Which of the writers had a lethargic dream. Mystical secrets of Gogol

The mystery of Gogol's death still haunts both a huge number of scientists and researchers, and ordinary people, among whom are even those who are far from the world of literature. Probably, it was this general interest and widespread discussion with many different assumptions that caused so many legends to arise around the death of the writer.

Some facts from the biography of Gogol

Nikolai Vasilyevich lived a short life. He was born in 1809 in the Poltava province. Gogol's death occurred on February 21, 1852. He was buried in Moscow, in a cemetery located on the territory of the Danilov Monastery.

He studied at a prestigious gymnasium (Nezhino), but there, as he believed with his friends, the students received insufficient knowledge. Therefore, the future writer was carefully engaged in self-education. At the same time, Nikolai Vasilievich already then tried his hand at writing, however, he worked mainly in poetic form. Gogol also showed interest in the theater, he was especially attracted to comic works: already in his school years, he had an unsurpassed

Death of Gogol

According to experts, contrary to popular belief, Gogol did not have schizophrenia. However, he suffered. This illness manifested itself in different ways, but its strongest manifestation was that Gogol was terribly afraid that he would be buried alive. He did not even go to bed: he spent his nights and hours of daytime rest in armchairs. This fact was overgrown with a huge amount of speculation, which is why many people have the opinion that this is exactly what happened: the writer, they say, fell asleep and was buried. But this is not so at all. The official version for a long time is that Gogol's death took place even before his burial.

In 1931, it was decided to dig up the grave in order to refute the rumors that had spread then. However, false information has surfaced again. It was said that Gogol's body was in an unnatural position, and the inner lining of the coffin was scratched with nails. Anyone who is able to analyze the situation even a little, of course, doubts this. The fact is that for 80 years the coffin, along with the body, if not completely decomposed in the ground, then certainly would not have retained any traces and scratches.

Gogol's death itself is also a mystery. The last few weeks of his life, the writer felt very bad. Not a single doctor then could explain what was the reason for the rapid withering. Due to excessive religiosity, which became especially aggravated in the last years of his life, in 1852 Gogol began fasting 10 days ahead of schedule. At the same time, he reduced the consumption of food and water to an absolute minimum, thereby bringing himself to complete exhaustion. Even the persuasion of friends who begged him to return to a normal way of life did not affect Gogol.

Even after so many years, Gogol, whose death was a real shock for many, remains one of the most widely read writers not only in the post-Soviet space, but throughout the world.

Marina SARYCHEVA

“After severe suffering, death or a state that was considered death ... All the usual signs of death were found. His face was haggard, his features sharpened. Lips became whiter than marble. Eyes clouded. Rigor has come. The heart didn't beat. So she lay for three days, during which time her body became as hard as a stone.

You, of course, recognized the famous story of Edgar Allan Poe "Buried Alive"?

In the literature of the past, this plot - the burial of living people who fell into a lethargic sleep (translated as "imaginary death" or "little life") - was quite popular. Famous masters of the word addressed him more than once, describing with great drama the horror of awakening in a gloomy crypt or in a coffin. The state of lethargy for centuries has been shrouded in a halo of mysticism, mystery and horror. The fear of falling into a lethargic sleep and being buried alive was so common that many writers became hostages of their own consciousness and suffered from a psychological illness called taphophobia. Let's give some examples.

F. Petrarch. The famous Italian poet, who lived in the 14th century, fell seriously ill at the age of 40. Once he lost consciousness, he was considered dead and was about to be buried. Fortunately, the law of that time forbade burying the dead earlier than a day after death. The forerunner of the Renaissance woke up after a sleep that lasted 20 hours, practically near his grave. Much to the surprise of everyone present, he said that he felt great. After this incident, Petrarch lived for another 30 years, but all this time he experienced an incredible fear of the thought of being accidentally buried alive.

N.V. Gogol. The great writer was afraid that he would be buried alive. It must be said that the creator of Dead Souls had some grounds for this. The fact is that in his youth Gogol suffered malarial encephalitis. The disease made itself felt throughout life and was accompanied by deep fainting followed by sleep. Nikolai Vasilyevich was afraid that during one of these attacks he might be mistaken for the deceased and buried. In the last years of his life, he was so frightened that he preferred not to go to bed and slept sitting up so that his sleep would be more sensitive.

However, in May 1931, when the cemetery of the Danilov Monastery, where the great writer was buried, was destroyed in Moscow, during the exhumation, those present were horrified to find that Gogol's skull was turned to one side. However, modern scholars refute the reasons for the writer's lethargic sleep.

W. Collins. The famous English writer and playwright also suffered from taphophobia. According to relatives and friends of the author of the novel "Moonstone", he experienced torments of such a strong form that he left a "suicide note" on his table by the bed every night, in which he asked to make sure of his death by 100% and only then to give the body to burial.

M.I. Tsvetaeva. Before her suicide, the great Russian poetess left a letter with a request to carefully check whether she really died. Indeed, in recent years, her taphophobia has become very aggravated.

In total, Marina Ivanovna left three suicide notes: one of them was intended for her son, the second for Aseev, and the third for the “evacuees”, those who will bury her. It is noteworthy that the original note was not preserved by the "evacuees" - it was confiscated by the police as material evidence and then lost. The paradox lies in the fact that it contains a request to check whether Tsvetaeva has died and whether she is in a lethargic sleep. The text of the note “evacuated” is known from the list that was allowed to be made by the son.

There is probably no writer whose name would be associated with such an amount of mysticism and fables as with Nikolai Gogol. Everyone knows the legend that all his life he was afraid of being buried alive, which as a result happened ..

The writer's fears of being buried alive in the ground were not invented by his descendants - they are documented.

In 1839, Gogol, while in Rome, fell ill with malaria, and, judging by the consequences, the disease struck the writer's brain. He regularly began to experience seizures and fainting, which is characteristic of malarial encephalitis. In 1845 Gogol wrote to his sister Lisa:

“My body reached terrible cooling: neither day nor night could I warm myself with anything. My face turned yellow, and my hands were swollen and blackened and were like ice, this frightened me myself. I'm afraid that in one moment I will cool down completely, and they will bury me alive, not noticing that my heart is still beating.

There is another curious mention: Gogol's friend, pharmacist Boris Yablonsky, in his diaries, without naming Nikolai Vasilyevich (as the researchers believe, for ethical reasons), writes that a certain person frequented him, asking him to pick up medicines for fear.

“He speaks very cryptically about his fears,” writes the pharmacist. - He says that he sees prophetic dreams in which he is buried alive. And in the state of wakefulness, he imagines that one day, during sleep, those around him will take him for dead and bury him, and when he wakes up, he will begin to call for help, beat on the lid of the coffin until oxygen runs out ... He prescribed sedative pills for him, which are recommended for sleep improvement in psychiatric disorders.

Gogol's mental disorders are also confirmed by his inappropriate behavior - everyone knows that he destroyed the second volume of "Dead Souls" - the writer burned the book on which he worked for quite a long time.

CONTACTS WITH ANGELS

There is a version that a mental disorder could happen not because of an illness, but "on religious grounds." As they would say today, he was drawn into a sect. The writer, being an atheist, began to believe in God, think about religion and wait for the end of the world.

It is known that after joining the “Martyrs of Hell” sect, Gogol spent almost all his time in a makeshift church, where, in the company of parishioners, he tried to “establish contact” with angels, prayers and fasting, bringing himself to such a state that he began to hallucinate, during which he saw devils, babies with wings, and women resembling the Mother of God in their attire.

Gogol spent all his money savings on going to Jerusalem with his mentor and a group of sectarians like him to the Holy Sepulcher and meet the end of time on holy land.

The organization of the trip takes place in the strictest secrecy, the writer tells his family and friends that he is going to be treated, only a few will know that he was going to stand at the origins of a new humanity. Leaving, he asks everyone he knew for forgiveness and says that he will never see them again.

The trip took place in February 1848, but the miracle did not happen - the apocalypse did not happen. Some historians claim that the organizer of the pilgrimage planned to give the sectarians an alcoholic drink with poison to drink, so that everyone would go to the next world at once, but the alcohol dissolved the poison, and it did not work.

Having suffered a fiasco, he allegedly fled, leaving his followers, who, in turn, returned home, barely scraping together money for the return trip. However, there is no documentary evidence for this.

Gogol returned home. His trip did not bring spiritual relief, on the contrary, it only aggravated the situation. He becomes withdrawn, strange in communication, capricious and untidy in clothes.

THE CAT COME TO THE FUNERAL

At the same time, Gogol creates his strangest work, “Selected passages from correspondence with friends,” which begins with ominously mystical words: “Being in the full presence of memory and common sense, I state here my last will. I bequeath my body not to be buried until clear signs of decomposition appear ... I mention this because even during the illness itself, moments of vital numbness found me, my heart and pulse stopped beating.

These lines, combined with the terrible stories that followed after the opening of the grave of the writer during the reburial of his remains many years later, gave rise to terrible rumors that Gogol was buried alive, that he woke up in a coffin, underground, and, in desperation trying to get out, died from mortal fear and suffocation. But was it really so?

In February 1852, Gogol informs his servant Semyon that he constantly wants to sleep because of weakness, and warns: if he feels unwell, do not call doctors, do not give him pills - wait until he gets enough sleep and gets on his feet.

The frightened servant secretly reports this to the doctors at the medical institution where the writer was observed. On February 20, a medical council of 7 doctors decides on the compulsory treatment of Gogol. He was taken to the hospital in consciousness, he talked with a team of doctors, constantly whispering: “Just don’t bury!”

At the same time, according to eyewitnesses, he was completely exhausted due to exhaustion and loss of strength, he could not walk, and on the way to the clinic he completely “fell into unconsciousness”.

On the morning of February 21, 1852, the writer died. Remembering his parting words, the body of the deceased was examined by 5 doctors, all unanimously diagnosed the death.

At the initiative of Moscow State University Professor Timofey Granovsky, the funeral was held as a public funeral, the writer was buried in the university church of the martyr Tatiana. The funeral took place on Sunday afternoon at the cemetery of the Danilov Monastery in Moscow.

As Granovsky later recalled, a black cat suddenly approached the grave, into which the coffin had already been lowered.

No one knew where he came from in the cemetery, and church workers reported that he had never been seen either in the temple or in the surrounding area.

“You will involuntarily believe in mysticism,” the professor will write later. “Women groaned, believing that the soul of the writer moved into the cat.”

When the burial was completed, the cat disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, no one saw him leave.

THE MYSTERY OF OPENING THE COFFIN

In June 1931, the cemetery of St. Danilov Monastery was abolished. The ashes of Gogol and a number of other famous historical figures, by order of Lazar Kaganovich, were transferred to the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent.

During the reburial, something happened that mystics argue to this day. The lid of Gogol's coffin was scratched from the inside, which is confirmed by the official examination certificate drawn up by the NKVD officers, which is now stored in the RGALI. Marks from 8 deep scratches were attested, which could have been made with fingernails.

Rumors that the writer's body was lying on its side are not confirmed, but dozens of people saw something more sinister.

As Vladimir Lidin, professor of the Literary Institute, who was present at the opening of the grave, writes in his memoirs “Transferring the Ashes of Gogol”, “... they opened the grave for almost a whole day. It turned out to be at a much greater depth than ordinary burials (almost 5 meters), as if someone deliberately tried to drag it into the bowels of the earth ...

The top boards of the coffin were rotten, but the side boards with preserved foil, metal corners and handles, and a partially intact bluish-lilac braid were intact.

The skull was not in the coffin! The remains of Gogol began with the cervical vertebrae: the entire skeleton of the skeleton was enclosed in a well-preserved tobacco-colored frock coat; even linen with bone buttons survived under the frock coat; shoes were on...

The shoes were on very high heels, approximately 4-5 centimeters, which gives an unconditional reason to assume that Gogol was not tall.

When and under what circumstances Gogol's skull disappeared remains a mystery.

One of the versions is expressed by the same Vladimir Lidin: in 1909, when the monument to Gogol was being erected on Prechistensky Boulevard in Moscow, the writer’s grave was being restored, one of the most famous collectors in Moscow and Russia, Alexei Bakhrushin, who is also the founder of the Theater Museum, allegedly persuaded the monks of the monastery for big money to get Gogol's skull for him, because, according to legend, he has magical powers.

Like it or not - history is silent. Only the absence of a skull was officially confirmed - this is stated in the documents of the NKVD.

According to rumors, at one time a secret group was formed, the purpose of which was to search for Gogol's skull. But nothing is known about the results of her activities - all documents on this topic were destroyed.

According to legends, the one who owns Gogol's skull can directly communicate with dark forces, fulfill any desires and command the world. They say that today it is kept in the personal collection of a famous oligarch, one of the five Forbes. But even if this is true, it will probably never be announced publicly...

In world practice, there are repeatedly cases when doctors established the fact of a false death of a person. It’s good if such a patient comes out of a state of imaginary death before his own funeral, but, apparently, sometimes living people turn out to be in the graves ... So, for example, when an old English cemetery was reburied, when many coffins were opened, skeletons were found in four of them lying in unnatural positions, in which their relatives could not see them off on their last journey.

It is known that Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, who suffered from bouts of lethargic sleep, was afraid of being buried alive. Considering that lethargy from death can be very difficult to distinguish. Gogol ordered his acquaintances to bury him only when there were clear signs of decomposition of the body. However, in May 1931, when the cemetery of the Danilov Monastery, where the great writer was buried, was destroyed in Moscow, during the exhumation, those present were horrified to find that Gogol's skull was turned to one side.

However, there was no lethargy at the time of death, which I found documented evidence while collecting material for this article in the historical section http://www.forum-orion.com/viewforum.php?f=451 of the forum library. Why, then, during the reburial, a skeleton with a skull turned to one side was found in the coffin?

This fact inspired Andrei Voznesensky to write a poem:
Open the coffin and freeze in the snow. Gogol, crouching, lies on his side. An ingrown toenail tore the lining of the boot.
But how was it really? In May 1931, in connection with the liquidation of part of the necropolis near the Danilov Monastery, the reburial of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol took place. The ceremony was attended by many writers: Vsevolod Ivanov, Yuri Olesha, Mikhail Svetlov and others. When the coffin was opened, everyone was struck by the unusual posture for the deceased.

But it turned out that there is nothing surprising in that. As experts explained, the side boards of the coffin are usually the first to rot. They are the narrowest and most fragile. The lid begins to fall under the weight of the soil, presses on the head of the buried person, and it turns to its side on the so-called atlas vertebra. Exhumation professionals claim that they see this posture of the dead quite often. However, the well-known suspiciousness of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, his belief in the mysteries beyond the grave, covered with a touch of mystery not only his death, but also the burning of the manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls. Gogol in the last years of his life became very discouraged: he did not receive acquaintances, remained alone at night, spent a lot of time in prayer, cried, fasted, thought about death, tried to remain in an armchair, believing that the bed would be his deathbed.

Associate Professor of the Perm Medical Academy M. I. Davidov, whom our readers know from publications about the injuries of A. S. Pushkin and M. Yu. Lermontov, analyzed 439 documents, studying Gogol's disease.

Mikhail Ivanovich, even during the life of the writer, rumors circulated in Moscow that he was suffering from "madness". Did he have schizophrenia, as some researchers claim?

No, Nikolai Vasilievich did not have schizophrenia. But during the last 20 years of his life, he suffered, in the language of modern medicine, manic-depressive psychosis. At the same time, he was never examined by a psychiatrist, and the doctors did not suspect that he had a mental illness, although close acquaintances suspected this. The writer had periods of unusually cheerful mood, the so-called hypomania. They were replaced by bouts of severe melancholy and apathy - depression.

Mental illness proceeded, masquerading as various somatic (bodily) illnesses. The patient was examined by the leading medical luminaries of Russia and Europe: F. I. Inozemtsev, I. E. Dyadkovsky, P. Krukkenberg, I. G. Kopp, K. G. Karus, I. L. Shenlein and others. Mythical diagnoses were made: "spastic colitis", "catarrh of the intestines", "damage to the nerves of the gastric region", "nervous disease" and so on. Naturally, the treatment of these imaginary diseases had no effect.

Until now, many people think that Gogol died truly horribly. He allegedly had a lethargic dream, taken by others for death. And he was buried alive. And then he died from lack of oxygen in the grave.

These are nothing more than rumors that have nothing to do with reality. But they regularly appear on the pages of newspapers and magazines. Nikolai Vasilyevich himself is partially to blame for the appearance of these rumors. During his lifetime, he suffered from taphephobia - the fear of being buried alive, because since 1839, after suffering malarial encephalitis, he was prone to fainting, followed by prolonged sleep. And he was pathologically afraid that during such a state he might be mistaken for the deceased.

For more than 10 years he did not go to bed. He dozed at night, sitting or reclining in an armchair or on a sofa. It is no coincidence that in "Selected places from correspondence with friends" he wrote: "I bequeath my body not to be buried until clear signs of decomposition appear."

Gogol was buried on February 24, 1852 in the graveyard of the Danilov Monastery in Moscow, and on May 31, 1931, the ashes of the writer were transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery.

There are statements in the periodical press that during the exhumation, it seemed to be discovered that the lining of the coffin seemed to be all scratched and torn. The body of the writer is unnaturally twisted. This is the basis of the version that Gogol died already in the coffin.
- To understand its inconsistency, it is enough to think about the following fact. The exhumation was carried out almost 80 years after the burial. At such times, only bone structures that are not connected to each other remain from the body. And the coffin and upholstery change so much that it is absolutely impossible to determine any "scratching from the inside".
- There is such a point of view. Gogol committed suicide by taking mercury poison shortly before his death...
- Yes, indeed, some literary critics believe that about two weeks before his death, Nikolai Vasilyevich took a calomel pill. And since the writer was starving, she was not excreted from the stomach and acted like a strong mercury poison, causing fatal poisoning.

But for an Orthodox, deeply religious person, like Gogol, any suicide attempt was a terrible sin. In addition, one pill of calomel, a common mercury-containing medicine of the time, could not have done any harm. The judgment that drugs stay in the stomach for a long time in a starving person is erroneous. Even during fasting, drugs, under the influence of contraction of the walls of the stomach and intestines, move through the digestive canal, changing under the influence of gastric and intestinal juices. Finally, the patient had no symptoms of mercury poisoning.

The journalist Belysheva put forward a hypothesis that the writer died of an abdominal type, an outbreak of which was in 1852 in Moscow. It was from typhus that Ekaterina Khomyakova died, whom Gogol visited several times during her illness.
- The possibility of typhoid fever in Gogol was discussed at a consultation held on February 20 with the participation of six well-known Moscow doctors: professors A. I. Over, A. E. Evenius, I. V. Varvinsky, S. I. Klimenkov, doctors K. I. and A. T. Tarasenkov. The diagnosis was categorically rejected, because Nikolai Vasilyevich really had no signs of this disease.
What conclusion did the council come to?
- The writer's physician A. I. Over and Professor S. I. Klimenkov insisted on the diagnosis of meningitis (inflammation of the meninges). This opinion was shared by other members of the council, with the exception of the late Varvinsky, who diagnosed him with gastroenteritis due to exhaustion. However, the writer had no objective symptoms of meningitis: no fever, no vomiting, no tension in the occipital muscles... The conclusion of the consultation turned out to be erroneous.
By that time, the writer's condition was already difficult. There was a pronounced emaciation and dehydration of the body. He was in a state of so-called depressive stupor. Lying on the bed right in a dressing gown and boots. Turning his face to the wall, not talking to anyone, immersed in himself, silently waiting for death. With sunken cheeks, sunken eyes, a dull look, a weak, accelerated pulse...
- What was the reason for such a serious condition?
- Exacerbation of his mental illness. The traumatic situation - the sudden death of Khomyakova at the end of January - caused another depression. The most severe melancholy and despondency seized Gogol. There was an acute unwillingness to live, characteristic of this mental illness. Gogol had something similar in 1840, 1843, 1845. But then he was happy. The state of depression spontaneously passed.
From the beginning of February 1852, Nikolai Vasilievich almost completely deprived himself of food. Severely limited sleep. Refused to take medication. He burned the almost finished second volume of Dead Souls. He began to retire, wishing and at the same time fearfully waiting for death. He firmly believed in the afterlife. Therefore, in order not to end up in hell, he exhausted himself with prayers all night long, kneeling before the images. Lent began 10 days earlier than expected according to the church calendar. In essence, it was not a fast, but a complete famine that lasted three weeks, until the death of the writer.
- Science says that you can survive for 40 days without food.
- This term is hardly unconditionally fair even for healthy, strong people. Gogol was a physically weak, sick man. After suffering from earlier malarial encephalitis, he suffered from bulimia - a pathologically increased appetite. He ate a lot, mostly hearty meat dishes, but due to metabolic disorders in the body, he did not gain weight at all. Until 1852, he practically did not observe fasts. And here, in addition to starvation, he sharply limited himself in the liquid. Which, together with food deprivation, led to the development of severe alimentary dystrophy.
- How was Gogol treated?
- According to a misdiagnosis. Immediately after the end of the consultation, from 3 pm on February 20, Dr. Klimenkov began to treat "meningitis" with those imperfect methods that were used in the 19th century. The patient was forcibly placed in a hot bath, and ice water was poured over his head. After this procedure, the writer was shivering, but he was kept without clothes. Bloodletting was performed, 8 leeches were put to the nose of the patient to increase nosebleeds. The treatment of the patient was cruel. They yelled at him harshly. Gogol tried to resist the procedures, but his hands were wrung with force, causing pain...
The patient's condition not only did not improve, but became critical. At night he fell into unconsciousness. And at 8 o'clock in the morning on February 21, in a dream, the writer's breathing and circulation stopped. There were no medical workers nearby. A nurse was on duty.
The participants of the consultation held the day before began to gather by 10 o'clock and instead of the patient they found the corpse of the writer, from whose face the sculptor Ramazanov removed the death mask. Doctors clearly did not expect such a rapid onset of death.
- What caused it?
- Acute cardiovascular insufficiency caused by bloodletting and shock temperature effects on a patient suffering from severe alimentary dystrophy. (Such patients do not tolerate bleeding very well, often not at all large. A sharp change in heat and cold also weakens cardiac activity). Dystrophy arose due to prolonged starvation. And it was due to the depressive phase of manic-depressive psychosis. Thus, a whole chain of factors is obtained.
- Doctors frankly harmed?
- They were conscientiously mistaken, making a wrong diagnosis and prescribing an irrational, debilitating treatment for the patient.
- Could the writer have been saved?
- Force-feeding highly nutritious foods, drinking plenty of water, subcutaneous infusions of saline solutions. If this had been done, his life would certainly have been spared. By the way, the youngest member of the council, Dr. A. T. Tarasenkov, was sure of the need for force-feeding. But for some reason, he did not insist on this and only passively watched the wrong actions of Klimenkov and Auvers, later severely condemning them in his memoirs.
Now such patients are necessarily hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital. Force-fed high-nutrient mixtures through a stomach tube. Salt solutions are injected subcutaneously. They also prescribe antidepressants, which were not yet available in Gogol's time.

The tragedy of Nikolai Vasilyevich was that his mental illness during his lifetime was never recognized.
Nikolai Ramazanov's letter on Gogol's death

"I bow to Nestor Vasilyevich and inform you of extremely sad news ...
That afternoon, after dinner, I lay down on the sofa to read, when suddenly the bell rang and my servant Terenty announced that Mr. Aksakov and someone else had arrived and asked to remove the mask from Gogol. This accident struck me so much that for a long time I could not come to my senses. Although yesterday Ostrovsky used to say to me that Gogol was seriously ill, but no one expected such a denouement. At that moment, I got ready, taking my molder Baranov with me, and went to Talyzin's house, on Nikitsky Boulevard, where Nikolai Vasilyevich lived with Count Tolstoy. The first thing I met was a crimson velvet coffin roof /.../ In a room on the ground floor, I found the remains of someone taken by death so early.
In a minute the samovar boiled, the alabaster was diluted and Gogol's face was covered with it. When I felt the crust of alabaster with my palm to see if it had warmed up and strengthened enough, I involuntarily remembered the testament (in letters to friends), where Gogol says not to bury his body in the ground until all signs of decomposition appear in the body. After removing the mask, one could be fully convinced that Gogol's fears were in vain; he will not come to life, this is not lethargy, but an eternal deep sleep /.../
When leaving Gogol's body, I came across two legless beggars at the porch, who were standing on crutches in the snow. I gave it to them and thought: these poor poor things are living, but Gogol is no more!"
(Nikolai Ramazanov - to Nestor Kukolnik, February 22, 1852).

Well-known literary critic, editor-in-chief of the academic complete works N.V. Gogol, RSUH professor Yuri MANN commented on this document.
When and under what circumstances did this letter become known?
- It was first published in the collection of M.G. Danilevsky, published in 1893 in Kharkov. The letter was not given in full, without specifying the addressee, and therefore was out of the attention of researchers who studied the circumstances of Gogol's death. About two years ago I worked in the manuscript department of the National Library of Russia (the former library named after Saltykov-Shchedrin), fund 236, item 195, sheet 1-2, where I collected materials for the second volume of Gogol's biography. (The first volume - "Through the Laughter Visible to the World..." The Life of N.V. Gogol. 1809-1835. - came out in 1994.) I found this document among others.
Why were you silent for so long?
- All this time I have been working on a book where the letter will be published in full. I was forced to provide fragments of the letter for publication by the fact that by the recent sad date, the version that Gogol was buried alive again went for a walk through the pages of newspapers.
- What exactly in this letter indicates that Gogol was not buried alive?
- Let's start with the facts. Gogol was treated by the best doctors of that time. If, from the point of view of modern medicine, not everything was done as it should, after all, they were not charlatans, not idiots, and, of course, they could distinguish the dead from the living. In addition, Gogol himself warned the doctors accordingly, or rather, his will, where it was said: “Being in the full presence of memory and common sense, I state here my last will. I bequeath my body not to be buried until there are clear signs of decomposition ."
- But there is nothing in the letter about these signs ...
- And it couldn't be. Gogol died at 8 o'clock in the morning, Ramazanov appeared immediately after dinner. He was a wonderful sculptor, he knew Gogol personally and, of course, he paid full attention to the assigned work. Removing a mask from a living person is impossible. Ramazanov was convinced that Gogol's fears were in vain, and with the greatest regret stated that this was an eternal dream. The reliability of his conclusion is increased by the fact that attention was directed accordingly, that is, Gogol's testament. Hence the categorical conclusion.
- Why did Gogol's head turn out to be turned?
- It happens that in the coffin the lid shifts under pressure. In doing so, she touches the skull, and it turns.
- And yet, the version that Gogol was buried alive is circulating ...
- The reason for this is the circumstances of life, character, psychological appearance. Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov said that Gogol's nerves were upside down. Everything could be expected from him. It must also be taken into account that two mysteries were involuntarily conjugated: "Dead Souls" was supposed to reveal the secret of Russian life, the destiny of the Russian people. When Gogol died, Turgenev said that some secret was hidden in this death. As often happens, the lofty mystery of Gogol's life and work was reduced to the level of cheap fiction and melodramatic effect, which are always fit for mass culture.

Academician Ivan Pavlov described a certain Kachalkin who slept for 20 years from 1898 to 1918. His heart, instead of the usual 70-80 beats per minute, made only 2-3 barely perceptible beats. Instead of 16-18 breaths, he did 1-2 imperceptible breaths per minute. That is, all the functions of the human body have slowed down by about 20-30 times. At the same time, there are no signs of life, no reflexes, the body temperature is slightly warmer than the air temperature. For many days, patients do not drink, do not eat, the excretion of urine and feces stops. As relatives often notice, people who have slept for 2-3 decades outwardly age only a year during this period. But after waking up, apparently, the natural processes in the body take their toll, and over the next 3-4 years, those who wake up "gain" their "passport" age.
Lethargy - from the Greek "lete" (oblivion) ​​and "argy" (inaction). The Great Medical Encyclopedia (3rd edition, 1980) defines lethargy as "a state of pathological sleep with a more or less pronounced decrease in metabolism and a weakening or lack of response to sound, tactile and pain stimuli. The causes of lethargy have not been established."
There are cases when a lethargic dream arose periodically. One English priest slept six days a week, and on Sunday he got up to eat and serve a prayer service. Clear statistics on lethargic "falling asleep" has never been conducted by anyone, but it is known that most people suffer from this disease in adulthood. It was often mentioned that after a lethargic sleep, awakened people acquire paranormal abilities for some time - they begin to speak foreign languages, read people's thoughts, heal ailments. The correspondent of "Interfax TIME" managed to visit a young woman-phenomenon Nazira Rustemova, who fell asleep at the age of four and slept in a lethargic sleep for 16 years!!! Nazira kindly agreed to answer some questions about her unusual fate.
Nazira, how old are you? How did it happen that you fell asleep?
I fell asleep at the age of four. I don't remember how it was, because I was very young.
Soon I should be 36 years old, but I slept through 16 of them. I was born in a small mountain village near the city of Turkestan in the South Kazakhstan region. From the stories of my mother, I know that since childhood I suffered from severe headaches, then one day I fell into a state of delirium, and I was taken to the regional hospital, where I lay for about a week. The doctors decided that I had died because I did not show any signs of life, and my parents buried me. But the night after that, my grandfather and father heard a Voice in a dream, which told them that they had committed a grave sin, as they buried me alive.
- How did you not suffocate?
- According to our customs, people are not buried in coffins and are not buried in the ground. The human body is wrapped in a shroud and left in a special underground burial house of a special configuration. Apparently, there was air access there, despite the fact that the entrance to the burial ground is closed with bricks. Parents waited for the second night and went to "rescue me." According to dad, the shroud was even torn in some places, and this convinced them that I was really alive. I was first taken to the regional center, but then transferred to a research institute in Tashkent, where I lay under a special cap until I woke up.
- When you were sleeping, did you see anything? Were there dreams?
- These were not dreams, I LIVED there. I communicated with my ancestor, to whom I am a granddaughter in the fourteenth generation.
He was the greatest mystic, scholar, spiritual healer and Sufi poet of the 12th century.
His name is Ahmed Yasawi, and a large temple was built in his honor in Turkestan. I talked with him, walked through the gardens and lakes. It was very good there.
- What was your "second birth"? What did you wake up from?
- I woke up on August 29, 1985 from a phone call. He called long and hard. I realized that no one but me would pick up the phone and I needed to get up and pick it up. I went to the bell and heard another radio on which Valery Leontiev sang: "Joy pops up through the fog and like in a dream ..." It turns out that the phone rang in the next room. Some of the institute's staff was sitting there, and when they saw me, they were probably shocked.
- At the age of four, did you know what a telephone was? And in general, do you remember anything before sleep?
- Virtually nothing, because I was very small. I only remember my grandfather and how he taught me prayers. Of course, at that time I could not write, read, or speak Russian. Naturally, there was never a telephone in the village, and I never heard Leontiev's song. But at the moment of waking up, I clearly knew everything about phones and knew the song I heard by heart.
- That is, after waking up, you began to possess some knowledge and abilities unusual for an ordinary person ...
- Yes. The doctors almost fainted when they saw me standing in front of them, because the pressure chamber in which I was lying was closed, and no one opened it. She remained intact and unharmed. But I got out of it, or rather, I went through it, as I went through the walls to get into the next room, where the phone was ringing. After what they saw, Tashkent specialists called Moscow and reported that their patient woke up from a 16-year hibernation and began to do incredible things. Upon arrival in Moscow, many psychologists and parapsychologists worked with me, studied my abilities, and examined me. I was taken from one place to another, to different countries, they showed me in the TV show "Third Eye". At that time, the whole new world was completely unusual and surprising for me. When I was "introduced" to my mom and dad, I didn't know why I needed them. In addition, everyone was terribly afraid of me, and my mother even offered to take me to a madhouse. And dad said that it was useless to do anything with me, since you won’t tie me up, you won’t ban me - I’ll still go through the walls.
- What else could you do and how can you explain the emergence of such abilities?
- I could levitate - take off from the ground and fly in the truest sense of the word. I knew the language of nature, the language of animals, all existing languages, I could communicate telepathically. The latter has survived to this day.
Only if earlier I only had to look at a person, I knew his thoughts and he understood that I was answering him, now it has become more difficult. I have to adjust and focus. In the first years after waking up, I could even materialize money if I needed it. This ability has been closed to me for over a year now.
To my own surprise, I discovered that I could teleport - move around in space. Let my friend Sergey tell about this case better.
- Physically, it happened like this. Nazira and I were on the bus, I got off at the bus stop, and she drove on to the subway. I crossed the road and quickly walked to one office. There was a sign at the entrance: "Lunch". Then I turned around and saw Nazira standing in front of me. But how could she be here when I saw how she stayed on the bus, how its doors closed and it started off? I waved to her again! How did you do it, Nazira?
- And I got to the subway, started to go down the stairs and suddenly remembered that Sergey had my documents, money, tokens. I don't know how I did it, I had one strong desire - to return the handbag. In addition, I did not know where Sergey was at that moment, but I needed to find him. And here I was in front of him. That is, I kind of disappeared from one point in space and appeared in another. But, unfortunately, my ability to teleport disappeared about three years ago. Apparently, at that time there was practically nothing material in me, I was in a spiritual body. It was then that I was fed with meat, bread, and I more and more began to "enter" the physical body.
- Nazira, you fell asleep as a small child, and woke up as a mature woman?
- No, despite the fact that by the time I woke up I should have been 20 years old, I woke up as a child. True, in 16 years of sleep, I grew by 28 centimeters. Then I formed quite quickly, as if in accelerated time, and, as you can see, now I look my age, if you count from the day of birth. But I sort of missed my childhood years and still feel like a kid.
- For 16 years of sleep, you have not forgotten how to move on your feet?
- I know that if a person lies even for several months without moving, then the muscles of his body will atrophy and it is necessary to learn to walk again. But I didn’t have a single muscle numb, and I went without hesitation.
- Nazira, did you study at school, institute?
- No, of course not, and it's not necessary. If I have a question, then I receive an answer from above, from a certain information field. Otherwise I can't explain it. At first, as I said, I knew almost all languages ​​and writing. Now a lot, however, began to be forgotten, probably due to the fact that practice was necessary. Currently, I write and speak only in Russian, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik and Arabic. I can still write in English, but I can no longer read and understand what I have written. Many say that it is possible to return all my former knowledge and unusual abilities, and I really hope so...

Here is such an extraordinary woman Nazira Rustemova now lives in Moscow. Recently, she realized that her physical body is not afraid of either heat or cold, since then, both in summer and in winter, a woman walks only barefoot and in a light dress. Repeatedly, special attention was paid to her by the guardians of the capital's order, and Nazira had to serve a couple of times in the police.

Not only the fate and abilities of a young woman are unusual, her appearance is also amazing. Dark, deep eyes glow with genuine sincerity, kindness and love. On the one hand, Nazira is a wise woman, on the other hand, she is an open, direct child. By the way, let's remember what Jesus taught: "Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Gospel of Matthew, ch. 18, v. 3). In addition, in almost all esoteric teachings, the process of self-improvement of the individual involves the growth and development of the human essence. But already in a five-year-old child, this essence ceases to develop and "overgrown with a thick shell" of instilled manners, decency and other limits that restrict freedom.

According to some authoritative metaphysicians, when a person is in a state of lethargic sleep, his soul resides in a subtler world than the physical one - in the astral one. In this world, where all life processes occur at the level of thought, Nazira, apparently, spent 16 earthly years, from there she received all her extraordinary knowledge and abilities. The line between the astral and the physical world for Nazira remained blurred. Living for an ever longer time here on Earth, a woman involuntarily "drawn" into the gross world and began to lose touch with the subtle. As a result of this, her paranormal abilities began to be lost, which Nazira is very worried about. However, the woman refuses the help of some rather obsessive "gurus" of various esoteric schools and believes that she will be able to return the abilities of a person of the future without their guardianship.

One of the most mystical personalities in Russian literature is N.V. Gogol. During his lifetime, he was a secretive person and took with him many secrets. But he left brilliant works in which fantasy and reality are intertwined, beautiful and repulsive, funny and tragic.

Here witches fly on a broomstick, couples and ladies fall in love with each other, an imaginary auditor takes on a pompous look, Viy raises his eyelids filled with lead and runs away from A writer unexpectedly says goodbye to us, leaving us in admiration and bewilderment. Today we will talk about his last charade, left to posterity - the secret of Gogol's grave.

Writer's childhood

Gogol was born in the Poltava province on March 1, 1809. Before him, two dead boys had already been born in the family, so the parents prayed to Nicholas the Wonderworker for the birth of the third and named the first-born in his honor. Gogol was a sickly child, they shook him a lot and loved him more than other children.

From his mother, he inherited religiosity and a penchant for premonitions. From the father - suspiciousness and love for the theater. The boy was attracted by secrets, terrible stories, prophetic dreams.

At the age of 10, he and his younger brother Ivan were sent to the Poltava School. But the training did not last long. The brother died, which greatly shocked little Nikolai. He was transferred to the Nizhyn gymnasium. Among his peers, the boy was distinguished by his love for practical jokes and secrecy, for which he was called the Mysterious Carlo. So the writer Gogol grew up. His work and personal life were largely determined by the first childhood impressions.

Artistic world of Gogol - the creation of a crazy genius?

The writer's works surprise with their phantasmagorism. Terrifying sorcerers ("Terrible Revenge") come to life on their pages, witches rise at night, led by the monster Viy. But along with evil spirits, caricature pictures of modern society await us. A new auditor arrives in the city, dead souls are bought by Chichikov, Russian life is shown with the utmost honesty. And next to it is the absurdity of Nevsky Prospekt and the famous Nose. How were these images born in the head of the writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol?

Creativity researchers are still at a loss. Many theories are connected with the madness of the writer. It is known that he suffered from painful conditions, during which there were mood swings, extreme despair, fainting. Perhaps it was disturbed thinking that prompted Gogol to write such vivid, unusual works? After all, after suffering, there were periods of creative inspiration.

However, psychiatrists who have studied Gogol's work find no signs of insanity. According to them, the writer suffered from depression. Hopeless sadness, a special sensitivity are characteristic of many brilliant personalities. This is what helps them to become more aware of the surrounding reality, to show it from unexpected angles, striking the reader.

The writer was a shy and closed person. In addition, he had a good sense of humor and loved practical jokes. All this gave rise to many legends about him. So, excessive religiosity suggests that Gogol could be a member of a sect.

Even more speculation is the fact that the writer was not married. There is a legend that in the 1840s he proposed to Countess A. M. Villegorskaya, but was refused. There was also a rumor about the platonic love of Nikolai Vasilyevich for the married lady A. O. Smirnova-Rosset. But these are all rumors. As well as talk about Gogol's homosexual inclinations, from which he allegedly tried to get rid of with the help of austerities and prayers.

The writer's death raises many questions. Gloomy thoughts and forebodings overcame him after finishing the second volume of Dead Souls in 1852. In those days he talked with his confessor Matvey Konstantinovsky. The latter urged Gogol to give up his sinful literary activity and devote more time to spiritual quests.

A week before Lent, the writer subjects himself to the most severe austerity. He hardly eats or sleeps, which negatively affects his health. On the night he burns papers in the fireplace (presumably the second volume of "Dead Souls"). Since February 18, Gogol has not gotten out of bed and is preparing for death. On February 20, doctors decide to start compulsory treatment. On the morning of February 21, the writer dies.

Causes of death

How the writer Gogol died is still guessing. He was only 42 years old. Despite the poor health of late, no one expected such an outcome. The doctors could not make an accurate diagnosis. All this gave rise to many rumors. Let's consider some of them:

1. Suicide. Before his death, Gogol of his own free will refused to eat and prayed instead of sleeping. He deliberately prepared for death, forbade himself to be treated, did not listen to the exhortations of his friends. Perhaps he passed away of his own free will? However, for a religious person who is afraid of hell and the devil, this is not possible.
2. Mental illness. Perhaps the reason for this behavior of Gogol was a clouding of reason? Shortly before the tragic events, Ekaterina Khomyakova, the sister of a close friend of the writer, to whom he was attached, died. On February 8-9, Nikolai Vasilievich dreamed of his own death. All this could shake his unstable psyche and lead to unnecessarily severe asceticism, the consequences of which turned out to be terrifying.
3. Wrong treatment. Gogol could not be diagnosed for a long time, suspecting either enteric fever or inflammation of the stomach. Finally, a council of doctors decided that the patient had meningitis, and subjected him to bloodletting, warm baths, and cold douches, which were unacceptable for such a diagnosis. All this undermined the body, already weakened by a long abstinence from food. The writer died of heart failure.
4. Poisoning. According to other sources, doctors could provoke intoxication of the body by prescribing calomel to Gogol three times. This was due to the fact that various specialists were invited to the writer, who did not know about other appointments. As a result, the patient died from an overdose.

The funeral

Be that as it may, the burial took place on February 24. It was public, although the writer's friends objected to this. Gogol's grave was originally located in Moscow on the territory of the St. Danilov Monastery. The coffin was brought here in their arms after the funeral service in the church of the martyr Titiana.

According to eyewitnesses, a black cat suddenly appeared at the place where Gogol's grave is located. This caused a lot of buzz. Assumptions spread that the writer's soul moved into a mystical animal. After the burial, the cat disappeared without a trace.

Nikolai Vasilievich forbade erecting a monument on his grave, so a cross was erected with a quote from the Bible: "I will laugh at my bitter word." Its basis was a granite stone brought from the Crimea by K. Aksakov ("Golgotha"). In 1909, in honor of the centenary of the writer's birth, the grave was restored. A cast-iron fence was installed, as well as a sarcophagus.

Opening of Gogol's grave

In 1930, the Danilovsky Monastery was closed. In its place, it was decided to arrange a reception center for juvenile delinquents. The cemetery was urgently reconstructed. In 1931, the graves of such prominent people as Gogol, Khomyakov, Yazykov and others were opened and transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery.

This happened in the presence of representatives of the cultural intelligentsia. According to the memoirs of the writer V. Lidin, they arrived at the place where Gogol was buried on May 31. The work took all day, since the coffin was deep and inserted into the crypt through a special side hole. The remains were discovered at dusk, so no photographs were taken. The NKVD archives contain an autopsy report, which does not contain anything unusual.

However, according to rumors, this was done in order not to make a fuss. The picture that was revealed to those present shocked everyone. A terrible rumor immediately spread around Moscow. What did the people who were present at the Danilovsky cemetery see that day?

buried alive

In oral conversations, V. Lidin said that Gogol lay in the grave, turning. In addition, the lining of the coffin was scratched from the inside. All this gave rise to terrible speculation. What if the writer fell into a lethargic sleep and was buried alive? Perhaps, waking up, he tried to get out of the grave?

Interest was fueled by the fact that Gogol suffered from tophephobia - the fear of being buried alive. In 1839, in Rome, he suffered severe malaria, which led to brain damage. Since then, the writer has experienced fainting, turning into a long sleep. He was very afraid that in such a state he would be taken for dead and buried ahead of time. Therefore, he stopped sleeping in bed, preferring to doze half-sitting on a sofa or in an armchair.

In his will, Gogol ordered not to bury him until there were clear signs of death. So is it possible that the writer's will was not carried out? Is it true that Gogol turned over in his grave? Experts say that this is impossible. As evidence, they point to the following facts:

• Gogol's death was recorded by five of the best doctors of the time.
• Nikolai Ramazanov, who shot from the great namesake, knew about his fears. In his memoirs, he states: the writer, unfortunately, slept in eternal sleep.
• The skull could have been rotated due to the displacement of the coffin lid, which often happens over time, or while being carried by hand to the burial site.
• It was impossible to see the scratches on the upholstery that had decayed over 80 years. This is too long.
• V. Lidin's oral stories contradict his written memoirs. Indeed, according to the latter, Gogol's body was found without a skull. In the coffin lay only a skeleton in a frock coat.

Legend of the Lost Skull

The headless body of Gogol, in addition to V. Lidin, is mentioned by the archaeologist A. Smirnov, who was present at the autopsy, as well as V. Ivanov. But should you trust them? After all, the historian M. Baranovskaya, who was standing next to them, saw not only the skull, but also the light brown hair preserved on it. And the writer S. Solovyov did not see either the coffin or the ashes, but he found ventilation pipes in the crypt in case the deceased was resurrected and he needed something to breathe.

Nevertheless, the story of the missing skull was so "in the spirit" of the author Viy that it was developed. According to legend, in 1909, during the restoration of Gogol's grave, the collector A. Bakhrushin persuaded the monks of the Danilovsky Monastery to steal the head of the writer. For a good reward, they sawed off the skull, and he took his place in the theater museum of the new owner.

He kept it secretly, in a pathologist's bag, among medical instruments. Having passed away in 1929, Bakhrushin took with him the secret of the location of Gogol's skull. However, could the story of the great phantasmagoric, which was Nikolai Vasilyevich, end there? Of course, she came up with a continuation worthy of the pen of the master himself.

ghost train

One day, Gogol's great-nephew, fleet lieutenant Yanovsky, came to Bakhrushin. He heard about the stolen skull and, threatening with a loaded weapon, demanded that it be returned to his family. Bakhrushin gave the relic. Yanovsky decided to bury the skull in Italy, which Gogol loved very much and considered his second home.

In 1911, ships from Rome arrived in Sevastopol. Their goal was to take the remains of compatriots who died during the Crimean campaign. Yanovsky persuaded the captain of one of the ships, Borgose, to take with him a chest with a skull and hand it over to the Russian ambassador in Italy. He was supposed to bury him according to the Orthodox rite.

However, Borgose did not have time to meet with the ambassador and went on another voyage, leaving an unusual casket in his house. The captain's younger brother, a student at the University of Rome, discovered the skull and planned to scare his friends. He was to ride in a cheerful company through the longest tunnel of that time on the Rome Express. The young rake took the skull with him. Before the train entered the mountains, he opened the chest.

Immediately, an unusual fog enveloped the train, panic began among those present. Borgose Jr. and another passenger jumped off the train at full speed. The rest disappeared along with the Roman Express and Gogol's skull. The search for the composition was unsuccessful, they hastened to wall up the tunnel. But in subsequent years, the train was seen in different countries, including in Poltava, the writer's homeland, and in the Crimea.

Is it possible that where Gogol was buried, only his ashes are located? While the spirit of the writer wanders the world in a ghost train, never finding peace?

Last resort

Gogol himself wanted to be laid to rest in peace. Therefore, let's leave the legends to science fiction lovers and move on to the Novodevichy cemetery, where the remains of the writer were reburied on June 1, 1931. It is known that before the next burial, admirers of the talent of Nikolai Vasilyevich stole pieces of the coat, shoes and even the bones of the deceased "as a keepsake". V. Lidin admitted that he personally took a piece of clothing and placed it in the binding of "Dead Souls" of the first edition. All this, of course, is terrible.

Together with the coffin, the fence and the Golgotha ​​stone, which served as the basis for the cross, were transported to the Novodevichy cemetery. The cross itself was not installed in a new place, since the Soviet government was far from religion. Where he is now is unknown. Moreover, in 1952, a bust of Gogol by N. V. Tomsky was erected at the site of the grave. This was done contrary to the will of the writer, who, as a believer, urged not to honor his ashes, but to pray for the soul.

Golgotha ​​was sent to the lapidary workshop. There, the widow of Mikhail Bulgakov found the stone. Her husband considered himself a student of Gogol. In difficult moments, he often went to his monument and repeated: "Teacher, cover me with your cast-iron overcoat." The woman decided to install a stone on Bulgakov's grave so that even after his death Gogol would invisibly protect him.

In 2009, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Nikolai Vasilievich, it was decided to return the place of his burial to its original form. The monument was dismantled and transferred to the Historical Museum. A black stone with a bronze cross was again installed on Gogol's grave at the Novodevichy cemetery. How to find this place to honor the memory of the great writer? The grave is located in the old part of the cemetery. From the central alley, turn right and find the 12th row, section No. 2.

Gogol's grave, as well as his work, is fraught with many secrets. It is unlikely that it will be possible to solve them all, and is it necessary? The writer left a covenant to his loved ones: do not grieve for him, do not associate him with the ashes that worms gnaw, do not worry about the burial place. He wanted to immortalize himself not in a granite monument, but in his work.