Photographer Han Youngsoo captured the ordinary people of Korea as the country emerged from war into an age of prosperity. Han Youngsoo: Photographs of Seoul 1956–63 is at the International Center of Photography (ICP), Jersey City, New Jersey, until June 9, 2017. Here: Seoul, Korea. (Photo by Han Youngsoo/The Guardian)

In his series of untitled photographs Nobody Claps Anymore, the Mexican-American photographer Alec Dawson portrays ordinary people in their homes in a downbeat, ultra-stylised manner. Staring into space as they watch TV or water the garden, the real-life subjects of photographer hint at vast reserves of boredom and regret. (Photo by Alec Dawson)

American photographer Doug Perrine, 60, snapped the shots last year while the False Killer Whale was out hunting for food. (Photo by Doug Perrine/Iber-Press)

In this November 9, 2014 photo, a man sits on the rope holding his bull by the neck as he waits to enter it in a bull fight in Leogane, Haiti. The obscure Haitian practice of fighting bulls is brutal like a cock or dog fight, but on a larger scale. A casual pastime for some rural men, it is serious business for others looking to pay their children's school fees or even buy a car. (Photo by Dieu Nalio Chery/AP Photo)

A woman looks at the honour guard soldiers marching at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall, in downtown Moscow, on June 28, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)

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.

Zombie Boy, who holds a Guinness World Record for most bones inked on a human body, gave Londoners a fright on October 5, 2016 as he was spotted at commuter hotspots across the capital to promote Thorpe Park’s new Halloween attraction. Canadian born Zombie Boy has 90% of his body covered in tattoos with a value of over $20,000 in total, including an entire skeleton and skull on his face, visited Canary Wharf, Oxford Street and Soho. (Photo by Rex Features)

A picture made available on 08 February 2017 shows staff playing with cats inside the Super Very Very Important Cat (VVIC) room at the CATZONIA cat hotel in Damansara, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 07 February 2017. (Photo by Fazry Ismail/EPA)