In north-western Yakutia, in the basin of the Upper Viliuy River, there is a hard-to-reach area

that bears the marks of some tremendous cataclysms —toppling of the entire forest cover that took

place some 800 years ago and stone fragments scattered over hundreds of square kilometres.

Distributed across this area are mysterious metal objects located deep underground, in the

permafrost. On the surface their presence is revealed only by patches of weird vegetation. The

ancient name of this area is Uliuiu Cherkechekh which translates as “the Valley of Death”.

For many years the Yakut people have given a very wide berth to this remote area that has

played and still plays a special, powerful role in the fate not only of civilization, but of the planet as

a whole.

After having systematized a large quantity of reports and material of various kinds, we

decided to inform you of something that may change perceptions of the world around us and our

place in it, if humanity can take heed of what is stated here.

In order to present the fullest possible picture, we have divided our account into three parts.

The first contains the facts and eye-witness reports in the form in which they reached us. In the

second we present the ancient legends of peoples living in this region and the epic poetry of

neighbouring peoples who observed strange phenomena. This is important so that you can carry

out your own investigation and appreciate for yourselves every detail of the narrative. Finally, we

shall write about what lies behind all this.

The area in question can be described as a solid mass of swamps alternating with nearimpassable

taiga covering more than 100,000 square kilometres. Some fairly curious rumours have

become attached to it regarding metal objects of unknown origin located across it.

In order to shed light on whatever it was that, existing barely perceptibly alongside us, gave rise to

these rumours, we had to go into the ancient history of this region, to discover its beliefs and

legends. We managed to recreate certain elements of the local paleotoponomy and these matched

in an astonishing manner the content of the ancient legends. Everything indicated that the legends

and rumours were referring to quite specific things.

In ancient times the Valley of Death was part of a nomadic route used by the Evenk people

from Bodaibo to Annybar and on to the coast. Right up until 1936 a merchant named Savvinov

traded on the route, but when he gave up the business the inhabitants gradually abandoned those

places.

Finally the aged merchant and

his granddaughter Zina decided

to move to Siuldiukar.

Somewhere in the land between

two rivers that is known as

Kheldyu (“iron house” in the

local language), the old man led

her to a small, slightly flattened

reddish arch, where, beyond a

spiral passageway, there turned out to be a number of metal chambers in which they then spent the night.

Zina’s grandfather told her that even in the harshest frosts it was warm as summer in the

chambers. In days gone by there were bold men among the local hunters who would sleep in these

rooms. But then they began to fall seriously ill, and those who had spent several nights running

there soon died. The Yakut said that the place was “very bad, marshy and beasts do not go there”!

The location of all these constructions was known only to old men who had been hunters in their

youth and often visited these places in their day. They lived a nomadic life and their knowledge of

the peculiarities of the area, where one could go, and where one couldn’t, was a matter of vital

necessity. Their descendents had adopted a settled way of life and so this knowledge from the past

had been lost. At present all that points to the existence of these constructions is ancient place

names that have in part survived and all manner of rumours. But each of those toponyms

represents hundreds, if not thousands of square metres.

In 1936, alongside the Olguidakh (“place with a

cauldron”) River a geologist directed by elderly

natives came upon a smooth metal hemisphere

reddish in colour protruding from the ground with such

a smooth edge that it “cut a fingernail”. Its walls were

about two centimetres thick and it stuck out of the

ground roughly a fifth of its diameter. It stood leaning

over so that it was possible to ride under it on a

reindeer. The geologist despatched a description of it to Yakutsk, the regional centre.

In 1979 an archaeological expedition from Yakutsk attempted to find the hemisphere he had discovered.

They had with them a guide who had seen the structure several times in his youth, but he said that

the area was greatly changed and they failed to find anything. It must be said that in that locality

you can pass within ten paces of something and not notice it, so earlier discoveries have been pure

luck.

Back in the previous century, in 1853, R. Maak, a noted explorer of the region, noted, “In

Suntar [a Yakut settlement] I was told that in the upper reaches of the Viliuy there is a stream

called ‘Algy timirbit’ (which translates as ‘the large cauldron sank’) flowing into the Viliuy. Close to

its bank in the forest there is a gigantic cauldron made of copper. Its size is unknown as only the

rim is visible above the ground, but several trees grow within it...”

The same thing was recorded by N.D. Arkhipov, a researcher into the ancient cultures of

Yakutia: “Among the population of the Viliuy basin there is a legend from ancient times about the

attention as the areas that are the supposed location of the mythical cauldrons contain several

streams with the name ‘Olguidakh’ — ‘Cauldron Stream’.”

And here is a passage from a letter penned by another

person who visited the Valley of Death. Mikhail Koretsky from

Vladivostok writes:

Koretsky also noted that when he visited one “cauldron” a second time in the intervening few

years it had sunk appreciably into the ground.

A. Gutenev and Yu. Mikhailovsky, two researchers

from the town of Mirny, reported that in 1971 an old

hunter belonging to the Evenk people had said that in

the area between two rivers known as Niurgun Bootur

(“fiery champion”) and Atadarak (“place with a threesided

harpoon”) there is poking out of the ground the very thing that

gave the place its name a “very big” three-faceted iron harpoon, while in the area between

two rivers known as Kheliugir (“iron people”) there is an iron burrow in

which lie “thin black one-eyed people in clothes of iron”. He said that he could take people there,

that it was not far away, but no-one believed him. In the meantime he has died.

One more of these objects was, to all

appearances, covered after the building of a

dam on the Viliuy slightly below the Erbiie.

According to the account of one of the builders

of the Viliuy hydro-electric project, when they

constructed a diversion canal and drained the

main channel, they discovered in it a convex

metal “spot”. Deadlines were pressing and after a

cursory inspection of the find the project managers gave orders for work to continue.

There are a host of tales from people who happened across similar constructions by

accident, but without precise directions it is extremely difficult to find them again in the depressingly

monotonous terrain.

Once some old men said that flowing in the place Tong Duurai is a stream called Ottoamokh

(“holes in the ground”) and that around there are incredibly deep openings known as “the laughing

chasms”. That same name also crops up in legends that state that this is the dwelling of a fiery

giant who destroys everything around. Roughly every six or seven centuries a monstrous “fireball”

burst out from there and either it flew off somewhere into the distance and (judging by the

chronicles and legends of other peoples) exploded there, or it exploded directly above its exit point,

as a result of which the area for hundreds of kilometres around was reduced to a scorched desert

with shattered rocks.

Yakut legends contain many references to explosions, fiery whirlwinds and blazing spheres rising

into the air. And all those phenomena are somehow or other associated with the mysterious metal

constructions found in the Valley of Death.

Some of them are large, round “iron houses” standing on numerous lateral supports. They

have neither windows nor doors, only a “spacious manhole” at the top of the dome. Some of them

have sunk almost completely into the permafrost, with only a barely noticeable arch-like

protuberance remaining on the surface.

Witnesses who are strangers to each other

describe this “resounding metal house” in the same

way.

Other objects are the metallic hemispherical lids scattered across the area that cover

something unknown. But Yakut legends say that the mysterious blazing spheres are produced by

“an orifice belching smoke and fire” with a “banging steel lid”.

This is also the source for the fiery whirlwinds that sound from the

descriptions very similar to the effects of present-day atomic explosions.

Roughly a century before each explosion or series of explosions a fast-flying

fiery sphere emerged from the “iron orifice” and, without causing great

damage, soared upwards in the form of a thin column of fire. At the top of

this a very large fireball appeared. Accompanied by four claps of thunder in

succession, it soared to an even greater height and flew off, leaving behind a

long “trail of smoke and fire”. Then a cannonade of its explosions sounded in

the distance...

In the 1950s the Soviet military cast an eye on this area, evidently due to the

exceptionally sparse population of its northern fringes. They conducted a

series of atomic tests there. One of the explosions produced a great puzzle.

Foreign specialists are still speculating about it. As the German radio station

Deutsche Welle reported in September 1991, in 1954 when a 10-kilogramme

nuclear device was being tested, the size of the explosion for unknown

reasons exceeded the calculations by a factor of 2,000–3,000, reaching 20–

30 megatons, as was registered by seismic laboratories around the world.

The cause of such a significant discrepancy in the power of the explosion

remained unclear. TASS put out an announcement that a compact hydrogen

bomb had been tested in airburst conditions, but it later emerged that this

was incorrect.

After the tests there were restricted zones in the area. Secret work was

carried out for some years.

Let us try to look into the distant past as it is reflected in epic poetry.

As the legends passed on by word of mouth testify, in the remote period when everything

began, the area was inhabited by a small number of nomads belonging to the Tungus people.

Once their distant neighbours saw that their land was suddenly wrapped in impenetrable darkness

and the surroundings were shaken by a deafening roar. A hurricane of unseen force arose and the

land was riven by mighty blows. Lightning crossed the sky in all directions. When everything

calmed down and the darkness dispersed, an unprecedented sight met their eyes. In the midst of

the scorched land, glowing in the sun stood a tall vertical structure that was visible at a distance of

many days’ journey.

For a long period of time the structure gave out unpleasant, ear-splitting noises and

gradually diminished in height until it had disappeared under the ground altogether. In place of the

tall structure there was an immense yawning vertical “orifice”. In the strange words of the legends,

it consisted of three tiers of “laughing chasms”. Its depths supposedly contained an underground

country with its own sun that was, however, “waning”. A choking stench rose from the orifice and

so no-one settled near it. From a distance people could see a “rotating island” appear sometimes

above the opening and this then proved to be its “banging lid”. Those whom curiosity tempted to

take a closer look never returned.

Centuries went by. Life went on as before. Nobody anticipated anything extraordinary, but

once a small earthquake occurred and the sky was pierced by a thin “fiery whirlwind”. At the top of

it a dazzling fireball appeared. Accompanied by “a succession of four thunderclaps” and leaving

behind a trail of fire, this sphere shot off along a shallow downward trajectory and, after vanishing

beyond the horizon, exploded. The nomads were perturbed, but did not abandon the lands that

were home to them, since the “demon” had not caused them any harm, but exploded over the

hostile neighbouring tribe. A few decades later, things repeated themselves — the fireball flew off

in the same direction and again destroyed only their neighbours. Evidently this “demon” was in

some way their protector and they began to create legends about it, calling it Niurgun Bootur, “the

fiery champion”.

But some time later, events occurred that horrified even

the most distant surroundings. A gigantic fireball

emerged from the opening with a deafening thunderous

roar and exploded… right overhead. A tremendous

earthquake ensued. Some hills were cut across by crack

more than 100 metres deep. Following the explosion a

“fire-raging sea” continued to swash about with a disclike

“rotating island” above it. The effects of the

explosion extended over a radius of more than a

thousand kilometres. The nomadic tribes on the edges

of the area who survived fled in different directions,

seeking to distance themselves from the fatal spot, but

that did save them from death. They all succumbed to

some kind of strange illness that was passed on only by inheritance. Yet they left behind them precise accounts

of what had taken place, on the basis of which Yakut story-tellers began to compose beautiful, exceptionally

tragic legends.

A little over 600 years passed. Many generations of nomads had come and gone. The precepts of remote

ancestors were forgotten and people had again settled the area.

Then… everything repeated itself. The fireball of Niurgun Bootur appeared above a fiery whirlwind

and again flew off to explode beyond the horizon. A few decades later a second fireball rent the air

(now it was called Kiun Erbiie (“the gleaming aerial herald or messenger”). Then came another

devastating explosion that the legends again anthropomorphized. It was given the name Uot

Usumu Tong Duurai, which can be roughly translated as “the criminal stranger who pierced the

earth and hid in the depths, destroying all around with a fiery whirlwind”.

It is important to note that on the eve of the flight of the negative hero Tong Duurai there

appeared in the sky the messenger of the heavenly Dyesegei — the champion Kiun Erbiie who

crossed the firmament as a “falling star” or “dashing lightning” so as to warn Niurgun Bootur of the

coming battle.

The most significant event in the legends was Tong Duurai bursting forth from the

underground depths and doing battle with Niurgun Bootur. This took place roughly as follows: first a

snake-like branching fiery whirlwind burst from the “orifice” on the top of which there again

appeared a fireball of gigantic size that after several peals of thunder shot high into the air. He was

accompanied in flight by his retinue, “a swarm of fatally bloody whirlwinds” that wrought havoc in

the vicinity.

But there were occasions when Tong Duurai encountered Niurgun Bootur above the place

where he took off and following these the area remained lifeless for a long time.

The picture painted of these events varies quite considerably — several “fiery champions”

might emerge from the opening at once, fly some distance and explode in one place. This

happened with the flight of Tong Duurai. Study of the soil layers indicates that the interval between

explosions does not exceed 600–700 years.

The legends vividly reflect these events, but the absence of a written tradition means that

they were not registered in documentary form. It seems, though, that this lacuna is compensated

by the historical chronicles of other peoples.

Altogether at approximate intervals of 600–700 years several explosions took place, or

rather a whole complex of events, including the precursors.

All these occurrences were painstakingly recorded in epic poetry, traditions and legends. It

is a curious fact that similar legends also arose in the equatorial zone of the planet where

explosions or “giant fireballs” that suddenly appeared in the sky destroyed several centres of

ancient civilizations.

Judging by the results of archaeological investigations carried out on the Upper Viliuy by

S.A. Fedoseyeva, the intermittent, wave-like settlement of this territory can be traced back roughly

to the fourth millennium B.C. In the first millennium A.D., the line of historical development is

interrupted, which does not contradict the possible date for the last explosion of September 1380.

The cloud it raised blotted out the sun over Europe for several hours. In several geo-active zones

powerful earthquakes took place. This event was already recorded in written sources. In Russian

chronicles it coincided with the Battle of Kulikovo Field: “the gloom dispersed only in the second

half of the day. A wind of such strength blew, that an arrow shot from a bow could not fly against

it...” This factor made a positive contribution to the Russian victory.

The explosions are described in Tungus legends far more vividly than in other sources.

Judging by the accounts they were many times worse than modern nuclear weapons.

If we take 1380 as our starting date and go back into the past, we can trace such moments.

In 830, for example, the culture of the Mayans who inhabited the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico was

destroyed. Many of their cities were reduced to ruins by an explosion of monstrous force. Some

passages in the Bible are akin to the Yakut legends: the description of the plagues of Egypt, the

demise of Sodom and Gomorrah. In one of the oases of the Arabian peninsula an ancient town

was destroyed and literally reduced to ashes. According to legend this took place when a huge

fireball that appeared in the sky exploded. At Mohenjo-daro on the Indian subcontinent

archaeologists discovered a devastated city. The marks of the catastrophe (melted stone walls)

clearly pointed to an explosion comparable with a nuclear bomb.

Similar events are also described in Chinese chronicles from the fourteenth century. They

say that far to the north a black cloud rose above the horizon and covered half the sky, scattering

large fragments of stone. Stones also dropped from the sky in Scandinavia and Germany, where

several towns broke fire. Scholars established that they were quite ordinary stones and conjectured

that a volcano had erupted somewhere.

Perhaps the cause of these misfortunes was really Tong Duurai who has been bursting out

from under ground for many centuries? While Niurgun Bootur blotted out half of the sky at his

appearance, Tong Duurai considerably exceeded him in size and, ascending into the heavens,

completely disappeared from view. We note that in the Valley of Death a rise in the background

radiation is observed at certain intervals of time, something specialists have no explanation for.