While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)

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.

In this July 29, 2016 photo, cowgirl Dariadna Corujo winds up to lasso a calf during an improvised rodeo event at a farm in Sancti Spiritus, central Cuba. At the tender age of 6, Dariadna is already an expert barrel racer and calf roper. In the flat grasslands of Sancti Spiritus, a group of neighboring cattle ranchers founded a non-governmental organization called Future Ranchers more than a decade ago to revive Cuba’s rodeo culture, which dates back centuries to Spanish colonial times. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Despite the mild 14°С shoppers and commuters battle against the wind and rain on Waterloo Bridge, London on December 28, 2022. (Photo by Alex Lentati/London News Pictures)

A girl cools off in a public fountain in Vilnius, Lithuania, Wednesday, August 16, 2023. The heat wave continues in Lithuania as temperatures rise to as high as 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit). (Photo by Mindaugas Kulbis/AP Photo)

England fan stripped down to her underwear and jumped in the canal in Birmingham, United Kingdom after team lose the 2018 World Cup semi- final against Croatia in Moscow on July 11, 2018. (Photo by Caters News Agency)

A man carries a dog and wades through a flooded street in Chennai, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Wednesday, December 2, 2015. Weeks of torrential rains have forced the airport in the state capital Chennai to close and have cut off several roads and highways, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded in their homes, government officials said Wednesday. (Photo by AP Photo)

Local residents crowd a swimming pool during a hot weather in Suining, Sichuan province, 27 July 2008. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)