Thomas Thwaites of the United Kingdom accepts the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Biology for “creating prosthetic extensions of his limbs that allowed him to move in the manner of, and spend time roaming the hills in the company of, goats” during the 26th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. September 22, 2016. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon walks the runway for Gypsy Sport show during New York Fashion Week on September 12, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

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.

Once upon a time a myth was born that insects, unlike animals, are just a machines that not capable of learning and survive only based on their instincts. That myth has become the widespread opinion. Of course, this opinion is indeed erroneous, like many other widespread opinions. Let us try to find out which part is a myth and which part is true.

A jogger is seen running at Hampstead Heath with London in the background on June 1, 2021. Britain sees temperatures increasing for the second day in a row after the mercury hit 25C (77 Fahrenheit) for the warmest day of the year so far on Bank Holiday Monday. (Photo by Joshua Bratt/London News Pictures)

Participants take part in a high-wheel bicycle race in the Frederick county, in Maryland, United States on July 15, 2023. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

African women in their grandmothers' clothes: Joana Choumali’s portraits show modern African women swapping jeans for kente cloth – and diving into the dazzling cultural heritage of their families. (Photo by Joana Choumali/The Guardian)

English and Albanian singer-songwriter Dua Lipa in the second decade of December 2022 channels Catwoman in leather. (Photo by dualipa/Instagram)