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Old 08-09-2013, 05:20 PM   #509
William
 
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

And a third for luck. I'll stop after this one for today.

Anafia Lykov, now in her seventies, still lives in the Siberian wilderness, 250 miles from the nearest settlement, in the mountainside log hut built by her family of Old Believers fleeing Bolshevik persecution in the 1930s.

Born on the taiga, never having seen a human being other than her relatives until adulthood, she speaks a strange, soft, singsong version of Russian. She learned to read and write from an ancient Bible, and by accounts of those who contacted the family, is a hard worker whether by moonlight or winter sun, and is of pleasant disposition. Her hearty brother, before he met modern people, knew all the ways of the seasons and could hunt a deer across the snows for days, then come back bearing it on his shoulders; he was felled by simple pneumonia, refusing medical treatment to stay true to his faith.

She may be around for another twenty years, or depart the world tomorrow. If you visit this fragile soul, it would seem respectful to purify yourself first (avoid transmitting diseases). One gets the impression that a trip would be profitable for a would-be student of white magic.
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