Scary stories: about a white deer and a restless corpse

Yu. Votiakov. The Shaman. 1976. Etching

Essey is a village in the northern area of Krasnoyarsk territory populated mainly by Yakuts. Many mystic stories exist in the remote place. Life in tundra when it is necessary to overcome hundreds kilometers for reaching a nearby settlement, seems terrible. Essey residents are not fearful, but there are things which even brave hunters and fishermen are afraid of.

Legends abide on the place that gave name to the village. It is located on the bank of Essay lake that has the form of woman. Locals are guided by such reference points as ‘at head', ‘at feet', ‘on the right hand' or ‘on the left hand'. It is believed that similarity came from the very moment when Yakuts gave three beautiful girls to warlike Evenks for the purpose to occupy the current place. Those girls' tears created Essey lake.

A fatal deer

Many stories were passing by generations of Esseya residents by word of mouth. This one, for example. The family of a rich esseya merchant Savva Botula, as every self – respecting yakut clan, had its own family shaman. Once having waken up in early morning he came to the head of the clan. And he was very anxious.

– What happened? – asked Savva.

– A trouble, my sir! An awful accident had happened. Death will soon come to us. We will get a present from Viluy – a herd of deer. If we don't recognize the one among them and accept it, then we will take death.

– Work at it! – ordered Savva.

– I can't overcome it alone, - answered the shaman.

– I need a good assistant.

And Savva sent for an evenk, that had remarkable power of shaman. He and the old shaman were holding their ceremony for 3 days and 3 nights without eating and sleeping. And they won finally. They find a key of the fatal deer. After a while the guests arrived. They were distant relatives from Viluysky region. And they were carrying deer as a gift. Later Savva often was appalled what for they send a spell to them. They could do everything what they want: to deal, to trade – nobody would say offensive words.

So, Savva and his shaman met the herd. The arm of the old man simply stretched ahead, pointing at one of the most beautiful. It was a young, white deer with a bell at his neck. Savva regaled his guests with a cup of tea, and having politely greeted, got ready to go. Having said at parting that there is no need in a gift, ordered at once to drive the herd back. Boys started to drive them, but that very deer with a bell planted it's feet firmly and didn't gp off away the house. They droved hardly this ill-fated animal with a cane.

And it, as if being recovered from lethargy, started to catch up with the others as if nothing happened. At this very year the settlement of relatives from Viluy burnt down.

An uncannibalizable shaman

Shamans often become the characters of favourite sories, that grandmothers tell their grandchildren during the long polar nights. The scene of some of them is laid in soviet time. So there was a young evenk shaman among the repressed Essey residents, who managed to run away from the convoy 3 times. The captives were carrying on a barge. This evenk dived into the water and it was unreal to find and catch him. The communists came to his reindeer tent- he sent there already and drank tea. Having had nothing but trouble with him, they drew a conclusion that the young man turns to either a loon, or a duck, and left him in a peace.

A devil-baby deer

There were accidents when evil spirits leaded children of Esseya to the forest. Being an 8 th form pupil, now an adult resident of the village, went to the forest to pick berries with his friend. They forgot that there would be a celebratory pioneer event and followed about a white baby deer. It was so beautiful, and a bell at it's neck rang so clearly, that the girls ran away from the village as if they were hypnotized. They came to themselves in a pitch darkness. The girls lost their buckets with cowberry, melted into tears. Fortunately, a motorboat came to their cry. And it was left undiscovered how they could go so far from the village for several hours.

A pseudo-grandmother

Another story is about two children, who were leaded by their dead grandmother. Only thanks to recently fallen snow it became possible to find the children. They were lying naked under newspapers not far from a derelict farm. By the words of the children, the grandmother found them picking berries. Then took them to the forest and then to the farm, undressed them and said: “Sleep, I'll be back soon, and went away”.

A prophecy

One more shaman from Esseya, who was living till 60s of the last century, being moribund, take a word from his son not to cross the river Kotuy. The son surprised at it, but promised. The residents of the village heard this last request too. And for all his life Yldjya, the shaman's son, wasn't breaking the ban, was hunting and fishing only on the one bank. But in his old age, hunting at a wild deer in winter, suddenly crossed Kotuy. There were talks all round the village, that something terrible must happen. All this very spring Yldjya died.

An unintentional curse

Shamans in general are dangerous enough, if even they are relatives. A contact with their residence, articles of daily use may provoke serious consequences. One woman, not having noticed a mark of shaman-tree, heated it in a stove. For a moment a face appeared in the flame. And only scraping cinders, she understood what happened. A strange signs appeared on fire-brands, which can be made only by shaman. After a while her hands dried as if they were amputated. They sat that she had children, but they all died. Till profound old age this woman had been living alone.

A pathogenic places

A derelict farm, situated far from the village, is famous all over this region. Once a Russian man got a work of a watchman. After the first night he got his discharge and left Esseya.

There are many derelict houses in the village. There is nobody to pull down them, and many frightening stories are connected with them. In one of this houses there is a spirit of an oldman with a walking stick. In the another one there is a woman with a nickname New Girl. Scientists, who visited Esseya, revenged ontheir curiosity and picked from this houses and old household stuff.

The dead far from the farm there is a cemetery, which has a bad “fame”. Once there was buried a yakut criminal authority Chechusky, who came to Essey and committed suicide there. After that accident it became dangerous to pass by the cemetery. Some people were falling of their sledge and broken something or the sledge was broken. Finally a skillful coffin-maker Kristopher Botulu decided to finish with it. Last years he hadn't been recognized nor religion, no authority. He dug the deceased one and reburied him face-first.

Since then the accidents stopped, and the oldman acquired the reputation of a hunter for an anxious deadmen. Once he survived after the epidemics of measles, but all his relatives, his family died of this infection. How many corpses he had to bury! Kristopher confessed that there is nothing to scary now for him.

A secret of “longevity”

At postwar time in Esseya another strong shaman lived. As a popular superstition says, people, who communicate with evil spirits, often are accessible to temptation to redeem their life by another soul. And for this they give the lives of nearest relations. Once that shaman stayed entirely alone, he buried his parents, wife and children. Preparing to the death, he asked to call 9 village residents and come to his deathbed after 9 days of his death.

Eseya residents did so. But having suspected that there is something in the wind, only 8 men came. As the witnesses say, shaman was sitting at his death bed. They came closer and the old man revived and said:

- Why only 8 of you? You deceived me! I have to take leave of you completely.

After these words the he fell down in a dead faint.

He wanted to cheat them and take a soul of one of them instead of his own.

Provided by Vyacheslav Levochkin.
Translated by Elena Osipova, YSU Student
Resource: GazetaYakutia.ru