Golosov Ravine

Golosov Ravine (Golosov Ovrag) is a ravine within the Kolomenskoye museum-reserve in southern Moscow, running from the Moskva River to Andropov Avenue. It is one of Moscow's most talked-about anomalous zones: legends surrounding it tell of people vanishing in time, mysterious stones and unexplained physical readings.

History

Accounts of unusual incidents in the ravine go back to the 17th century. According to a story recorded in old chronicles, in 1621 streltsy guards at the gates of the Kolomenskoye palace captured a detachment of Tatar horsemen who claimed to have taken part in Khan Devlet Giray's 1571 campaign against Moscow — fifty years earlier — even though, by their own account, only a few dozen minutes had passed for them in the ravine's fog.

In the 19th century, records of the Moscow Province police department mention cases of people disappearing in the area. In July 1832, two peasants reportedly saw a corridor filled with pale light inside the dense fog and met hairy people who showed them the way out; when they returned home they found that twenty years had passed. In 1926, according to witnesses, a local policeman encountered a huge hair-covered creature in the fog that vanished after a gunshot. In 1906, workers from the nearby Dinamo factory reportedly fled the ravine in terror, their faces twisted and bodies shaking.

Legends and testimonies

The ravine's name is linked to the Slavic pagan god Veles (Volos); according to one version, ancient tribes believed this was where a gateway to the afterlife opened. Another legend says the ravine was formed by the blow of a serpent's tail, the same serpent slain on this spot by Saint George.

At the bottom of the ravine, near the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist, lie two large quartz-sandstone boulders weighing several tonnes each — the Goose Stone (Gus-Kamen) and the Maiden Stone (Devichy Kamen, also Devy Kamen). Legend holds that they are the petrified remains of the horse and of the serpent itself. The Goose Stone, shaped like a resting bird, is considered a patron of men, while the bumpy-surfaced Maiden Stone is said to favor women; both are believed to help childless couples and cure illness. Visitors who wish to perform the ritual first fetch water from the spring at the bottom of the ravine, then sit down in silence — women on the Maiden Stone, men on the Goose Stone.

A spring known as the Ice Stream rises near the stones; its water reportedly never warms above +1.5°C even in summer, compared with the +4…+8°C typical of central Russia.

Versions

In 1995-1996, researchers from the Institute of General Physics reportedly measured the ravine's electromagnetic background and found levels more than 12 times above normal, rising to over 27 times near the stones — a finding sometimes cited to explain visitors' unusual sensations. Geologists, meanwhile, consider the stones ordinary glacial boulders brought to the surface as an ancient ice sheet melted — an explanation that does not erase the legends built around them.

Getting there

Golosov Ravine lies within the Kolomenskoye museum-reserve at 39 Andropov Avenue. The nearest metro stations are Kolomenskaya and Klenovy Bulvar, both served by a free shuttle bus to entrance No. 2. The reserve's grounds are open to visitors free of charge; museums are closed on Mondays for maintenance.