This place haunted us for a long time and excited our imagination: so much history and myths are associated with it. As a result, it was decided to organize a small “expedition” there. And this is what came out of it.
A little history
Grachevsky Park (Khovrino estate)
The Khovrino estate (now Grachevsky Park and the Moscow Regional Hospital for Rehabilitation) was founded in 1840 - 1850.
Soldiers and officers of the Panfilov Rifle Division are buried in Grachevsky Park.
The Golovin Khovrino estate, known since the first half of the 18th century, was acquired and renamed by the merchant M.S. Grachev at the end of the 19th century. In 1898 - 1900, the architect G.A. Kaiser, according to the design of L.N. Kekushev, built a new complex consisting of a main house, an outbuilding, a stable, and a carriage house. At the request of the owner, the casino in Monte Carlo was chosen as the prototype, which was reflected both in the general composition of the main house and in the external forms of the buildings. The abundance of open loggias, terraces, the variety of silhouettes with towers, baroque domes, lush stucco molding and sculpture both on the facades and in the interiors create an original image of the ensemble, unique for Moscow. The manor park (regular linden and landscape with ponds on the Likhoborka River) was formed in the 18th - early 19th centuries. The five-domed Znamenskaya Church was built in 1868 - 1870 by architect M.D. Bykovsky for the then owner Count E.V. Molchanov (only the central chapter has survived; restoration is underway). The wooden outbuilding and greenhouse probably date back to the same time.
Khovrinskaya Hospital, Moscow.
It is an unfinished hospital with a capacity of 1,300 beds (according to other sources, 1,500). Construction began in 1981, according to some sources, on the site of a cemetery adjacent to the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign" (the cemetery was liquidated in 1960), according to others, on the site of a huge swamp.
It was drained, concreted and the construction of a sub-hospital bombard began, after which construction began on a hospital with several entrances for ambulances, its own helipad and its own morgue. Construction was frozen almost before its completion (all that remained was the interior decoration) due to the fact that the hospital began to go underground at a very systematic rate of one meter per year. Previously, the entrances for ambulances were at road level, but now they are 12 meters lower, like the hospital itself...Whether there was a swamp there or not is not known for sure, but it is known for certain that the Likhoborka River flows underground under the hospital itself (or very close to it). There is also a version that there was simply a “quicksand” underneath the hospital and, due to a mistake by geologists, the building began to “move”, cracks appeared, but one way or another, in 1985, under unclear circumstances, it stopped. At the beginning, the building was guarded by the army and was strategically important, but a year later it turned out to be completely abandoned.
They tried many times to resume construction, but to no avail.
The last time an attempt was made was in 2003 (the photo above is from that year). As for the current state of affairs (at the time of writing), then:
According to unofficial data
The hospital must be reconstructed. Moreover, by the forces of HP. In return, Luzhkov gives them 3 mansions (one on the other side of the park, the rest in the center of Moscow).
Press:
The capital's government plans to move a number of hospitals from the historical city center to the outskirts of Moscow.
City Hospital No. 23 named after Medsantrud should move from Yauzskaya Street to the Khovrino district, to Klinskaya Street. City Clinical Hospital No. 19 will go there from Bolshoi Predtechensky Lane. The vacant buildings in the center will go to the investor, who has committed to build a multidisciplinary hospital with 1,300 beds on Klinskaya Street, the Moscow Government Information Center reports.
Official data (quote from the website hov.sao.mos.ru):
The Moscow Government made a decision to eliminate the long-term construction; in this regard, it issued an order dated June 2, 2004 No. 1089-RP “On the resumption of work on the long-term construction of a city multidisciplinary hospital with 1,300 beds at the address: Klinskaya St., no. 2 (Northern Administrative District) ".
Currently, the construction investor is developing initial permits and design documentation.
The Moscow government decided to liquidate the long-term construction; in this regard, it issued an order dated June 2, 2004 No. 1089-RP “On the resumption of work on the completion of the city multidisciplinary hospital for 1300 beds at the address: st. Klinskaya, vl. 2 (SAO).”
However, to date, work has not begun, since, according to information from the Moscow Department of Health, federal structures are claiming rights to this facility, and therefore the issue has been considered in arbitration courts for a long time.
A new clinic for residents of the area will be built no later than 2009 at the address: st. Zelenogradskaya, 27, building 1. The issue of its construction is not related to the liquidation of the existing long-term construction of a multidisciplinary hospital.
One way or another, the hospital will either be reconstructed, fortunately, this can be done:
There are two long-term construction projects in Khovrin; they are already more than 20 years old. A hospital was supposed to be located in one of the buildings on Klinskaya Street, 2. But suddenly the construction was frozen, and now I can’t even remember why. Only recently did the building attract attention again. The positive result of the examination will allow its completion. Clinical hospitals No. 19 and 23 will be located here, which by that time will be removed from the Central District of the capital, or they will simply demolish it, as people remember this building more and more often.
The layout of the hospital is very unusual. There are 2 buildings on the territory: the main building and an ophthalmology clinic (according to other sources - a morgue).
The main building is shaped like an asterisk, or rather a biohazard sign, which is why the hospital is also often called “Umbrella” (Umbrella Corporation is a fictional pharmaceutical company engaged in research in the field of genetics and bioengineering from the series of games, and later, films, Resident Evil - Resident Evil).
6 wings extend from it, which are connected by 3 floor passages. The building itself is a 10-story structure, with 3 roof levels and a 2-4 level basement. The clinic building is a 3-story building with a 2-4 level basement. The second basement level of both buildings is partially flooded, making exploration of the other levels much more difficult.
Myths, Rumors, Legends:
Satanists, Club Nimostor (Nemostor)
One of the names of the Khovrinsk hospital is the Nemostor Club in honor of the rumored satanic sect Nemostor, which once lived here and practiced human sacrifice. They say that all the people who disappeared in Khovrinka are the work of their hands. Some say that the sect set up its church in the basement of the main building, others - in the tunnel between the main building and the second building, others - that meetings were held in the main building, and the “headquarters” of the sect leaders were equipped in the tunnel. According to rumors, at this time, people (especially children) and dogs began to disappear in the Khovrinka area, which were then sacrificed to Satan or simply killed. Black masses were also held. Soon our valiant police became aware of this and a raid was organized on the Satanists with the participation of riot police, police dogs and other paraphernalia. Again, there are two versions of further events - according to one, the Satanists were driven into the basement of the main building and shot, and then the basement was flooded (a lake that does not dry up can be seen today), according to the other, the Satanists were squeezed into a tunnel between two buildings and the tunnel was flooded. They also say that the man who showed the cops the passage to the tunnel disappeared. For a short time the hospital remained empty, except for homeless people. Then the hospital again became a haven for Satanists - the Black Cross sect. What happened to her is unknown.
Despite the sad fate of their predecessors, Satanists still gather in the hospital after sunset and perform rituals.
But they do this no longer in the basement, but on the 5th floor of the main building. They have a special room there in the very center. The room has no windows or doors. They get there by moving the wall. No one sticks around there, not even the police, although there is a chance that they don’t know about its existence.
Hospital Spirit
They say Khovrinka has a Spirit. The spirit of Nimostor - as it is called. In the semi-basement there is a hall, the walls of which are covered with satanic texts, symbols, in the Gothic style. This place is called the Nimostor Club. Now, the Spirit is there. It’s just that not everyone can smell it... Moreover, you can negotiate with him! To some my words will seem absurd, but this is so, as I say...
However, the Spirit does not touch women - according to one version, due to the fact that there were much more deaths of women during the time of the Satanists than men. This fact cannot be proven; it can only be taken on faith. I have never encountered such an atmosphere anywhere before...
The light of the lantern picked out the inscriptions on the walls: “666”, something to the glory of Satan... I remembered the story of the neighboring grandmothers. A compassionate old woman lived in a neighboring house. Somehow she lost her mongrel and decided to look for him inside the building. In one of the rooms she came across a dead dog, which she hardly recognized as her pet. His paws were tied with rope. Nearby, the grandmother found another pair of severed and tied dog paws, with which she went to the police. Law enforcement officers conducted raids for several days, but failed to detain anyone. And a week later, a pensioner who decided to track down the killers, under mysterious circumstances, fell into a trap in a bad house and died there for several days with broken legs.Komsomolskaya Pravda "Khovrinsky devils" 08/9/2004
Wall of Memory (Wailing), Edge.
Krayushkin Alexey Igorevich 1989-2005 He died in this building, fell into a mine... And he was only 16 years old.. The wall is completely covered with words of memory and love.. Poems.
Raf
Raf is another resident of the hospital. Information about this strange character is minimal. He is said to be the god of Umbrella. Her keeper. He is there all the time, although we won’t find him if we want to. There were cases when he saved people who had fallen into traps or were in trouble. But after assistance was provided, he disappeared again.
Mystic
There are numerous eyewitness accounts of strange shadows and sounds appearing in the hospital after dark. Moreover, these shadows have a completely definite silhouette, always the same - a dark cone.
Hmm, then around midnight I walked around the entire basement - silence, except for glitches and birds.
I fired a signal signal on the first floor - nothing at all, everything froze, even if the birds flew up, a dog barked in the distance - nothing.
went outside, some very incomprehensible movement in the area of the seventh or sixth (not light, but shadows (at night!)), took aim, the salvo hit the wall between the floors, the signal calmly falls down and then, as if someone jumped onto an iron sheet, or threw several on the floor.
According to rumors, this hospital was going to make a training ground for service dogs. So far these rumors have not come true. I found information that NSOs are training there. True, I’ve never seen them there, but you can feel their presence there. Well, everything matches from the photos.
Video
Khovrinka basements: (And there are puppies there even now =))
This is what happens with objects: ...
Khovrino. In 1980, construction of a hospital began here, but it was suspended in 1985. Today, the so-called Khovrinskaya stands in its place, surrounded by a fence with barbed wire, frightening Muscovites and guests of the capital. It’s interesting that this unfinished building is successfully included in the top ten (!) most terrible buildings on the planet! Why? Let's find out soon!
Khovrinskaya abandoned hospital. History of origin
As you know, all buildings from the times of the USSR did not differ from each other in originality, but not the Khovrinsk hospital! differs from its “contemporaries” in its original design and very unusual layout: its bodies are arranged in such a way that a geometric figure in the form of a triangular cross is obtained. The hospital has three main wings. They are connected to each other in the center. Its side parts form three cozy courtyards. There are outbuildings there.
Since the Khovrinskaya abandoned hospital is an unfinished building, in some places it has no interfloor partitions and ceilings, the internal walls are completely covered with graffiti, and the basements are flooded with water. By the way, this is why construction was frozen! The fact is that under the foundation of the future hospital they discovered and no funding was allocated for their drainage. They tried more than once to resume construction of this facility, but all in vain: the building was completely declared unfit for use. But why does this, so to speak, hospital scare people so much? What's going on inside its walls?
Khovrinskaya abandoned hospital. Legends
Umbrella
Native Muscovites call this place with the uncommon word “Umbrella”. Personally, I never understood what this meant, but now I understand everything. The fact is that from a bird's eye view, the Khovrinskaya abandoned hospital resembles the logo of a biological hazard and a secret corporation from the well-known film “Resident Evil.” That is why the building was chosen by stalkers. But is it the stalkers? No, friends! And not even extreme tourists!
Legend one
For some time, members of the Nemostor sect lived in this building. The Satanists were in an unflooded basement, where complete darkness reigns, because there are no windows, and any sunlight is excluded! Satanist sectarians arranged themselves according to their activities: they built stairs, created their own sanctuary for the purpose of constant rites of the Black Mass.
It was during this period that quite a few attacks by sectarians on ordinary Muscovites were recorded. They say they kidnapped children, teenagers, homeless people and even pets! It must be assumed that the sectarians made sacrifices to their Satan by burning people and animals in a large oven.
When these facts became known to law enforcement agencies, they hastened to restore order in Khovrinka. It became known that in the unflooded basements of the building there are as many as two satanic churches and two ritual ovens for the ritual of sacrifice! The riot police squad that arrived at the scene blew up the entrances to the basements, which, in turn, led to the collapse of the structure and complete flooding of the premises. It is believed that the sectarians who were in the basement at that moment died, and their dead bodies still float in the rotten and muddy water of Umbrella's basements to this day.
Legend two
After these events, the Khovrinskaya abandoned hospital turned into the most favorite place for suicides, rapists and pedophiles! Dozens of people are settling scores with their own lives here. Even dogs and cats come here to die because they are looking for a secluded place. This is a well-known fact. Rapes happen here. Often young people choose this particular unfinished building as a place of solitude for sexual intimacy, etc. In addition, this “unfinished building” has its own god named Raf. It is believed that it is his amulet and sometimes saves people in trouble.
According to unconfirmed information, “a god named Raf” is a certain private security company that has taken control of this facility. In general, there is nothing for you and me to do there! Friends, I conjure you! Stay away from this "hospital"!
13-year-old Katya* is pregnant by her ex-boyfriend Gleb.
Katya's term is approaching one and a half months.
“Have an abortion,” says Maga. - Don’t ruin your life, you only have one.
“My mother told me that if I have an abortion, she will send me to an orphanage. Well, or he will lead you here and throw him into the mine. It kind of fell on its own. And my grandmother said that if I brought it in my hem, she would put me outside with my things.
Katya lives with her grandmother because her mother drinks. She gave birth to Katya at 15, and Katya spent the first three years of her life in an orphanage. Favorite family story - grandmother forced Katya’s mother to sign a waiver for the child, and on the day she came of age, mother, threatening her grandmother with a knife, forced her to sign the necessary papers for Katya’s return.
“Grandma still regrets that they took me back,” says Katya, sipping the VD.
“You wouldn’t drink,” says Maga. - First trimester.
- What a freak there. Even better - then they’ll probably be allowed to take it. But it's even better to have a miscarriage.
“To have a miscarriage, you need to drink vodka,” interrupts tiny Anya, “not VD.”
- And I’ll tell you a good clinic. It costs 15 grand to make normally. How expensive, I actually did it for 25! But with rehabilitation.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
M age 17, she had an abortion a year ago. Her boyfriend was leaving for the army when it was discovered that Maga was pregnant. “He gave me money like this and said: if you decide, go. I thought. Who would pick me up from the maternity hospital? My mother is very good, but she also said that I won’t sit with a small child.”
R The conversation takes place on the balcony of the third floor of KhZB, an abandoned hospital in Khovrinsk. Three concrete buildings slowly sinking underground. Behind our backs, a motley group of people cackling - a dozen and a half people from 10 to 30 years old. KhZB residents, “stalkers”, “diggers”, “suicide bombers”, “guards”, “ghosts”...
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
A giant hospital complex with 1,300 beds (for comparison, the Sklifosovsky Research Institute has 922 inpatient beds) was started in 1980, but construction was stopped in 1985. According to one version, funding has run out; according to another, groundwater has risen and the Likhoborka River has overflowed and was taken into a pipe under the building. At the time construction was stopped, three ten-story buildings, radiating like a star, had already been rebuilt, the windows were glazed, the wards were decorated, and even the beds were delivered. All that remained was to install the elevators and railings. The unfinished building was protected until the early 90s. Then the security was removed - and in the following years, KhZB became a construction stand for local residents. They really took everything out.
Then there was a long property dispute between the federal state unitary enterprise VPK-Technotex and the Moscow Property Department. Moscow won. In 2004, the Moscow government issued an order to resume work. Medstroyinvest won the tender, but the “reconstruction” never began. After 20 years of exposure to the elements and the aborigines, there was nothing left to reconstruct.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
Now the HZB is going underground. The lower floors are flooded with water; the ice at the bottom never melts. Stairs without railings, unfenced elevator shafts, holes in the floor. On the floor there is centuries-old dust, broken gravel and foam blocks - pieces of cement. Water is dripping through the ceilings. On the walls there are endless graffiti, a real collective unconscious: “Patriots are freaks”, Ave Satan, “Strogino rules”, declarations of love, poems, obscenities, names. While the state was shifting unfinished construction from pocket to pocket, it turned out to be inhabited by those who had no place outside.
N and on the 3rd floor there was a dense group of people. About 15 people are standing on a stone balcony, sitting on the railing, with their legs dangling down. In the center of the balcony there is a “table” made of bricks and boards, littered with bags. Another table, a real one, stands against the wall. Couples sat on it.
There are two one-and-a-half shots of VD - “Grape Day”, alcoholic soda going around.
Most of those gathered are not even 15. They know the building like the back of their hand, they know how to escape the cops through dark corridors and scam tourists out of their money. Actually, the third floor balcony for gatherings was not chosen by chance - from here you can clearly see the “entrance” - a hole in the fence with barbed wire surrounding the building.
Goths, impressed schoolchildren, stalkers, students, paintball players are drawn into the hole. Entrance to the building costs 150 rubles per nose. The price includes a “tour” - children lead groups around the building, rubbing in local legends. “Protections” are introduced. The “security” itself is now represented by Maga, but she is in no hurry to catch tourists: “It used to be fun to run around, listen to the building, listen to people. And now they bring me money myself.” It is mandatory to give money to the guards: “We still buy general booze.” A little later, other representatives of the security should approach - the Pied Piper, Alex Criminal Investigation, the bull Zheka.
In fact, there is no security in the building. The private security company was installed in the 90s, then in 2007, when another guy fell into a mine. With that security, Magee and the other residents had a complete understanding - they did business together. Then the private security company was removed from the facility, and the residents stayed and continued their business.
To avoid complaints, the “security” shares the money with the operatives of the Khovrino Department of Internal Affairs. Operatives periodically pick up schoolchildren who hang out right there. The guards do not chase them away, with reluctance, but they share drinks and cigarettes and allow them to conduct excursions. But in the event of a raid by cops, it’s every man for himself. Here, in general, everyone is for himself.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
— 1.26 ppm was found in Jumper, 0.9 in Psycho,” says Katya.
Jumper, a girl with bright red hair, winces. She is 14, but she is still in the 7th grade - after she was caught by the KhZB and registered in the children's room of the police, the school kept her for the second year.
— In general, when you see a cop, you need to yell: “Dragon!” - says Psycho. - He will turn around, and you will run away.
“Well, they took Katka and me and put us in the hospital,” Jumper continues. “The rodaks took Katya on the fourth day, and me on the fifth. But before that, I ruined the whole department with them!
- When was this?
- Well, when they did something to Zhenya.
That's what the guys call rape.
Boys throw knives. Everyone here has knives. Most often these are trophies - taken from unlucky tourists.
Katya and Psycho knead each other with their fists, never stopping hugging. Finally they go “to the fourth floor.”
Discussion of Katya's situation continues.
“She’s drinking on something, cigarettes,” says Maga. - Let it be 100, let it be 150 rubles, but still. Yes, I would lend her money if she asked. Let the profits from the excursions go to her.
“I would put up leaflets,” Jumper echoes.
“I’ve worked at Rostix since I was 12 years old,” Slem interjects.
- Well, you’re actually a star among us, Shakhtar.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
“Miner” Slem was nicknamed for the huge tunnels in his ears - 2.5 and 3 centimeters, respectively. But he likes his fighting nickname Slem much better.
Brother Slema is a master of sports in boxing, fought in Chechnya. Slem respects his older brother very much.
“In first grade I brought a bad grade, he told me to do push-ups.” First ten times, then a hundred times. Tired of doing push-ups, do squats. If you're tired of doing squats, do push-ups. I fed him condensed milk to help his muscles grow. Until the fifth grade, everyone... [beat me], then I became everyone.
Slem never started studying. But CCM in kickboxing. But a shoulder injury, 2 years without training - and Slem ended up in the KhZB.
His story is similar to many. There are no unmaimed people here.
Slem still communicates with his brother. With my mother - no, “she yells at me, but I don’t like it.”
- I'm a legend here! - Slem yells. - Tell me, Jumper?
“He’s a legend here,” Jumper says very seriously.
- Who will stand up for Slem? Jumper?
- The entire HZB.
- Wow. Did you hear? Did you hear? Because I'm a legend! Legend! Anyone!
As an example of an “excellent blow,” Slem tells how he hit his girlfriend from Tver.
- Half the bread was swollen, the capillaries burst... And with one blow! By the way, I haven’t visited her for a long time, she’s probably offended.
“The pathologist is the only doctor who does not kill,” says the Shaman to the attentive children.
The shaman is over 30. Puffy red face, greasy hair, black leather jacket. He has three small children, and a fourth is “in the belly.” Drinks a lot. He served in Chechnya, and now in delirium tremens he rushes around the building, waving an invisible butt. He also “straightens the energy” field by moving his hands in front of his face. That's why the nickname.
The “guards” don’t like him - the Shaman constantly squeezes his earnings. But there are boys constantly hanging around the Shaman, learning to be tour guides. You also have to earn the right to go on an excursion.
Meanwhile, a busy stalker group appears below - four guys in camouflage, one with a gas mask under his arm. The Shaman, his retinue of 12-year-old boys, and the Magician descend. The conversation is structured in a standard way: “Who are they?”, “The territory is closed and guarded,” “Do I need to call security?”, “Are you ready to go to the department?” The guys take the statement that they need to pay 150 rubles right now calmly. They pay and ask to see Nemostor.
Nemostor is a room on the ground floor, one of the legends of KhZB. Allegedly, a satanic group of the same name hung out in the building and performed human sacrifices. Then the riot police, tired of the killings, cordoned off the building, drove the Satanists into a basement flooded with water and blew up the ceilings...
- Is it true that they were blown up with grenades? - tourists ask.
“When I worked in the anatomy department at Hospital No. 81...” the Shaman begins, after a pause. — My department manager was on site that shift. He says: they brought already dead guys - and equipment for organ transplants. And the FSB organized the operation...
Nemostor itself is not very different from other rooms - dust, gravel, sunlight through the gaps in the windows. On the walls there are pentagrams and praises to Satan in Old Slavonic and English, with terrible grammatical errors. This is where the residents of KhZB usually celebrate the New Year.
“The last Satanist came here in 2007,” Maga quietly tells me. “Our guys caught him in the basement with a knife.” Dear mother! On the face there is some kind of white flour, black under-eyes. The guys laugh and take pictures. We say - what is your name, weirdo? He is Zinzan. Well, Zheka gave it to him a couple of times. He immediately: Sergei, Seryozha! The half of the compartment then burned away from him.”
Satanists are cunning. Sometimes they sneak into a building and paint inside. “And then they run around the building with knives; they even caught one with a machete.”
In addition to Nemostor, a standard excursion includes - the Edge Memorial (a monument to a schoolboy who fell into a mine), the “filmmakers’ corridor”, stained with construction foam (“These are your brains, these are your guts, these are your heads”), the roof, the water-filled basement where Since then, “the corpses of Satanists have been floating around.”
We go down “to the minus” - to the minus floors - to look at the dog. The dog died a long time ago. Skin, bones. A shaman picks at bones with a stick and gives a lecture on canine anatomy. The boys film the dog on their mobile: “But the paws are tied!”
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
The vast majority of legends are produced by the guards themselves. Most often not on purpose - for example, Maga in a white dress, singing “I like that you are not sick with me,” was described by random eyewitnesses on the Internet as “the ghost of a dead bride.” The bride followed her beloved from the roof of the KhZB and now “walks, sings and kills.” Sometimes Maga remembers her participation in the school theater. Then crazy performances with a fisherman grandfather, a girl with a ball, a housewife with a rolling pin, a maniac and death in a robe are organized for tourists. “The main thing here is not to laugh,” says Maga. “Well, so that the sneakers don’t get scorched from under the robe.” Well, rattling iron in a parallel corridor, howling, coming out of the darkness with the fittings and asking: “You want to die,” doesn’t even count as a prank.
Some scared people pay to scare their friends. The guards approach such productions with even greater ingenuity. Once, for a couple of thousand, they even pretended to detain a dangerous criminal in a building, not skimping on extras and traumatic cartridges. They proudly say that the girl, who was captured by a “dangerous criminal” holding a knife to her throat, peed herself.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
Maga ended up in KhZB at 15. Then her boyfriend died, and she spent a month in a mental hospital. “How did he die? They killed him. The brake fluid was drained from the car. He was traveling with a friend. When he realized that he couldn’t slow down, he turned his side onto the pole. The friend survived. And mine didn’t die right away either - in the hospital, where the nurse went to smoke, it’s a murky story. He was actually on his way to my dacha.”
She is now 17, but most of the residents of the HZB are sure that she is much older. Walkie-talkie on his belt, camouflage, long hair, tenacious eyes, calm smile. Absolute recklessness. A year ago, when “40 Dagestanis with knives” came to the building for dismantling, Maga, until “reinforcements” arrived, talked them through alone.
Maga managed to finish her course at a medical school. Then she took the documents.
“I realized that, in principle, I don’t give a damn... I don’t care about strangers.” To save them... And the doctor needs to take an oath. Vows are not my thing at all. Otherwise, I will be the same as those indifferent bitches in clinics,” says Maga.
In the summer, Maga will apply for state administration. Just wait until August until he turns 18 - “I don’t want to involve my mother in this process.”
The guys are silent in understanding. Nobody wants to involve their parents in their career guidance. Moreover, no one wants to interfere with their parents in their lives. As one girl put it: “Their presence on my birth certificate is quite enough for me.”
“My mother has already decided for me that I will be a cop.” Yells: “It’s not even discussed,” she’s drunk and fucked. “And I want to be an archaeologist,” says Lisa. — I’ll go to the Voronin Caves in the summer.
“She hasn’t hit you for six months now, has she?” Maybe everything will work out,” says Anya. “I went to school with bruises, didn’t I?”
“I just did the math...” Lisa suddenly says. - Well, with all her miscarriages and abortions... I would have had 9 brothers and sisters.
- And nothing!
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
The boys go off to play. The game is quite simple: you take a “foam block” from the floor - a heavier piece of concrete - and try to get it into the enemy’s head. In many ways, this is a game of spatial orientation - ambushes flying higher, jumping out of the dark, sneaking up from behind. In general, entertainment in KhZB is simple. In summer, girls sunbathe on the roof. Boys pooping in mines is an entertainment that requires skill and serious endurance. The loudness of the impact is appreciated. “Once a tourist came,” says Maga. - And he’s so wonderful, so serious, he’s been gathering here for three weeks - the spirits of the HZB, spatial anomalies, this and that. And then there's shit on the head. He was upset: the spirits, they say, don’t want to accept me.”
True, in 2009, enthusiasts organized an ice skating rink in the basement of KhZB. “These guys are normal, they came to us for advice,” says Maga. - Well, we explained to them the layout - 50/50, they agreed. They cleaned everything there, the graffiti girls painted the walls, and drew the menu right on the concrete. Bar, light, music, skate rental. 600 rubles entrance. From Friday to Saturday, 150 people gathered. And we got 10-12 thousand clean. The visitor pays another 150 for the excursion. Once Zheka and I collected 14 pieces in two hours just from excursions.”
The skating rink was covered by security forces. They took three thousand from the party, everyone was happy with everything. Then the opera learned about the earnings of his colleagues. It was impossible to come to an agreement with them - they asked for much more. And one winter night, riot police burst into KhZB.
“There is commotion, everyone is screaming, someone falls on the ice. Well, the first thing we did was bring out those who knew us by sight as organizers. Another part fled on their own. The cops themselves were jumping around there a little: the music, the drinks. And then they took everyone - who is the organizer? But no one knows. Who was the money paid to? Yes, what money! They never closed us.”
Dimas stumbles onto the balcony. A 17-year-old hulk, Nychka’s younger brother. Yells: “Where is she?!”
Simka, Dimas’ girlfriend, is hiding somewhere in the building. They quarreled, and now Dimas intends to “turn her head away.” He is drunk and completely insane.
Nychka and Slem are trying to hold him back.
- You're not Slem, you're shit! - Dimas yells.
Fight. Dimas pushes Slem away, he cuts his hand on the fragments under his feet. Dimas grabs Nychka by the throat.
- I'll break you now.
- And what? - Nychka says calmly. - So, what is next?
Dimas lets her go and leaves. After a while he appears on the roof. We go out onto the wing of the 4th floor - it’s better to see. Dimas walks along the very edge, every now and then stretching one leg forward into the abyss.
“He won’t fold,” Nychka says calmly. - Well, that is, he will reset, but not now and not because of her. Because he doesn't love her.
- But she flew with us the other day!
Drunk Taya squirms in the arms of her boyfriend Tema. Theme, a serious curly-haired boy, tries to hold her. They are the same age - they are 15.
- Tai, you lie down. Close your eyes and lie down.
- Fuck off, ... [person of non-traditional sexual orientation], I'm not drunk!
Taya, running away from the cops, jumped from the fourth floor.
“From a running start,” Taya grins and looks at me point-blank. I suddenly realize that she is not that drunk.
“She ran about two hundred meters in shock, hid in the bushes... spinal damage, internal organ damage... Melt, lie down!” That's where it fell...
Below is a mess of fallen branches, rebar and fragments of brick, somehow covered with grass.
“It’s just better for her to die than to go to the cops,” Tema says proudly. - She is like that.
“I also flew into the mine from the fourth,” says Jena. - But on your back, on your backpack. And in the backpack there was a can of Strike. And it burst! I'd rather break my leg than a can of Strike!
Dimas, meanwhile, comes down to say goodbye. He looks at everyone, freezes in the concrete doorway, then goes to hug the guys and kiss the girls. Returns to the stairs. No one is trying to stop him.
Again he walks along the edge of the roof, sometimes freezing. I'm starting to feel nauseous.
Simka, a short, pretty 16-year-old young lady, comes out onto the wing. Nychka slowly exchanges a few words with her, then shouts: “Dimas! They want to talk to you here!”
Dimas descends:
- Who wants to talk?
- I don't see anyone. — Dimas stubbornly looks past. “You know, I was standing on the edge, I had already raised my leg.” And then I think: because of this whore...
Simka turns around and quickly walks into the building. "Well done!" - Nychka yells to his brother. Dimas runs after her.
They appear in about 20 minutes.
“You owe me an apology,” Dimas says to Nychka.
- And who shouted: jump, brother, come on, we’re waiting for you below?!
- I didn't scream!
“She said that I don’t love her... But I do.” Apologize.
“Well, excuse me,” Nychka mutters.
“I was already standing at the very edge.” I wanted to take a step. But for this girl...
Simka clings to him. There is an amazing, radiant emptiness in her eyes.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
A building always leaves the possibility of death. Along the sides of the corridor, half-meter-long gaps, unfenced staircases with crumbling steps, pointed fittings swinging on the ceiling, and breaks in the walls open up every now and then. Under your feet there are fragments of bricks and bent iron pins that help you stumble. But the main thing is the “through” elevator shafts. Such mines have no walls - just a hole in the middle of a dark corridor. The corridor is illuminated by the windows and looks quite harmless.
The inhabitants of the KhZB are happy to retell the names of all those who crashed, broke down, or disappeared. It seems that the proximity of death, the possibility of leaving, an exit that can open right under their feet, is to the taste of the residents.
Every vein was cut, at least once. They don't like to show scars. Scars are bad luck.
“You take a jar, you hit it with a stone, you get metal strips, sharp...
“There’s no point in cutting veins.” Scars don't decorate anyone. A person lacks attention, so he starts creating garbage.
- Oh, and we have a boy, Fedya. “I'll kill myself! I'll kill myself!" We were like: come on! He brings the knife to his hand, and so... well, that is, he doesn’t have the willpower to kill himself.
- It's all the weather...
- When a person is doing well, no one is interested in how he is.
- There are friends in front of whom it is dangerous to cry.
— I was 8, my father died. Heart attack, yes. Mom's like, come here. And I ran away to my room from her. I moved the bed to the door and slept next to the door for a month.
“I’m afraid to cry,” Anya suddenly says. “What I’m most afraid of is crying.” I do not know why.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
— Come here, I will make peace between you,” Maga takes Dimas and Simka aside.
- Hairdryer (an arbitrary mixture of amphetamine with drugs, does not have a constant composition. - E.K.) hour... [works]. Great for disc players. So happy. Then he begins to pin, but not harshly...
They whisper and then leave. They return in about ten minutes.
“Sim, under your nose,” Jumper says.
Simka sharply inhales air through his nose, rubs the partition with his fingers, and turns away.
- I sniffed the evidence! - Dimas is having fun.
- In short, look, - Maga is serious. - I give you ten bags, you bring me ten pieces. One gram in a bag. Gram is a mower, okay? You can butt. In general, look at the client. If you're a sucker, go for it boldly. The main thing is that there are no quality complaints.
The bags - tiny vials made of polyethylene - are put into backpacks.
“You’ll always have to smell it yourself,” says Maga. - Don't even be nervous.
“But I’m clean,” says Slem. “Some people are downright surprised. They say: record holder, you have been clean for 4 days. I don’t smoke, I don’t... Maga, pet Slem, Slem feels bad. I'll stand here with you, okay?
— 88 is our password! We win or we die! - Dimas yells.
A Tony, a 22-year-old, tall, flabby guy, gets to the bottom of girls. “Systems engineer,” he introduces himself. - From the age of 5 on the computer, vision minus 5.”
— When did the Second World War begin? I knew this when I was five years old!
- Well, in 1941...
- What are you telling me? I read Freud, Jung... We were still at war with Japan. The bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki! How can I force you to study?
- No way. School is hell,” says Katya.
“You need to make a school like a concentration camp,” Anton continues. - You will be sent to a concentration camp. And you will sleep there. And you will eat there. Only this contradicts the Russian constitution.
The girls silently drink VD.
- I'm afraid when you grow up. Screw it to Europe, to Africa - away from you.
Anton lives very close to KhZB, alone, so registration is always open. “Don’t go to spend the night with him,” warns Katya. “He groped me all night.” I haven’t had enough sleep yet.”
- I love her. We dated for six months. I had this style - emo-hardcore, side-swept bangs to the chin. And in March I shaved off my bangs. I was away from the Building for 4 days with my best friends. And at this time she was stirring up on three sides. I call her back to the floor and say - do you want to be with me? She's like, yeah. Then I see her standing with a disabled person in an embrace! With a disabled person!
The disabled person - Gosha - is still standing with Yena in an embrace, sipping Yaga. He has mild cerebral palsy and walks as if dancing. Gosha had just escaped from a five-day boarding school where his parents had sent him. He boasts: “We finally have barbed wire there.” Gosha’s parents drink, but they are “normal” - they give Gosha as much as five hundred rubles a week from his disability pension.
Jena squints contemptuously at Slem and remains silent. She is 15, a very beautiful girl, cold eyes. The inscription "Digger Jena" on the backpack.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
A Samurai emerges from the depths of the building - a man of about 40 in a robe, another legend of the KhZB. On the shoulder is a katana.
“I am glad to welcome you to a place that is scary and incomprehensible,” says the Samurai and repeats the same thing in Cantonese.
In the building he meditates and drinks. “This is such a very tolerant place, it accepts everyone who feels bad outside,” Samurai says seriously. “This is an ideal world, a world after the apocalypse.” Starts practicing with a katana. The blade cuts through the air.
Slem, spinning around, asks for a katana - the samurai hands it over with a bow. He approaches Jena and raises his hand.
“Well, come on,” Yena looks him straight in the eyes. - Come on.
The hesitant Slam is pulled away and his katana is taken away.
“You’re not even capable of murder,” Yena says contemptuously.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
Alex Criminal Investigation enters with a pipe in his hand: “Give the man here, pick up the cargo. I have half a million stones if you push a dollar.” Alex is a “jeweler.” To a general laugh he says: “I somehow broke into my grandmother’s house. There are coins from 1913. And then this oak cabinet, 100 kg falls from above. The floor is falling under me, and the closet is on top. I call my friends, and it’s half past four in the morning, and they’re all asleep.”
Lisa complains to Alex that she “can’t cope” - today she couldn’t cheat a group of eight tourists out of money: “They’re so arrogant in general. I tell them - pay, and they: why should we pay?
“Well, the right guys,” Alex grins. “You have to give people a choice, otherwise you’re like a bastard.” Tell them: if you get caught by the cops, you will pay 10 times more.”
An opportunity for practice presents itself quite soon - three people crawl through a hole in the face. A guy, two girls.
Negotiations about money never take place outside - random passers-by walking in the park can call the police. From the balcony the guys are politely asked to enter the building and shown the entrance.
When they enter the hallway, the path to retreat is already cut off - Anton stands behind them, Alex, Slam and Lisa look bored in front of them.
- Where? - Alex says.
“We’re from Altufyev,” the girl begins to explain.
- Are there any adults? No? Article 58 of the Criminal Code. 10 minimum wages, and your parents will pick you up. We call the squad.
“Alex, maybe we can come to an agreement,” says Anton. - Let them pay and go on their own.
Alex is adamant: “I don’t need children at the site!” - but after a while Anton convinces him to “150 per nose - and let it go.”
“We don’t have that kind of money,” the girl drawls. Her friend, nervous, tries to light a cigarette - and puts the lighter in her mouth. The "guards" laugh:
- Anton, call the duty room already.
- Why should we pay you money? - the boy interjects.
- Should I explain it to you? - Slem yells, flying up. - No, should I explain it to you?
“Slem, just don’t explain it like yesterday,” Lisa gets scared. “He left with two girls and came back alone.”
— We don’t have 600 rubles. But we are ready to pay whatever we have,” the girl interjects.
The children have enough money for two VDs and cigarettes - “buy and bring.” The children go to the station to do their shopping. “A black sheep,” Alex sighs.
Meanwhile, “politics” began on the balcony.
“Politics” was started by Vera - 15 years old, in the eighth grade, talking to everyone on “you”.
“Everyone in our class is right-wing, except for four,” says Vera. — And the headmistress at the school is Arakelyan. Armenian girl. And so, this... [non-Russian] fires Russian teachers who have worked for 20, 30 years! Her niece is a queen. One day we ate trigan-d during class, and she went crazy: drug addicts, drug addicts. We were tested for a month before school.
Vera became right-wing at the instigation of her older friend, Marina. “She explained life to me.”
“They come from their Chechnya, they feel like they are at home,” Vera says as if written. - They go with our girls. From Chechnya, from another state!
“This is also Russia, actually,” Anton interjects.
A short discussion on the southern regions. Vera learns that Dagestan and Ingushetia are Russia, but Armenia and Azerbaijan are not.
“Lizka and I once crossed the road when it turned red, and there was a cross in a Volvo,” Vera continues. - He leaned out and yelled at us: “...! [fallen women]” Well, that is, he yells in his own way, but everything is clear from the intonation. I’m like: “Zig-zag!”, and I throw a zig. Well, they ran away immediately, of course. They're animals.
- And in our class there is a girl... [non-Russian]. Aishat's name, guess what? - Anya interjects. “So her father and I have the same birthday—March 28.” So bad!
— Migrant worker, the hour has struck! - Dimas yells. - We will get rid of you!
“That is, I understand that the Khachi are better than us,” Vera suddenly says. - Everyone understands honestly. That's why they... [are beaten]. They don’t drink, they are united for their own people. Look here: all the men drink... They have a different attitude towards children, families, I see. Again, they have faith. God is for them. And the war must be cultural, that is, we fight with our inner content. One day I came drunk on Saturday to a test in Russian. And I wrote three. And I was ashamed! Because this is our Russian language, I know it perfectly.
— In Italy, I threw a piece of paper on the ground - a fine! - says Lisa.
- I’m not saying that there are no good... [non-Russians]. Let them sweep the yards there. The problems are when they put themselves behind people, they put themselves above us...
WITH two men are noticed on the balcony. After the hole in the fence, they do not go into the building, but begin to walk around it: “Operative officers?”
Maga and Dimas go to check. We go down the passages. We stop periodically and listen. When there are 1.5 meters left to the ground, Maga jumps - and falls to the ground, biting her lips, choking out a howl. “The kneecap is out,” hisses. “I had torn ligaments there.”
Dimas carries her back in his arms. Maga says that she was a champion in football, and two years ago, which is a shame, not even at a match - at training... they gave her pain relief with analgin, and Maga consumed all the alcohol in the house. “The bone has been walking ever since. Doctors say it’s a habitual dislocation.”
Maga doesn’t want to go to the emergency room: “We’ll wait for the Pied Piper, he’s already fixed it.” He calls and cries into the phone.
The Pied Piper arrives, a red-haired, strong, bearded guy in a biker leather jacket. He is the leader in the Building, and everyone takes turns coming up to him to say hello. Little is known about the Pied Piper - he played role-playing games, he is very smart, he is the one who negotiates with the cops. In his free time from “working in the building” he sits as a security guard in a flower shop at the station. He examines your leg: you need to go to the emergency room.
“Now, I’ll finish it and go,” Maga opens a can of Strike.
- Oh, give it here, I’m collecting “keys”! - Lisa yells.
“Keys” - rings from tin cans - Lisa strings on a rope. For a hundred keys, the necklace is almost ready. “Only six of them aren’t mine, I drank the rest myself,” she boasts.
The Pied Piper leaves to negotiate with Alex. Alex, it seems, did not give away all the tourist money. Alex nods at the Shaman, and the guards quietly agree to give the Shaman a “morning of long knives” tomorrow. Then the guards go downstairs and quite quickly find the same men whom Maga mistook for operators. From below comes: “The goal is to penetrate the facility! The purpose of infiltrating the facility! Samurai, fas!
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
During the day of excursions, the guards have accumulated 2.5 thousand, and Slem and Anton are sent to the store - a loaf of bread, mayonnaise, Winston, 2 VD, 2 Strike, vodka. At the exit from the store, they are stopped by three guys in sweatpants, shoes and chains. They take you aside to “talk.”
— Happy Friday, dear ones. Although - some are bright, some are passionate,” begins the big man standing in the center. — Take us to the hospital for a tour.
Anton hesitates.
- We need it now. You said that you are a security guard - lead the way.
“I’m not a security guard,” Anton drawls.
- We're on business. You have a little bug running around there, Leva. We want to punish him. We need it by Friday. Can you find him for us?
“Well... yes, yes, if I see you,” Anton turns pale.
Slem leaves and returns with the Pied Piper and Zheka, who has come from nowhere - a huge tattooed mountain of muscles. The men stand opposite each other.
- Problems? - the Pied Piper asks with a smile.
“We are from Zelenogradskaya Street,” the bandit begins. — A man said the other day that he was a fraer. He asked for 500 rubles from the nose.
“I don’t...” says Anton.
“Keep quiet,” says the Pied Piper.
- Here, and with him are youngsters, sniffing glue, shining their headlights. Security...! We actually went there on business. You’ve got such a bastard running around there, Leva...
- Who is your eldest? — the Pied Piper clarifies. - Let's move away.
The arrow is set for Thursday. At the switch, the Pied Piper must hand Lev over to the bandits.
The bandits leave, wishing them a “pleasant evening.” The “guards” leave after them.
-...why did you leave? - Anton yells at Slem.
P near the balcony - scream. Mothers appeared on the territory - two blondes in high boots and bright coats. One of the mothers catches Psycho by the hood: “Quickly, ..., here.” The psycho breaks free and hides behind Anton, who left the building with Lisa.
From below rushes: “You are a bitch!”
Finally, one blonde grabs the other: “Ira, let’s go.”
“My mom and I went to the water park,” Anya boasts. “There’s a slide there, a “toilet bowl,” and she just sobered up. And anyway, I'm going home today. My father promised to give me 3 thousand. If he doesn't, I'll kill him.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
We climb onto the roof. Seven floors of stairs without railings, my feet are buzzing. It’s quite warm on the roof, only now we realize how cold it was in the building. We lie down on the heated moss. Sasha with a plaster on her cheek, the Pied Piper’s girlfriend, says that she first came to KhZB at the age of 7: “Everything was different then. Over there is a pond, wooden houses. It was great to watch sunsets here. Now there are high-rise buildings everywhere, KhZB is almost the lowest building in the area.”
Announcements of arriving trains are heard from the station. A white dove circles above the helipad. Behind the helipad, Vera is vomiting.
- Do you know that there is such a sign that if a dove flies around you, you can make a wish? - says Lisa. “But not a damn thing comes true.” I tried it.
- What did you wish for?
- Yes, five thousand for my birthday.
Vera comes out from behind the platform, takes out her phone, and takes a long time to dial the number. He shouts into the phone: “What are you doing to me here! Didn’t you get drunk yourself?!”
“And I wanted to discover a cure for cancer.” Since I was 12 years old, I’ve had this dream,” Sasha suddenly says.
WITH let's start on the fourth. Yena and the guys are rushing towards us: “Cops, cops.”
We run along the corridors. Yena hides in a hole in the wall, turns, the children scatter along the corridors.
Only Gosha remains before us. He runs wide, his nylon jacket inflating, his hands grasping for air.
Turn, we run into absolute darkness. We slow down and walk slowly. You can hear Gosha running ahead. Suddenly the steps stop. The rustle of nylon.
We turn on our cell phones. As you step, a square gap appears black, fenced off by a ten-centimeter side. Through elevator shaft.
Gosha lies four floors below, burying his face in the bricks. Long hair completely covers the head. He doesn't move.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
Rushing across the floors:
- Department of Internal Affairs "Khovrino". Stand, ...!
They bend over and turn over. They ask us to call an ambulance from our mobile phone - “it will take longer to use a walkie-talkie.” Two employees escort us to the stairs. There, drunk Anton is already beating in hysterics.
- Let me go! This is my friend! My friend, you don't understand! - he is being held back.
“I also saw a lot of things,” says the opera. - They are already doing it. Don't get in the way.
- His mother didn’t care about him! - Anton continues to yell. “I took him to my house so that he could at least get something there!”
- What, ..., are they climbing? What, ..., are they climbing? - says another. - 11-year-olds... I would shoot them all.
A very calm Pied Piper descends from above. He says to Anton: “Don’t fuss,” and he immediately shuts up. Offers assistance - medical education, “intensive care”. The cops refuse.
—Which opera will come? — the Pied Piper clarifies.
It turns out that Tolya will come and “talk to him.”
The Pied Piper takes one of the operatives aside. They talk in low voices and laugh.
Anton no longer yells - he switches to his favorite topic - weapons.
- The butt is on the other side of the stomach, you turn it around and shoot. And if without a butt...
“There is no automatic weapon without a butt,” the operator looks contemptuously.
Two men walk up the stairs: “We are parents. Polyakov Stanislav, 15 years old..."
“Look there, one fell over there,” says the officer.
With petrified faces, the men descend to the mines. They're coming out soon - "not ours."
- Why a knife? - asks the attentive cop.
- Defense.
“The main thing is that there is no excess,” he advises.
The ambulance and the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrive. They go to the mines and look at them. A female doctor goes out to smoke with the operas: “There is breathing, now they will raise it.”
Gosha soon regains consciousness. Says name, date of birth. On the question “What hurts?” starts to cry.
Gosha is loaded onto a fabric stretcher. Blood flows from the head and stains the fabric. They are carried into the darkness of the corridors towards the exit. They go around the gaps on the sides of the corridor and go down the bulkheads.
“How did I fall? How did I fall? - Gosha begins to cry. “I know the building, I couldn’t, I know the building!”
A roaring Theme flies out of the darkness: “Gosh, Gosha! This is my friend! Go away, I’ll carry it myself!” One of the officers pulls the guy away, punches him in the cheekbone, and he chokes on a scream.
-Are you going to meow again?
- Got it?
Moms are found in the ambulance. They rush at Anton: “It’s him, he was holding my son! He blocked me: he won’t go anywhere with you, he won’t go anywhere, he’s my friend. You are a bastard! Where is my son?
“You Catholic bitch...” Anton begins.
- I'm orthodox!
- What kind of Orthodox are you?
They wring Anton’s hands, put him on the hood, and handcuff him.
Mom explains to curious passers-by: “I told him: Misha, come here. And then there’s this little girl who tells me: you’re a whore. The slut is underage, kill them..."
— Will you write a statement? - the operator clarifies. - For this?
- I will write, I will.
We are put in a car with Tema. The boy holds himself proudly, smiles boldly: “I’ll tell dad. Dad will arrange it for you." The ensign driving is furious.
Braking in front of the police station, he pulls Tema out of the car and hits him in the chest. The boy’s knees give way: “I can’t breathe.”
The subject is dragged into the compartment and thrown onto the bench. He tries to get up, the mothers who are nearby grab his hands: “Calm down, calm down.” The boy breathes through his mouth, tears splash from his eyes.
- You will all apologize!
The ensign leans over him, smiles, and suddenly grabs him by the collar and presses his forehead to his crying head:
“When you scare me, look me in the eye, bastard.” Look in my eyes.
“My father will come...” the guy begins, gasping for breath.
The women cover his mouth with their palms:
- You are a man. Be quiet, be patient...
The ensign notices my attentive gaze and pulls me out for a smoke.
— Police warrant officer Zhenya Ananyev. Well, write a complaint against me, whatever. I have... [a minor] the same. Unfortunately, I can’t influence him. If you say anything to him, if you treat them kindly, he looks at you like you’re shit. And so at least something will be deposited in his head.
“Yes, up to a hundred a year,” the investigator says lazily. “It’s like summer, we’re there every day.” Falling...
“When you have your own children, when you beat them, you will understand,” says Zhenya. - Well, are you going to write a complaint against me? I will prepare for civilian life; I served for 15 years. You pull out someone like this... [a minor], but he’s not breathing.
TO The company is hanging out at the bus stop - Maga is about to go to the emergency room, they are seeing him off. Drinking, laughter - schoolchildren are happy that they have escaped the police again.
- Alive? Well, thank the eggs! - Katya screams. — Second person in a week to the mines! Who is next?
Yena, Gosha’s girlfriend, is calm:
- I do not like anybody. But it would be better if it was Slem. He tells me this: don’t give tours, there will be one less drink in the building. It would be better if he fell... From the roof - and right on his head.
“Or it would be better if they took him to the cops,” Katya objects.
“And under the private security company, and under the cops, and under us, these youngsters always fell,” says Maga. - There's nothing you can do about it. “She’s also absolutely calm.”
“Shaman, be there tomorrow at 12,” says the Pied Piper. “We’ll come up later, and you collect money from tourists.”
- Fine.
Slem runs around in circles, yelling:
— I have an injury now. Another year and it will heal. One more year, girls, that's all. I'll leave here. Sensei will drive me barefoot through the snow again.
H After 9 days, Slem dies after falling into an elevator shaft from the ninth floor.
Photo: Anna Artemyeva / Novaya Gazeta, 2011
__________
* Some names and nicknames have been changed.
I didn’t think that there could be such huge abandoned objects in Moscow! People are drawn to these kinds of dark, mysterious places. Ruins, cobwebs, abandoned furniture, things and mysterious sounds - all these are components of the cult of lovers of abandoned places.
But let's get back to our building. Muscovites, did you find out?
And who doesn’t know, let me tell you this dark story...
2
For many years now, a huge building that looks like a ghost ship has been frightening residents of Khovrin, an area on the northern outskirts of Moscow. This monumental monument to Soviet long-term construction has long been in disrepute among the people. The Khovrinsky abandoned hospital is often called a house of horrors or a citadel of darkness, and for very good reasons. What kind of nightmares have these gloomy walls seen in their lifetime!
It all started in 1981. At that time, the Moscow authorities planned to build a grandiose medical complex on the outskirts of the city, which had no analogues in the entire Soviet Union. According to the project, the new hospital consisted of six 10-story buildings and was supposed to accommodate 1,300 inpatients (note for comparison that the Sklifosovsky Research Institute has a total of just over 900 beds).
In 1985, construction was generally completed; even some medical equipment was brought into the building. But then the project was unexpectedly cancelled. According to knowledgeable people, there were two main reasons for this: firstly, there was not enough finance to complete the construction and decoration of the building, and secondly, after the completion of the construction of the building, problems with the foundation were revealed, the hospital could collapse, and the chances of passing the acceptance committee were equal zero. As a result, the project was banned and closed.
But no one began to destroy what had already been built, the hospital remained a building through which the wind blows, and at times incomprehensible and gloomy stories happen there. At first, the unfinished hospital was guarded by the military; the facility was considered strategically important. But “perestroika and acceleration of socio-economic development,” as the then General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev used to say, were in full swing. And no one cared about the unfinished hospital, even if it was considered a strategic site.
3
According to one version, the culprit is a lack of funds, which was commonplace at the beginning of perestroika. According to another, which later became more obvious, it was due to an error in the project. The instability of the soil under the foundation, or, more simply put, quicksand, over time led to the fact that the main building began to settle and sink deeper into the ground. Over the time that has passed since the beginning of the 1980s, this draft has amounted to 12 meters.
The multi-storey building in Khovrino was built in the brutalist style. The appearance of the building is original and rather atypical for an administrative building during the Soviet period. The hospital building is designed in the shape of a triangular cross with additional branches at the ends. The hospital has 2 buildings: the main building, shaped like a star, and the ophthalmology building, which was supposed to house a morgue and crematorium.
4
Local old-timers give another reason why the Khovrinsk hospital has been plagued by failures from the very beginning. They say that there used to be an old cemetery on the site of this wasteland. It was razed to the ground back in 1960, but building anything on this site, according to area residents, was a mistake. Since the last worker left the site, the reinforced concrete giant has begun its own life, full of secrets and tragedies.
Only since the beginning of the 80s of the last century, many people went missing, were killed and mutilated in the vicinity of the hospital, and the walls of Khovrinka, as it is often called, became a haven for all sorts of dark personalities.
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No one knows the exact number of sects, groups and informal organizations that gathered within the walls of Khovrinka, but it is known for certain that until the mid-1990s, a group of Satanists who called themselves “Nemostor” operated on the territory of an abandoned construction site. Subsequently, the hospital itself began to be called this way. For their gatherings, Satanists chose the top of the four levels of the basement. There, according to rumors, they held black masses, which often ended in sacrifices. Law enforcement officers often found here the corpses of animals and even people with obvious signs of ritual murder.
At the same time, law enforcement agencies conducted a series of raids to capture nonhumans in black robes. Even today there is no exact information about how the story of Nemostor ended. It is generally accepted that the servants of the devil were simply expelled from the hospital basement. However, there is another opinion. According to him, during one of the raids, Satanists who resisted were blocked and shot, after which the basement was flooded. It is impossible to verify this version - the operation is classified as “Secret”. But the fact remains: the lower levels of the basement are filled with water.
The banner of Nemostor was picked up by another group of devil worshipers - the Black Cross. She settled on the fifth floor of the hospital. It is believed that members of the Black Cross gather in a special room behind a sliding wall. The presence of such a group could be considered a figment of the imagination of hospital visitors if the walls of the fifth floor of its main building were not dotted with Satanic symbols.
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Many people became victims of the Khovrinsk hospital. Not all of them were persons without a fixed place of residence - quite a few of them always lived here. Some fell into the clutches of murderers, others became victims of accidents, and still others came here to take their own lives. Here are just a couple of examples.
This story, which has already become a legend in Khovrinka, happened in the late 1980s. A lonely pensioner who lived near the hospital lost her dog while walking. A day or two later, in search of her pet, the old woman headed to the main building. And there, in one of the corridors, she discovered the mutilated corpse of a dog with tied paws. The remains of other animals lay nearby. Struck by horror, the woman went to the police. The investigation yielded no results. The restless pensioner decided to track down the torturers and killers herself. However, while moving in the dark along the hospital corridor, she fell into a hole and broke her legs.
The body of the unfortunate woman was discovered only a few weeks later. Apparently, she died long and painfully.
Another victim of the terrible walls of Khovrinka was teenager Alexey Krayushkin, nicknamed Kray. He often came here with friends. Once a sixteen-year-old boy climbed to the eighth floor and... jumped into the empty opening of the elevator shaft. According to the stories of “unfinished construction specialists,” Kray’s body was found not in the mine, but in one of the rooms where the utility room was supposed to be located. And now there is an inscription above the entrance to this ominous room that the soul of the Land rests here and entry is prohibited. And everyone who violates this ban can see the transparent figure of a teenager passing through the wall.
No one can judge why he decided to take his own life. They say it comes from unrequited love.
Having learned about what happened, Alexei’s friends built a small monument with a photograph of the deceased next to the elevator shaft. They say that his friends still light funeral candles here and leave cigarettes here...
More than one life is cut short within the walls of the Khovrinsk hospital every year. So, in 2004, six people died here. Two years later - already ten, and so on - increasing. An abandoned construction site, like an insatiable monster, collects more and more victims. They say that in the entire history of the hospital, between 300 and 800 people lost their lives here.
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The mysticism is enhanced by the very sinister appearance of the killer hospital. If you look at it from above, the location of the main buildings quite accurately corresponds to the international Biohazard symbol.
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In fact, there is nothing sinister about this sign: it was invented by engineers of the chemical company Dow Chemical back in 1966 and was unknown to the general public for many decades. People started talking about the “mystical analogy” when the horror film “Resident Evil” with Milla Jovovich was released worldwide. Plot: the mysterious Umbrella corporation is building an underground medical center, where a terrible virus is being tested secretly from the people. As a result of the emergency, the staff turns into zombies that take over the entire planet. “Resident Evil” became a cult horror film; 3 sequels and a full-length cartoon were filmed. And in every film there is always a close-up of the Biohazard shamrock.
The reaction was predictable: the Khovrinsky unfinished project in the form of “Biohazard” instantly gained notoriety, and the Sabbaths of Satanists completed the picture. Naturally, the hospital, like a magnet, attracted city dwellers thirsting for extreme sports and adventure, mainly young people. Of the crowds of teenagers wandering at night with flashlights through empty buildings with unfenced elevator shafts, not all returned home. There were rumors about black masses, ghosts, and the living dead.
From time to time the facility was taken under guard, but there were years when the hospital remained in the grip of extreme people and Satanists. On the forums dedicated to the “Moscow Umbrella”, you can read terrible stories. Here the girl describes in detail how she walks with her boyfriend through the night hospital, takes him to the upper floors, asks him to look into the elevator shaft, and then pushes him in the back. Can be chalked up to rich teenage fantasy. But not everything could be written off - tragedies were repeated. Rarely does a year go by without death, and the number of injuries and injuries runs into the hundreds. And the main cause of death: falling from a height.
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Legends say that the hospital was built on an abandoned cemetery, which is why the place turned out to be disastrous: 2-4-level basements are flooded, the buildings are slowly going underground. Also, according to the main legend, once upon a time, riot police blocked members of the Nemostor Satanist sect on the underground floors of the hospital and blew up the tunnel on both sides. Some of the sectarians were buried alive, or rather, flooded with groundwater.
Of course, legends always diverge from reality to one degree or another, but, be that as it may, the Satanists left the hospital. Just like the homeless. What remained were “stalkers” and extreme sports fans, plus “tourists” from all over the country. At one time, a nighttime extreme skating rink was organized on the flooded levels in winter. Then the project was unexpectedly closed, according to rumors - after a police raid.
On the wall of one of the hospital buildings on the side of Klinskaya Street there is a drawing: some kind of symbol, the word “spirit”. The artist had to demonstrate industrial mountaineering skills. Namely: having climbed onto the roof, fasten yourself to a halyard, and descend along a vertical wall without windows. This artist-climber had strong nerves: under his feet there was a height of 20 meters, and not the ground, but pieces of concrete, brick, steel reinforcement.
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The Central Internal Affairs Directorate informed me that the territory was not guarded from April 2009 to April 2011. True, police officers in the Khovrino district regularly detained teenagers and conducted preventive conversations with them and their parents. Nevertheless, there are plenty of people who want to visit the killer hospital. From January 1 to June 2011, 72 minors were caught on the territory and taken to the Khovrinsky police department, police took 12 teenagers from the killer hospital to a regular hospital: the guys were injured. It is extremely easy to break a leg in KhZB: reinforcement sticks out everywhere, there are a lot of holes and dips. Among the target audience, a night trip to Khovrinka (dangerous during the day, but not so scary) is comparable in degree of coolness to a trip to the Chernobyl zone.
The hospital today is surrounded by a metal fence made of welded mesh, topped with barbed wire. On two sides along the perimeter there are ordinary city streets, on one side there is an industrial zone and on the other side there is the Grachevka park. The security is not noticeable, but it is there: 6 soldiers from two private security companies plus dogs are on duty around the clock.
Security was tightened after another tragedy: in May, an 18-year-old extreme tourist from the Moscow region died here. The guy walked into the territory, went up to the 8th floor, tripped and fell into the elevator shaft.
As a rule, all deaths are declared accidents. Only one drama by Khovrin’s “Resident Evil” is recognized as suicide. 6 years ago, 16-year-old Alexey Krayushkin threw himself from the roof because of unrequited love. He has his own memorial: on the 2nd floor of one of the buildings, the entire wall is painted with graffiti, poems and simply farewell autographs: “The region, we mourn and remember.”
This place is considered a “must” to visit: if you somehow broke through the barbed wire, evil Chop dogs, missed the ghosts and safely passed the elevator shafts and sharp fittings, then you must honor the memory of the Edge. And also - take a photo at the famous inscription: “This hospital is a land of miracles, I went into it and disappeared there.” Teen friends will be jealous
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The Federal Property Management Agency and the Moscow authorities fought for a long time over the hospital, and in the spring of 2009, the long-term construction was finally transferred to the Moscow Property Department. The city has not yet decided what to do with it next.
The parents of the dead and mutilated teenagers and the children's ombudsman Pavel Astakhov demand to get rid of the killer hospital. Local residents are also pretty tired of the neighborhood with “Resident Evil”. Not only does it not in itself beautify the area. There are also man-made nightmares. On the side of the park, KhZB has 2 metal fences: a hospital fence and a city fence. They run parallel for some time, and then form a dead end. If you don't know the way, you can easily wander into it. It’s very unpleasant: suddenly there are steel bars all around and barbed wire overhead. I wonder whose unhealthy imagination created the dead end and who the trap is addressed to?
I got into a conversation with one of the locals in the park. Ivan Vladimirovich lived in Khovrino all his life. He doesn’t consider the hospital a mystical place. But the place itself, in his opinion, is not entirely normal. In the summer, out of the blue, a huge oak tree collapsed here.
And this on a windless day! - the pensioner is indignant. - I'm not saying that zombies sawed it down, but in general our places are not boring.
The people have already approached the head of the council with a proposal to demolish Umbrella to hell and give the territory over to public garages. The head replied that for now the intended purpose of the site (use for a hospital) has been retained. But the current buildings can hardly be repaired. There is a project for their demolition and construction of two new buildings of a multidisciplinary hospital with 1,200 beds.
But the authorities promise to make the final decision after a detailed examination of the structures and foundations of the buildings. What they will show and when they will be completed is still unknown.
Khovrinskaya Hospital (urban, Khovrinka, KhZB) is a huge abandoned hospital located in the northern part of Moscow in the Khovrino district, next to the platform of the same name.
The construction of the Khovrinskaya hospital, which is now empty in the Northern District of Moscow in the Khovrino area, began back in 1981 on the site of an old cemetery and lasted 4 years. It was designed for 1,400 people and was supposed to become one of the best medical centers in the USSR. But this was not destined to come true - failures haunted the medical institution at every step, and poor financing completely predicted the fate of an ordinary district hospital. To this day, the HZB building remains abandoned.
The arrangement of the medical center buildings on top resembles the star logo of the Umbrella company from the film Resident Evil, but its finest hour never came. The soil marked the final point in the series of bad luck. The foundation of the building began to crack, as if the old burial ground did not want to see anything other than a cemetery on itself. Because of this, the building was declared unsafe and in 1985 the Khovrinsk hospital, almost ready for operation, was never opened to those in need.
In the late 80s, the abandoned building was chosen by the satanic sect “Nemostor”, which set up a real devilish sanctuary in the basement, supposed to be a morgue. During black masses, a ritual of sacrifice was always performed. It all started with homeless animals, then homeless people began to disappear from the streets, and the matter ended with outright kidnappings of children and the murders of curious adventurers who wanted to examine the hospital from the inside. The corpses were burned in a sector equipped as a crematorium, and for a long time the sect could not be identified.
But investigators soon realized that the disappearances were somehow connected with an empty hospital on the site of the cemetery, about which there were already bad rumors. The fact of ritual murders was confirmed when riot police arrived at the scene and found bloody inscriptions of incomprehensible content and pentagrams on the walls. Despite the “dashing nineties”, they wanted to take the Satanists alive, but they were the first to open fire, forcing the operatives to engage in a shootout with them.
The sectarians were driven into one of the half-flooded basement tunnels and blown up with a grenade. There was a strong collapse, under which they died. They say that due to the high probability of a second collapse, they did not dismantle the blockage to extract the bodies, but simply blocked the entrance to the tunnel.
Since then, the dark glory of the Khovrinsk hospital simply attracted misfortunes. Suicides took their own lives here, accidents occurred, and sometimes serial killers hid from the police. Now the medical center is considered less dangerous and here you can meet thrill-seekers, homeless people or representatives of youth subcultures.
But urban legends never die. Some talk about a satanic sect that still lives in the sewers, which they don’t even look for, because law enforcement officers are confident of its complete destruction. The latter tell tales about the ghosts of the old cemetery. Well, still others whisper about a mysterious tramp named Raf, who sometimes appears among the ruins when someone gets into trouble. He helps to get out of a hole or shows the way to someone who is lost, after which he also mysteriously disappears around the nearest bend.
The Khovrinskaya abandoned hospital is one of the ten most terrible “unfinished buildings” on the planet.