Forrest Walker, “Police Walk”. Walker describes this shot, taken in 2015 at the last officially permitted Pride parade in Istanbul, as a tense and surreal experience. His focus is on a woman walking calmly in front of a line of riot police, her attitude part defiance and part performance. (Photo by Forrest Walker/All About Photo awards 2025 via The Guardian)

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.

Thailand’s Sanctuary of Truth is an all-wood building filled with sculptures based on traditional Buddhist and Hindu motifs. It is covered in intricate wood carvings, meant to depict complex ideas about ancient thought, human responsibility, and the cycle of life. (Photo by Yury Taranik/Getty Inages)

Competitors gather backstage as they prepare to take part in the All Ireland Irish Dancing Championships on November 2, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The championships take place at the Waterfront Hall over the course of six days with winners qualifying for the World Irish Dancing Finals which will take place in Dublin next year. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

2016 Rio Olympics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Final, Individual All-Around Final, Rotation 1, Rio Olympic Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 20, 2016. Melitina Staniouta (BLR) of Belarus competes using the hoop. (Photo by Ruben Sprich/Reuters)

Mark Dill and Brit Thacker practice acro-yoga as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gather for the 30th annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, U.S. August 29, 2016. (Photo by Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

Ghoulish Brits took the streets on on Saturday, October 27, 2018 with fake blood as they celebrated Halloween a few days early. It's all fun and games on the streets of Blackpool, England durind Halloween night on Saturday, October 27, 2018. (Photo by NB Press LTD)

Trainer Lawney Hill poses for a photograph as she wears tights over her face to keep out the cold after taking her horses out on the all-weather gallops in Tetsworth, Britain, March 2, 2018. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Reuters)