of objects of historical and cultural heritage of federal (all-Russian) significance,” the Erlanger mausoleum at the Vvedensky cemetery was included in the list of objects of all-Russian historical and cultural heritage.
Anton Erlanger's grandson - his namesake Anton Aleksandrovich - was a famous paleontologist, and also led a paleontological school club. He died tragically in 1996 at the age of 89 after being hit by a car on the street.
He did not receive a full education in the field of geology and paleontology. Fought.
After the war, he worked at a school and the paleontological section of the Moscow Society of Natural Scientists (MOIP). Anton Aleksandrovich made his living by making sets of teaching aids on paleontology for the Nature and School factory.
At the end of the 60s, he sold to the Paleontological Institute at the Academy of Sciences (PIN) a unique collection of remains of crinoids from coal deposits in the Moscow region. For this, many in PIN began to call him a “paleontological speculator.” The Paleontological Museum at PIN has another unique exhibit from Erlanger: a huge slab of limestone with a cluster of sea lilies, taken as a monolith from the Myachkovsky (Turaevsky) quarry; Members of Anton Alexandrovich’s circle took part in the excavations.
One of the very rare fossil crinoids was named by paleontologist Arendt in honor of Anton Aleksandrovich who found it - Paramegaliocrinus erlangeri.
Erlanger was able to independently identify fossils from a wide variety of geological systems and corners of the former Soviet Union. He often did this by eye.
When Anton Alexandrovich died, he was buried at the Vvedensky cemetery, where his ancestors are buried.
Poems about the Erlanger Chapel:
“In the shadows, in silence, away from the bustle
Standing alone since ancient times
Enchanted for centuries, a magical crypt.
It will fulfill the wish that will be on it.”
A Local Parable about the Erlanger Chapel
Once upon a time there lived a woman who loved her husband very much. Then the husband died, and the woman could not come to terms with his death: she refused to eat, did not sleep, spent all her time in the cemetery, mourning her beloved... And one fine day she wrote on the crypt: “I want my husband to come to life.” The husband, of course, did not come to life, but one day a man suffering from sexual impotence came to the crypt and also wrote something. I must say that he looked like the widow’s late husband, like a twin brother. At first sight they fell in love and lived happily ever after...
Chapel of Elder Zechariah
There is a chapel in the cemetery of Elder Zacharias, or, as he was called in monasticism, Zosima, to which people specially come to pray for the gift of a spouse or for help in choosing their other half. The plaque on the chapel tells about Zechariah-Zosima as follows: “He lived 86 years (1850–1936), performed many feats, performed many miracles, witnessed by eyewitnesses. God performed some miracles for Zechariah’s sake even in his childhood. He saw the Trinity three times and the Mother of God three times in reality; He walked twice on water as if on dry land, through his prayer the dead were resurrected, he healed the sick and cleansed them from sins. This is an ascetic worthy of the name of a saint.”
Teachings of Elder Zechariah
Take care of your conscience, it is the voice of God - the voice of the Guardian Angel. Learn how to take care of your conscience from the elder Father Ambrose of Optina. He acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom without grace is madness.
Remember the words of Father Ambrose: “Where it’s simple, there are a hundred angels, but where it’s sophisticated, there’s not a single one.” Achieve the simplicity that only perfect humility gives. Achieve in humility love, simple, perfect, embracing prayer for everyone, everyone...
He is wise who has acquired the Holy Spirit, trying to fulfill all the commandments of Christ. And if he is wise, then he is humble.
Be courageous even when the Lord sends great trials. Passions overcome, prayer weakens, you don’t even want to do it, all your attention is absorbed by various desires and passions...
Yes, here, as if on purpose, such internal and external troubles occur, from which a weak person falls into despondency. This passion - despondency - kills everything holy, everything living in a person. Rather, then crucify yourself on the cross, praying as in ancient times many of the ascetics prayed, struggling with passions. Read “May God rise again, and let His enemies be scattered…”
If anyone has it, read the canon to the honorable and life-giving cross of Christ, and then crucify yourself on the cross and beg the Comforter of our souls and bodies to have mercy on you, forgive you and enter into your soul and drive out the despondency that is killing you.
From history
According to legend, the grave of Franz Jan Lefort, an associate of Peter I, was covered with a marble plaque with an epitaph carved on it: “Beware, passer-by, do not trample underfoot this stone: it is soaked in the tears of the greatest monarch in the world...”
Ancient Moscow cemeteries are practically open-air museums. Excursions are regularly held here. You can study history through the graves of celebrities. And people specially come to some burial sites to make wishes. The Moscow 24 portal studied all the mysterious legends and chose the ten most interesting.
1. Alexander Abdulov (05/29/1953 - 01/3/2008), Vagankovskoye Cemetery The tombstone of the actor is twice the height of the average person. Reminds me of an iceberg. At the top, next to the Orthodox cross, is a portrait of Abdulov from his screen test for the role of Lancelot in the film “Kill the Dragon.”
According to one legend, if you look directly into the artist’s eyes, you will lose orientation in space and find yourself in a part of the cemetery that you did not plan to enter. But this is not easy to do, because the portrait hangs high, and the artist’s gaze is directed to the side.
There is a story that allegedly on the ninth day a column of greenish smoke was noticed above Abdulov’s grave, which rose to the sky. Believers began to say that the soul had left the body.
Skeptical people explained what happened differently. The weather was cloudy that day. A rare ray pierced the clouds and gave such an optical effect.
2. Lucien Olivier (45 years old. Died November 14, 1883), Vvedenskoye Cemetery The Frenchman Lucien Olivier rests at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery. The same one who created the famous salad. In 2009, an audit was carried out at the cemetery, using the lists to find out what was buried where. And they found his grave. Before this, Lucien's tombstone was simply lying on the ground. There are still gravestones littering the paths here.
Olivier was a successful chef at the Moscow restaurant Erimtazh. His salad was a success, but he kept the recipe a secret. Therefore, only an approximate version of the recipe from the words of a gourmet has been preserved. Olivier himself never wrote it.
Nowadays, a pilgrimage has begun to the grave of Lucien Olivier. People come who dream of finding a job in a restaurant or cafe, or advancing their career in the restaurant business.
The author of the “Go and See Unusual Moscow” project, Natalya Leonova, says: “There was a comical incident. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Before the New Year, I give a tour, and near Olivier’s grave we meet women with bags of food. I asked: “Why are you consecrating food?” They became embarrassed and said: “What, New Year is coming soon.” Let's make a salad."
3. Sonya “Golden Hand” (1846 - 1902), Vagankovskoye Cemetery Criminals also became symbols of the era. On Vagankovo there is a grave attributed to the successful thief in trust Sofya Blyuvshtein, nicknamed Sonya “Golden Hand”. This grave is still a place of worship for petty street criminals and swindlers. They come, write wishes: “Sonka, help with luck,” and leave money and flowers.
Her thefts were real adventures, the thief got used to the role like an actress. In the end she was caught and sent to hard labor. In 1890, Chekhov visited her, who was touring Siberia and the Far East. The writer was interested in the fate of extraordinary people, including criminals.
“At hard labor the writer did not recognize her. In the photograph they showed him a young, beautiful, charming girl. And they brought in a shriveled, hunched woman with calloused hands. Hard hard labor made her old,” says Vladimir Vashchenko, guide of the “Go and See Unusual Moscow” project. “However, this gave rise to a legend that she once again eluded the police. In fact, Sonya died on Sakhalin, where she was buried.”
In Moscow, on the grave there is a monument to a girl who lived in the 18th century. She committed suicide because of unhappy love.
4. Maria Volkonskaya, Vvedenskoye Cemetery There is a chapel at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery, according to legend, if you write a wish on one of its walls, it will definitely come true. In the 90s, a real pilgrimage began here. People found out that pre-revolutionary oligarchs were buried at the Vvedensky cemetery.
They began to come and write material requests on the wall. Some go on vacation, some get married successfully. For reasons of work or for a loved one to stop drinking - many other things.
5. Sergei Yesenin (09/21/1895 - 12/28/1925), Vagankovskoye Cemetery One of the most difficult days for a guide to the Vagankovskoye Cemetery is the anniversary of Vysotsky’s death and Yesenin’s birthday. Fans of both visit the graves of their idols in large numbers.
Despite this, poetry evenings are regularly held at Yesenin’s grave, in which even foreign fans participate. The poem “I am the last poet of the village” in Chinese from the lips of the philologist Kun Xing Xing sounds like a military oath.
6. Doctor Over (09/18/1804 - 12/23/1864), Vvedenskoye Cemetery Hidden in the depths of the Vvedenskoye cemetery is the crypt of the famous doctor Alexander Over in the 19th century. There is a sign that it helps those suffering from diseases. It is believed that for this it is enough to simply say: “Doctor Over” near his chapel, and he should help. Candles are still brought to the doctor’s grave.
At one time, the doctor headed the commission for the treatment of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The writer experienced terrible agony after the death of his close friend, Ekaterina Khomyakova.
“Unfortunately, Dr. Over was unable to insist on his opinion at the commission meetings,” says Natalya Leonova. “Most members of the commission accepted the opinion of Dr. Klimenkov, who literally ruined Gogol by pouring cold water on him in a hot bath. And Over assumed an unusual mental state in Gogol’s inner stomach disease."
7. Vyacheslav Ivankov, nicknamed “Yaponchik” (01/02/1940 - 10/09/2009), Vagankovskoe cemetery Using the life of the crime boss “Yaponchik” you can study the dashing 90s in Russia. The thief in law was shot dead leaving the Thai Elephant restaurant in northern Moscow.
When he was buried, the cemetery was closed for a day to all outside visitors. In total, about 500 people came to say goodbye to the leader of the criminal clan.
“The sculpture is typical for people of this lifestyle. To emphasize greatness. He seems to be sitting on a stool, but in fact on a throne. He looks at us with an imperious gaze, from top to bottom,” the guide explains.
8. Philippe Depres (05/12/1789 - 08/12/1858), Vvedenskoye Cemetery The most unusual tombstone from the point of view of decoding at the Vvedenskoye cemetery is dedicated to the famous wine merchant Philippe Depres in the 19th century.
It is believed that it itself is a portal for the resurrection of the dead. The tombstone is decorated with six-pointed stars - anemones - simultaneously with a Latin equal-pointed cross.
Despres became famous for his wine trade in Moscow. His regular client was Nikolai Gogol, who even had his own loan there. As an eyewitness wrote: “There was money, Gogol paid, there was no money - Depres was waiting.”
9. The Knop family of manufacturers, Vvedenskoye Cemetery Pre-revolutionary oligarch Ludwig Knop built a “temple” at the Vvedenskoye cemetery. It has survived to this day and is in need of restoration. But it was originally built in ruins.
In front of the temple stood a bronze figure of Jesus, who pointed his hand down at the figure of the holy fool. “Before the revolution, they also loved to take pictures at the cemetery, not only today’s Goths,” says Natalya Leonova. “And the women really didn’t want the figure of the holy fool to get into the frame.” In one of the photographs, the lady even crouched down to cover the holy fool.”
During the Soviet years, when churches were closed, pilgrimages began to come to this Jesus. The sculpture was credited with miraculous properties. It was believed that if you drained some water from Jesus’ hand, the water would heal. Even Mother Matrona sent her assistant to the cemetery to fetch water in 1943.
This place is also called the vampire, because the cemetery was chosen by Satanists in the 1990s. For a long time, the necropolis was not guarded and people came here during the day, in the evening, and at night. At the burial site, ritual killings of cats and dogs were carried out, not to mention all kinds of drawings on the temple.
10. Sophie Plo (1859 - 1905) and Leon Plo (1853 - 1905), Vvedenskoye Cemetery A musical legend hovers around the grave of the spouses Sophie and Leon Plo. At about five to seven in the evening you can hear an unusual creaky melody. Local grandmothers claim that this is the spirit of a certain musician who comes out after the cemetery is closed and plays the violin.
In fact, not far from the cemetery there is a railway station “Sortirovochnaya”, where trains begin to be sorted at this moment. And also one of the FSB buildings, where there is a clock that plays a melody every time. It is the roll call of these sounds that gives such an unusual melody. Although..
La douleur passe, la beauté reste (c) Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Mayskoe Vvedenskoe changeable
Separation - engagement
At the cemetery at the tram stop
Toil joyfully and sadly (c)
Children's "secrets", being buried in the ground, were hidden under a thick bottle glass with a candy wrapper, a label or a dried flower. The strange effect of glass as a barrier and boundary between the real (and in fact, the ghostly) and the eternal and unchanging reality of the glass and the looking glass. A child's lightly mystical move - with one movement to create the mystery of minus space looking from underground, almost death, death in childhood - it is very close and not scary. I once saw similar windows into another world at the Vvedensky cemetery. The gazes of long-dead people made their way through the glass. Through the paper flowers and tinsel the authenticity of a gloomy life was visible. False, dusty smiles created an incredible field of life that was more real than much of what surrounds us.
D. Orlov
Vvedenskoye or German Cemetery is one of the most mysterious and enigmatic cemeteries in Moscow. I would like to present to your attention the most detailed list of unusual places in this necropolis.
Somewhere on its territory, most likely, the ashes of Franz Lefort, who was first buried in a German church and then reburied, were reburied.
From time to time, evidence appears that fragments of a gravestone were allegedly discovered at the Vvedensky cemetery, which means that Franz Lefort is buried there. But, although every time this information turns out to be poorly proven, nevertheless, most likely the ashes of the man in whose honor the entire district of the capital is named - Franz Lefort - is located right here. This is where the legend about the ghost of Lefort, who walks through the cemetery, came from.
There is one chapel in the German cemetery, according to legend, if you write a wish on one of its walls, it will certainly come true. Therefore, every year people paint the walls of the chapel with all sorts of wishes, and the cemetery administration is forced every year to allocate funds to paint it all over.
One of the most interesting legends associated with this place tells that under the hill on which the German cemetery stands there is a whole city of all kinds of dungeons, catacombs and underground crypts and that you can only enter this underground Vvedenka, as it is called through certain ancient buildings - chapels or crypts, which are located in the cemetery.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to say what kind of buildings these are and in what specific place on the territory of the cemetery they are located...
I’ll give an excerpt from another person’s story (printed in its original form):
I also remember that someone said that on one of the graves it was simply written that this stone fulfills wishes... not written directly, but in the form of a poetic epitaph, but if you read it carefully, then everything becomes obvious. I also remember that one of the grandmothers told me that one of the chapels at someone’s also family burial almost removed damage and the evil eye if you pressed against it, from a certain side of the world, and not just ask hard, so that cleansed you, or else read a specific prayer... True, this chapel was already in very poor condition, 20 years ago... it was clear that stones were falling from the portico, and in general there was a feeling that it was... she was about to collapse... it was a bit scary to approach, much less press against her... and there didn’t seem to be any particular need. Now it may have completely collapsed. One had to go to one of the sculptures to ask for good luck in exams and in general in academic matters....
Well, about Lefort’s flute, which is often heard in the cemetery, I think there’s no point in even talking about it. You probably know that better than me... For me, it was a revelation that some data had appeared that this flute was now in the Lefortovo tunnel I can even hear it. I read it somewhere by accident, I was surprised, and my husband was even more surprised that it turns out I never heard it in the tunnel, he says, while he traveled there often, he heard it regularly. Here, in fragments, is what I remember... You make allowance for the fact that 20-25 years have passed since my frequent visits to this place, I was a teenager, or a very, very young lady, which is more than 20 years ago our the country was a country of militant atheism, no mysticism could exist in the USSR by definition, that all the talk about Christ, miracles, healings, chapels, crosses, prayers, wish fulfillment, damage, etc. was for a Komsomol pioneer, which I was at that moment and all my friends were positioned as religious obscurantism, and nothing more. There was no literature, no information, asking someone about the miraculous healings at Rekk’s grave meant signing yourself... well, not a death sentence, of course, but 100% causing problems for yourself with the reference from the Komsomol, which is required when entering a university. . Everyone understood this perfectly well, so we didn’t discuss anything with anyone, didn’t try to find out anything in more detail, and to write it all down... well, we wouldn’t have dreamed of that in a nightmare at that time..... so..... here... these are fragmentary memories. But I think that now, if you wish, you can find all this... in the end, ask the same grannies at the cemetery... or at the Church of Peter and Paul on Soldatskaya... I think they will be happy to tell you everything in detail .
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“Before, we somehow didn’t think about the fact that we live not far from the cemetery, that in front of our house there is the Burdenko hospital, a morgue nearby, and a little further away the Metalurg stadium, where a maniac-killer recently operated. All this was a typical picture of our life. But more recently, strange circumstances forced us to change our minds about our habitat...
An ordinary night. After spending time at the computer, I go to bed in the morning. But a strange sound prevents me from going to the kingdom of Morpheus, it looks like a grinding sound that does not stop for a long time, but sleep still overcomes me and I fall asleep. The next night, I and my neighbor, who lives on the floor above, Alina Pavlovna, also went out in the morning to smoke on the staircase. That sound again, she hears it too, I’m not alone. Later, this sound began to appear not only in the morning, but it began in the evening and lasted all night. One of these nights we decided to take a walk. Sitting near the house, on a bench, drinking alcoholic drinks, we heard this sound again. It was from all sides, it seemed to surround us and get closer. Every minute it became louder and louder. Suddenly, unexpectedly behind the concrete fence that was right in front of us, we heard even stranger things. There, someone walked and with his feet broke the branches that he met on the way. Apparently he was walking towards us, but we are not idiots, we, of course, got up and left this unfortunate place. True, this night we still had to visit this place again, but there were already three of us. And the sound and all its strange phenomena disappeared, as if they had never existed at all!
The second strange thing we noticed happened next to the Vvedensky cemetery. After all, right next to it stands a strange building, which is now used as a music school. Unfortunately, we don’t know what was in it before. Alina Pavlovna told me that something strange was happening there; it was she who was at that moment next to this ill-fated musician. She called me and said that something incomprehensible was looking at her from the window of this building, some kind of black figure, and before that she heard strange sounds, as if someone was walking on the roof. Of course, I didn’t believe her and came there to see what was happening there. A black, incomprehensible figure did not take long to wait and immediately appeared in the window. Periodically, she disappeared and then appeared again, but we still felt her languid gaze on us. Perhaps it was a person, or perhaps a gargoyle, because there are rumors that there is a lost crypt under our cemetery, what if this creature is from there? What if it was looking out for its next victim?
***
According to the month, August 24 is the day of St. Euplus; The date is notable for the fact that at night you can see ghosts in the cemetery, and a white horse runs across the graves.
A long time ago, during the time when I happened to live in Lefortovo, I happened to start leafing through the month book just before Eupla.
- Shall we go see ghosts tonight? – I suggested to my comrades.
Got interested in ghosts. As a result, six people gathered.
The cemetery in Lefortovo is historical: Vvedenskoye, German, with a red brick wall separating it from Hospital Val. There is a gate in the wall with a gate that was not locked at night. If you wander from the opposite side, from the tiny old church, which gave the neighboring beer pavilion the irreverent popular nickname “Three Priests”, and, tramping along Nalychnaya Street, turn left, then here you will find another entrance to the cemetery - with iron doors and with a caretaker’s house inside, behind the fence. Both of these passages are connected by a crooked, angular alley, which widens slightly towards the middle - here, almost in the center of the cemetery, at that time there was the only slanting lantern on the way.
There was less than an hour left until midnight. The streets were quiet and deserted. The closer we got to the cemetery, the more stupid the idea seemed: our enthusiasm disappeared. When the black gates appeared at the end of Cash Street, we were relieved: oh, it’s locked!.. for sure, it’s locked!
No luck: the door was closed, but without a lock.
The caretaker's window was illuminated. We walked past him quietly, carefully, so as not to scare us! And again no luck: no one looked through the cloudy glass, shouted, or drove away. We had to move on as planned.
It was black in the cemetery. When my eyes blinked, fences, crosses and slabs became visible in the darkness.
We walked along the alley deeper, looking: how is it there? Will a white shadow flash at a distance and rush towards you? Will the horseshoe jingle?
But everything was quiet; To the left was a dark crypt, and to the right stood a human-sized marble statue with its arms open. The statue was famous for the fact that to everyone who approached it in the darkness, it seemed as if the stone figure was closing its arms to hug you.
We rested under a lantern (half the job was done, only half remained). And they cheered up, because from the middle it was almost like leaving the cemetery.
So we got to the far gate, cheered up and jumped out. A lonely man, sadly wandering down the street in our direction at night, saw a company appearing from behind the cemetery wall, shuddered and ran back.
- There are no ghosts! We shouldn't have walked!
- What time is it? Is it already midnight? Maybe Eupl hasn't arrived yet?
It turned out that in a hurry no one took the watch with them
We looked - there was a patrol car nearby, the police were watching us from it.
- Let's ask the cops! Just don't go in a crowd.
One guy went. The policeman immediately lifted the glass, leaving a narrow gap. We saw how the guy leaned towards the car and entered into long negotiations.
He came back and said:
- Ten minutes to twelve.
- Yeah, in ten minutes the ghosts will come! What else were they talking about?
- Yes, nothing. They asked what we were doing here and ordered us to go to bed.
- Well, let's go!
They rushed back behind the fence. Those in the car followed us with their eyes, but did not pursue us.
On the way back we looked for phosphorus lights on the earthen mounds, but in vain. Once it flashed, it turned out that it was polished black marble that reflected the dim light.
So they passed the lantern and again found themselves in darkness.
“But midnight has come,” I wanted to say.
This is where it began to speak.
From the side, in the distance, there was a roar of barking - furiously, excitedly, with a howl, with a growl. One hundred votes! And from the tombstones - an echo, and on the echo - a new onslaught, and now all over the cemetery, on four sides, you won’t understand whether it’s far or whether it’s close: woof!.. woof!!. WOOF!!!
Oops!
My heart stumbled and skipped a beat. My comrades are barely alive, a little longer - and leave them here, so that later you don’t carry them back here with music. Someone wheezes:
- Don't run! The main thing is not to run!
Which one is there to run? My knees are buckling, my legs are not moving! We grab each other and hobble. It feels like along all the alleys, along all the passages between the fences - they are rushing straight towards us, in a hurry, they are already very close!
Here, behind the bushes, like a firefly, there is a window in the house, and the house itself should have a caretaker, a good caretaker, a golden caretaker, our salvation!
And the gate! Gate! It's not locked, darling!
They fell out of the cemetery like ninepins.
And as soon as we got out, it became quiet behind the wall, as if it had cut us off.
Let's go and complain to each other:
- My face changed color three times!
- What a face! I almost broke out in a sweat!
That was the end of it.
And I have never heard a choral bark of dogs at the Vvedensky cemetery either before or since. What a choral thing - I didn’t even meet any lonely dogs there. I don’t even know if there were dogs inside the fence back then.
Many people love these monuments at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery, but sometimes they don’t even know who they belong to.
Georg Lyon and Alexandra Rozhnova. It is said that in 1900 the owner paid the cemetery administration to clear the site for 100 years in advance.
The grave was decorated by the Rob.Guidi St. Petersburg workshop in the 1910s in the form of an open stone platform surrounded by a semicircular black colonnade. Colored mosaic based on Arnold Böcklin’s painting “Island of the Dead” (Totenisel) was made by the Frolovs’ workshop. By Decree of the Moscow Government of March 28, 2000 N 223, it was included in the state list of historical and cultural monuments of Moscow.
Once upon a time, a double mosaic also decorated the Smolensk Lutheran Cemetery (the tombstone of Gustav Bayermeister, a member of the German community of St. Petersburg), but it was destroyed there long ago (already in the sixties, the image was only partially preserved).
family Plo (Plaut). In its original form, the statue held a rose, whose petals fell onto the steps. The rose was cut out and stolen.
The tombstone was placed by inconsolable children in memory of their parents who died from a viral infection. First the father of the family, and then his wife, who took care of him day and night. Or...
As for the stories of people long gone and buried in this cemetery, there is one associated with the extraordinary beauty of the monument where the spouses Leon and Sophie Plaut (1853-1905) are buried. The family managed manufacturing and trade in Moscow. Leon's father, Francois, was the owner of a large woolen manufactory. Leon's company rented premises in Ermakov's almshouses on Myasnitskaya, 17 and became rich during the period of intensive construction of railways by supplying iron, cast iron, and steel. Sophie Ludvigovna ran a glove shop nearby. Sophie, they say, was beautiful and enjoyed great success with men. One fine day Leon came to the carver, ordered him a stone composition, and when it was ready, he came home and killed his wife and himself. So they buried them together... And the tombstone is a statue of a woman leaving the house on a date with her lover... Whether the story is reliable or not is unknown.
Pax family crypt
Ferrein family. Among the Goths it is called "U Lilith".
Fulda family.
* Last refuge of a Nazi?
Not every cemetery can boast of a legend associated with a person representing the top of the Third Reich.
In Moscow, at the Lefortovo cemetery, a grave was discovered with the inscription “Martin Bormann. 1900–1972″ (according to other data 1973 or 1974). The same Bormann? Hitler's personal secretary, head of the Fuhrer's office? A man who possessed truly unlimited power, in whose hands were all the threads of government...
Bormann was not among those arrested at the Nuremberg trials. And not because his crimes against humanity were less serious than those of his “comrades-in-arms.” On the night of May 2, 1945, he disappeared. According to the official version, he died when he tried to leave Berlin, which was taken by storm by Soviet troops. According to unofficial versions, and there are a great many of them, he managed to escape. The Fuhrer’s “confidant” was seen in different years, either in South America or…. in Moscow. The most persistent rumor is that Bormann was a Soviet intelligence officer who sent his messages from Hitler’s headquarters to Moscow under the code name “Werther.” That is why, supposedly, the Russians helped him avoid the Nuremberg Tribunal.
Until now, his name is shrouded in mystery, and his fate has become the subject of all kinds of speculation and historical speculation. Which version of Bormann's post-war fate is trustworthy, and, finally, what is the secret of the eminence grise of the Third Reich?
At one of the military forums I met: For the past 20 years, reports have appeared from time to time in the Russian media (even included in books) that Martin Bormann died of cancer in the Kremlin hospital in 1973 and was buried in the old historical Vvedensky (German) cemetery in Moscow (Lefortovo). And there are even people who allegedly “saw with their own eyes” a tombstone there with the inscription in Gothic font “Martin Bormann. (1900-1973).” However, none of the numerous “eyewitnesses” “for some reason” could either show or photograph this grave. There was even a case when one such “eyewitness” rushed to the editorial office of Moskovsky Komsomolets with a sensational report. MK reporters immediately went with him to Lefortovo, but this “eyewitness” was unable to find and show the grave at the cemetery.
You can look for the grave yourself using photographs.
The cemetery acquired several new legends with the arrival of the Goths. The dark period of the late 90s - early 2000s gave rise to the following tales:
- Knopp Crypt. Among the Goths it is called “Vampire” (the place near the Vasnetsovs began to be called “Artists”). It is difficult to find a person who will talk about the origins of this name. Personally, one of the versions was told to me by a subject of a gop-vid (as you can see, the story went beyond the subcultural circle): when one adventurer climbed into the crypt (it was quite easy to do then), he found a hand sticking out of the ground. I got so scared that I got out and started telling everyone about the vampire’s burial. Naturally, there were many people who wanted to verify this. Someone saw it too. Someone said that this is all nonsense. Now the hole into the crypt has been closed very well.
- Black masses organized by Satanists.
I don’t know how serious it was, but we actually found the corpses of pigeons in a rather strange form. However, Satanists still preferred (prefer?) the Vagankovskoe cemetery.
- Burnt crypt ().
It’s as if Satanists had gathered there for an intimate black mass, and suddenly a black man appeared (possibly the ghost of the owner). A fire started from candles, someone died, someone went crazy. Actually, the activity of such entities in the cemetery took place and something really happened to this crypt, but it was all lost in time.
- A story about how a widow found her husband
There are two parables about the crypts of the Vvedensky cemetery. One is poetic:
"In the shadows, in silence, away from the bustle
Standing alone since ancient times
Enchanted for centuries, a magical crypt.
It will fulfill the wish that will be on it."
Another is passed down from mouth to mouth among Lefortovo youth: “Once upon a time there was a woman who loved her husband very much. Then her husband died, and the woman could not come to terms with his death: she refused to eat, did not sleep, spent all her time in the cemetery, mourning her beloved... And one fine day she wrote on the crypt: “I want my husband to come to life.” The husband, of course, did not come to life, but one day a man suffering from sexual impotence came to the crypt and also wrote something. I must say that he looked like the widow’s late husband, like a twin brother. At first sight they fell in love and lived happily ever after...” It is unknown where these legends began to circulate among the people. One thing is clear: people come and write their requests on the walls of family tombs with enviable consistency.
About who you really need to ask
There is a chapel of Elder Zechariah, or, as he was called in monasticism, Zosima, to which people specially come to pray for the gift of a spouse or for help in choosing their other half. They say that help is being provided to them and their children, and all this without any notes on the walls of the Vladimir crypts. The plaque on the chapel tells about Zechariah-Zosima as follows: “He lived 86 years (1850-1936), performed many feats, performed many miracles, witnessed by eyewitnesses. God performed some miracles for Zechariah in his childhood. He saw the Trinity three times and the Mother of God three times in reality He walked twice on water as if on dry land, through his prayer the dead were resurrected, he healed the sick and cleansed them of sins.
There is a story that the land under this monument to French soldiers who died in 1812 is the property of the French Embassy in Russia, which means, de jure, French territory.
- The cemetery is located on one of the seven main hills of Moscow.
- The winner of the 9th “Battle of Psychics” - Natalya Banteeva - was once about to perform a curse to death at a cemetery in the presence of a film crew from the TNT channel, but then she suddenly remembered that she was done with black magic.
- Unfortunately, I was never able to find out what kind of tombstone at the Vvedensky cemetery was built with the help of two Stalin Prizes, which the husband gave in memory of his wife.
- Crime. There were rumors that in the early 2000s (?) a hanged man was found in the cemetery. But in 1994, the body of one shot authority figure was officially found.
- On November 2, All Souls' Day, Catholic priests celebrate Mass at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery.
- Across the path from the Erlanger Chapel, behind the mournful statues, a white stone cross lurks. This is the grave of a priest. He had a beautiful voice, and all the parishioners were very happy that such beautiful services were held in their church. And then the demon misled the clergyman. He decided that with such a voice he could go on stage. He went out into the world and really began to sing in the theater, but, alas, after some time his voice disappeared. Later my legs also became paralyzed. He suffered for a long time and accused himself of betraying God. He begged for forgiveness and died quietly.
- But if you go along the alley from which you can turn to the Amlong crypt, then on the left side there will be an area with several graves of clergy. On one white cross there you can find an icon. Bloody drops run down it.
Vvedenka (forgive me for this slang) poetic.
Few people remember that Sofya Parnok, Tsvetaeva’s muse, found her peace in this cemetery. The wonderful satirist poet Alexander Ivanov, whose parody poems are still very uplifting, is also buried here.
You can find the grave of Dmitry Kedrin. He died in 1945 under unclear circumstances at the age of 38 (he was thrown under the wheels of a commuter train).
Bells
Apparently it really will come true soon
What the soul was waiting for:
I've been imagining things all day today,
That the bells are ringing.
Only the doors in the temple are locked,
Who would start calling in vain?
You can't see the sexton on the porch
And on the bell tower.
Know, Sunday service
Not in our earthly land:
Then the ranks of heaven are calling
According to my soul in heaven.
November 27, 1941
Music introduction.
It is worth remembering the “Russian Irish”. John Field (eng. John Field, July 26, 1782, Dublin - January 11, 1837, Moscow) - Irish composer, founder of the nocturne. He was famous as a virtuoso pianist. He spent most of his life in Russia.
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Vvedenskoe in literature
In A. Pogorelsky’s “Lafertov Poppy” we read:
“As for me, I slept peacefully last night; but my comrade, who stood guard, assures me that he saw how, from the very Vvedensky cemetery, lights jumping on the ground in long rows stretched towards her house...”
Ulitskaya "The Case of Kukotsky" (excerpt):
She walked along the high cemetery fence, behind which stood tall trees, and under them - tall monuments. I stopped at the gate – “Vvedenskoye Cemetery”. Exactly. This was the former German, where all the Kukotskys were buried, Tanya guessed and entered.
The alley crossed the cemetery crosswise, from one gate to another, and graves and monuments stretched around. Antique, with German Gothic inscriptions, simply antique and without Latin letters. Chapels, marble angels, plaster flowerpots, crosses and stars, stars and crosses... Surprisingly, despite her twenties, Tanya had never been to a cemetery. And she had never been to a funeral, except for Stalin’s funeral. I ended up in the crematorium twice, but I didn’t even really understand what was happening there. But here it was beautiful and sad - the neglect suited this place. She walked through the old part of the cemetery, looking at the inscriptions on the monuments: the Kukotskys must be here somewhere. But they didn't meet.
Some crypts from the inside.
Total on Vvedenka 12 crypts.
**
Interesting facts from the book " German addresses of old Moscow
":
"In 1865-1872, according to the design of the architect A. Meingardt, instead of a boundary rampart along the perimeter of the territory, a brick wall was built, and the gate of the South Entrance of St. Philip was built. They received their name from the fact that they were laid on the day of remembrance of this revered apostle. The gate They were a pseudo-Gothic passage tower with a tower for a bell. It was rung when a funeral procession moved through the gate. In 1878, a new Northern entrance was built from the city border - the Hospital Rampart.
In 1878, a new Northern entrance was built from the city border - Hospital Rampart. Other activities included the installation of a water supply system, the creation of a greenhouse, drainage, and the construction of a caretaker's yard. A large ravine dividing the territory in two was also filled in, and it itself was expanded by adding new territories. The caretaker's yard was located at the new gate and included a guardhouse, an equipment shed, a kennel, and greenhouses. Flowers and plants were grown in them all year round, suitable for planting in the plots in early spring, when the snow melted.
In 1907, the architect A. Forint built a new beautiful pseudo-Gothic Northern Gate and rebuilt the cemetery caretaker's house with his office in Art Nouveau style. Next to these buildings, right behind the fence, was the mansion of the chairman of the Committee for the Improvement of the Infidel Cemetery, built by the architect Goering.”
Vvedenskoye or German Cemetery is one of the most mystical cemeteries in Moscow.
MASON'S GRAVE: Somewhere here, most likely, the ashes of the famous freemason Franz Lefort are reburied (he was first buried in a German church, and then reburied). Fragments of Lefort’s gravestone may have been found at the Vvedensky cemetery. Hence the legend about the ghost of Lefort in the cemetery. It is officially believed that the burials of Patrick Gordon and Franz Lefort (photo) were moved to the Vvedenskoye cemetery. The photo shows a stone above their burial.
© MoskvaX.ruCHAPEL OF WISHES: There is a chapel in the German Cemetery, and if you write a wish on one of the walls, it will come true. The administration paints them over every year. Now the chapel has been restored, but here is an interesting archival photo of this Lutheran chapel, taken in 1980
© MoskvaX.ruUNDERGROUND CITY: There is a version that under the hill of the German Cemetery there is a whole city of dungeons, catacombs and underground crypts, and you can enter this underground Vvedenka only through certain buildings - chapels or crypts (the following is a random photo of one of the buildings).
© MoskvaX.ruEYEWITNESS STORY: On one of the graves it is written that this stone fulfills wishes... not written directly, but in the form of a poetic epitaph, but if you read it carefully, then everything is obvious.
LEGEND ABOUT THE CHAPEL: At family graves there are separate small chapels. They say that one of the chapels at a family burial would remove the evil eye if you pressed against it, from some side of the world, or just asked strongly. The chapel was already in very poor condition about 20 years ago. Now it may have already fallen apart.
© MoskvaX.ruTHE MAGIC OF SCULPTURE: Some students asked one of the sculptures (exactly which one is still unknown) for good luck in exams and in general in academic matters... If you find it, write in the comments below.
LEFORT'S FLUTE: You can often hear it at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery. Evidence has emerged that the flute can now be heard in the Lefortovo tunnel. The picture below is of an 18th century flute.
OBJECTS NEAR THE CEMETERY: Burdenko Hospital, nearby morgue. And the Metallurg stadium, where the killer maniac operated. The old photo shows the hospital building.
EYEWITNESS STORY: In the morning. A strange sound is disturbing, similar to a grinding sound that does not stop for a long time. The next night, I and my neighbor go out into the stairwell in the morning. There is a sound again, she hears it too. The sound began to appear in the evening and throughout the night. One night we decided to go for a walk. Sitting not far from the house, we heard this sound on a bench. It was from all sides, as if surrounding and approaching. It was getting louder every minute. Behind the concrete fence of the cemetery they heard even stranger things. Someone was walking there and breaking branches. We left this unfortunate place. Next to the Vvedensky cemetery there is a strange building, which is now used as a music school. A black figure looks out of the window of this building, and before that there are sounds as if someone was walking on the roof. A black, incomprehensible figure periodically disappeared and then appeared again. Perhaps it was a person, but... there is a lost crypt under the cemetery...
MORE STORY: According to the month, August 24 is the day of St. Euplus; The date is notable for the fact that at night you can see ghosts in the cemetery, and a white horse runs across the graves. A long time ago, during the time when I happened to live in Lefortovo, I happened to start leafing through the month book just before Eupla. - Shall we go see ghosts tonight? – I suggested to my comrades. As a result, six people gathered. The cemetery in Lefortovo is historical: Vvedenskoye, German. There is a gate in the wall with a gate that was not locked at night. If you wander from the opposite side, from the tiny old church, which gave the neighboring beer pavilion the irreverent popular nickname “Three Priests”, and, tramping along Nalychnaya Street, turn left, then here you will find another entrance to the cemetery - with iron doors and with a caretaker’s house inside, behind the fence. Both of these passages are connected by a crooked, angular alley, which widens slightly towards the middle - here, almost in the center of the cemetery, at that time there was the only slanting lantern on the way. There was less than an hour left until midnight. The streets were quiet and deserted. The closer we got to the cemetery, the more stupid the idea seemed: our enthusiasm disappeared. When the black gate appeared at the end of Nalichnaya Street (in the photo on the left is the main entrance tower, in the middle is the same black gate, on the right is the chapel)
We were relieved: oh, it’s locked!.. for sure, it’s locked! No luck: the door was closed, but without a lock. The caretaker's window was illuminated. We walked past him quietly, carefully, so as not to scare us! And again no luck: no one looked through the cloudy glass, shouted, or drove away. We had to move on as planned. It was black in the cemetery. When my eyes blinked, fences, crosses and slabs became visible in the darkness. We walked along the alley deeper, looking: how is it there? Will a white shadow flash at a distance and rush towards you? Will the horseshoe jingle? But everything was quiet; To the left was a dark crypt, and to the right stood a human-sized marble statue with its arms open. The statue was famous for the fact that to everyone who approached it in the darkness, it seemed as if the stone figure was closing its arms to hug you. We rested under a lantern (half the job was done, only half remained). And they cheered up, because from the middle it was almost like leaving the cemetery. So we got to the far gate, cheered up and jumped out. A lonely man, sadly wandering down the street in our direction at night, saw a company appearing from behind the cemetery wall, shuddered and ran back. - There are no ghosts! - What time is it? Ten minutes to twelve. We looked for phosphorus lights on the earthen mounds, but in vain. Once it flashed, it turned out that it was polished black marble that reflected the dim light. So they passed the lantern and again found themselves in darkness. “But midnight has come,” I wanted to say. This is where it began to speak. From the side, in the distance, there was a roar of barking - furiously, excitedly, with a howl, with a growl. One hundred votes! And from the tombstones - an echo, and on the echo - a new onslaught, and now all over the cemetery, on four sides, you won’t understand whether it’s far or close: woof!.. woof!! Someone wheezes: - Don't run! It feels like along all the alleys, along all the passages between the fences - they are rushing straight towards us, in a hurry, they are already very close! Here, behind the bushes, like a firefly, there is a window in the house, and the house itself should have a caretaker, our salvation! And the gate! Gate! It's not locked, darling! They fell out of the cemetery like ninepins. And as soon as we got out, it became quiet behind the wall, as if it had cut us off. That was the end of it. And I have never heard a choral bark of dogs at the Vvedensky cemetery either before or since.
© MoskvaX.ru
UFO OVER THE CEMETERY: At the Vvedensky cemetery there is a tombstone with curious drawings: a shooting star and a mysterious figure. Alexander Kazantsev was buried. Alexander Petrovich Kazantsev - Soviet science fiction writer. At the end of the war, he was a commissioner of the State Defense Committee - he dismantled factories in Austria and sent them to the USSR. Kazantsev showed great interest in the mysteries of science. He published a number of articles, essays and works of fiction dedicated to the mystery of the Tunguska meteorite (“Explosion”, “Guest from Space”, “Tunguska Catastrophe: 60 Years of Speculation and Controversy”). In them, he expressed the version that the meteorite was an alien ship that exploded upon landing. Kazantsev pointed out the similarities between the explosion in Hiroshima and the explosion of a meteorite, which testified in favor of the artificial nature of this body. In addition, Kazantsev was interested in the hypothesis of paleocontacts and collected information about legends and archaeological finds. Kazantsev can be called one of the pioneers of Soviet ufology. It is the Tunguska body and the alien that are depicted on the gravestone. Location: Entrance to the cemetery from the street. Hospital shaft. Walk along the central alley to the end of section 12 (it’s on the left), turn left and go straight to the end of section 25, turn right. The grave of A. Kazantsev is located on the 2nd path from the road, on the right.