Russian Blog

Well, it’s that time of the year again. Halloween is just a few days away. If you remember, last year we had a post about «празднуют ли Хэллоуин в России и если да, то как» [whether Halloween is celebrated in Russia and if yes, then how].

Sure, Halloween does not have deep roots in Russia where it’s a recent addition to the holiday lineup. But this doesn’t mean you can’t find some really good scary stories to enjoy on October 31.

If you have enough time, you can read the story of «Вий» [Viy] by Nikolai Gogol (also English translation). I read it when I was about 10 or so and it made a huge impression on me. In fact, I tried carrying a small piece of «мел» [chalk] with me whenever possible for a couple of months afterwards. Of course, «мел» was «дефицитный товар» [a hard-to-find item] which only confirmed my belief in its magical protective powers.

Interestingly, the spell disappeared just as soon as I watched «одноимённый фильм» [a movie by the same name]. The “Viy” movie is worth watching not just because it’s sort of scary-ish, but also because it’s the only «фильм ужасов» [scary movie] made in Soviet Union. Can you imagine, growing up not knowing what «ужастик» [a scary movie] was?

Besides, it wasn’t really a scary movie at all. After all, it started off with the disclaimer, read calmly in a pleasant voice of a male narrator:

«Вий есть колоссальное создание простонародного воображения. Вся эта повесть есть народное предание.»

[Viy is a colossal creation of popular imagination. This entire tale is a folk legend.]

But if you are short on time or would like to read a simpler story, then Viy is not for you. Instead, I highly recommend «страшилки» [bogeyman stories]. These are not found in books. Instead, they are part of an oral tradition, being passed from child to child, remaining practically unchanged for years.

Told late at night, when all lights are out and no adults are present, these stories can be absolutely terrifying in their straightforwardness, abruptness, simple narrative and uncanny way of making everyday objects terrifying.

Here’s a sample:

«Чёрные занавески» [Black curtains]

«Жили мать, отец, девочка и её брат. Один раз мать послала девочку купить занавески, но сказала, что не покупай чёрные занавески. Девочка пришла в магазин, а там были только чёрные занавески, и она купила чёрные.» 

[There once lived a mother, a father, a little girl and her brother. Once mother sent the girl to buy curtains, but said not to buy black ones. The girl went to the story, which only had black curtains and so she bought them.]

«Мама повесила их на окно. Ночью чёрные занавески задушили отца. Отца похоронили. На следующую ночь занавески задушили мать. Её тоже похоронили. На следующую ночь занавески задушили брата.»

[Mother put them on the window. At night the curtains choked the father to death. So the father was buried. Next night the curtains choked the mother to death. So she too was buried. The night after that the curtains choked the brother.]

«Тогда девочка пошла в милицию и всё рассказала милиционерам. Они ночью спрятались под кроватью, а девочка легла в кровать. Когда занавески захотели задушить девочку, милиционеры выстрелили в них. Занавески закричали, у них полилась чёрная кровь, и они умерли.»

[The the girl went to the police and told everything to policemen. They hid under her bed at night and the girl laid in bed. When the curtains wanted to choke the girl, policemen shot at them. The curtains screamed, black blood poured out of them and they died.]

Morbid? For sure! Interestingly, of all the lessons that could be learned for this little tale – listening to one’s parents, calling the police right away, not waiting until the last moment – the only lesson that really stuck in my mind was the one about not buying black curtains.

After a few trips to summer camps, a couple of sleepovers and a very short stay at a children’s hospital, I also learned to avoid the following objects:

• Food, including «красное печенье» [red cookie]
• Clothing – «красные перчатки» [red gloves], but also pretty much any other article of clothing as long as it was either «красное» [red], «чёрное» [black] or «белое» [white], including «тапочки» [slippers], «колготки» [tights], «платье» [dress] and even «ленточка» [ribbon]
• Any and all furniture and décor items that were «чёрные» [black] or «красные» [red], including «шторы» [drapes], «занавески» [curtains], «пианино» [piano], «картина» [picture] and many more
• Bare walls and floors weren’t safe either. They had to be carefully examined for the ominous black or red «пятна» [spots].
• Flowers, such as «чёрные тюльпаны» [black tulips] and «чёрные розы» [black roses]
• Toys, including «стеклянная кукла» [glass doll]
• And, most disturbingly, ones relatives, as shown in stories about «бабушка-оборотень» [werewolf grandmother] and «дедушкины руки» [grandfather’s hands].

As you can see, pretty much every object in a child’s surroundings was covered by these stories, from «Автобус с чёрными шторками» [a bus with black curtains] to «Я в доме хозяин» [I am the master of the house] and from «Чёрная голова» [head - black head] to «Красные ноги» [red legs]. You can read these and many more on this excellent site called «детские страшилки» [children’s scary stories].

Which story do you like most/least? Or maybe just add your own story here.

By the way, when I fact-checked the movie “Viy”, all the sites mentioned that it was “just about the only Soviet scary movie”. Do you know any other ones?