July 03, 2021

Russia's Anomalous Zones


Russia's Anomalous Zones
UFOs look like this, right? Wikimedia Commons user Joe Wos

The Medveditskaya Ridge in the Volgograd region has recently won the distinction of hosting more UFO activity than anywhere else. Interestingly, it also features the second greatest number of "ball lightning" formations in the world. A strange blue mountain features "healing" blue clay. Trees twist at bizarre angles. People who try to go there report "sound hallucinations." Nothing grows there.

Welcome to one of Russia's many "anomalous zones." They are a challenge to the more skeptical among us – who are most likely not Russian.

Murom in the Vladimir region is another one, as are Vilskaya Glade in the Nizhny Novgorod region and Lake Labynkyr in Yakutia. In these areas, people report walking away and ending up in the same spot where they started, people disappearing altogether, instruments breaking, and strange glowing circles in the sky.

Russians are generally more comfortable with the uncertainty of UFOs than Americans are. But we all must admit... something weird is going on here.

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Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

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