Annual celebration of Dinagyang festival of Iloilo, Philippines. (Photo by Raniel Jose Castañeda/Sony World Photography Awards)

Single Sports Second Prize. Garrett Gerloff (31) and Sandro Cortese (11) crash in the World Superbike warm-up during the World Championship on Phillip Island, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/AAP Photo/Istanbul Photo Awards 2021)

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.

Bathing suit models are shown listening to the radio on the beach, circa 1940's. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

This year's Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention both saw passionate delegates in outrageous costumes – but that's where the similarities mostly end. Reuters photographer Jim Young gives a look at what it's like to be on the convention floor and talks to the delegates who make the conventions memorable. (Photo by Jim Young/Reuters)

In this January 23, 2015 photo, Guillermo Luna Martinez, 36, carries freshly painted piñatas representing Disney's Frozen snowman character Olaf downstairs to where his wife Elvia Vicente Albarran will use paper to craft the character's eyes, teeth, and distinctive tuft of hair, at the family's workshop in the Iztapalapa neighborhood of Mexico City. Though Luna and his wife have chosen to work in the family business, they plan to let their children, Guillermo, 10, and Melissa, 9, decide for themselves. “Who knows if the business will last forever”, said Luna, “I'd prefer that they study and get a career, for them to have a better future”. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

John Malkovich as Marilyn Monroe in a re-creation of Andy Warhol's 1962 painting. The image is a part of the series, “The Malkovich Sessions”, by photographer Sandro Miller and on display at the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago. Miller wanted to pay homage to the artists who influence his photographic career, and approached Malkovich with the idea of re-creating the famous portraits. (Photo by Sandro Miller/Catherine Edelman Gallery)

Young female Ibex on the fork of Disteis (2,200 m), near the top of the Jof di Montasio (Friuli, Italy). (Photo by Stefano Zocca)