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Devotees of the small farming village of Bibiclat celebrate the Feast of Saint John the Baptist while covered in banana leaves and mud on June 24, 2025 in Aliaga, Philippines. Known as the “Taong Putik” (mud people), the ritual happens yearly in this small farming village as their own version of expressing their faith and celebrating the feast of Saint John the Baptist whom the survivors of the Japanese occupation in 1944 in their area prayed to for rain to save their fellow villagers. A marker near the church entrance of the village tells a story of a heavy torrential rain that happened that day that forced the Japanese military to call off the execution of 14 villagers. The Philippines is the only predominantly Catholic country in Southeast Asia after more than 300 years of Spanish rule. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

Devotees of the small farming village of Bibiclat celebrate the Feast of Saint John the Baptist while covered in banana leaves and mud on June 24, 2025 in Aliaga, Philippines. Known as the “Taong Putik” (mud people), the ritual happens yearly in this small farming village as their own version of expressing their faith and celebrating the feast of Saint John the Baptist whom the survivors of the Japanese occupation in 1944 in their area prayed to for rain to save their fellow villagers. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
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29 Aug 2025 03:18:00
1924:  Vladimir Ilyich Lenin lying in state in the Kremlin

Photo: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 – 1924) lying in state in the Kremlin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1924

Important! For the same article in Russian language click here.

Something quite intriguing is happening within Russian-speaking internet during the last few – should you type a fully academic inquiry (at least, according to Russian academic requirements) in national search engines for "Lenin's mausoleum" – the first thing you get (even in top 10 searches) is website pages talking about black magic and occult. Website authors view this construction differently, but unconditionally agree on one thing: the mausoleum of the "leader of the world proletariat” – the essence of a magical artifact, a sort of “energy vampire”. It was built with a certain purpose: to drain the energy out of miserable Soviet citizens on one hand; and to poison the anthroposphere of one-sixth part of the earth with its vibes (the exact territory that was occupied by the former Soviet Union), depriving the Russian people of will to resist on the other hand. Complete nonsense? No doubt. Nevertheless, an intriguing one. Well, probably because some oddities do exist in mausoleum's history. These oddities are the thing we are going to discuss this time. First, let me refresh you memory on the subject.
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16 Oct 2011 11:27:00
A woman films with her phone the incineration of packages of cocaine, part of a high seas drug seizure of 135 bundles by Salvadoran Naval Force, at a police base in Ilopango, El Salvador, November 29, 2021. (Photo by Jessica Orellana/Reuters)

A woman films with her phone the incineration of packages of cocaine, part of a high seas drug seizure of 135 bundles by Salvadoran Naval Force, at a police base in Ilopango, El Salvador, November 29, 2021. (Photo by Jessica Orellana/Reuters)
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01 Dec 2021 09:16:00
Nursing and care personnel lay on the floor in the ICU unit, during a demonstration on International Nursing and Care day, at the Mont Legia Hospital in Liege, Belgium, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Hospital personnel around Belgium took part in various actions around the country on Wednesday to highlight the work they do and demand better recognition. (Photo by Valentin Bianchi/AP Photo)

Nursing and care personnel lay on the floor in the ICU unit, during a demonstration on International Nursing and Care day, at the Mont Legia Hospital in Liege, Belgium, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Hospital personnel around Belgium took part in various actions around the country on Wednesday to highlight the work they do and demand better recognition. (Photo by Valentin Bianchi/AP Photo)
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13 May 2021 08:28:00
The Villarrica Volcano is seen at night in Chile, April 16, 2016. Villarrica is one of Chile's most active volcanoes. Picture taken with long exposure. Picture taken April 16, 2016. (Photo by Cristobal Saavedra/Reuters)

The Villarrica Volcano is seen at night in Chile, April 16, 2016. Villarrica is one of Chile's most active volcanoes. Picture taken with long exposure. (Photo by Cristobal Saavedra/Reuters)
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18 Apr 2016 10:23:00
Mount Sinabung volcano erupts, as seen from Tiga Pancur village, Karo Regency in Indonesia's North Sumatra province October 8, 2014. (Photo by Y. T. Haryono/Reuters)

Mount Sinabung volcano erupts, as seen from Tiga Pancur village, Karo Regency in Indonesia's North Sumatra province October 8, 2014. (Photo by Y. T. Haryono/Reuters)
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11 Oct 2014 13:23:00
Two Bulgarian tourists pose in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on their last day in the capital on March 24, 2014. (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP Photo)

Two Bulgarian tourists pose in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on their last day in the capital on March 24, 2014. (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP Photo)
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29 Mar 2014 13:13:00
“A very delicate person, beneath the flamboyance”. Jasper, Ladbroke Grove, 1977. “In the 1970s, Australia was rather cut off. I’d always wanted to live abroad, so I moved to Rome and then London. I was an art historian, but started studying photography part-time. I was interested in the demi-monde culture and began mixing in all sorts of circles. Jasper was a rather wonderful character. He was from Sydney, but he was living downstairs from me in Ladbroke Grove, in a flat rented to some gay friends. It was fairly eclectic. Jasper was always playing around with clothes and makeup. If he was looking particularly wonderful, I might get out my lights and take a shot. Or he might put makeup on me. He wasn’t always in drag, but he was permanently in diva mode, dependably louche, funny and naughty. I think all that comes across in the image. He was actually a very delicate person, though, beneath the wit and flamboyance. Jasper floated through London all too briefly. His real name was Peter MacMahon, but to us he was only ever Jasper Havoc, an alter ego he’d created while part of a transvestite troupe called Sylvia and the Synthetics. They were legendary in Sydney gay culture. On this day, we’d been taking some pictures inside and had gone out into the streets to fool around some more. Jasper was wearing a corset and fishnets ensemble, with other bits and pieces, and we joked about him being trashy as he lay in the skip. We just took the shot for ourselves. It wasn’t done with any publication in mind, or anything else. This was way before the internet and people didn’t share images. If you dressed up, it was just for that moment”. (Photo by Jane England)

“A very delicate person, beneath the flamboyance”. Jasper, Ladbroke Grove, 1977. “In the 1970s, Australia was rather cut off. I’d always wanted to live abroad, so I moved to Rome and then London. I was an art historian, but started studying photography part-time. I was interested in the demi-monde culture and began mixing in all sorts of circles. Jasper was a rather wonderful character...”. (Photo by Jane England)
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26 Jun 2017 09:04:00