Spirits. Russia

A letter with this story was sent to Alexey Priyme, a well-known researcher of anomalous phenomena. It was sent by Andrey Tolstykh from Belgorod. In his letter, he, in particular, notes:

"I have no reason not to believe the author of this terrible story -a woman, very elderly, modest and pious."

The unusual invaded the life of a woman who asked not to specify her first and last name in the fall of 1972. It happened on the outskirts of the city of Novy Oskol, in an area that has long been built up with private one-story houses.

 

The woman reports:

- It was a dark evening. It was drizzling outside. I hear someone knocking on the door. A voice is heard from behind her: "Give, for Christ's sake, good people." I unlocked the door and was surprised to see behind it a figure in a white robe to the feet, similar to a monastic robe.

I wanted to slam the door in her face in confusion, but for some reason I couldn't do it. The figure stepped over the threshold and entered the house, caught in a strip of light falling from a light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

 

She was a very tall old woman with young eyes that struck me.

"For Christ's sake, granddaughter," she sang.

- Yes, I don't seem to be suitable for your granddaughter. After all, I myself have been, in general, a lot of years," I said, confused.

And the old woman said:

"You're not my granddaughter, not even my great-granddaughter. You are much more to me...

Hearing these incomprehensible words, I was very scared, I don't know what. Mechanically she picked up a loaf of bread from the table and thrust it into the hands of a wandering beggar. There were apples on the table. With both palms, I scooped up five apples in a handful and also handed them to the uninvited guest. With a sharp gesture, the old woman pushed away my palms, which were folded together, and the apples fell to the floor. I bent down, by the way, quite unexpectedly for myself.

"Don't cry," the old woman said in a singsong voice. - Today is a great holiday that happens once in many, many years. The sixth star is being born today... You are a kind woman. So let this day be your holiday too. Today my dead children will come to you for the night.

- Where will they come from?

- From the other world. But not from the human world, but from his own. They don't look like people. They need a place to sleep. Will you take them in?

I was dizzy from her terrible speeches. I wanted to get rid of the old woman as soon as possible.

"No," I said firmly. - I will not let your dead children into my house. Contact your neighbors. Maybe they'll let you in.

 

An old woman in a white robe flashed her eyes.

"For three hundred years I have been looking for a place for them to sleep in your world," she announced, frowning. - And you refuse to shelter them even on a holiday... Take your gifts!

And she threw a loaf of bread on the floor, angrily kicked one of the apples scattered on the floor. I was completely taken aback, somnolent. Decidedly did not understand what was actually happening. Just now a beggar woman was almost tearfully begging for alms from me, and now she is disgusted, even, in my opinion, with hatred, withdrawing from him.

"Hand me the tablecloth," the uninvited guest ordered and, moving her chin, pointed to the dining table, which stood some distance away from her.

I pulled the tablecloth off the table and silently handed it to the old woman. This old witch carelessly crumpled the tablecloth, tucked it under her arm. Without looking at me, she walked out of the house with a heavy tread. She slammed the door loudly and violently as she was leaving. The rain continued to rustle in the pitch darkness outside the window.

With a trembling hand, I poured myself some valerian, drank it and realized - I can't stay alone in the house! I decided to go to spend the night with my neighbors. She put on rubber boots, quickly threw a raincoat over her shoulders... As soon as I got to the door leading to the courtyard, I heard someone messing around on the porch. Overcoming my fear, I opened the door and was dumbfounded.

A chain of some black dwarfs immediately moved up the high steps of the porch to the open door. Apparently, they were standing there in a silent line, waiting for the door to open in front of them. It seemed that they were flowing into my house now in an endless dirty stream. There was no way to see each of them individually.

As soon as I tried to look at the next new black midget who stepped over the threshold, he twitched like a haze, blurred against the general background of the stream. I remember well only the long arms dragging behind everyone, first on the steps of the porch, then on the floor of the house.

The very first of the newcomers, who led the column, had his right hand raised up. There was a burning torch sticking out of it. A sickening weakness spread through my body. My legs became wobbly, and I slid along the wall to the floor. But even sitting on the floor, she was taller than any of these pygmies. Their leader came up to me with a burning torch.

"That's the one," he said in a squeaky treble, "who refused us a bed for the night.

Then I saw and got a good look at his face. Having examined it, she screamed in full voice from horror. It was very difficult to call it a face. His eyes and nose were completely missing. The lower jaw with an ugly thick protruding lip, pushed forward, was raised high up and lay on the wrinkled forehead of a midget. So the whole face was a mouth-just a mouth!

- Today we have a holiday, - jaw clapped. - Do you want us to dance in front of you?

I shook my head negatively.

The dwarf got angry. He stamped his feet angrily.

"Go to Kiev to your mother right now," he squeaked. - She has four days to live.

With these words, he stepped to the door facing the courtyard. A stream of black, short, blurry figures poured through that door in the opposite direction. A column of black midgets left my house...

When I caught my breath a little and came to my senses, I picked myself up from the floor and ran across the yard to the neighboring house. And there she began to pound with her fists at the window, shouting something inarticulate. And a second later she lost consciousness.

The neighbors called an ambulance. I was given an injection, I woke up, however, to the questions of doctors: "What's the matter with you? What happened?" - did not answer anything definite. The case would immediately smell like a mental hospital if I honestly told the doctors everything about what I experienced.

The next day, early in the morning, I went to Kiev. There it turned out that my elderly mother suddenly became seriously ill. As predicted by the dwarf with a torch in his hand, mommy died four days later. While sorting out the things left after the deceased, I suddenly found among them... your tablecloth!

Well, yes, the one that the tall old woman in a white robe took with her when she left my house in Novy Oskol. It was impossible to make a mistake. The tablecloth had a special rare pattern and there were special signs, including a couple of characteristic grease stains. Recognizing the tablecloth, I broke out in a cold sweat. How, I would like to know, did she get into the house of my deceased mother?!