 |
| Ponetaevka Monastery |
...continued from part fourteen.
13. Strange Phenomena in a Russian Peasant's Hut
A good friend of mine, under whose command I served in Nizhny Novgorod, in the Chamber of State Property, P. L. Betling, now living in retirement on his estate in the Ardatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, informed me in January 1889 of a remarkable incident that occurred quite unexpectedly in the village of Silino, located 15 versts from him. This incident caused some noise in the area, especially since the peasant family, an involuntary witness to these phenomena, was brought to criminal responsibility and almost paid for a matter that was incomprehensible to them.
The essence of the matter is that in the village of Silino, in the house of the former village elder Chekanov, from September 23 to November 1, 1888, strange phenomena began to occur: knocks were heard, things were thrown and - which is the main feature of the phenomenon - various voices were heard, which entered into conversation with members of the Chekanov family and strangers who came to inquire. It is remarkable that these phenomena, as in mediumistic séances, occurred in the dark, and were revealed only in the presence of Chekanov's ten-year-old daughter. There is no reason to assume deception here, for these phenomena soon became a source of trouble for the owner, and he did not know how to get rid of them until he accepted the advice given to him to resort to prayer, which we will discuss below.
Now let's move on to the details.
Mr. Betling personally questioned Chekanov himself and his family, as well as his son-in-law, Mironov. From the testimony he wrote down from their words and delivered to me, I extract the following. Chekanov's family consists of the owner, Ivan Timofeev who is 45 years old, an elderly father, a wife Anastasia who is 42 years old, and daughters: Alexandra - 14 years old, Anyuta - 10 years old, and the youngest girl - 4 years old. The eldest daughter is married to Mironov, who lives in a neighboring village. Anyuta, a rosy-cheeked, dark-blond, gray-eyed, not bad-looking girl, seemed very petite and in appearance no more than 7-8 years old. According to Chekanov, it all began like this: one night, around September 23, his wife Anastasia with both daughters was sleeping in the front hut on a counter near the front door; he himself, Ivan Chekanov, slept in the back hut, and the elderly father slept in the yard, since it was still warm. During the night, Anastasia noticed that the hut door opened by itself; she locked it, but the door opened again. Then Anastasia tied the door to the bracket with her long belt. The belt was untied, and the door opened again. She tied it a second time, and in spite of that, the door opened anyway. Then, in fear, she called her husband; in turn, he tied the door very tightly, with several knots, and it still opened. Then a knock was heard in the horse-bed and in the sleeping platform, as if with a stick. Anastasia took her four-year-old daughter, whose heart was beating from fright, in her arms, laid Anyuta on the front bench, and Ivan went to the stove. At that moment, moanings were heard in the hut; Ivan decided to ask from the stove: “Is this for good or for bad? Is it you, grandfather Domovoy?”* The answer followed in a hoarse voice: “Don’t be afraid, it’s me, your grandfather Domovoy. Let me warm up on the stove.” When Ivan got down from the stove to lie down on the bench where his daughter Anyuta was lying, she was no longer there. Anastasia, who was sitting on the horse opposite the windows, said that it seemed to her as if something passed from the bench to the stove, and Anyuta was already on the stove, who herself did not know how she got there - "her grandfather told her to lie down."
From that time on, conversations began in Chekanov's house, always in the evenings and lasting an hour or two, always in the dark. The conversations concerned ordinary peasant matters: either a voice forbade selling a horse, calling it by its color; or forbade Ivan to share with his father, threatening ruin. A voice asked Ivan: "Are you the headman?" - "I am," answered Ivan. - "You do not put the peasants under arrest; let the police officer put them under arrest." One evening a hoarse voice said: "I don't want to talk any more, but Mashenka will come," and soon a thin, female voice was heard: "You are living well, God help you." It was as if the speaker was calming a baby who was in her arms and crying like a child. "Don't cry," she said, "I'll give you some sugar." To the question of a strange woman who was there once: "Is this your daughter?" - "Shameless," the voice answered. "Do girls have children? This is my mother's daughter, my sister." Mashenka, according to Chekanov, spoke pure, lordly language, and grandfather clucked (he pronounced the letter "ch" as "ts"). When others in the hut sang, the voices sang along. A voice from the stove called the people standing in the street under the window and spoke so loudly that these people clearly heard its words. It was impossible for those who heard it to even imagine that it could be Anyuta’s voice. The answers were mostly humorous, even ironic. So, to one person's question: "Why are you wheezing?" the voice answered: "I was at a party;" to another: "I was tired, I was moving logs." When leaving, saying goodbye, they said: "Now let's go - it's time to drink tea," or, "it's time for dinner."
According to another witness, Pavel Mikhailov Mironov, married to Chekanov’s daughter and living in the village of Zverev, as a worker at the Я. И. X. – a criminal enterprise, a good friend of Mr. Betling, the following was recorded by this latter:
The phenomena in Chekanov's house began a week before St. Sergius' Day (September 25); at first, for no apparent reason, knocks were heard in different places of the hut; doors began to open by themselves; when they were closed, they were opened again by someone. Then, words began to be pronounced by an unknown person: "Don't be afraid of me, I am your grandfather the Domovoy." The voice was heard as if from the stove, near ten-year-old Anyuta. He called himself Ivan Ivanovich Varlamov. The phenomena occurred in the evening, and only when the fire was put out. Conversations began only when Anyuta was sitting on the stove or on the sleeping bench. The speaker had a special affection for her; if she was not in the hut, then the voices were not heard; the voice said that she should not be allowed to wander around in vain. One day, the family put Anyuta to bed on the floor, and everyone lay down near her, then the voice said: "Why have you sent the whole hut away, there is nowhere to spit." Another time, when Anyuta was put to sleep on the front bench, she was moved at night to the sleeping platform. The speaker said that he saw everything that was happening in the hut. Once, Alexandra's sister, 14 years old, hit Anyuta on the head during dinner, in the evening the voice began to reprimand her for this and said to Alexandra: "Why are you hitting Anyuta, I will beat you with a scraper myself for this." Then the speaker began to explain that he was not alone, that he had a father, a brother-soldier and a sister Mashenka with a child; then everyone heard as if someone entered, and immediately a woman's voice was heard: "Have a good life." Mashenka apparently had a child in her arms, who began to cry in a thin voice; she rocked him and consoled him, saying: "Don't cry, here's some sugar for you." As soon as the fire was lit, the conversations ceased. During the conversations, everyone in the hut heard noise and fuss. As soon as the voice was heard, someone could be heard going to the stove where Anyuta usually slept; she heard it too, and always told her family about it. For Anyuta, it seemed as if the voice was coming from behind the wall, while for the others it was coming from the hut itself, at a close distance from them; the conversation was always conducted in a rough, loud voice. One of those present suggested that a cross be put on the speaker, and he agreed; then they put the cross on a long string and, hearing where the voice was coming from, quickly threw the cross on. They immediately blew on the fire, but the cross turned out to be on Anyuta, who was sitting on the stove. One day, a voice asked for a drink; they poured holy water into a cup and placed it on the stove. After a while, they blew on the fire, and the water turned out to be spilled on the threshold. When they put out the fire again and asked why he had poured out the water, he answered that he had not poured out the water, but had drunk it. The voice read and repeated prayers; when someone sang the Cherubic Hymn, Ivan Ivanovich sang along in a thick voice; he sang along with the girls when they began to sing. In the family of Mironov's father-in-law, that is, between father and son Chekanov, things were not going well before St. Sergius' Day; they were planning to share, but the voice positively forbade the division, threatening ruin.
Among the curious onlookers in the Chekanovs' house was the blacksmith from the village of Silina, Vasily Ilyich Chitagogov. Hearing the voice, he said: "What is this? Give me the gun, I'll kill him!" - "I'll kill you myself," was the answer, and at that moment a footcloth lying on the shelf flew into his face. The policeman also came; but when he heard a knock on the sleeping platform, he immediately asked for a fire to be lit and left the hut. When strangers came, the voice answered some, but not others. In the village they said that the mother must have "either cursed her daughter (Anyuta), or scolded her badly", that "unclean spirits" had gotten involved with her, and in the street some began to reproach Anyuta, avoiding her in games and at parties. Chekanov’s father even "drove them out” using the local method – by beating the walls with linden sticks.
Mr. Betling persuaded the Chekanovs to come to him to conduct an experiment in his house. They acted like people used to it. They took Anyuta into a dark room; she was left alone calmly, and her father began to call the grandfather Domovoy to talk to him, but there was no answer, despite all the efforts and various requests of Chekanov: "Come on, grandfather! Why are you silent?" His wife also took part, but there was no success. They caressed Anyuta in every way, found her a peer with whom she willingly played. She behaved like an outsider, like a child who did not understand anything. She liked the dolls, and did not want to know anything more. From his meeting with the Chekanovs, Mr. Betling got the impression that they treated what was happening quite simply, and were completely sincere in their stories.
In response to my inquiries, Mr. Betling supplemented the preceding with the following details, obtained through the son of a local priest, a man who was quite trustworthy. Voices were heard near the girl, mostly from the stove on which she was; if it was on a bench, then above the girl, near the ceiling, or under the bench. At first a quiet, barely audible old man's voice was heard, then it became stronger and louder, so that it was heard in the other room. The words were pronounced clearly, distinctly, Mashenka's voice was especially ringing. They did not speak to Anyuta at once. They found out in the dark where everyone was sitting. One peasant, holding a cross in his pocket, told Mashenka that he had brought her an apple. "You're lying, you don't have an apple in your pocket, but a cross," Mashenka answered. To the question of peasant Pavel Bazayev: "Whose are you?" Mashenka answered: "We are from here, the Povalishinskys" (part of the village of Silina belonged to the Povalishin family). - "From which house?" - "Varlamov's." There is such a house in the village; but everything was quiet at the Varlamovs, and they do not remember Mashenka there. Mashenka also answered questions and sang along. "Grandfather" began to sing "Soldatushki," but then interrupted. In Anyuta's presence, the clock was stopped and started, at the master's command. Clothes were thrown from the sleeping platforms onto the floor; but the hanging lamp was not touched. The knocks were heard mostly on the sleeping platforms, and so loudly that once a board was broken. With this knock, "grandfather" announced his presence, and then a conversation began; but sometimes the peasants themselves called him, asking: "Grandfather, are you here?"
Frightened by the appearance of the policeman, who drew up a report on bringing Chekanov to justice on the basis of Constitution on Punishment, Taxation, Peace Court, for spreading false rumors and inciting minds, he did not know how to escape the misfortune. On November 1, together with his wife and daughter, he went on a pilgrimage to the female Ponetaevka Monastery, where they were advised to hold a service at home with the blessing of water and to pray fervently, which they did; prayer in such a case turned out to be more effective than police measures, and from that time on the phenomena in the Chekanov house ceased.
Meanwhile, the criminal case that had been opened was proceeding as usual. On November 13, the bailiff of the 2nd station of the Ardatovsky district conducted an inquiry, on the basis of which the peasant Chekanov was held liable for the offense provided for in Article 37 of the Constitution on Punishment, Taxation, Peace Court. By order of the judicial investigator, a secondary inquiry was conducted on December 20, a more detailed one, which confirmed, in its main features, everything stated above. On the basis of this inquiry, the judicial investigator found that the aforementioned peasant could be subject to liability only if there had been some deception on his part, but with the witnesses who were in the village there were other people who confirmed the same thing in the presence of the phenomena, and the inexplicability of the phenomenon does not yet serve as proof of deception, and since it is not clear that Chekanov derived any benefit from telling stories about these phenomena, but, on the contrary, tried to get rid of them, the judicial investigator did not see any signs of any crime in the present case. On the basis of this conclusion, with which the assistant prosecutor of the Nizhny Novgorod district court also agreed, the case was closed. Thanks to such a reasonable and fair resolution, the Chekanovs avoided the responsibility that threatened them before the law, which knows what was learned. (see "Rebus Magazine" 1889, No. 20).
13. Strange Phenomena in a Russian Peasant's Hut
A good friend of mine, under whose command I served in Nizhny Novgorod, in the Chamber of State Property, P. L. Betling, now living in retirement on his estate in the Ardatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, informed me in January 1889 of a remarkable incident that occurred quite unexpectedly in the village of Silino, located 15 versts from him. This incident caused some noise in the area, especially since the peasant family, an involuntary witness to these phenomena, was brought to criminal responsibility and almost paid for a matter that was incomprehensible to them.
The essence of the matter is that in the village of Silino, in the house of the former village elder Chekanov, from September 23 to November 1, 1888, strange phenomena began to occur: knocks were heard, things were thrown and - which is the main feature of the phenomenon - various voices were heard, which entered into conversation with members of the Chekanov family and strangers who came to inquire. It is remarkable that these phenomena, as in mediumistic séances, occurred in the dark, and were revealed only in the presence of Chekanov's ten-year-old daughter. There is no reason to assume deception here, for these phenomena soon became a source of trouble for the owner, and he did not know how to get rid of them until he accepted the advice given to him to resort to prayer, which we will discuss below.
Now let's move on to the details.
Mr. Betling personally questioned Chekanov himself and his family, as well as his son-in-law, Mironov. From the testimony he wrote down from their words and delivered to me, I extract the following. Chekanov's family consists of the owner, Ivan Timofeev who is 45 years old, an elderly father, a wife Anastasia who is 42 years old, and daughters: Alexandra - 14 years old, Anyuta - 10 years old, and the youngest girl - 4 years old. The eldest daughter is married to Mironov, who lives in a neighboring village. Anyuta, a rosy-cheeked, dark-blond, gray-eyed, not bad-looking girl, seemed very petite and in appearance no more than 7-8 years old. According to Chekanov, it all began like this: one night, around September 23, his wife Anastasia with both daughters was sleeping in the front hut on a counter near the front door; he himself, Ivan Chekanov, slept in the back hut, and the elderly father slept in the yard, since it was still warm. During the night, Anastasia noticed that the hut door opened by itself; she locked it, but the door opened again. Then Anastasia tied the door to the bracket with her long belt. The belt was untied, and the door opened again. She tied it a second time, and in spite of that, the door opened anyway. Then, in fear, she called her husband; in turn, he tied the door very tightly, with several knots, and it still opened. Then a knock was heard in the horse-bed and in the sleeping platform, as if with a stick. Anastasia took her four-year-old daughter, whose heart was beating from fright, in her arms, laid Anyuta on the front bench, and Ivan went to the stove. At that moment, moanings were heard in the hut; Ivan decided to ask from the stove: “Is this for good or for bad? Is it you, grandfather Domovoy?”* The answer followed in a hoarse voice: “Don’t be afraid, it’s me, your grandfather Domovoy. Let me warm up on the stove.” When Ivan got down from the stove to lie down on the bench where his daughter Anyuta was lying, she was no longer there. Anastasia, who was sitting on the horse opposite the windows, said that it seemed to her as if something passed from the bench to the stove, and Anyuta was already on the stove, who herself did not know how she got there - "her grandfather told her to lie down."
From that time on, conversations began in Chekanov's house, always in the evenings and lasting an hour or two, always in the dark. The conversations concerned ordinary peasant matters: either a voice forbade selling a horse, calling it by its color; or forbade Ivan to share with his father, threatening ruin. A voice asked Ivan: "Are you the headman?" - "I am," answered Ivan. - "You do not put the peasants under arrest; let the police officer put them under arrest." One evening a hoarse voice said: "I don't want to talk any more, but Mashenka will come," and soon a thin, female voice was heard: "You are living well, God help you." It was as if the speaker was calming a baby who was in her arms and crying like a child. "Don't cry," she said, "I'll give you some sugar." To the question of a strange woman who was there once: "Is this your daughter?" - "Shameless," the voice answered. "Do girls have children? This is my mother's daughter, my sister." Mashenka, according to Chekanov, spoke pure, lordly language, and grandfather clucked (he pronounced the letter "ch" as "ts"). When others in the hut sang, the voices sang along. A voice from the stove called the people standing in the street under the window and spoke so loudly that these people clearly heard its words. It was impossible for those who heard it to even imagine that it could be Anyuta’s voice. The answers were mostly humorous, even ironic. So, to one person's question: "Why are you wheezing?" the voice answered: "I was at a party;" to another: "I was tired, I was moving logs." When leaving, saying goodbye, they said: "Now let's go - it's time to drink tea," or, "it's time for dinner."
According to another witness, Pavel Mikhailov Mironov, married to Chekanov’s daughter and living in the village of Zverev, as a worker at the Я. И. X. – a criminal enterprise, a good friend of Mr. Betling, the following was recorded by this latter:
The phenomena in Chekanov's house began a week before St. Sergius' Day (September 25); at first, for no apparent reason, knocks were heard in different places of the hut; doors began to open by themselves; when they were closed, they were opened again by someone. Then, words began to be pronounced by an unknown person: "Don't be afraid of me, I am your grandfather the Domovoy." The voice was heard as if from the stove, near ten-year-old Anyuta. He called himself Ivan Ivanovich Varlamov. The phenomena occurred in the evening, and only when the fire was put out. Conversations began only when Anyuta was sitting on the stove or on the sleeping bench. The speaker had a special affection for her; if she was not in the hut, then the voices were not heard; the voice said that she should not be allowed to wander around in vain. One day, the family put Anyuta to bed on the floor, and everyone lay down near her, then the voice said: "Why have you sent the whole hut away, there is nowhere to spit." Another time, when Anyuta was put to sleep on the front bench, she was moved at night to the sleeping platform. The speaker said that he saw everything that was happening in the hut. Once, Alexandra's sister, 14 years old, hit Anyuta on the head during dinner, in the evening the voice began to reprimand her for this and said to Alexandra: "Why are you hitting Anyuta, I will beat you with a scraper myself for this." Then the speaker began to explain that he was not alone, that he had a father, a brother-soldier and a sister Mashenka with a child; then everyone heard as if someone entered, and immediately a woman's voice was heard: "Have a good life." Mashenka apparently had a child in her arms, who began to cry in a thin voice; she rocked him and consoled him, saying: "Don't cry, here's some sugar for you." As soon as the fire was lit, the conversations ceased. During the conversations, everyone in the hut heard noise and fuss. As soon as the voice was heard, someone could be heard going to the stove where Anyuta usually slept; she heard it too, and always told her family about it. For Anyuta, it seemed as if the voice was coming from behind the wall, while for the others it was coming from the hut itself, at a close distance from them; the conversation was always conducted in a rough, loud voice. One of those present suggested that a cross be put on the speaker, and he agreed; then they put the cross on a long string and, hearing where the voice was coming from, quickly threw the cross on. They immediately blew on the fire, but the cross turned out to be on Anyuta, who was sitting on the stove. One day, a voice asked for a drink; they poured holy water into a cup and placed it on the stove. After a while, they blew on the fire, and the water turned out to be spilled on the threshold. When they put out the fire again and asked why he had poured out the water, he answered that he had not poured out the water, but had drunk it. The voice read and repeated prayers; when someone sang the Cherubic Hymn, Ivan Ivanovich sang along in a thick voice; he sang along with the girls when they began to sing. In the family of Mironov's father-in-law, that is, between father and son Chekanov, things were not going well before St. Sergius' Day; they were planning to share, but the voice positively forbade the division, threatening ruin.
Among the curious onlookers in the Chekanovs' house was the blacksmith from the village of Silina, Vasily Ilyich Chitagogov. Hearing the voice, he said: "What is this? Give me the gun, I'll kill him!" - "I'll kill you myself," was the answer, and at that moment a footcloth lying on the shelf flew into his face. The policeman also came; but when he heard a knock on the sleeping platform, he immediately asked for a fire to be lit and left the hut. When strangers came, the voice answered some, but not others. In the village they said that the mother must have "either cursed her daughter (Anyuta), or scolded her badly", that "unclean spirits" had gotten involved with her, and in the street some began to reproach Anyuta, avoiding her in games and at parties. Chekanov’s father even "drove them out” using the local method – by beating the walls with linden sticks.
Mr. Betling persuaded the Chekanovs to come to him to conduct an experiment in his house. They acted like people used to it. They took Anyuta into a dark room; she was left alone calmly, and her father began to call the grandfather Domovoy to talk to him, but there was no answer, despite all the efforts and various requests of Chekanov: "Come on, grandfather! Why are you silent?" His wife also took part, but there was no success. They caressed Anyuta in every way, found her a peer with whom she willingly played. She behaved like an outsider, like a child who did not understand anything. She liked the dolls, and did not want to know anything more. From his meeting with the Chekanovs, Mr. Betling got the impression that they treated what was happening quite simply, and were completely sincere in their stories.
In response to my inquiries, Mr. Betling supplemented the preceding with the following details, obtained through the son of a local priest, a man who was quite trustworthy. Voices were heard near the girl, mostly from the stove on which she was; if it was on a bench, then above the girl, near the ceiling, or under the bench. At first a quiet, barely audible old man's voice was heard, then it became stronger and louder, so that it was heard in the other room. The words were pronounced clearly, distinctly, Mashenka's voice was especially ringing. They did not speak to Anyuta at once. They found out in the dark where everyone was sitting. One peasant, holding a cross in his pocket, told Mashenka that he had brought her an apple. "You're lying, you don't have an apple in your pocket, but a cross," Mashenka answered. To the question of peasant Pavel Bazayev: "Whose are you?" Mashenka answered: "We are from here, the Povalishinskys" (part of the village of Silina belonged to the Povalishin family). - "From which house?" - "Varlamov's." There is such a house in the village; but everything was quiet at the Varlamovs, and they do not remember Mashenka there. Mashenka also answered questions and sang along. "Grandfather" began to sing "Soldatushki," but then interrupted. In Anyuta's presence, the clock was stopped and started, at the master's command. Clothes were thrown from the sleeping platforms onto the floor; but the hanging lamp was not touched. The knocks were heard mostly on the sleeping platforms, and so loudly that once a board was broken. With this knock, "grandfather" announced his presence, and then a conversation began; but sometimes the peasants themselves called him, asking: "Grandfather, are you here?"
Frightened by the appearance of the policeman, who drew up a report on bringing Chekanov to justice on the basis of Constitution on Punishment, Taxation, Peace Court, for spreading false rumors and inciting minds, he did not know how to escape the misfortune. On November 1, together with his wife and daughter, he went on a pilgrimage to the female Ponetaevka Monastery, where they were advised to hold a service at home with the blessing of water and to pray fervently, which they did; prayer in such a case turned out to be more effective than police measures, and from that time on the phenomena in the Chekanov house ceased.
Meanwhile, the criminal case that had been opened was proceeding as usual. On November 13, the bailiff of the 2nd station of the Ardatovsky district conducted an inquiry, on the basis of which the peasant Chekanov was held liable for the offense provided for in Article 37 of the Constitution on Punishment, Taxation, Peace Court. By order of the judicial investigator, a secondary inquiry was conducted on December 20, a more detailed one, which confirmed, in its main features, everything stated above. On the basis of this inquiry, the judicial investigator found that the aforementioned peasant could be subject to liability only if there had been some deception on his part, but with the witnesses who were in the village there were other people who confirmed the same thing in the presence of the phenomena, and the inexplicability of the phenomenon does not yet serve as proof of deception, and since it is not clear that Chekanov derived any benefit from telling stories about these phenomena, but, on the contrary, tried to get rid of them, the judicial investigator did not see any signs of any crime in the present case. On the basis of this conclusion, with which the assistant prosecutor of the Nizhny Novgorod district court also agreed, the case was closed. Thanks to such a reasonable and fair resolution, the Chekanovs avoided the responsibility that threatened them before the law, which knows what was learned. (see "Rebus Magazine" 1889, No. 20).
* In the Slavic religious tradition, Domovoy is the household spirit of a given kin. They are deified progenitors, that is to say the fountainhead ancestors of the kin.
