The secret world of Anubis. History and ethnology. Data. Events. Fiction Cursed treasures

In Belarusian folklore, primarily in legends, quite often such anomalous events are described as the appearance of mysterious lights and ghosts, other strange and mystical creatures in place of treasures hidden in the ground. According to popular beliefs, such treasures are considered enchanted, they rise from time to time on the surface of the earth and seem to “dry” in the form of red (gold), blue or white (silver) lights.
But when a person approaches or touches the treasure, the glow suddenly disappears. According to some legends, such lights and various infernal creatures around them can be seen in the middle of the night on rivers, lakes, swamps, burial mounds, cemeteries, fortifications, hills and near cult stones...

So, near the village of Kolchuny, Oshmyany district, in the forest there is a large boulder, on one of the sides of which a cross is carved. People believe that a treasure left by Napoleon himself is buried under this stone. Previously, the boulder lay on the mountain, but many treasure hunters tried to move it and even wanted to blow it up. It was all in vain; on the contrary, the stone began to “climb” into the ground. And the villagers began to see an unusual glow in that place at night. People thought that someone was looking for treasure, however, there were also those who called this phenomenon paranormal.

Near the village of Imenina, Kobrin district, on a high mountain covered with a pine forest, there also once lay a large stone. One day a man decided to spend the night on it. But an invisible force threw him fifty steps to the side. From there he saw alternating flashes of blue and red fire on the stone. When a person approached the stone, the fire disappeared, and as soon as he moved away from the boulder, the fire appeared again. The next day, three silver coins were found near the stone. As legend says, fire appears in that place even now.
Quite often, stories about such stones feature not only lights, but also mysterious sounds and various creatures. For example, not far from the village of Lyntupy, Postavy district, about 0.5 km east of it, in the Prydatki tract2, the “Devil’s Stone” once lay. Local people claimed that they heard the ringing of some bells near him, saw lights and fires without smoke. If we came closer in the morning, we didn’t find any fireplace there.
People are currently observing similar phenomena near the villages of Polesie and Petruti, Postavy district, as well as the village of Bogdanovo, Braslav district. So, between the villages of Polesie and Petruti near Krivaya Gora on the shore of the lake, not far from the “Holy Spring” there is a boulder, which locals call “Devil’s Stone” and say that devils used to play cards on it, and at night they saw lights.
According to legend, one day at dusk one guy was returning from Polesie to Petruti from a party. When he approached Crooked Mountain, a richly dressed stranger suddenly appeared in front of him and invited the guy to play cards with his friends. The guy began to refuse, citing a lack of money, but the stranger lent him a palm full of gold coins. The guy lost his mind from the shine of the money and went with the stranger beyond Crooked Mountain, where two more men, also smartly dressed, were sitting on a stone.
A fire was burning next to the stone, not producing heat or smoke, which did not surprise the guy, and he began to play cards. It goes on to say that, carried away by the game, the guy almost pledged his soul to the devils (under the guise of wealthy strangers it was they), but the rooster crowed and the demons disappeared.
In the popular imagination, cursed treasures could take the form of zoomorphic creatures. For example, near Lake Sorochanskoe, in the Vysokaya Apiary tract, which is 1.5 km from the village of Mikulki in Postavshchina, lies the so-called Zhvirasty (gravel) Stone. They say that if someone was late and drove through this place at night, then a lamb would jump out from under a stone and sparkle with a bright flame. As you approached it, it began to gradually fade to black.
The horses harnessed to the carts reared up, overturned the carts, freed themselves from the harness and ran away. Local residents are sure that a cursed treasure or a chaise with gold is hidden under the stone, and all this is guarded by the devil, who appears to people in the form of a lamb.

And in the Rossony district, on one hill lay the so-called Snake Stone. According to legend, the grass snake turned into stone and flew at night, “blazing with fire,” as if “carrying with it a lot of gold and silver to the sinner who sold his soul to the devil.” But thunder struck, lightning flashed, and the snake, “overthrown by the heavenly scythes,” fell onto the hill and turned into stone. And those treasures that he already carried with him went into the ground there and now appear in different places on the hill in different forms. To some they appear in the form of the Lamenter (Mourner), she wiped away her tears with a handkerchief that was blazing with fire, others saw black and fat dwarfs, the third were black goats.
Near the village of Sutarovshchina, Braslav district, there is Bely (White) or Vyaliki (Big) Stone with the imprint of a human foot, which lies on a hill. People say that gold is hidden under the stone, and near the stone you can see a Yellow woman with a child in her arms, guarding the valuables. One day, a guy and a girl who wanted to take possession of the treasure saw in this place at dawn a golden dog, whose fur sparkled and shone, but that dog did not fall into their hands.
In the village of Bogdanovo, Braslav district, on a local miraculous stone after sunset they see a “toothed flame” or an old woman with a huge bag. At midnight, devils supposedly dance around the stone. Near the Tsudadzeinaga (Miraculous) Stone in the village of Zharnelishki in the same region, according to stories, miracles also happen: three horsemen appear, a forest fire is imagined, a dog barks can be heard... They say that a pot of gold is hidden under the stone.
In the village of Oshmyanets, Smorgon region, there is a stone, not far from which, according to legend, the Swedes buried a carriage with gold during their retreat; others say that a boat with gold is buried here. Locals see a glow from the stone, but if you get closer, the glow disappears. According to legend, one man met a beautiful girl at the stone, she asked him to come here tomorrow at noon (service time in the church).
The next day, instead of the beauty, in this place a man saw a snake and cursed him. It turned out to be a girl turned by a snake, who said that she also cursed him forever, and disappeared. Archaeologist Konstantin Tyshkevich conducted research there and discovered two circles of smaller stones around the stone. He believed that in pagan times the boulder was an altar.
A stone called Semigayun or Gayun lies in the forest on the left bank of the Dnieper near the city of Orsha, Vitebsk region. According to legend, when it rains, the stone remains dry and emits healing warmth, healing illnesses. The stone has its greatest power on September 14 - at the beginning of Indian Summer.

In the Bialystok region, near the village of Minkovtsy (formerly Grodno province), at noon a fire came out of a pile of stones. According to legend, a cursed treasure is hidden there. If anyone came closer, a “soldier’s hand with a saber” would fly out and try to kill the person.
There are many legends about sworn treasures buried in castles and forts, or in the hills. Usually, such treasures, according to legend, were buried during wars by either the Swedes, or the French, or the Russians, and at night they can also appear in the form of lights. For example, at a settlement near the village of Bolshie Spory in the Postavy district and Latygovo in the Verhnedvinsk district, as well as some others. So, on a settlement near the village of Degtyarevo on the left bank of the Drissa River and the former Latygovo of the Verkhnedvinsk region, cursed treasures are hidden that come to the surface at Kupala.
The settlement near the village of Zbochno, Slonim district, is connected, according to the stories of local residents, with the war with the Swedes or with the struggle of the princes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the crusaders. They say that a treasure is buried in the fort, which is why lights are often seen here. In the village of Lyskovo, Volkovysk district (now Pruzhansky district, Brest region), they are sure that at their settlement, which is located nearby, there is also buried a treasure, which sometimes “blazes with flames”, and in another way “dries out”.
In the same area, not far from the village of Mstibovo, on and around the castle, according to local residents, white and red fires very often appear. They are sure that a lot of money and all kinds of wealth are buried here. And one day the shepherdesses saw at the castle “a certain person with a brush in his hand,” who kept asking to be scratched. People were sure that it was the treasure itself that was asking for their hands, but the shepherdesses got scared and ran away.

Residents of the village of Shadintsy, Grodno region, are sure that at the foot of their cult mountain Kostyolok, into which, according to legend, the church fell, a cursed treasure is also buried. Sometimes they see it come to the surface and sparkle with fire, usually at noon.

Mountains where, according to legend, treasure is hidden:

Varganskaya Gora - village of Vargany, Dokshitsy district - the treasure comes to the surface in different images. Previously, there was also a cult stone here.

Tamilava Mountain between the villages of Bryanchitsy, Chepeli and Pivashi, Soligorsk district. According to legend, the Swede buried three barrels of gold on golden wheels on the mountain; the gold is “dried out” from time to time, and then the whole mountain shines. If you see those lights and have time to throw your removed boot over your shoulder, then where it falls is where you will dig up the treasure. Now the mountain has been destroyed - covered with a waste heap.
Yanavskaya Gora near the village of Smolyary, Borisov district. Nearby there is Zdan-Kamen (Ghost-Kamen), a holy spring, where ghosts appear in the form of beautiful young women. If a person got lost, they undressed him and put him to sleep on a stone not far from the swamp, and at that time it seemed to him that he was at home. We had also heard the neighing of horses and the bleating of sheep there before.
Mount Deviltovka near the village of Voronichi, Polotsk district. Ghosts appear on the mountain.

Shalamy Mountains near the village of Shalamy-1, Slavgorod district, Mogilev region. Allegedly, cities have collapsed there, along with temples and people; noise, ringing, and singing can be heard there.
Zolotaya Gora – Minyanka village, Kobrin district, Brest region. According to legend, Napoleon buried a carriage with gold here.
Zolotaya Gorka in Minsk – thieves buried a lot of treasure there; according to another legend, believers poured a pile of gold coins to build a temple.

Princely wealth is buried on Mount Princely Tomb (village of Perevoz, Rossony district).
Bald Mountain in the village of Lotochki, Braslav district. They say that a cursed treasure is buried on the mountain, and to get it, you need to: a) make a fire on the mountain; b) skin a living horse; c) harness this horse and draw three furrows on it around the fire - then the treasure will come to light.
Bald Mountain in the village of Sperizhye, Braginsky district. According to legend, Queen Catherine buried a golden carriage here.
Pokrov-Gora or Krasnaya Gorka (village of Vishchin, Rogachevsky district) - a golden carriage is buried.
Shpileva Gora between the villages of Polonevichi and Andrievshchina, Dzerzhinsky district - the French buried 100 carriages with gold and weapons.
Sometimes lights appear in places where, according to popular beliefs, some building falls into the ground as a result of people’s curse. So, not far from the village of Lyskovo, Volkovysk district (now Pruzhansky district, Brest region), where in ancient times the palace of one noble lady Beni collapsed in the Okopy tract. It was during the war with the Russians, when the palace was destroyed, and the lady, so that her wealth would not fall to the enemy, cursed this place. Subsequently, a fire is shown here from time to time, which immediately goes out as a person approaches.
According to the second version of the legend, when someone approaches the light, they see a chest on which candles are burning, and a beautiful young lady is sitting on it, next to her are two scary dogs in chains. The young lady asks the man to take the treasure, but the dogs do not allow him to do this, and the young lady says that she will have to sit here for another three hundred years.
The next legend tells that once upon a time near the village of Sloboda, Bykhovsky district, not far from the forest, there was a church where a priest named Khrol served. Father was good, everyone respected him, but suddenly he turned bad - he began to stare at other people’s girls. Mother became very angry and cursed him, and God himself became angry with her: the church sank into the ground, and a lake formed in its place. Only at night the church floats to the surface, and the devils light candles in it, so it seems that something is shining there. After that, people began to call that place the Devil's. They say that it is still called that way.
It is often mentioned that cursed treasures are drowned in a lake or river. Like in the above-mentioned Lake Sorochanskoe, where Napoleon allegedly sank a carriage with gold. From time to time it comes to the surface and “glows”. The same thing is said about lake Glukhoye or Dikoe in the village of Kolpinskiye, Dyatlovsky district. Napoleon allegedly sank the treasure there. If someone tries to take possession of the treasure, a ghost comes out of the lake and strangles him.
Not far from the village of Shebrin near Brest on the banks of the Mukhavets River there is a hill called Adam’s Castle or Adamukha. According to legend, Pan Adam lived here, who before his death buried all his money at the bottom of the river. In clear weather, people see money in a chest floating to the surface to “dry.” And in Lake Khotomlya near the village of Shepelevichi, Kruglyansky district, a golden cart was flooded.
Sometimes legends mention a swamp where a cursed treasure is drowned. For example, as in the village of Kukarevo, Berezinsky district. There, according to local beliefs, Napoleon himself fell in his golden carriage in the Lyashevsky swamp during his retreat. And it happens that one of the villagers sees from afar how gold is “drying” there.
Once you get closer, the treasure disappears. In a swamp near the village of Sychkovo in the Bobruisk region, allegedly during the Swedish war, many weapons and horse-drawn carts were sunk, among them a golden carriage. The same thing is said about the swamp near the Krevlyanka River in the Smorgon region, where a carriage is allegedly flooded.

And it happens that an unusual fire is seen in a cemetery or mounds. Between the villages of Novoselki and Milosevichi, Slonim district, there is a spruce forest called Boyars. According to legend, rich boyars once lived here, and after their death they were buried in that little forest. On their graves to this day there are large carved stones, overgrown with moss for a long time. They say that once a year the boyars come out of the other world, and then a terrible storm arises in the forest. And if they find someone in the cemetery at this time, they tear him to pieces. They also say that these boyars sing songs together with the wolves and burn a fire until the morning.
In the village of Derevnoy in Logoischina, a box of money is allegedly buried in an old cemetery. At midnight, as local residents say, you can see flashes of fire here, and then a certain “young lady” with a box in her hands. But before the person has time to get his bearings, the box turns into a polar bear. Near the village of Namenina, Drogichinsky district, in the old cemetery, according to legend, every year on Holy Saturday during twilight and before midnight there are flashes similar to tongues of flame, they are either white, or red, or blue. They say that the cursed money, once buried here by the Swedes, is being “dried.”
And on the mound near the village of Lyatokhi, Vitebsk region, at the site of the treasure, fire appears and a white horse jumps between the mounds. In the Gorodok district, at the burial mound you can see two huge horses and a white wagon drawn by three horses. In the village of Bolshoy Rozhan, Soligorsk district, the Belarusian ethnographer Alexander Serzhputovsky recorded a legend that on the banks of the river, where there are many mounds, from time to time a fire burns on some hill. They say that “money blooms” there, and if anyone wants to come closer, the fire will go out. According to legend, this is cursed money. This is how money shows where it is hidden so that it can be released from the earth.
Lights are also seen on the so-called “proshchah” (farewell). An example is a place near the village of Khutor, Svetlogorsk district, Gomel region. Natural objects here: a hill, an oak grove, there used to be a holy spring and a trail stone, and a burial mound nearby. Gold was once hidden here, so they see lights here. They say that one woman found that gold, but it is given only to those for whom it is “destined.”
The hidden treasure may also be under a tree. Example: Nikolsky oak in the village of Mikolka (formerly Peschanka) in the Uzdensky district. According to legend, the French buried a golden treasure under an oak tree.

Let's draw conclusions:

Most of the information about the infernal phenomena described above was recorded in areas such as cult hills and near cult stones. Moreover, on many hills there were, and in some places there still are, cult stones;
- in addition to the lights at the site of the cursed treasures, people see visual and feel auditory hallucinations;
- the time when such phenomena occur is significant calendar holidays (Kupalya, Easter, Indian Summer, etc.), as well as at midnight, or noon, at dawn and at dusk - also a significant border time for ancient people.
In Belarusian mythology, the image of the god Veles was identified with wealth and gold. Most likely, in those places where people observe such infernal phenomena, such as visual and sound hallucinations - they see lights and various ghostly visions, hear noise, bells - there were ancient temples where our ancestors performed pre-Christian rites and rituals dedicated to this deity or his analogue.
It is known that ancient people built their temples on special places that from the very beginning had a certain “power”, for example those in which geologists are now discovering geomagnetic anomalies. After the establishment of a new faith, these places were additionally prayed by those people who came here to celebrate various rituals, and the most susceptible of them could enter a trance, during which they could see and hear various kinds of hallucinations.

This treasure is called cursed because it is the first in history of which it is known where it lies, but in all these two centuries no one has been able to get it.

This search saga began in the summer of 1795. Three young friends Jack Smith, Daniel McGinis and Anthony Vaughan, who lived in the English town of Chester, took a boat and sailed to an island called Oak (translated from English as the island of oaks), which is located off the coast of the Taman Peninsula, called Nova Scotia. Initially, the guys came here to play pirates, but while running around the island, they came across a strange-looking place. After consulting, they decided that pirate treasure was probably buried here. First of all, their attention was drawn to a large tree with a chopped branch on which someone had installed a block. Under the branch there was a depression in the ground, as if it had settled after the hole was filled. Having compared all these facts, the guys were convinced that the treasure lay right here. The guys decided not to tell anyone about their find, and, having dug up the jewelry, divided it among themselves. Therefore, taking the instrument with them the next day, they returned to the island.

After digging for some time, they saw stone slabs. The guys thought that underneath them there would immediately be a chest or cache with countless riches, but after digging through the slabs, they saw a rather deep shaft, at the top of which lay picks and shovels. Those who buried the treasure here also filled up the mine, but this fact did not stop the guys, but rather spurred them to take more active action, and they set to work with even greater enthusiasm.

After a certain period of time, the guys saw that every three meters of the mine were equipped with platforms made of logs and covered with soil. The guys kept digging and digging, and after digging nine meters, they saw a third log platform, then it became clear to them that they themselves would not be able to extract the treasure to the surface. After consulting, they decided not to involve adults in the excavations, because if they did, then instead of treasures they would get, maybe, candy, but even that is not a fact. Therefore, they decided to disguise the excavation and keep it secret, so that after several years they could return here and continue work.

The guys returned here eight years later, in 1803, and brought with them several more treasure hunters. They carried out excavations with renewed energy and in the process, treasure hunters found either oak logs knocked together into a platform, or charcoal and pebbles mixed with coconut fibers. Having dug 27 meters, the searchers found a rectangular stone on which mysterious writings were inscribed, apparently encrypted, which the guys were unable to read. As soon as the team dug to this stone, water began to rise in the mine, the guys began to probe the bottom with the help of poles and by touch identified something similar in shape and size to a treasure chest. Since the treasure hunters were terribly tired that day, and they no longer had enough strength to remove the object from the bottom, they decided to start work tomorrow, and this was a big mistake. The next morning, when they arrived at the excavation site, they saw the shaft half filled with water, and no matter how hard they tried to pump it out, nothing worked.

The third attempt to find the treasure began half a century later. At first, the searchers decided to explore the mine using a drill. During the drilling process, they came across an obstacle, and when the drill was raised and inspected, they found several links of a thin gold chain. There was no end to the joy of the gold miners, because now all doubts about what lay at the bottom of the mine were dispelled and everyone realized that this was really a treasure. This was also confirmed by the inscription on the stone that the guys found fifty years ago. Having deciphered it, the current diggers read that ten feet below the stone there were two million pounds sterling. The head of the drilling crew told his guys that the bottom of the shaft probably contained not one, but two barrels or chests filled to the brim with jewelry. Inspired even more, treasure hunters began to make attempts to pump out the water, and to do this they drilled several wells. All this only led to the fact that the containers at the bottom of the mine were simply flooded with soil that had been torn up and saturated with water, and it was impossible to fish them out.

In 1850, before another attempt to get to the riches, they conducted a more thorough study of the island. Researchers have found that there is a drainage system on the island, which includes five underground springs that draw water from the sea and lead to a mine with money. In the sixties of the nineteenth century, more underground passages and drainage channels were discovered. It turned out that the notorious treasures were protected from outside penetration with the help of an ingenious system of underground structures that flooded the mine as soon as they tried to hide it.

Treasure hunters realized that in order to get the treasure they had to fight the ocean. Having thought everything through carefully, they began installing equipment that pumped out the water. The company searching for treasure on this island has been pumping water since 1859, using thirty horses driving several pumps. The next campaign did this using pumps driven by a steam boiler. Once there was an explosion in it, as a result one worker was killed and several were severely burned. The ocean turned out to be stronger than the people in this struggle, and none of those who wanted to get the treasure could pump out the water.

The campaign that searched for the cursed treasure from 1893 to 1899 approached this matter more wisely. Its engineers decided not to pump out ocean water, but to block its access to the mine. The company had significant funds to achieve this goal, and after a short period of time, more than a dozen workers and a bunch of various equipment were assembled on the island. The work began to boil, someone was building embankments, someone was drilling wells, someone was digging pits, everyone thought that the work would end in success and quite quickly, but the ocean overpowered all efforts, its current eroded the embankment all the time, and the watercourses could not be blocked happened. So this company failed to achieve anything, even though it invested heavily.

After a hundred years of searching, the entire island was dug up and down by treasure seekers, but no one ever got to it. The year 1896 was marked by the fact that work began on the island under the leadership of F. Bleier, who decided that it was he who was destined to get to the treasured riches. They began to drill wells again, from the bottom of which they lifted up iron, wood, and pieces of stone. Everyone was already confident in the success of the enterprise, and the long-awaited gold was almost warming the hands of the campaign leader, but then a period of heavy rains began, due to which a practically pool filled with water formed in the area of ​​the drilling rig. It was as if they were talking about the treasure, and the next treasure hunter left the island with nothing. Two years later, during another campaign to search for treasure, a piece of parchment with two letters distinguishable from the bottom of the mine was recovered. What was written there? Maybe the document described treasures, or something else, no one knew about it.

Expeditions reached the island in a string, but none achieved results. Of all of them, it is worth noting the one that was carried out in 1909. It is interesting mainly because it included the future American President Roosevelt.

At the time when the future president learned about the treasure buried on the island, he was just a New York lawyer. He became so interested in the history of the treasure that he immediately began studying documents related to the island, and after reading a lot of information on this matter, he concluded for himself about the real existence of the treasure. Roosevelt thought that the French hid the treasures on the Oak and that they belonged to the court of one of the monarchs, but he did not rule out the version of their pirate origin. Inspired by the idea of ​​​​searching for a treasure, he began to look for associates for this matter, and when he found the right people, after consulting, they came to the conclusion that at the bottom of the “money mine” lay about ten million dollars. Convinced that the game was worth the candle, they collected two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and went to the skeleton for the treasure. But the efforts of Roosevelt and his companions turned out to be a failure and, having spent huge amounts of money at that time, they went home with nothing.

After this, the treasure ruined many more unlucky seekers. And 1965 is famous for the fact that people died as a result of its search. On August 17, Robert Restall, having examined another pit, lost consciousness and fell there; his son rushed to his aid, and also lost consciousness due to swamp gases. The two men who tried to help them also died.

At the end of the twentieth century, roads were built on the island, but at the same time a visiting schedule was introduced because it became private property. This happened because back in 1965, businessman Daniel Blankenship, living in Miami, read in a newspaper about a treasure on the island. This story captured the imagination of the entrepreneur, and he firmly decided that he would take possession of the treasure and solve the riddle of the mysterious “money mine.” He managed to buy some areas on the island as his own, where he began drilling work. Having learned of Blankenship's acquisition, his competitor named Fred Nolan also bought one of the island's plots.
He was an original man and decided to find the treasure in a way that was different from all his predecessors. He began with a geodetic survey of the island, while he paid attention mostly to the stones that had mysterious inscriptions on them. He carried out his excavations under such stones. As the treasure hunter himself claimed, during these excavations he discovered a cross of enormous size, consisting of only stones. He believed that the pirates were not so close to God as to lay out a cross from large stones, and therefore suggested that this could have been done by members of the crew of a Spanish galleon that had gone off course. With this they could ask heaven for protection for the treasures hidden here. Who could have hidden this legendary treasure on the island? It was already mentioned above in the text that there is a version that supposedly the treasures belong to the French crown, but the majority of researchers do not take it seriously. There are also versions that these treasures were hidden by the Incas or Vikings, but these versions are also not approved or confirmed. The pirate version remains the most popular, as these places were often visited by the most famous pirates of all time. These are William Kidd, Francis Drake, Edward Teach and Henry Morgan.

Some suggest that Henry Morgan could have hidden the treasures on the island, identifying his loot that he got after an operation called the “Panama bag”, because the Panamanian treasures are still wanted today. According to rumors, there were a lot of treasures that were looted from the Prue to replenish the treasury of the Spanish king, since Morgan sent them through the Panama Canal on one hundred and seventy-five mules. For such a quantity of treasures, it made sense to build a large cache, which could be located on Oak Island.

Edward Teach, whom we know by the nickname Blackbeard, could also have hidden treasure on the island. A well-known fact is that over the course of two years, twenty ships loaded with gold became the prey of Blackbeard, and their fate is still unknown, because Teach died in a battle with Robert Maynard, an English captain. Before his death, Blackbeard said that only Satan could find and open his money, and whoever lived longer than him would take it all. And in fact, you need to live a very long time to dig up a treasure on Oak Island. They have been looking for it for more than two hundred years, and the first treasure hunters died long ago, and generations of those wishing to find this treasure are replaced, but the treasure has not yet been found.

There are suggestions that this island is a “bank safe,” or in other words, a pirate “common fund,” and only pirates knew how to get into the mine without filling it with water. But it is doubtful that pirates would engage in the construction of such a complex engineering structure, because it would take a lot of time and have the appropriate knowledge. Such structures as the “money mine” were known in the fifteenth century. The German scientist Georg Agricola in his writings provided diagrams that were very similar to the structure located on Oak Island.

There is also an assumption that the treasures of St. Cathedral may be hidden on this island. Andrew, which is located in Scotland, and in which gold, gems and other valuables were accumulated and preserved for a long time. These huge treasures, no one knows how, disappeared back in 1565, and after that they were not mentioned anywhere else, since they were not found.

A researcher from America, Stephen Sora, says that the treasure on the island was hidden by the Templars, about which he even published a book. In this book, he gave many arguments that confirmed his theory. And in truth, the Templars had great treasures, the necessary construction knowledge and their own fleet, and therefore such a version has the right to exist. Just look at the presence of the cross, which was made of stones and discovered by Nolan; this also once again testifies in favor of this version. The most original hypothesis about Oak Island and the treasures hidden in its depths states that the island belonged to the founder of English materialism, the philosopher Francis Bacon, who belonged to the Rosicrucian Order. Researchers even suggest that the author of the sonnets is from Shakespeare's plays. Perhaps there is evidence of this version at the bottom of this shaft; it is worth remembering the parchment extracted from there. Those who defend this theory argue that there are traces of mercury in the mine, and Francis Bacon argued that it could have been used to store documents.

While excavating, Blankenship found many links of an iron chain there, and after analyzing it, determined that this chain was made before 1750. According to such data, he concluded that these treasures most likely belonged to pirates, and the analysis that was carried out on the wood of the partitions in the mine confirmed that this building can be dated back to 1700-1750

Daniel Blankenship, while conducting his excavations, believed that he needed to walk another sixty-five feet to the desired treasure, and this would require one hundred thousand dollars. Over the previous twelve years of searching, he passed the Shah to a depth of sixty-four meters, this almost led to his death during a collapse. If he had continued his search, it would have led him to a “money pool,” a kind of “cave” at great depths.

The treasure hunter came across this cave when he drilled a well not far from the mine, at a distance of sixty meters from the mine. When performing this drilling, Blankenship used a seventy-centimeter casing pipe. An interesting fact is that when they were drilling, the drill, being at a very great depth, came across rock, but the treasure hunter’s intuition told him to continue working, and after eighteen meters the drill entered the cavity of the rock. A television camera was lowered into the well. The cavity that was filled with water was apparently artificial. In it one could see something resembling a chest, and next to it was a weapon resembling a pickaxe. But the treasure hunters were ready for this, but no one expected to see a passing human hand. Later, after talking with a pathologist, Blankenship began to understand that conditions were created in the mine under which human remains could avoid decomposition, as if being preserved for a long period of time. It follows that the treasure on Oak Island is guarded by at least one dead man.

Blankenship called this cavity at the end of the shaft the money pool. He decided to get into this pool through the casing and boldly dived into the muddy water, although he knew that at any moment he could come across a dead man. Due to the fact that there was a lot of silt in this pool, visibility was practically zero, and dives were fruitless. Speaking at a press conference that took place in the seventies, he told reporters that this thing was for him the most grandiose thing he had seen in his life. And what is in the bowels of the island leaves all sorts of theories behind the scenes. He claimed that all the legends and theories were nothing compared to what he guessed. And the pirates have nothing to do with it, since even the famous Captain Kidd is a beardless boy compared to the one who dug tunnels under these islands.

One can only guess, or did Blankenship really see something that could justify his words, or was he just being disingenuous? And why then did he not extract evidence of his words from this cave? He devoted more than 25 years to searching for treasures, and the only result he got was that even his business partners stopped seeing him. Daniel Blankenship walked around his island, holding a gun in his hands, and rushed at everyone whose foot was careless to set foot on the island. The cursed treasures completely deprived him of his sanity and normal human life, and as a result of their search, he lost more than he gained.

In 1998, David Tobiak decided to spend some of his millions to try to extract these treasures using the latest technological advances. The millionaire's group bought a license for five years to search for treasure on this island. But it is known that after these five years, no new promising results appeared, and treasure hunters entered the new millennium with nothing. And a little later, reports began to appear in the media that Dan Blankenship and David Tobias were going to sell their territory on the island. The treasure hunters explained this step by saying that they were already of considerable age (over seventy years old) and wanted to make way for the next generations.

The Oak and the undiscovered treasures it contains have become famous throughout the world, which is why the island is such an attractive tourist attraction. It is for this reason that the Oak Island Tourism Society made a proposal to the authorities to make the island a center for tourists. But, unfortunately, the authorities did not take advantage of this offer.

During the time during which the search for treasure on Oak Island has been ongoing, and this is more than two centuries, many people have gone bankrupt trying to find it, and six of them have died. Only psychics, clairvoyants, dowsers and sorcerers receive profit from the cursed treasure. They are the ones that treasure hunters turn to for additional information.

2006 marked another step in development for Oak Island, as it was acquired by a Michigan group specializing in deep drilling. I think it will not remain a secret to anyone that they acquired this island not at all in order to sunbathe there in the sun, but precisely in order to find the damned treasure. Maybe this particular company will be able to get what, for more than two hundred years, dozens of people have invested huge fortunes, vitality, and some even paid with their lives in pursuit of the treasure.

Photo: Ernst Lissner. "The expulsion of the Poles from the Kremlin." 1907

About 20 years in Russian history after 1598 are called the Time of Troubles. It is believed that it began with the death of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, the son of Ivan IV the Terrible, and ended in the first years of the reign of Mikhail Romanov.
The peasant uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov, the war with the Swedes and Poles, constant robberies by any armed groups - all this led to the fact that people tried to reliably hide their goods. The Time of Troubles is considered the era of treasures - from very small to amazing. These treasures have not yet been discovered, although they exist in oral traditions and written eyewitness accounts.
And someone finds...
Interest in hidden wealth is fueled by regular finds of relatively poor treasures that date back to that distant era.
For example, before the First World War in Moscow, during the construction of a house on Solyanka, a large clay pot with pennies from the time of Boris Godunov was discovered: about nine thousand silver circles!
In 1957, a bag containing silver coins issued under four Russian tsars was found in Borovsk: Ivan IV the Terrible, Fyodor Ioannovich, Boris Godunov and Vasily Shuisky. The treasure was hidden on the territory of the St. Paphnutev Monastery, where at that time many civilians were hiding from robberies.
In the Moscow Kremlin in 1969, a stove tile in the form of a rectangular box without a top lid was removed from the foundation of a cracked ancient column, in which 1237 coins were stored for a not too large amount of 12 rubles 12 altyns 2 money. But for the employees of the numismatics department of the State Historical Museum, the find turned out to be incredibly valuable.
And in 2009, during the restoration of the building of the Moscow State Theater of Nations, workers found a ring and three gold coins, also related to the Time of Troubles: it was in 1610, during the war with the Poles, due to a lack of silver, that for the first time it was decided to mint Russian coins from gold. One such coin could buy 12 pounds of rye. If not for its historical value, the rate would be quite comparable to the current cost of grain.
Golden treasury of False Dmitry II
The list of finds can easily be continued. But the main treasures of the Time of Troubles are considered to be completely different treasures. Their total cost, according to researchers (of course, quite approximate), can now reach several billion dollars.
In 1610, the “Tushinsky thief”, the impostor False Dmitry II, fled from the walls of Moscow, who had at his disposal a treasury with a huge sum at that time - 300 thousand rubles in gold coins, received partly from the Poles, partly from regular robberies and offerings from the cities that recognized him ( Pskov, Suzdal, Uglich, Yaroslavl, etc.). The impostor ended up in Kaluga, where his former comrades killed him during a hunt. True, the treasury was not found in his camp. Where could you spend that kind of money in one year? A member of the boyar duma of that time received from 100 to 120 rubles a year, archers - from four to seven. And everyone could live in grand style. But 300 thousand?
It’s not surprising that people started talking: the money is buried somewhere. But where? In Tushino, Kaluga, somewhere on the way between them? Or did they manage to transport the treasury to Voronezh, which the impostor planned to make the new capital?
Judging by the forums of treasure hunters, most of them believe that the gold of False Dmitry II is hidden in the area of ​​the former village of Tushina. However, regular walks with metal detectors have not yet helped to find the trail of the missing treasury.
Treasures of King Sigismund III
Another undiscovered treasure from the Time of Troubles - almost certainly the most valuable. In 1611, the boyars who ruled after Vasily Shuisky called Vladislav, the son of the Polish king Sigismund III, to the Russian throne and allowed the Polish army into Moscow. The interventionists, having entered the city, plundered royal property, cathedrals and churches. The loot was huge. In the same year, she was sent on 923 carts from Moscow towards Mozhaisk, where the camp of Sigismund III was located, in order to be transported from there to Poland.
However, the treasures never reached Poland. According to legend, fearing an attack by Russian militias, the Poles decided to bury the loot near the Smolensk road. A recording of signs by which one can find the right place was made for Sigismund III on a copper board in Polish and Latin. Since the end of the 17th century, treasure hunters have been trying to find Moscow treasures using this record, secretly copied and translated into Russian. The signs of the buried treasure are quite clear: 650 meters from the churchyard of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which stands on the Khvorostyanka River. In the vicinity of the churchyard there is an embankment, a dry meadow, a “well” with a spring and boulder stones.
But these signs are too general and suitable for many places. The Smolensk road itself has repeatedly changed its location, and there are dozens of Nikolsky churchyards near it.
It is difficult to imagine that treasures from 923 carts are hidden in one pit - most likely, there were at least ten such caches. Although it is also possible that the treasure was hidden in a small natural dungeon.
Researchers believe that it is necessary to look for the precious loss either near modern Mozhaisk, or in the vicinity of Aprelevka, in the Moscow region, where at that time the monastery of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was located, and there was a similar churchyard nearby.
It is curious that searches near the village of Sokolovo, near which the ancient churchyard of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was located, led to the discovery of a completely different treasure - a cauldron with copper coins of the 18th century, which have great historical value.
Treasure of Marina Mnishek
Marina Mniszek, the daughter of the Polish governor Yuri (Jerzy) Mniszek, was alternately the wife of both royal impostors. In 1606, she was crowned as the Russian Tsarina under the name Maria Yuryevna. True, she reigned for only one week - until the death of False Dmitry I and the coming to power of Vasily Shuisky.
Mniszech is also known for bringing a fork to Russia for the first time, which she used at her wedding feast in the Kremlin - and with this act she literally shocked the Russian boyars and clergy. Opponents of False Dmitry immediately came to the conclusion: since the king and queen eat not with their hands, but with some kind of spear, it means they are connected with the devil.
After the death of the first and then the second husbands, the Don Ataman Ivan Zarutsky became the patron of the Polish woman. Until June 1612, the lovers were in Kolomna, before leaving from which Zarutsky’s Cossacks plundered the city and started mass arson. There was so much loot that it was impossible to take everything with us. Therefore, according to some reports, Zarutsky and Marina decided to hide their wealth 25 miles from Kolomna near the Bogorodskoye farm. The treasures were dumped in a hole, covered with forged gates taken from the Pyatnitskaya Tower, and then covered with earth. Most likely, Marina’s jewelry was placed there (according to the written testimony of contemporaries, only on the day of her wedding with the first impostor she was given a huge gem and a box with truly royal jewelry, about the fate of which nothing else is known).
According to legend, Marina cast a terrible spell on this place, and everyone who tried to find the treasure began to feel an insurmountable fear and hurried to leave for fear of losing their minds.
After the victories of the Russian militia, the lovers were caught - and Marina Mnishek was imprisoned in the Round (Marinka) tower of the Kolomna Kremlin, where she died about a year later.
Oddly enough, people also consider the Marinka Tower to be a likely burial place for the treasure. Although it is not very clear how, when imprisoned there, the Polish adventurer would have managed to carry money and jewelry with her - and even in huge quantities.
However, every year new treasure hunters appear in Kolomna, exploring the Round Tower and the surrounding walls of the local Kremlin. Although it is possible that they are attracted not only by the treasure itself, but also by the opportunity to experience a thrill: to check exactly how Marina Mnishek’s spell works.
A short afterword
Let us recall that according to Russian laws, the found treasure is supposed to be divided in half between the finder and the owner of the land or premises where the treasure was discovered (in our country, in most cases, such an owner is the state). Moreover, we are talking only about hidden material values. If the treasure belongs to historical or cultural monuments, then the owner of the land and the treasure hunter together receive half the value of the treasure in monetary terms - and divide it in half among themselves.
And one more point. A treasure hunter who searches without the permission of the owner of the land or house receives nothing. So, when going out into nature with a secret map and a metal detector, do not forget to ask permission in advance from the administration in charge of this area of ​​the forest or ravine. Because otherwise, any valuable find can simply be taken away on completely legal grounds.
Plato VIKTOROV
Source:
http://tainy.info https://salik.biz/articles/40272-klady-smutnogo-vremeni.html

There are many legendary treasures in the world that everyone knows about, but no one can find them. Ancient chronicles mention them, their existence is confirmed by legends, stories about them are passed on from mouth to mouth. Such treasures also include the treasures of the Polish prince Jeremiah Vishnevetsky, which he hid in the city of Lubny (now the Poltava region in Ukraine).
GRANDFATHER AND GRANDSON
The Vishnevetsky family is old and very noble. The protagonist's grandfather, Dmitry Vishnevetsky, was a truly legendary figure. For the first time in Ukrainian history, he received a mace and a crown from the Polish king as the ruler of Ukraine and Moldova. However, Dmitry looked not towards Europe, but towards Russia. In 1552, with his own funds, he built a fortified town on the island of Khortitsa - the future Zaporozhye Sich and, together with the Cossacks, began to set the heat on the Crimean Tatars. He returned victorious from campaigns in the Crimea, Don and North Caucasus many times, and in 1558 he entered the service of the Russian Tsar. In 1563, he was captured and handed over to the Turkish Sultan, on whose orders he was brutally tortured.
His grandson, Jeremiah, was born in 1612. At the age of 19, he returned home from Europe and took possession of the family lands. In the first half of the 17th century, its treasury was one of the richest not only in Ukraine, but also in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Jeremiah's "state" numbered 228 thousand souls, and his capital - Lubny - was transformed by the ambitious prince into a prosperous city with a castle, town hall, church, Bernardine monastery, Orthodox Trinity Church, two and a half thousand houses and an annual fair attended by merchants even from Moscow, Crimea and Astrakhan...
TRAITOR AND ARSONER
It would seem, live and be happy. But Jeremiah Vishnevetsky, apparently, was not looking for easy ways. After studying with the Jesuits in Lvov, Italy and Spain, he, inspired by Catholicism, accepted the new faith, thereby betraying Orthodoxy, for which his ancestors suffered. In Poland this was received with a bang, but in Ukraine it was considered a betrayal. Jeremiah's mother, Raina Mogilyanka, a passionate zealot of Orthodoxy, built Orthodox churches and monasteries in Ukraine, and suddenly who? - her own son! - became a ruthless persecutor of the Orthodox. In the Mgar monastery, which she founded, she imposed a terrible curse on her own son, who had disgraced her family.
For the time being, it did not manifest itself in any way; moreover, Jeremiah was on horseback. He took part in the Smolensk War against Russian troops, although unsuccessfully, but received the nickname “Arsonist” for the fact that he mercilessly burned everything in his path. After the war, the active prince plunged headlong into farming, and he needed an eye and an eye. Vishnevetsky's ancestors accumulated untold wealth - income from the Trans-Dnieper latifundia, military booty, gifts from the Tatar Khan and Moldavian rulers. With these funds, Jeremiah maintained his own army of six thousand, a large apparatus of officials, built churches, fortresses, roads... There was enough money in abundance - Vishnewiecki spent 250 thousand zlotys on his wedding alone.
THE CURSE BEGINS TO ACT
Everything collapsed overnight in 1648. The army of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, who opposed Polish domination in Ukraine, did not leave the nobles any chance. Especially for a long time, the Cossacks sharpened their grudge against Jeremiah Vishnevetsky, the first traitor of Ukraine. The detachment of Maxim Krivonos quickly approached the Vishnevetsky castle, and the prince, abandoning all his wealth and using a secret passage, fled to Poland. And there really was a wealth of goods on his estate; only several cartloads of dishes and silver sculptures were stored. According to ancient legend, the prince hid them in underground hiding places. The Cossacks left no stone unturned from the castle, but they did not find the treasure.
So Jeremiah was left without a family nest and without treasures. He never forgave the Cossacks for this. In 1651, he defeated the troops of Bohdan Khmelnitsky near Berestechko and suddenly died in the prime of his life (39 years old!). Whether he was poisoned or suffered a stroke is unknown. One thing is clear: he took the secret of his treasure with him to the grave.
UNDERGROUND KINGDOM
Few doubted that the treasure existed. Its richest owner retreated very hastily from the castle, but he could not take so much property with him. Therefore, treasures are hidden underground. But where? Vishnevetsky's castle was huge, and its above-ground part was just the tip of the iceberg: underground tunnels, passages, and labyrinths take up much more space. If desired, one could hide an elephant, and more than one, in the “underground kingdom.” And it, the dungeon, is still poorly explored. Every now and then, during construction work and in the sinkholes that periodically occurred in the city, previously unknown passages and cavities were discovered.
At the beginning of the 19th century, during the construction of the market square, a vast dungeon was discovered containing seven human skeletons. And in the place where the church used to stand, they found a gallery 2.5 meters wide and 3.2 meters high. The gallery was divided into two branches: the first led to Cathedral Square, but after 30 meters it was blocked by a rubble. We walked about twenty steps along the second passage and came across a half-rotten oak door. It was broken, but it was impossible to move further due to the too stale air. Here they found several silver coins, a fragment of a sword, some half-decayed documents and medieval tiles.
In the 60s of the 19th century, a deep underground corridor unexpectedly opened on the site of the princely castle, which was previously unknown. The brave souls descended into it and at the end of the passage they saw an iron door, locked with a large padlock, but, fearing the collapse that soon occurred, they did not dare to break down the doors.
TREASURE IS NOT GIVEN
One day the time has come: we must look! Even the city government got involved in the matter. A major specialist in the search for underground treasures, archaeologist Ignatius Stelletsky, was called from Moscow. But the First World War began, and work had to be curtailed. In 1922-1923, the restless Stelletsky returned to Lubny. With the help of local history buffs, he managed to find an underground passage leading towards the river, along which Vishnevetsky once fled from the Cossacks. Stelletsky discovered a spare - wooden - passage from the castle and was able to prove that at first Jeremiah and his comrades fled along it, but the Cossacks blocked their path - they set fire to the passage. The wooden vault caught fire, and the fugitives turned back, but new masses of fleeing people pressed on them. As a result, the vault collapsed and buried many victims, whose remains were discovered by Stelletsky. But the treasure itself was not there! Ignatius Yakovlevich did not lose heart; according to his admission, he was literally a few steps from the very underground passage where the treasures were hidden. However, local authorities opposed underground work.
Since then, who hasn’t tried their luck in Lubny! The treasure, as if enchanted, was not given to anyone. In the end, treasure hunters developed a strong belief that the treasure would never be found. And all because the curse of Princess Vishnevetskaya, which she imposed on her son and his treasures, was very strong.
Lyubov SHAROVA

Many people are interested in stories about treasures and the untold riches that are hidden in them. But not a single person in the world knows for sure when the first treasure was buried. Obviously, this happened after man began to use precious stones and gold as a measure of value. And they started hiding it in secluded places because they either didn’t want to share it with relatives, or they put it off for a rainy day. But at the same time, if someone buried a treasure in the ground, there were always people who wanted to dig it up. This is how treasure hunters appeared.

It should be noted that there are many rumors about the treasures. Sometimes they are so fantastic that it is simply impossible to believe. On the other hand, there is also no definite information about the treasures, so no one can say exactly where to look for this or that treasure.

However, there are many stories in the world about the untold riches that are hidden in the earth. One of them is the story of the Albigensian treasures.

It so happened that the small French village of Rennes-le-Chateau once became very famous. They started talking about her all over France, and the name of the local priest became known to almost everyone.

And the story began from the moment when the young priest Bérenger Saunière appeared in the village. The parish he received was very poor, and at that time no more than two hundred people lived in the village, the church was dilapidated. And the abbot himself could not boast of big money. Despite this, a few years later Saunière managed, at his own expense, not only to repair and decorate the church, but also to help improve the village, repair roads and old houses. In addition, the priest himself now had a beautiful house with a greenhouse and a garden. Saunière began buying antiques and also collected a magnificent library. All this was so inconsistent with his income that it caused gossip among parishioners. Some were simply jealous of him, and some tried to find out where the priest got his money. At the same time, rumors appeared that the priest had entered into a relationship with the devil or had found a treasure. People said that when Saunière was preparing the church premises for renovation, he found strange documents with incomprehensible signs, after which he began searching the local cemetery for gravestones with the same signs.

These rumors were partially confirmed when it was established that the grave of the wife of the Master of the Templar Order, Madame Blanchefort, had been excavated. The gravestone was completely destroyed, but what was underneath it remained a mystery. Then other dug up graves appeared, on which there were also mysterious writings.

And then high church authorities intervened in the matter. The bishop demanded that the priest hand over all the excess church money, but Saunière refused to do so. Then the bishop took the case to court. Saunière was accused of speculation and fraud. However, the investigators were unable to extract any confessions from the reverend. Saunière's maid Marie Denarno, who was in a love affair with the priest, and to whom he left his house, a collection of antiques and paintings in his will, also remained silent. But the maid could tell a lot, since she took direct part in the affairs of her lover. However, despite the fact that the priest could not be accused of anything, he was still fired, choosing as a pretext for dismissal an unusual ornament in the church painting, which was considered to be those very ancient writings.

A year after the trial, Saunière died, and the search for treasure resumed. But this did not bring any results. Many treasure hunters were trying to understand where a simple priest could have gotten his wealth, until someone remembered that in ancient times the Cathars or Albigensians lived in this area. No one knew exactly how they appeared in those parts. They were always poorly dressed, wore long black cloaks belted with coarse rope, either a cap or a hat, and called themselves pure and perfect, completely rejecting wealth, considering it evil.

Representatives of this people, long before Martin Luther, denounced the Catholic Church for its misinterpretation and distortion of Holy teaching, as well as for other sins, including the worship of gold. They, in fact, became the first dissidents. Pope Innocent III began to fear for church revenues, so he declared a crusade against the Cathars, calling on the Templars to support him. But the knights of the order refused, taking a seemingly neutral position, but in reality they went over to the side of the Cathars, defending them with arms in hand. And they, in turn, transferred their wealth to the Templars, which they themselves did not need at all. Soon King Philip II Augustus also joined the war, who had long wanted to lay his hands on the treasures of the order.

Under such pressure, the Cathars could not resist and began to seek refuge with the Knights of the Cross, who, at the beginning of their existence, received permission to accept into the brotherhood even those who had been excommunicated and declared a heretic. Thus, the Templars became the most powerful order of chivalry. In addition to great treasures, the knights also learned occult knowledge in Palestine, which was not yet known in Europe.

In addition, many of the postulates of the Cathars found adherents among the Templars, which led to the fact that the knights themselves were already persecuted, their property and lands were taken away from them, and they were killed. But the knights never revealed any of their secrets. At the same time, they could no longer help the Cathars, but scattered, safely hiding in their Norman castles.

Those enormous riches that the Templars accumulated during their existence, along with those that were received from the Cathars, were sought not only in France, but throughout Europe seven hundred years before Saunière. However, it was not possible to find them either then or now. Scientists are trying to find out at least something by studying ancient tomes, but this has not yet brought any results.

No less famous is the so-called treasure of Count Rostopchin. His estate is located 40 kilometers from Moscow. Starting from the 16th century, it was owned by the Volynsky family. It was constantly expanding, each new generation inviting its own architects. Thus, the stone Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands and a park with pavilions were erected. And later a real palace and a pond appeared. But in 1800, Vorontsov, who owned the estate (he inherited the estate on his mother’s side), was forced to sell the estate because he went bankrupt. It was bought by Count Fyodor Rostopchin.

As soon as he moved in, the new owner ordered marble statues for the park, luxury furniture, tapestries, paintings, antique vases, as well as gold, silver and porcelain items from London, Paris and Rome to be delivered from Italy. Since then, the halls of the estate have looked more like a museum, and the library has become perhaps the largest in all of Russia.

However, when in 1812 the French approached Moscow, and Count Rostopchin ordered the estate to be set on fire, and then, when the French troops left the already burned capital and moved towards his estate, the count, according to rumors, hid all his treasures in hiding places located underground .

Moreover, he didn’t have to think much, since all the premises of the estate were connected to each other by underground tunnels. And in the 18th century, it became fashionable for aristocrats to build labyrinths in which they escaped the heat, organized entertainment events and masquerades.

Rostopchin expanded the dilapidated tunnels to such a size that a carriage could easily pass through them. Historians do not rule out that it was in this way that some of the valuables were removed.

On the eve of the retreat, the count informed his guests that he intended to set fire to his estate so that it would not fall to the French. But by the time the arson was being prepared, there was nothing valuable left in the palace.

After the victory over the French, Count Rostopchin returned to his estate, but soon died. The estate was rebuilt, but without its former luxury. Its new owner was Count Sheremetev.

Currently, a sanatorium is located on the estate. When a major renovation was carried out there in the late 1970s, builders came across the remains of an underground passage, the width of which was 2.3 meters and the height of 2.2 meters, the vault was made of white stone, and the walls were made of brick. But this move was blocked.

According to many researchers, the treasure may still be underground, but the problem is that no one knows whether the underground passages were only under the estate or whether they stretched for many kilometers.

Be that as it may, the legend about Count Rostopchin’s treasure exists and there is even evidence of the existence of underground passages, but no one has discovered the treasures themselves.

It should be noted that Rostopchin’s treasure is far from the only mythical treasures known about in Russia. But the lion's share of such stories is tied to mysticism and magic.

So, in particular, many know the legend about the treasure of the robber chieftain Stenka Razin, who buried treasures not far from the mill in Simbirsk (now the city of Ulyanovsk). They say that these treasures are guarded by ghosts. More than once, alleged eyewitnesses claimed that lights, ghosts, and even a talking goat pointed to the location of the treasure.

In 2011, information appeared in the media that travelers from the Worlds club had found the so-called Kolchak gold on Lake Baikal. According to legend, Kolchak's White Guards captured the entire gold reserve of the Russian Empire in 1918. But near Irkutsk they were attacked by soldiers of the Czechoslovak Corps, who handed over both the White Guards themselves and part of the gold to the Bolsheviks. But, as it turned out later, 180 tons of gold disappeared without a trace. According to one version, after a train crash, the carriage containing the gold fell into Lake Baikal.

Later, research was carried out in the area of ​​the accident, and then it was even possible to discover a carriage from the Civil War period. But the search had to be suspended due to worsening weather conditions. The search resumed quite recently, and rumors immediately appeared that the researchers had found Kolchak’s gold. But it turned out that the find was just lampshades with gilding. Thus, this legend remains nothing more than a beautiful fairy tale.

There is also a legend about the so-called gold of Genghis Khan. Tradition says that he was buried along with all the treasures. And a herd of horses was driven over the grave and all the performers of the ritual were killed. At the moment, no one can say for sure where Genghis Khan's grave is located, just as no one can say with certainty whether there were treasures.

And there are countless such beautiful stories and legends around the world. But so far not a single researcher or treasure hunter has been able to discover even the smallest treasure trove. Therefore, we can only believe that someday someone will be very lucky.

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Treasure of the Cahuenga Gorge

Is there a treasure hidden under the tree?..

When it comes to the number of corpses associated with a certain stock of gold, the cursed treasures of Cahuenga Gorge are at the top of the list. Add in a famous Hollywood landmark and you have an incredibly compelling legend.

This story is as complicated as the Cahuenga Mountains. It begins in 1864, when four soldiers sent by Benito Juarez arrived in San Francisco with a cache of coins and jewelry to purchase ammunition for the Mexican War. Along the way, one of the men died, and the other three buried the treasure for safety. However, a wanderer named Diego Morena had been watching them, and he made off with the money soon after, traveling south and stopping in the mountains above Los Angeles at what was known as Cahuenga Gorge. That night he stopped at a local tavern and had a dream that he would die if he brought the loot back to Los Angeles. In a panic, he buried the treasure. But he died anyway. But not before telling his friend Jesus Martinez where he buried the money.

Martinez went looking for money with his stepson, but he suffered a heart attack and died as soon as they started digging. Ten years later, the stepson was killed in a shooting in East Los Angeles. A small part of the treasure was found in 1885 by a Basque shepherd, but he too died when he fell overboard on the way back to Spain and the gold in his pockets sank to the bottom of the ocean. In 1939, oil explorer Henry Jones tried to dig up treasure in the area that approaches the Hollywood Bowl. On November 27 of the same year, the film crew watched as they dug up... dirt. Jones committed suicide due to failure that same year, adding another victim to the death toll, bringing the total to nine (if you include the four soldiers who also met an untimely death).

The Curse of Charles Island

This small island off the coast of Milford, Connecticut is also known as Thrice-Cursed Island. First, the chief of the Poagusett tribe considered the area sacred. "Any habitation will fall to the Earth and it will be damned," he said when Europeans tried to settle there. He was right - not a single building stood there for any long period of time.

The pirate Captain Kidd also cursed him in 1699 during his last voyage. It is his treasure that is said to be buried here. In 1721, a third curse was placed on the site, allegedly by the Mexican Emperor Guatmosin, whose wealth was stolen and allegedly hidden there by sailors. In 1850, two treasure hunters found a chest, but when they opened it they were greeted by a flaming skull, and were then either killed or spent the rest of their lives in an insane asylum.

In any case, no other treasure has been found, and people have reported mysterious lights and sounds coming from the island.

The Curse of the Oak Island Money Mine

“2 million pounds buried 40 feet deep.”

The mystery of Oak Island was first discovered by teenagers in 1795. They saw strange lights near a tiny island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. After further exploration, the boys noticed a newly dug hole. Since pirates frequently appeared in the area, it seemed possible that a large amount of treasure was buried there. The further they dug, the stranger it all became. They came across wooden barriers, layers of coconut shells and even engraved stones with a strange code, which, when deciphered, turned out to read: “2 million pounds buried at a depth of 40 feet.”

People from all over the world have tried to find the elusive treasure (including future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt), and the search is still ongoing to this day. No one knows who buried what, or why, and many people have died trying to find answers to these questions.

The first recorded fatality occurred in 1861, when a pump exploded, killing one worker. In 1897, a man named Kaiser Maynard was killed when the rope he was using to climb out of a mine came off a pulley. In 1951, a huge excavator with a clamshell bucket slipped off a barge and sank. The worst tragedy occurred in 1965, when adventurer Roberta Restall, his son and two employees inhaled noxious fumes after falling into a pit.

One legend says that seven people must die before the money is found. This count now brings the death toll to six. Who wants to be seventh?

Lost Dutch Mine

In the Superstition Mountains of Arizona lie a fabulous treasure and a notorious curse. The Apache tribes who lived there knew the area was rich in gold, but their own legend of a vengeful thunder god convinced them to stay away from the area. The Spaniard Francisco Vázquez de Coronado tried to mine gold, but when his people began to die and get maimed, he gave these mountains their ominous name.

In 1845, Don Miguel Peralta found a gold mine, but was killed by angry Apaches. The gold they found was strewn all over the area, and the entrance to the mine was destroyed. The area became a paradise for gold seekers; a descendant of Peralta claimed to have found gold, and a man named Dr. Abraham Thorne was also led to a rich gold site by benevolent Native Americans.

However, the name of this place - and the curse - is associated with Jacob Waltz - who was not so much a "Dutch" as a "German", but the name stuck. After twenty years of searching, Waltz claimed to have found a magical gold mine, but died before he could reveal its location. In 1931, treasure hunter Adolf Ruth disappeared while searching for a mine - his skull was found two years later, along with a note reading "Veni Vidi Vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered"), from which it can be concluded that he found gold before he died.

Since then, many people have died trying to find this elusive treasure, the latest being Jesse Capen, a messenger from Denver whose body was discovered in 2012 - three years after he left on an expedition to find the mine.