Travel back in time to Moscow, where the streets whisper tales of ghosts and legends. Explore Tverskaya Street, home to imposing stone lions and a building listed by UNESCO as “inhabited by specters.” Discover the dark history of the Ioanno-Predtechensky Convent and the enigmatic Sukharev Tower, linked to the “Magician” Yakov Brius.
Haunted Houses and Secrets: Exploring Spooky Moscow
In the heart of historic Tverskaya Street stand imposing sculptures of lions of colossal proportions, stone guardians of an architectural complex that has its roots in the 19th century.
Stone Lions and Specters
From Aristocracy Club to Haunted Museum: Secrets of Tverskaya Street
At first glance, these majestic beings seem to harbor no secrets; however, it is noteworthy that in the UNESCO records, this building is cataloged as a house inhabited by specters, a detail that adds a cloak of mystery to its already notable presence.
Currently, this place, enveloped in the aura of the supernatural, houses the Museum of Contemporary History of Russia. Before the tide of the Revolution swept away the old social structures, its halls were the scene of meetings of the English Club. Aristocrats, engaged in conversations about politics and indulging in card games, entertained the society of the time, with bets reaching considerable sums.
A blackboard was the faithful record of those who, caught by gambling debts, saw their right to be part of this select group evaporate if they failed to settle them within a month.
Ghosts and Spectral Cats
The Ioanno-Predtechensky Convent: History and Mystery in Kitay Gorod
Rumors suggest that, before the Revolution, a desperate soul found the end to their woes in a noose within these walls, giving rise to the stories of spectral apparitions that have since populated the building.
Viacheslav Klimov, a geophysical engineer dedicated to researching paranormal phenomena, contributes to this fabric of urban legends by narrating the presence of a black cat, whose mystical presence transcends the physical, moving through walls with the same ease as it crosses the veils of our reality.
On the other hand, Kitay Gorod, one of Moscow’s oldest neighborhoods, stands out for having withstood the destructive onslaughts of the Soviet era. Within its bowels, the Ioanno-Predtechensky Convent rises, famous both for its bakery and for the gloomy legends surrounding it.
Founded in the 15th century, its prison housed both political prisoners and those condemned for crimes of great wickedness. Within its walls, in the 18th century, a noblewoman dubbed the Russian ‘Marquis de Sade,’ who indulged in the pleasure of murder, took the lives of more than a hundred men, was finally sentenced to live and die in solitary confinement within this monastic enclosure.
The Sukharev Tower and the Legacy of the Magician Yakov Brius
Haunted Places and Unresolved Mysteries of Moscow
Adding to this, the story of the Sukharev Tower and its adjacent square, places that might go unnoticed at first glance, but are equally marked by the devil’s footprints.
During the period from 1701 to 1715, the tower hosted a School of Navigation under the direction of Yakov Brius, a prominent figure in the military, astronomy, chemistry and diplomacy and protegee of Tsar Peter I. Brius’s scientific feats, misinterpreted by popular ignorance as witchcraft and the legend of his ‘black book,’ supposedly walled up in the tower before his death, add layers of enigma to the narrative of this place.
Completing this mosaic of stories, the house of Lavrenti Beria, located on Málaya Nikitskaya Street and the Kolómenskoe reserve, witnesses to dark and mysterious episodes, are woven into this tale that spans centuries. From urban legends speaking of bodies found in gardens to staircases leading to springs with rejuvenating properties, every corner of this narrative is imbued with the mystical, spiritual and esoteric essence of Russia.
Moscow is not just palaces and squares; it’s a labyrinth of hidden stories and supernatural encounters. From legends of spectral cats to echoes of the aristocracy playing cards, every corner has a secret to tell. Do you dare to explore beyond the obvious and discover the mysterious side of Moscow?
The cover image has been provided courtesy of Depositphotos.com
