The most mysterious ancient children's burials. The Mystery of the Opened Grave

Anything happens in the life of each of us. There are also mysterious cases that are simply impossible to explain from generally accepted positions. Cemetery stories stand apart, because they are directly related to the other world, in which we will all eventually find ourselves. The secrets of the graves - this is how one can characterize those stunning phenomena that individual eyewitnesses witness from time to time when they come to the cemetery. But let's look at specific cases and make sure that they deserve close attention and study.

First story

In the late autumn of 1932, Mr. Arthur Hasman arrived in his hometown of Inverness, in the north of Scotland. He spent his childhood here, and close relatives were buried here. Actually, to honor the memory of the deceased, the above-mentioned gentleman came from London. Therefore, having rested a little after the trip, Hazman headed to the cemetery. He visited the grave of his father and mother, stood near the monument to his recently deceased aunt, and then headed to the grave of Uncle Roger.

It was located in the western part of the cemetery, and next to it stood a tombstone with an angel carved on it. Soon Arthur noticed a remarkable monument, but when he approached it, he did not see his uncle’s grave nearby. In the place where his remains had previously rested, there was an absolutely flat piece of land with withered autumn grass.

The newcomer looked around in confusion. He decided that he was in the wrong place. But it was simply impossible. Hazman visited the cemetery regularly once every 5 years. In past times, my uncle’s grave was located in this very place, but now for some reason it was not there.

The man went to the cemetery watchman and explained the situation to him. He took out a diagram of the cemetery and laid it out on the table. On it, Roger's grave was in the place where Arthur had been just 10 minutes earlier. That is, the visitor was not mistaken and came exactly where he needed to go. The watchman finally dispelled all doubts. He said that a couple of years ago he saw both a monument with an angel and a tombstone next to it. But when the men arrived at the place, they again stared at an absolutely flat piece of land.

The next day, the watchman finally found the missing grave. But she ended up 300 meters from her previous place. However, the tombstone was in perfect order, and the dates of Sir Roger's birth and death clearly appeared on it. The cemetery worker could not explain this phenomenon. From a community point of view, such a move did not make any sense.

Arthur called his aunt in London. She also regularly visited the deceased, and knew very well the location of all the graves. She arrived a couple of days later and was convinced for herself that someone had moved the gravestone. All this looked blasphemous, and the lady raised a scandal. Local authorities were completely at a loss and expressed their readiness to return the slab to its place.

However, the aunt decided to get to the mortal remains and check if they were intact. Maybe grave thieves dug up the grave and violated Roger's body. Diggers came and dug a deep hole, but no traces of remains were found. This shocked the relatives of the deceased. The cemetery employees were also completely at a loss.

Arthur Hasman suggested excavating the place where the tombstone was discovered. He suggested that some pranksters had moved the mortal remains to a new location. The diggers began to dig without any enthusiasm. However, at a depth of 2 meters they came across a half-rotten coffin. The lid was removed from it, and everyone saw a skeleton with the remains of decayed clothing. The aunt told her nephew that the deceased had right hand there should be a massive gold ring. The man went down to the grave and actually found this decoration on the hand of the deceased.

After this, all doubts about the authenticity of Sir Roger’s corpse disappeared, but the mysterious incident itself ended up in cemetery stories, and the secrets of the graves appeared before people in all their mystical glory. How did the coffin and the tombstone end up in a different place? However, there were no traces of reburial. The boards of the coffin, one might say, have grown into the ground. It seemed that no one had ever done excavation work in this place before.

Scottish newspapers wrote a lot about this story. The police were investigating the strange case. But not a single version was put forward. No one saw the intruders, or whether they actually existed. The coffin and tombstone were returned to their place, and the strange incident was forgotten over time.

Second story

A strange incident, which can be described as the secrets of the graves, happened in 1763 in southern Germany near the city of Ravensburg. It was witnessed by several shepherds driving a herd of cows. On the river bank they discovered a grave with a large tombstone. There was an inscription on it: “Here lie the remains of the venerable Christina Bauer.”

The shepherds drove their flock past this place every day. But there was no grave. The coast was always clear. The entire space was occupied only by grass, and bushes grew in the distance. Therefore, the people who discovered the unusual find told everything to the priest. He came to the grave and was incredibly surprised. The priest knew this grave and the woman buried in it very well. They checked the cemetery, and in the place where Christina Bauer had previously rested, they saw a completely flat and empty piece of land.

Excavations were carried out near the river and in the cemetery. The coffin with the remains, contrary to all reason, was found on the shore. But they decided not to return the grave to its old place. The priest reasoned that apparently it was the will of the higher powers. The spirit of the deceased woman moved the remains of her mortal body to a place that was apparently more convenient for him. This grave long years brought fear to local residents. During the First World War it was destroyed.

Third story

Cemetery stories find their way into our days. In 1993, a mysterious incident happened on the territory of the Foley Creek farm in Kansas (USA). Farmer John Barney left his house early in the morning and saw a gravestone right in the middle of the yard. The frightened farmer immediately called the police.

The grave that appeared inexplicably was carefully examined. Apparently she was very old, since the inscription on the stone was almost erased. The farmer's house was located 5 kilometers from the nearest dwelling; the gate to the yard was always locked. At night the owner of the house let the dogs out. So a stupid joke was completely ruled out.

The grave was dug up and a rotted coffin with human remains was discovered. All this had grown so deep into the ground that it seemed as if the grave had moved into the farmer’s yard along with several cubic meters of earth. We had to use an excavator to clear the yard of unwanted burial.

The remains were transported several kilometers and buried near a cemetery located in the suburbs of the nearest city. No one has been able to establish who owned the grave and where it used to be. This mysterious incident has been illuminated by many means mass media America. But most residents considered it a newspaper duck.

Conclusion

What puts representatives of civilization into a state of stupor is not at all something unusual among some tribes of Africa. Their cemetery stories are inextricably linked to the movement of graves. Tribes have a custom of dousing a fresh grave with tree sap and casting spells. This is done so that the grave does not leave its place. The people of Haiti behave in exactly the same way. And among some peoples of Oceania, it is customary to bury two dead people in one grave at once. If the soul of one of them wants to change place, then the second soul will resist this.

The secrets of graves, their ability to move in space, arouse genuine interest among people. However, this amazing phenomenon has not yet been solved. In addition, official science is very skeptical about such facts. Therefore, serious research is not being conducted in this area.

"Vampire graves" are found throughout Europe. These could be burials with a severed head or a body crushed by stones, or they could simply be remains turned face down. It is curious, but the initial interpretation of all such burials as “vampire graves” was proposed not even by a professional scientist, but only by a worker who worked on one of the excavations.

Interest in everything mysterious and a throwback to the past of current ideas have done their job: the far from indisputable version has become a common place in scientific works and in the mass media. Correspondents, together with Polish historians, decided to test the strength of this hypothesis.

Publications regularly appear in the world press and even in serious scientific journals about how archaeologists are finding more and more vampire graves. In 2009, Italian criminologists declared a vampire a woman whose skull with a brick in her teeth was found on the island of Lazzaretto Nuovo (Venice) among those who died during the plague epidemic in the 16th century. In 2011, two men from 9th century burials in Kilteshin (Ireland) were called vampires (and perhaps the oldest in Europe).

The stones in the mouth, according to archaeologists, were supposed to prevent them from rising from their graves and harming living beings. But most often, the graves of ghouls are found in Poland: from Western Pomerania to Podkarpackie and from Krakow to Gdansk. Perhaps it was because the fear of vampires began to spread across Europe from Slavic folklore, and in Poland ghouls haunted people more often than in other places (or so their victims believed).

A new generation of Polish scientists proposed a different, no less interesting hypothesis: numerous “vampire graves” arose due to methodological errors and speculations of twentieth-century archaeologists, who easily gave all the unusual burials to bloodsuckers. The authors of an article in the journal World Archeology created a typology of strange graves and examined the most different variants their occurrence - from the ineptitude of gravediggers to the demonstrative executions of criminals.

Living and dead

Determining the real status of sorcerers, witches, werewolves and ghouls remains one of the most intriguing questions in history and anthropology. It is still unclear whether they actually existed (at least as people consciously practicing forbidden magical rituals) or were simply sick innocent people, victims of slander, phobias and psychoses of relatives and neighbors. Suffice it to recall the massive witch hunts that affected many countries, in which thousands of people became victims.

The same vampirism can be explained by a rare genetic blood disease (porphyria), the symptoms of which fit into the appearance of a classic ghoul. Sunlight is contraindicated for patients; the skin around the lips and gums dries out, causing the incisors to be exposed to the gums; porphyrin settles on the teeth, staining them red.

But, no matter who witches and vampires actually were, their existence was an indisputable fact of the psychology and spiritual life of people of the Middle Ages, which, in turn, influenced material life. Scientists have to reconstruct the true events of history and their psychological motives, including using objects such as burials.

In the Middle Ages, in the lands of the Slavs, as in other parts of Europe, the church fought with bitterness against pagan funeral rites. The Slavs and Germans continued to place valuable things in the grave that would be useful to the deceased in the afterlife. During night vigils over the deceased, they performed chants and spells, accompanying them with ritual dances. The priests had an extremely negative attitude towards this: after all, according to Christian teaching a person’s soul went to heaven or hell, to God, and not to a special “world of the dead,” where, according to common people, it was necessary to ensure a safe passage with the help of magical rituals so that the deceased would not harm the living.

However, even with the spread of Christianity among the broad masses of Europeans (including Slavs), the division of the dead into “pure”, those who died a natural death, and “unclean” remained - this category could include suicides, drowned people, executed people, infidels, sorcerers and unbaptized babies. Such dead people were buried behind the fence of the church, at a crossroads, or in some other unusual way - because they were afraid that they would return to harm the world of the living.

Unbearable ease of interpretation

In 1957, historian Bonifacy Zielonka published an article describing unusual burials in Kuyavia (northern Poland): a woman buried face down and a headless man (the skull was found between his legs). One of the workers at the excavation decided that in front of him was the grave of a witch (strhiga) - and the scientist agreed with this version! WITH light hand An unknown shovel worker, such an interpretation entered scientific use.

Excavations at the ancient cemetery of “vampires” in Gliwice, Poland

In the 1960s to 1990s, archaeologists described dozens of such burials, but did not seek to speculate about their causes. A short mention of the fact that the dangerous dead were buried in this way in order to prevent them from returning from the other world became a dogma and wandered from one monograph to another. At the same time, historians have no evidence that the Western Slavs in the early Middle Ages believed in the “living dead.” Since the 1970s, all strange burials began to be called “anti-vampire”.

Only in the 2000s, archaeologists, joining forces with medieval historians, began to pay due attention to the social and legal context of burials - the legal culture of the Middle Ages, the study of specific execution instruments and, most importantly, texts (chronicles and stories about trials and executions of criminals). The authors of the article in World Archeology do not provide a final and indisputable interpretation of the strange burials of the 10th-13th centuries, but invite colleagues and readers to think with them about who, how and why could have been buried in them.

Precautions, mistakes and crimes

The first known atypical burials in Poland date back to the 10th century. Before this, the Western Slavs burned their dead, and from cremated remains it is impossible to detect oddities in the fate of the dead. Archaeologists describe three main types of anomalous burials: the deceased is lying prone, he is decapitated, and stones lie on the corpse.

Schemes of some anomalous burials: from Zlota Pinchowska, Stara Zamek, Tsedyn and Radom

Burials “face down” were found throughout early medieval Europe - among the Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavians and Slavs. In Poland, the burial of a young woman from Gwiazdowo (western Poland), discovered back in 1937, is well known. She was buried face down, with her head to the south and her face turned to the west. In the grave lay three temple rings made of lead, a bronze and a silver ring, and an iron knife in a leather sheath.

An abundance of values ​​combined with in an unusual way The location of the deceased became a mystery to archaeologists. In folklore, the first indications of such treatment of the dead are found in the 16th century, and the most famous text (Treatise on Strzyg) tells how in 1674 a Silesian, after death, turned into a Strzygun (demon) drinking blood.

The local priest ordered the grave to be dug up and the dead man to be placed face down, but the next night he rose from the grave again and beat his son to death. Only when the corpse's head was cut off did it stop disturbing the community.

However, archaeologists remind us that behind such picturesque sources of modern times, one can forget that in the Middle Ages people were buried head down when something shameful happened to them in life and who, literally, could not look their neighbors in the eyes. So, for example, the French king Pepin the Short was buried.

They acted in the same way in order to save themselves from the evil eye of the dead man. Finally, we cannot discount the mistakes of the gravediggers, who hastily buried the corpses. That is, the fear that a dead person will return from the other world to drink the blood of the living is not the most probable cause burials face down.

Headless corpses were found very often in Poland: these were skulls without skeletons, skeletons without skulls, and graves where the skull was reburied. For example, in Dembchino (Western Pomerania) they found the remains of a woman about 50 years old without a head. Her skull was most likely dug out of the ground and reburied face down in the neighborhood.

In Kaldus (Kujawia) a double grave was discovered: a man who, judging by the scars on his vertebrae, had been beheaded, and the woman next to him had her collarbones broken. Of course, beheading in folklore and even in written sources is described as one of the important measures that prevent the dangerous dead from rising from the grave.

However, scientists write, there are more ordinary explanations: the heads of criminals were very often cut off. In many graves, the skulls have characteristic holes made with a sharp instrument: most likely, the severed heads were first hung on stakes and poles.

Thus, in the Middle Ages, they simultaneously punished the criminal and frightened those who might follow his example. Even the wooden stake in the grave, according to stratigraphy, was not a weapon to fight vampires, but a means of intimidating the people - having planted a head on it, the pole was stuck into the ground at the top of the hill where the cemetery was located (burial in Wolin, Western Pomerania).

Burial from Tsedyn (artist’s reconstruction)

Finally, graves with stones - more than twenty of them were found in Poland, they date back to the 10th-13th centuries. In such burials, the stone was usually found at the site of the skull (the grave from Tsedyn, in the illustration) or on various parts of the body of the deceased. Scandinavian sources write about stoning as a punishment for witchcraft, but Polish texts are silent about this.

It is quite possible that the stones were designed to keep the dead from leaving their graves, but there is a more prosaic version: the stone held the head of the deceased turned to the side, forcing him to “look” to the east (as required by Christian funeral rites). Everything can be explained even more simply: the stones could protect graves from robbers and wild animals (Radom burial, in the illustration).

Fears and myths

The history of the “vampire graves”, their popularity in the scientific world, and then in the media, shows how often people tend to “overturn” their own fears and favorite myths into the past. In the same series is the search for images of aliens in rock paintings and temple frescoes. The people of the Middle Ages lived very difficult life, and they had many fears of their own: of hunger and disease, knights and robbers, the devil and hell, the evil eye and curse, witches and bloodsuckers.

The transition to another world was one of the points where these fears were focused, as well as the means of combating them. Only recently have scientists begun to understand that conversion modern ideas going into the past not only distorts history, but also gives a much poorer and more faded picture of the past than it actually was.

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There is something mystical about death. And where people find their final refuge, there is always a special, slightly creepy atmosphere. It excites the imagination, frightens and at the same time attracts. This is how superstitions, legends appear, and ridiculous rumors spread. The most interesting and unusual of them are collected here.

Graves of witches and wizards

If there was a bad rumor about a person during his lifetime, he was buried in a special way. The body could be burned, nailed to the ground, tied with belts, chopped up, tendons cut, or “sealed” with silver. Many peoples believed that a witch should be buried without a coffin, face down. Graves were often placed behind the fences of cemeteries, in forests, and at crossroads. They threw stones on top and planted thorny bushes.

If this is not done, the dead man will be able to get out. There is a belief that over time, holes and cracks appear on the graves of witches and sorcerers, through which they come to the surface. A large number of ants, bleeding grass and strange sounds from underground also indicate the place where the witch is buried. Without knowing these signs, it will be difficult to find him. But there are also well-known facts:

This cemetery is located in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Well, I think many people have heard about the famous Salem witch trials of 1692. Then about 200 people were arrested on charges of witchcraft. Some were executed outright (hanged or crushed with stones), others died in prison.

True, in 1702 the authorities officially declared the process illegal, in 1957 all sentences were overturned, and in 1992 the cemetery became a memorial to the victims. By the way, in fact, those convicted of witchcraft were not buried there. There is not a single witch grave in Salem. But the legend attracts tourists there.

And in the forests of Michigan lies a witch who, according to legend, destroyed the whole city. If in 1874 there were about 1,500 residents in Pere Cheney, then by the beginning of the 20th century there were only 25 of them left. Two diphtheria epidemics wiped out most of the population, the rest left. And the disease, of course, was caused by a local witch.

They say she gave birth to a child out of wedlock and was banished. The baby died, and then the woman cursed the city. In the end, the witch was caught, hanged, and her body was buried. In that forest, dark figures and ghostly lights still appear, and children’s laughter can be heard. But get real photos of ghosts So far it hasn't been possible.

Graves of vampires and ghouls

Almost all nations have legends about the dead who drink living blood. Usually such a fate awaited suicides, sorcerers, excommunications... and many others. And, of course, those who have been bitten by a vampire. Naturally, people were afraid of these creatures and took measures to ensure that the deceased did not leave his grave after death. And for this it is important to properly bury someone who can become a vampire.

The body should be burned or at least pierced with an aspen stake and laid so that it is oriented from east to west. It is advisable to separate the head and place it between the feet. To prevent the corpse from eating its shroud, you need to slip something under the chin (stone, iron). You can also pour sawdust or grains into the coffin so that the vampire begins to count them and does not have time to get out before dawn. Here are the most famous burials:

In north London there is the old Highgate Cemetery. It has been attracting attention for a long time. Reports of vampires often appear, and suspicious graves are marked with the letter V. Visitors find dug up and headless corpses, empty coffins. Several bodies were exhumed, and they looked strange.

Plump, well-fed... not completely dead... Exist real photos of vampires, they look exactly like this. But everything is explained more simply. The corpse always swells, this is one of the stages of decomposition. There is blood on the lips. If a stake is pierced through the body, it may groan as the accumulated gases are forced past the vocal cords.

The Père Lachaise cemetery in France is also considered a haven for vampires. It all started in 1848, when some madman dug up several graves, pulled out bodies and badly damaged them. He believed that he had to do this. Since then, rumors have spread. However, the appearance of some tombstones is suggestive.

The symbolism of the burials looks ominous. Skulls and bats, which are considered the visual embodiment of vampires, fatalistic inscriptions... However, in the 19th century Western Europe it was accepted. According to another version, the image of a bat with outstretched wings served as protection from evil.

Wandering graves and restless crypts

There is a belief that the earth will not accept the ashes of a person if they have not been buried properly. Creepy stories the relocation of the graves flooded the Internet. In general, this phenomenon has been known for a long time, but the evidence is poor. Everyone rewrites the same texts, which mention non-existent cities and people. There are no real photos or documents.

Normal explanations too. Perhaps there are forces and energies at work here that we don’t yet know anything about. For example, when it exploded, strange things also happened... negative pressure and much more... But in the case of the graves there was something different. If they moved anywhere at all. Here are a couple of more or less plausible stories:

This event took place even before the revolution in a remote Russian village. At night, a mound of earth with a half-rotten cross appeared in one hut. They tried to remove the grave, but it turned out that there was also a lot of earth under the floor. When they took her out, human remains were found there.

The cross was similar to those installed in an abandoned cemetery near the village. How all this ended up in the hut, no one understood. The grave was removed and the bones were reburied. But the house had to be abandoned. Since then, people have avoided the terrible place.

The Chase family crypt is located in Barbados. It is carved out of the rock and covered with a marble slab. Every time it was opened, the coffins located there turned out to be turned on their sides, standing upright, scattered... They seemed to be crawling around the room. This was repeated from 1812 to 1820.

Various versions have been put forward, from Voodoo magic and Masonic rites to floods and shifts in the earth's crust. In the mid-20th century, researcher Eric Russell identified a number of patterns in these phenomena. He believed that metal coffins were moved by water under the influence of gravity and a magnetic field.

So what is it? True or just gossip? I don’t know.. But here the materials are collected all over the Internet, I couldn’t even identify the original sources. And the dead cannot confirm or deny the rumors that circulate about them. Waiting for better times, they will keep their ancient secrets.

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Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Taj Mahal, Agra. India. Tomb of King Pakal, Palenque, Mexico. Everyone knows these names. But less “popular” grandiose burial complexes have been found throughout the world for thousands of years. According to traditional scientists, these complexes are the resting places of ancient rulers. But could they have a more serious, perhaps extraterrestrial purpose?

So why were so many magnificent tombs built in ancient times?

North of Peru. 1987 Archaeologist Walter Alva discovered the so-called tomb of the “Ruler of Sipan”. This tomb (intact and without signs of looting) is considered one of the richest tombs in the world. The "Ruler of Sipan" was one of the Moche kings who ruled Lombayeque, a coastal region of Peru. Gold, silver, fabrics, jewelry and other items were found in the tomb. Peruvian archaeologists sometimes call it the "South American Tomb of Tutankhamun." The objects found in this tomb were very unusual. The burial chamber contained many items: ceramic dishes, utensils made of gold, silver and copper, as well as feather jewelry. Some researchers believe that they were supposed to accompany and guard the “Ruler of Sipan” in another world. Some archaeologists suggest that some of his servants, wives and close associates were deliberately killed, and their bodies were placed in the tomb to accompany him to the other world, which is very reminiscent of ancient Egyptian rituals.

So, in Sipan there is a tomb in which, it turns out, aliens are represented, anthropomorphic creatures, half animals, half people. These creatures do not look like ordinary people, but like “classic” aliens. In the tomb of the "Ruler of Sipan" there are several the most interesting subjects, which cannot in any way be correlated with things that existed in “earthly” everyday life at that time. Perhaps these creatures, along with their artifacts, helped man on his way to another world, for example, back to space or to heaven. Followers of the “Ruler of Sipan” theory believe that he was not a mere mortal, but a half-man - half-god.

The most interesting thing is that he has a golden mask on his face, and his body is mostly protected by copper armor. Thus we see a man whose dead body must resemble something else - a shining being, a divine being, as he once was and will be after death, it is believed, becoming such a being again. Is it possible that the figurines found in the tomb really represent the alien origins of this ancient ruler? And if so, is it possible that this tomb, like the tomb in Egypt, really is a star portal? Adherents of such a theory answer this question, of course, in the affirmative. They are confident that evidence of this can be found by studying the boat-shaped coffins and unusual funeral rituals of the ancient representatives of the Toraja tribe.

South of Sulawesi island. Indonesia. It is home to the Tana Toraja burial caves, a site of complex burial rituals dating back to around 3000 BC. The Torajans believe that death is a gradual progression towards another world. Many cultures believe in an afterlife, that after the body dies, something continues to exist. The Torajans, the inhabitants of Indonesia, are very interesting and unusual in this regard, since most of the rituals they perform are dedicated not to life, but to death. They have amazing rituals: when someone dies, they throw a sumptuous meal and a luxurious celebration in honor of the deceased. Toraja people place their dead in coffins unusual shape, resembling a model of a spaceship. Then they take them into the caves. They believe that, in the end, the dead return to the stars, and that they, now living, will also return to the stars.

These beliefs are no different from those that exist elsewhere. Is it possible, as some researchers believe, that ancient aliens who visited Earth several thousand years ago inspired our ancestors to create boat-shaped coffins resembling them spaceships? And if so, could the presence of these boat-shaped coffins prove that our ancestors were preparing to travel to the stars? Some believe that the indisputable proof is in place mysterious burials in Ireland, where the Star Charts point not only to where the ancient visitors came from, but also to the places to which the dead must wish to return.

Oldcastle. Ireland. Among the ruins of the Stone Age cemetery is a 5,000-year-old tomb, whose diameter is about 35 meters. It is named after the legendary king - poet Ollam Fodl. In the tomb of Ollam Fodl, the connection between Earth and Heaven is visible. Some believe that this is an observatory. But it is logical to assume that it was a temple, a place of worship that connected Earth with Heaven. Some scholars say that the astronomical symbols carved on stone walls, possibly made by extraterrestrial beings.

The tomb of Ollam Fodla contains unique and strange star maps. One has to wonder if these are maps showing alien visitors the way back home to the stars. Could aliens, as some scientists claim, have taught our ancestors the art of building what is called a “celestial observatory”? And if so, could this cemetery serve as a kind of “holding zone,” a place where aliens observed and predicted the movements of celestial bodies, preparing their return to the stars? Perhaps the answer to these questions can be found by studying ancient burial structures in Japan.

Sakai. Japan. Here, in a city located 400 km southwest of Tokyo, lies Daisen-kofun, one of forty ancient burial complexes lying within a 10 km radius. This structure, which is twice the length of the Cheops Pyramid, is one of the largest tombs in the world. It was created in the fifth century AD and is considered the resting place of Nintoku, the 16th Emperor of Japan. Among all the structures that make up the tomb, or kofun, the most mysterious is the one whose shape resembles a keyhole. However, this shape can only be determined by looking from above. The fact that they are made in the shape of a keyhole, and that this can only be seen from above, is a clear indication of the Gods saying: “Look here.” This was a kind of appeal to the stars on the part of those in the tomb. Could these tombs be for alien gods to find their way back to the stars they came from?

Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor of China: he created the Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Many founded by him social institutions continued to operate throughout the era of imperial power in China. Qin Shi Huang conquered and unified China, built the Great Wall of China, and created a unified monetary standard and legal system for China. In addition, he was obsessed with finding the secret of eternal life. This emperor was looking for islands where there is immortality. He also obsessively searched for lost knowledge. During his lifetime he aspired to become equal to the gods...

By order of Qin Shi Huang, more than 700 thousand workers spent 30 years building an underground city consisting of four levels, which would become his resting place. At the center of this ancient complex is greatest mystery China. The tomb itself occupies a very large area, and only a few areas adjacent to it have been excavated. Archaeologists believe that under this central mound there is a chamber containing the remains of the emperor. The entire complex has not yet been excavated due to high content it contains mercury, which is dangerous to life. It is believed that inside there is an accurate miniature model of the Universe. The ceiling serves as the sky, and the pearls represent the stars. On the floor of the chamber are the rivers of China, and instead of water in these rivers flows mercury, used in measuring instruments, electronics and cars (mercury is a liquid metal). Archaeologists discovered mercury in Egypt in a tomb from 1500 BC!

Some researchers believe that the presence of mercury there indicates the existence of technology similar to modern technology in the ancient world. The presence of mercury in these tombs is unusual. Mercury itself is not the most useful substance for humans, used only in high-tech devices. Perhaps it was present in the technology used by aliens on this planet. Was the first emperor of China acting under the influence of extraterrestrial visitors when building this monument? Could mercury found in a tomb be evidence of alien technology in China thousands of years ago, designed not only to bury the dead, but also to send aliens back into space? Perhaps new data will be found through a careful study of the mysterious burial mounds scattered around the world.

Gyeongju. South Korea. Here, near the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan, lie the ruins of Cheonmacheon, the tomb of the “Heavenly Horse”. They were discovered in 1973 and scientists believe that this mound-shaped tomb was built in the 5th century for a king from the Silla dynasty, which ruled Korea for about a thousand years. The main attraction of this tomb is the so-called "heavenly horse" and therefore it is often called the tomb of the "heavenly horse". This horse has eight legs engulfed in flames. It is clear that this is not a real, naturally occurring horse. It rather appears to be a hybrid of a horse and a dragon, flying through the air. Perhaps it symbolizes the journey of the soul, or it carries the soul into the afterlife. Most historians argue that the image of this horse indicates not only the important role of the horse in the culture of Ancient Korea, but also the king’s belief in the world of spirits. Adherents of the “ancient aliens” theory have another, deeper interpretation. They believe that the image of a winged horse shows how a deceased nobleman is transported to another distant world.

The inhabitants of Tibet and the Mongols also have similar legends about winged horses, and these horses are obviously some kind of analogue of the vimanas described in Sanskrit, flying machines, “Chariots of God,” which Erich von Daniken spoke about. They are often depicted as this horse, a common means of transportation for people of that era. Only these horses could fly: they were flying machines. If we look closely at him, we will see that he looks like a dragon, since fire comes from his legs, and the legs themselves do not really resemble legs. They look more like some kind of wings. It must be remembered that spaceships were not known to the ancient people, and therefore what they saw in the skies could best be described as a horse with eight legs descending from the heavens. Is it possible that the so-called “Heavenly Horse” of Cheongmacheon really symbolizes the metal apparatus of aliens, as adherents of the field contact theory believe? And if so, does this prove the theory that the ancient tombs were actually portals to other, alien worlds? Perhaps new information can be found by studying the mysterious drawings in another burial mound, located 8,000 km away.

Boyne River Valley. Ireland. Here, 50 km north of Dublin, lies Newgrange, an ancient burial mound dating back to 3200 BC, very similar to one discovered in South Korea. Among all the ancient mounds found in the area, this one is preserved in in the best possible way. Newgrange was one of the largest man-made structures at the time of its construction. It is 5000 years old, maybe more, and thus older than the Cheops pyramid. This is a grandiose structure created by an extremely advanced culture, since they were able to build it.

Is it possible that Newgrange's celestial orientation was intended to symbolize the journey to the afterlife, as some alien intervention theorists believe? We use the term "spiral galaxy" all the time. The question arises whether some of these spirals are somehow related to intergalactic travel. According to what we know about the beliefs of the builders of Newgrange and, mainly, about their beliefs regarding the travel of the dead, we understand that we're talking about about space travel.

When considering the famous burial mounds scattered around the world, these mounds are round in shape, their very shape makes one think of flying saucers or UFOs, and the spiral structures were often used as symbols of time travel, which is how aliens probably and fell to Earth. Could the hundreds of burial mounds that exist on Earth communicate with each other through some kind of extraterrestrial communication? And if so, is it possible that aliens used these mounds as portals for intergalactic travel, as proponents of the paleocontact theory suggest? Perhaps these seemingly unrealistic ideas are not as difficult to imagine as they seem, especially when you consider that similar phenomena are happening in our time in the southwestern region of North America.

Sierra County. State of New Mexico. 2010 Three, two, one, go! Celestis Inc. is conducting one of the first personal space flights, providing new and unique funeral services. This company sends the ashes of the dead into space. Among them are Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, 60s icon Timothy Leary, and even astronaut Gordon Cooper, a member of NASA's Mercury program. Celestis rents cameras on conventional rockets that launch satellites and other objects into Earth orbit. They take seven grams of ash and launch it into space in miniature containers. This is an incredible achievement, because this moment we have the opportunity to send the ashes of the dead into space. It is worth wondering if this is not a recreation of the ancient idea of ​​​​using boats or some other symbols with which kings and pharaohs were prepared for their return to heaven.

But why do people want to send their dead into space? Is this the embodiment of man's unconscious desire to return to the stars after death? Is it possible to connect this in some way with the existence of people’s belief in paradise, in a utopian world located somewhere far away, beyond the borders of our world, for hundreds of years? It is interesting that this happens precisely to those people who had some kind of foresight, who wanted to lead humanity into space, to lead it in search of discoveries, to try to find out if there were other living creatures out there. Interestingly, in the future we will encounter this more and more often, and we will become closer to the way of thinking of our ancestors. Perhaps someday people will be able to send an entire body into space in order to restore contact with our ancestors. We are made of star material, and the entire universe is made of star dust. So it's only natural that some people want their ashes sent back into space. In the ancient world, people considered themselves immortal souls, on a short time trapped in a human body. Perhaps these reincarnations happen again and again. It was believed that some part of the personality continues to exist outside physical world and the tomb, in a certain sense, is the immortal home of this part of the person's personality.

Is it possible, as some researchers believe, that humans have been trying to contact their extraterrestrial sources for a long time? And if so, could the ancient tombs that exist around the world have been built to make it easier to travel into space, even after death? It’s difficult to say what our ancestors thought when they looked at the night sky: maybe they felt their insignificance next to its greatness, maybe they thought about what the stars in the sky were. This may be why they developed a mythology about gods, goddesses and other beings living in the celestial world above us. Perhaps this is why many of their ancient temples are oriented according to celestial bodies.

One of the most mystical personalities in Russian literature is N.V. Gogol. During his lifetime he was a secretive person and took with him many secrets. But he left behind brilliant works in which fantasy and reality, the beautiful and the repulsive, the funny and the tragic are intertwined.

Here witches fly on a broomstick, boys and ladies fall in love with each other, the imaginary auditor takes on a pompous appearance, Viy raises his leaden eyelids and runs away from And the writer unexpectedly bids us farewell, leaving us in admiration and bewilderment. Today we will talk about his last charade, left to his descendants - the secret of Gogol’s grave.

The writer's childhood

Gogol was born in the Poltava province on March 1, 1809. Before him, two dead boys had already been born in the family, so the parents prayed to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for the birth of the third and named the first-born in his honor. Gogol was a sickly child, they fussed over him a lot and loved him more than other children.

From his mother he inherited religiosity and a penchant for premonitions. From my father - suspiciousness and love for the theater. The boy was attracted by secrets, horror stories, prophetic dreams.

At the age of 10, he and his younger brother Ivan were sent to the Poltava School. But the training did not last long. His brother died, which greatly shocked little Nikolai. He was transferred to the Nizhyn gymnasium. Among his peers, the boy was distinguished by his love of practical jokes and secrecy, for which he was called Mysterious Carlo. This is how the writer Gogol grew up. His creativity and personal life were largely determined by their first childhood impressions.

Is Gogol's artistic world the creation of a mad genius?

The writer’s works surprise with their phantasmagoric nature. Horrifying sorcerers come to life on their pages (" Terrible revenge"), witches rise at night, led by the monster Viy. But along with evil spirits, caricatures of modern society. A new auditor comes to town, they are bought by Chichikov dead Souls, shows Russian life with utmost honesty. And next to it is the absurdity of Nevsky Prospekt and the famous Nose. How were these images born in the head of the writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol?

Creativity researchers are still at a loss. Many theories are connected with the writer's madness. It is known that he suffered from painful conditions, during which mood swings, extreme despair, and fainting were observed. Perhaps it was disturbed thinking that prompted Gogol to write such vivid, unusual works? After all, after suffering, periods of creative inspiration followed.

However, psychiatrists who studied Gogol's work find no signs of insanity. In their opinion, the writer suffered from depression. Hopeless sadness and special sensitivity are characteristic of many brilliant individuals. This is what helps them to become more aware of the surrounding reality, to show it with unexpected sides, surprising the reader.

The writer was shy and a closed person. In addition, he had a good sense of humor and loved practical jokes. All this gave rise to many legends about him. Thus, excessive religiosity suggests that Gogol could be a member of a sect.

Even more controversial is the fact that the writer was not married. There is a legend that in the 1840s he proposed to Countess A. M. Vilegorskaya, but was refused. There was also a rumor about Nikolai Vasilyevich’s platonic love for the married lady A. O. Smirnova-Rosset. But these are all rumors. As well as conversations about Gogol’s homosexual tendencies, which he allegedly tried to get rid of through austerities and prayers.

The death of the writer raises many questions. Gloomy thoughts and forebodings overcame him after the end of the second volume." Dead souls"in 1852. In those days, he communicated with confessor Matvey Konstantinovsky. The latter convinced Gogol to abandon sinful literary activities and devote more time to spiritual quests.

A week before Lent, the writer subjects himself to the most severe asceticism. He hardly eats or sleeps, which negatively affects his health. That night he burns papers in the fireplace (presumably the second volume of Dead Souls). Since February 18, Gogol has not gotten out of bed and is preparing for death. On February 20, doctors decide to begin compulsory treatment. On the morning of February 21, the writer dies.

Causes of death

People still wonder how the writer Gogol died. He was only 42 years old. Despite the poor health Lately, no one expected such an outcome. Doctors were unable to make an accurate diagnosis. All this gave rise to many rumors. Let's look at some of them:

1. Suicide. Before his death, Gogol voluntarily refused to eat and prayed instead of sleeping. He consciously prepared for death, forbade himself to be treated, and did not listen to the admonitions of his friends. Perhaps he died of his own free will? However, for a religious person who fears hell and the devil, this is not possible.
2. Mental illness. Perhaps the reason for Gogol’s behavior was a clouding of his mind? Shortly before the tragic events, Ekaterina Khomyakova, the sister of the writer’s close friend, to whom he was attached, died. On February 8-9, Nikolai Vasilyevich dreamed own death. All this could have shaken his unstable psyche and led to excessively harsh asceticism, the consequences of which were terrifying.
3. Incorrect treatment. Gogol could not be diagnosed for a long time, suspecting either intestinal typhus or inflammation of the stomach. Finally, a council of doctors decided that the patient had meningitis and subjected him to bloodletting, warm baths, and cold douses that were unacceptable for such a diagnosis. All this undermined the body, which was already weakened by long abstinence from food. The writer died of heart failure.
4. Poisoning. According to other sources, doctors could provoke intoxication of the body by prescribing calomel to Gogol three times. This was due to the fact that various specialists were invited to the writer who did not know about other appointments. As a result, the patient died from an overdose.

Funeral

Be that as it may, the burial took place on February 24. It was public, although the writer's friends objected to this. Gogol's grave was originally located in Moscow on the territory of the St. Danilovsky Monastery. The coffin was brought here in their arms after the funeral service in the church of the martyr Titiana.

According to eyewitnesses, a black cat suddenly appeared at the place where Gogol’s grave is located. This caused a lot of talk. Suggestions began to spread that the writer’s soul had transmigrated into a mystical animal. After the burial, the cat disappeared without a trace.

Nikolai Vasilyevich forbade erecting a monument on his grave, so a cross was erected with a quote from the Bible: “I will laugh at my bitter word.” Its basis was granite stone brought from Crimea by K. Aksakov (“Golgotha”). In 1909, in honor of the centenary of the writer’s birth, the grave was restored. A cast iron fence was installed, as well as a sarcophagus.

Opening of Gogol's grave

In 1930, the Danilovsky Monastery was closed. In its place, it was decided to set up a reception center for juvenile delinquents. The cemetery was urgently reconstructed. In 1931, the graves of such outstanding people, like Gogol, Khomyakov, Yazykov and others, were opened and transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery.

This happened in the presence of representatives of the cultural intelligentsia. According to the memoirs of the writer V. Lidin, they arrived at the place where Gogol was buried on May 31. The work took the whole day, since the coffin was deep and inserted into the crypt through a special side hole. The remains were discovered after dusk, so no photographs were taken. The NKVD archives contain an autopsy report, which does not contain anything unusual.

However, according to rumors, this was done in order to not make a fuss. The picture that revealed itself to those present shocked everyone. A terrible rumor immediately spread across Moscow. What did the people who were present at the Danilovsky cemetery see that day?

Buried alive

In oral conversations, V. Lidin said that Gogol lay in the grave with his head turned. Moreover, the lining of the coffin was scratched from the inside. All this gave rise to terrible assumptions. What if the writer fell into a lethargic sleep and was buried alive? Perhaps, having woken up, he tried to get out of the grave?

Interest was fueled by the fact that Gogol suffered from tophephobia - the fear of being buried alive. In 1839, in Rome, he suffered severe malaria, which led to brain damage. Since then, the writer has experienced fainting spells, turning into prolonged sleep. He was very afraid that in this state he would be mistaken for dead and buried ahead of time. Therefore, I stopped sleeping in bed, preferring to doze half-sitting on the sofa or in a chair.

In his will, Gogol ordered not to bury him until obvious signs of death appeared. So is it possible that the writer’s will was not fulfilled? Is it true that Gogol turned over in his grave? Experts assure that this is impossible. As evidence, they point to the following facts:

• Gogol's death was recorded by the five best doctors of that time.
• Nikolai Ramazanov, who filmed the great namesake, knew about his fears. In his memoirs, he states: the writer, unfortunately, slept in an eternal sleep.
• The skull could have been rotated due to the displacement of the coffin lid, which often happens over time, or while being carried by hand to the burial site.
• It was impossible to see the scratches on the upholstery, which had decayed over 80 years. This is too long.
• V. Lidin's oral stories contradict his written memories. After all, according to the latter, Gogol’s body was found without a skull. In the coffin lay only a skeleton in a frock coat.

Legend of the Lost Skull

In addition to V. Lidin, the archaeologist A. Smirnov and V. Ivanov, who were present at the autopsy, also mention Gogol’s headless body. But should we believe them? After all, the historian M. Baranovskaya, who stood next to them, saw not only the skull, but also the light brown hair preserved on it. And the writer S. Solovyov did not see either the coffin or the ashes, but he found ventilation pipes in the crypt in case the deceased was resurrected and needed something to breathe.

Nevertheless, the story about the missing skull was so “in the spirit” of the author Viy that it was developed. According to legend, in 1909, during the restoration of Gogol’s grave, collector A. Bakhrushin persuaded the monks of the Danilovsky Monastery to steal the writer’s head. For a good reward, they sawed off the skull, and it took its place in the theater museum of the new owner.

He kept it secretly, in the pathologist's bag, among the medical instruments. When he passed away in 1929, Bakhrushin took with him the secret of the whereabouts of Gogol’s skull. However, could the story of the great phantasmagorist who was Nikolai Vasilyevich end here? Of course, a sequel was invented for it, worthy of the pen of the master himself.

Ghost Train

One day, Gogol’s great-nephew, naval lieutenant Yanovsky, came to Bakhrushin. He heard about the stolen skull and, threatening with a loaded weapon, demanded that it be returned to his family. Bakhrushin gave away the relic. Yanovsky decided to bury the skull in Italy, which Gogol loved very much and considered his second home.

In 1911, ships from Rome arrived in Sevastopol. Their goal was to collect the remains of their compatriots who died during the Crimean campaign. Yanovsky persuaded the captain of one of the ships, Borgose, to take with him a casket with a skull and hand it over to the Russian ambassador in Italy. He had to bury him according to the Orthodox rite.

However, Borghose did not have time to meet with the ambassador and set off on another voyage, leaving the unusual casket in his house. The captain's younger brother, a student at the University of Rome, discovered the skull and decided to scare his friends. He had a trip to fun company through the longest tunnel of its time on the Rome Express. The young rake took the skull with him. Before the train entered the mountains, he opened the casket.

Immediately the train was enveloped in an unusual fog, and panic began among those present. Borghose Jr. and another passenger jumped off the train at full speed. The rest disappeared along with the Roman Express and Gogol's skull. The search for the train was unsuccessful, and they hastened to wall up the tunnel. But in subsequent years, the train was seen in different countries, including Poltava, the writer’s homeland, and Crimea.

Is it possible that where Gogol was buried, only his ashes are found? While the writer's spirit wanders around the world on a ghostly train, never finding peace?

Last refuge

Gogol himself wanted to rest in peace. Therefore, we will leave the legends to science fiction lovers and move to the Novodevichy cemetery, where the writer’s remains were reburied on June 1, 1931. It is known that before the next burial, admirers of Nikolai Vasilyevich’s talent stole pieces of the coat, shoes and even bones of the deceased “as souvenirs”. V. Lidin admitted that he personally took a piece of clothing and placed it in the binding of “Dead Souls” of the first edition. All this, of course, is terrible.

Along with the coffin Novodevichy Cemetery The fence and the Calvary stone, which served as the basis for the cross, were transported. They did not install the cross itself in the new place, since Soviet authority was far from religion. Where he is now is unknown. Moreover, in 1952, a bust of Gogol by N.V. Tomsky was erected on the site of the grave. This was done contrary to the will of the writer, who, as a believer, called not to honor his ashes, but to pray for his soul.

Golgotha ​​was sent to the lapidary workshop. The widow of Mikhail Bulgakov found the stone there. Her husband considered himself a student of Gogol. In difficult moments, he often went to his monument and repeated: “Teacher, cover me with your cast-iron overcoat.” The woman decided to install a stone on Bulgakov’s grave so that Gogol would invisibly protect him even after his death.

In 2009, for the 200th anniversary of Nikolai Vasilyevich, it was decided to return his burial place to its original appearance. The monument was dismantled and handed over to Historical Museum. A black stone with a bronze cross was again installed on Gogol’s grave at the Novodevichy cemetery. How to find this place to honor the memory of the great writer? The grave is located in the old part of the cemetery. From the central alley you should turn right and find the 12th row, section No. 2.

Gogol's grave, as well as his work, is fraught with many secrets. It is unlikely that it will be possible to solve them all, and is it necessary? The writer left a covenant with his loved ones: not to grieve for him, not to associate him with the ashes that worms gnaw, not to worry about the burial place. He wanted to immortalize himself not in a granite monument, but in his work.