The Metaphysics of the North

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The Road to Dumino

Several years ago, on April 30th, we set out on a journey to our most beloved Arkhangelsk Province — to Kenozero National Park. There is a magical place we had long dreamed of visiting: the abandoned village o...

The Road to Dumino

The Road to Dumino

Medveditskaya Ridge: Journey into the Anomalous Zone

In the godforsaken Zhirnovsky District of Volgograd Oblast, right on the border with Saratov, lies a place long wrapped in legends and myths — the Medveditskaya Ridge.

Medveditskaya Ridge: Journey into the Anomalous Zone

мистика аномальщина аномальное мистический степи степные пейзажи Place of Power dancing” forest

Medveditskaya Ridge: Journey into the Anomalous Zone

Vorzogory — Village of the Wind on the White Sea

The main wonder of Vorzogory (with stress on the first syllable) — a small Pomor village — is not its large peasant houses (there are bigger ones elsewhere), nor the two-church ensemble of the Vorzogory Pogost, whose o...

Vorzogory — Village of the Wind on the White Sea

русский север деревня северный арктика село арктический pomors Arctic

Vorzogory — Village of the Wind on the White Sea

The Friday Stone

The Friday Stone is a massive sacred boulder with a deep hollow on top that never dries out. It lies about a hundred kilometers from St. Petersburg, in a field by the road between the settlement of Volodarskoye and the...

The Friday Stone

следовик двоеверие лужский район чашечник mystical megalith

The Friday Stone

Naglimozero Artova Hermitage

All that remains of the Naglimozero Artova Men’s Hermitage in the taiga wilderness of Kenozerye—founded in the remote 17th century by a former streltsy soldier named Timofey—is the solitary cell of its last monk and a ...

Naglimozero Artova Hermitage

архангельская область каргопольский келья духи леса зимние пейзажи Каргополье winter snow wilderness taiga

Naglimozero Artova Hermitage

The Ruins of the Agua Church Amid January Mists

In the breath of the mountains. A touch of the northern south—or the southern north.

The Ruins of the Agua Church Amid January Mists

руины кавказ атмосфера горы

The Ruins of the Agua Church Amid January Mists

Inversion in Russian Folk Magic: Turning the Sacred Into the Profane

The Latin term inversion (from inversio, “turning upside down; reversal”) aptly conveys the concept—negation or turning meaning on its head, a symbolic “black magic” technique aimed at causing harm or casting curses. T...

Inversion in Russian Folk Magic: Turning the Sacred Into the Profane

заброшка руины инверсия порча брошенная церковь народные верования church Abandoned ruins

Inversion in Russian Folk Magic: Turning the Sacred Into the Profane

How to Create a Demon Helper—or a Russian Peasant Homunculus

It is said that when the wind blows, and a hen’s tail fans upward, something strange may occur. In old folk belief, the devil—who often rides the whirlwind—might descend upon the hen and impregnate her. From this act, ...

How to Create a Demon Helper—or a Russian Peasant Homunculus

зима брошенная деревня водлозеро карелия заброшки обряды ритуалы dead village karelia ritual

How to Create a Demon Helper—or a Russian Peasant Homunculus

Forest Sacrifice: Traces of a Wild Hunt in the Karelian Woods

A small forest drama: this is where a young moose was devoured by hungry wolves. We found the remains here, in this quiet Karelian bog, not far from our home.

Forest Sacrifice: Traces of a Wild Hunt in the Karelian Woods

череп осень пейзаж лес лесной скелет Russian North

Forest Sacrifice: Traces of a Wild Hunt in the Karelian Woods

A Visitor from Beyond: Ghost Stories from Russian Folklore

"My husband wanted to go to the mill on Easter, and I told him: ‘Wait, don’t go on a holy day.’ At first he listened, but then he changed his mind. Came back and said, ‘I must be the only man left who obeys his wife,’ ...

A Visitor from Beyond: Ghost Stories from Russian Folklore

быличка русский север кладбище могилы кольский полуостров Териберка ледовитый океан Russian North Cemetery living dead death

A Visitor from Beyond: Ghost Stories from Russian Folklore

A Door to Another Dimension

Russian North northern peasant architecture

A Door to Another Dimension

Danilovsky Prison Castle – Journey into Russia’s Forgotten Past

There will be no pretentious philosophizing or pseudo-scientific posturing in this post—only photographs of the abandoned Danilovsky Prison Castle. Built in the mid-19th century and used as a prison until the 1980s, it...

Danilovsky Prison Castle – Journey into Russia’s Forgotten Past

заброшка старина заброшенное иные миры данилов Haunting ruins mystical travels Russian wilderness

Danilovsky Prison Castle – Journey into Russia’s Forgotten Past

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