On April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the northern part of Soviet Ukraine, an event which today is widely known as the Chernobyl disaster.

During the evening of April 25, engineers made several fatal mistakes, including disconnecting Reactor No. 4’s emergency safety systems and its power-regulating system. At 1:23 AM, the reactor’s power levels surged, and the events that followed led to an explosion which released more than 50 tons of radioactive material into the atmosphere.^[1]

In the days that followed, 32 people died at Chernobyl, and many more suffered radiation burns. Nearly 8.4 million residents of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia were exposed to the radioactive cloud that was released. The calamity is considered the most disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history, and the area itself is still suffering in its aftermath.

10 Radiation After The Explosion Was Off The Scale

Hours after the explosion, helicopters were flown over Reactor No. 4 to evaluate radiation levels. Experts were unable to make an exact reading, as 200 meters (656 ft) above the reactor, radiation levels had reached 1,500 rems, but the counters were not capable of reading any higher than 500 rems.

In an attempt to contain the disaster, helicopters dumped lead slabs weighing 40 kilograms (88 lb) each on the reactor, followed by several tons of radiation absorbing-sand. However, the operation was flawed, as the scale of the disaster was like nothing ever seen before. Pilot Alexander Petrov, who responded to the scene, recalled, “It took us more than 24 hours to get things going. [ . . . ] At first, our commanders didn’t know what to do. We flew out to see what was happening, then returned and flew back in the morning.”^[2]

9 A Late Evacuation

The amount of radiation the Chernobyl disaster released into the atmosphere was 50 million curies—equivalent to around 500 Hiroshima bombs. Police roamed the streets wearing gas masks, but the residents were kept in the dark and only heard rumors. Armen Abagian, who was the director of one of the Moscow nuclear power research institutes at the time, advised the Soviet government to evacuate Pripyat immediately. Abagian recalled, “Children were running in the streets; people were hanging laundered linen out to dry. And the atmosphere was radioactive.”^[3]

Residents started to panic when there was a “metallic smell” in the air, and the atmosphere appeared different. It was close to midnight at the end of April 26 when an evacuation was ordered; 1,200 buses and 200 trucks relocated 47,000 residents of Pripyat. The locals thought they would later be returning to their homes, but this was never the case.

8 Contamination Spreads To Other Countries

The buses which escorted the residents out of Pripyat spread the radiation to wider areas. It took 3.5 hours to evacuate. One resident recalled, “Queues of jammed buses left the city. One after the other, like giant beetles, kilometre after kilometre. The traffic was insane. Only a Second World War survivor can imagine a similar scene.”^[4]

Just days after the initial disaster, the wind changed direction and began blowing high levels of radiation in the direction of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. The city held its annual May Day parades as the government assured citizens everything was normal. Finally, 11 days after the disaster, officials warned the residents of Kiev that they should avoid eating leafy vegetables and to stay indoors.

Later in May, the Russian first deputy health minister also issued a warning that vodka and red wine were not a cure for radiation exposure—despite popular belief. More than 500,000 residents in Ukraine were ultimately forced to leave their homes.

7 Military Reserves Made Their Own Protective Clothing

More than 600,000 civil and military personnel have been given the honorary status of “Chernobyl liquidators” since the cleanup began in 1986. Originally, robots from West Germany, Japan, and Russia were used to help clean the debris, but they could not operate due to the high levels of radiation. Instead, the job was handed over to humans, who could not be exposed for any longer than 40 seconds.

Most of the liquidators were military reserves, and the army did not have enough uniforms suitable for working in radioactive conditions. Instead, reserves made their own protective clothing using lead sheets up to 4 millimeters thick as aprons to help protect the spine and bone marrow. Photographer Igor Kostin recalled, “The clever ones also added a vine leaf for extra comfort.”^[5]

Many of the liquidators have since suffered from severe health problems—some of which were fatal.

6 Doctors Facing Mortality

Dr. Robert Peter Gale, known as “the Chernobyl Doctor,” was one of the many physicians and scientists brought in from 15 nations to help with the aftermath of the disaster. Dr. Gale treated patients who had suffered such a high exposure to radiation that even a bone marrow transplant could not save them. Without functioning bone marrow in the body, a patient will usually die within four weeks. It was also difficult to assess how much radiation patients had been exposed to, as the gradual loss of hair and some darkening of the skin were the only visible signs.

In 1986, Dr. Gale and the director of the Soviet Union’s Central Institute for Advanced Medical Studies signed an agreement to monitor the 100,000 people who were residents in the “danger zone”—a 30-kilometer (18.7 mi) radius surrounding the site which ultimately became the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. He said, “A physician deals with life and death every day. Yet, with us, death is a biological event. We don’t think of our own death. The events of Chernobyl made me focus on my own mortality—on all our mortality. Unfortunately, it takes these tragic events to impress this on us.”^[6]

5 The Buried Villages

The village of Kopachi lies 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) from the site of the Chernobyl disaster. This is an eerie and deserted location, as the homes of Kopachi were completely bulldozed and buried by the Soviet Army. However, this plan only did more harm than good.

Chernobyl guide Yuri Tatarchuk explained, “Kopachi was very badly contaminated and so it was decided to bury it, house by house. It seemed a good idea at the time, but it wasn’t. The digging only pushed radioactive material deeper into the soil and closer to the water table, so that contamination spread even further.”

Today, only two buildings are left standing, one of which is the former kindergarten, where children were not evacuated until 36 hours of exposure. Tatarchuk said of the aftermath, “It was criminal. [ . . . ] At least 5,000 people were badly affected at the time, while women who were pregnant were simply told to have abortions. It was a cruel time.”^[7]

4 Puppies Of Chernobyl

There is a myth that no life can survive in Chernobyl, which is simply not true. It’s estimated that more than 900 stray dogs live in the Exclusion Zone. Many can be found playing inside the abandoned cooling tower at the former power plant. The puppies are believed to be descendants of the pet dogs that were left behind by their owners; residents were granted only a few hours’ notice before they were evacuated and advised to only take vital personal belongings and a certain amount of food.

The dogs have been driven out of the woods by the wild wolves that habitat the area. Now, volunteers, including veterinarians and radiation experts, have formed the nonprofit charity Dogs of Chernobyl. The dogs are tagged and their radiation exposure studied. They are also used for research on diseases including rabies. Some dogs have been fitted with radiation sensors and GPS receivers, which help to map the radiation levels across the exclusion zone.^[8]

3 Birth Defects Among The Children Of Chernobyl

Following the disaster, citizens in the city of Kiev were advised by authorities to take regular warm showers, keep their windows closed, and regularly wash their furniture. The precautions were not enough, as, since 1986, physicians have reported a rise in birth defects. Belarus shares a border with Ukraine, and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is quite close to said border; in 2010, UNICEF reported that 20 percent of adolescents in Belarus suffer from chronic illnesses or disabilities caused by birth defects.

There are many charities that support facilities which help babies who were born with severe birth defects, including neurological difficulties and heart conditions. Another common birth defect in this region is microcephaly, in which a baby’s head is smaller and not in proportion with the rest of their body.

In 2014, Michael Donnelly, chairman of Chernobyl Children’s Appeal, said, “These children are forced to suffer through no fault of their own. [ . . . ] It’s no better now than it was 28 years ago. The level of radiation in the Chernobyl zone is still the same today as it was in 1986.”^[9]

2 Contaminated Wildlife

Months after the Chernobyl disaster, the radioactivity had spread to Galsjo Forest in Sweden. Elk were contaminated, and the moment their bodies were thrown in a quarry after being stripped of their heads and fur was captured on camera.

A 10-square-kilometer (4 mi²) area of forest that surrounds the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant has become known as the “Red Forest” after the contamination caused the trees to die and their leaves to turn a deep red color. After the humans evacuated, wildlife grew rapidly with limited predators to hunt them down—wild boar multiplied eightfold in the two years following the disaster. Radioecologist Sergey Gaschak explained, “Animals don’t seem to sense radiation and will occupy an area regardless of the radiation condition.”^[10]

The Red Forest is now one of the most contaminated sites in the world, with more than 90 percent of the radioactivity found in the soil. Mice embryos used for research have dissolved in the conditions, and horses left that lived within 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) of the power plant died due to their thyroid glands disintegrating.

1 Chernobyl Directors Sentenced To Labor Camp

In July 1987, Chernobyl’s plant director Viktor P. Bryukhanov, chief engineer Nikolai M. Fomin, and deputy Anatoly S. Dyatlov were sentenced to two to ten years at a labor camp.^[11] They were found guilty of gross violation of safety regulations which led to an explosion. Judge Raimond Brize declared in the courtroom, “There was an atmosphere of lack of control and lack of responsibility at the plant.” The plant officials were also heavily criticized for not evacuating the town of Pripyat sooner.

Nowadays, an old sarcophagus covers the damaged fourth reactor at the nuclear power plant, and the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure sits above that. Although it has been more than three decades since the Chernobyl disaster, there are many still suffering the consequences today.

Cheish Merryweather is a true crime fan and an oddities fanatic. Can either be found at house parties telling everyone Charles Manson was only 5’2″ or at home reading true crime magazines.
Twitter: @thecheish

In the wake of HBO’s hugely successful show Chernobyl, the Ukranian power plant has returned to the public eye. We are fascinated once more by the brutal, invisible threat of radiation and the worst man-made disaster the world has ever seen.

On April 26, 1986, Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility exploded. The fallout was something the world had never seen. The disaster left many dead and other’s would suffer a grisly demise years down the line.

Radiation from the accident could be measured around the world. Livestock and water supplies were contaminated and tens of thousands of civilians were evacuated from surrounding areas.

The threat of a thermonuclear explosion was very real and Europe came very close to total annihilation. The West was quick to point the finger at the Soviet Union’s incompetence, but is there more to it than meets the eye? In a disaster shrouded in mystery, we look at some other (rather far-fetched) explanations. What do you believe?

10 Humanoid Creature

In the Ivankiv Raion (the district of Ukraine where Chernobyl is located), stories were passed around that a terrifying humanoid creature with red eyes and wings was seen by the nuclear plant’s workers leading up to the accident. This creature was quickly dubbed the Blackbird of Chernobyl.^[1]

People affected by this phenomena experienced harrowing nightmares, intimidating phone calls, and waking visions.

Researchers have since suggested the beast was merely a black stork, an endangered species native to southern Eurasia. The physical description given by witnesses, however, does not match that of a black stork.

The Blackbird is thought to have been a deadly omen warning them of their inevitable fate. A 20-foot bird-like monster soaring through the thick irradiated smoke, never to be seen again.

9 Biblical Prediction

In The Book of Apocalypse (Revelations) 8:10-11, it reads:

“And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters: And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.”

The Russian word for Wormwood is, yes you guessed it – Chernobyl. Did the bible predict the Chernobyl accident?^[2] The fires of Reactor 4 were likened to a torch by the firemen that attended the scene. It is thought the ‘third trumpet’ refers to the accident itself and the water is bitter due to the radiation.

An angel with a trumpet pressed to her lips stands close to Chernobyl. The sculpture, created by Ukrainian artist Anatoly Haidamaka, is a tribute to the brave firemen and liquidators that lost their lives at the plant.

8 Commune of Immortality

A commune on the island of Gavdos in Greece is made up of Russian scientists and Chernobyl survivors. Cut off from the outside world and completely self-sufficient, the group look to achieve the impossible; immortality.

The group had been around for 10 years before moving to the Greek island. Their founder, Andrei, had been exposed to high amounts of radiation after a voluntary trip to Chernobyl shortly after the blast. He was advised to go to a clinic in Moscow for treatment. He knew full well no pill could save him, so he decided to settle in a small village and live out the rest of his life. He became a farmer. He drank excessively and claims the vodka helped cleanse his body.

Is it a coincidence that Andrei and several other members of the commune all received an extremely high dose of radiation at the plant?

Their methods and progress are unknown but it is strongly believed they are carrying on from where the Soviet Union left off. Have these highly respected scientists lost the plot? Their experience and reputation say otherwise.

7 Weaponized Reactors

There are theories that the Soviet Union destroyed Reactor 4 themselves to gauge the potential of weaponizing the nuclear reactors within the US. This was at a time when both countries were in the midst of the Cold War, any seen advantage was invaluable and there are cases of both sides committing ethically questionable actions in order to gain a leg up against the opposition.

The overwhelming strength of nuclear weaponry was well known, both the US and USSR had vast nuclear arsenals and had extensively researched the devastating effects of radiation throughout the 20th century. A meltdown of a nuclear power plant, however, had never been seen before.

Was it further research on the effects of radiation on the human body?^[3] Many complained that the Soviet authorities did very little, very late to protect civilians from exposure to radioactive contamination.

6 Natural Earthquake

Initially, a study had been taken on by Vitaly Pravdivtsev in 1996 to explore the possibility of an earthquake being responsible for the explosion of Reactor 4^[4] but experts systematically revealed there were over 80 discrepancies in Pravdivtsev’s report. In 1997 a group of scientists from the United Institute of the Physics of the Earth revisited the study and came to an interesting conclusion.

This may have been the first you’ve heard of this, as it is not widely reported, but on the night of the 25/26th April, three nearby geological stations recorded a relatively weak seismic event.

The earthquake in question is thought to have occurred just 16 seconds before the explosion. Quite the coincidence! It is more than possible to conclude that the graphite rods, designed to protect the reactor, failed to insert due to the facility’s lack of protection against vibrations and other seismic movements.

5 Weaponized Earthquake

Following on from above, there is evidence that tectonic weapons were researched and developed both in the Soviet Union and the USA.^[5] It is not known if these weapons were ever successfully deployed but some theorists suggest there is a distinct possibility that a weaponized earthquake isn’t just science fiction.

Pravda, the former official newspaper of the Soviet Union, reported on page 1 on 30 May 1992 that “a geophysical or tectonic weapon was actually developed in the USSR despite the UN Convention”, but that Chief Seismologist Major General V Bochrov of the USSR Ministry of Defence categorically rejected any hints of the existence of tectonic weapons.

Nikola Tesla once claimed a device he had built in 1898 produced earthquake-like effects, but as far as the public is concerned this has never been replicated.

For an area of the world that scarcely sees seismic activity, the use of a tectonic weapon has theorists champing at the bit.

4 KGB Sabotage

Another popular theory is that the KGB was heavily involved. To monopolize Europe’s energy market they supposedly sabotaged Chernobyl’s Reactor 4 themselves to put off other countries from building nuclear power plants.^[6]

Europe’s sources of energy are few and far between so they believed by successfully deterring other countries, they would make Western and Central Europe completely dependent on Soviet oil and gas energy.

Has it worked? Twenty years on, the Soviet Union has dissolved, eg-KGB spy Vladimir Putin rules and Russia seemingly has Europe’s power supply in an iron vice. The German-Russian gas pipeline, built in 2011, is further evidence that Europe’s reliance on Russian energy does not look like stopping any time soon.

3 It Was Aliens

There have been various conspiracies centered on the involvement of extra-terrestrials.^[7] In the days leading up to the accident, there were several eyewitness reports of UFO’s in the area, including a sighting above the plant moments after the explosion.

One witness, Mikhail Varitsky, said this: I and other people from my team went to the site of the blast at night. We saw a ball of fire, and it was slowly flying in the sky. I think the ball was six or eight meters in diameter. Then, we saw two rays of crimson light stretching towards the fourth unit. The object was some 300 meters from the reactor. The event lasted for about three minutes. The lights of the object went out and it flew away in the northwestern direction.

The majority of UFO enthusiasts claim that the extra-terrestrials were there to help prevent any further destruction and to stave off the possibility of a deadly thermonuclear blast.

Pravda, a Russian broadsheet newspaper, formerly known as the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, revealed that a UFO was indeed seen by hundreds of people, hovering above the plant for as long as six hours.^[8]

Pravda has suggested that half of Europe was saved by a UFO. It is believed by some that it decreased the level of radiation by nearly four times, preventing a nuclear blast.

2 Top Secret Radar

The infamous Soviet radio facility Duga-3, dubbed The Woodpecker because of it’s high pitched frequency, was a huge top-secret radar structure a few clicks from the Chernobyl plant.^[9]

In 1976 a powerful radio signal was detected worldwide. The shrill signal came without warning, disrupting radio broadcasts and communication relays worldwide. Rumors at the time suggested it could have been part of Soviet mind-control experiments. The random frequency lasted for 12 years and it got so bad that radio and television manufacturers from across the world had to start re-designing products to prevent interference from the station.

It is unknown exactly what Duga-3 was used for to this day. Most experts believe it was constructed as an early warning system for the Soviet Union’s anti-ballistic missile systems.

In 1989 all signals ceased and the vast structure was left for nature to claim.

It is unknown how much the structure cost to build, but some suggest Chernobyl was orchestrated to distract people from thinking Duga-3 was just another Soviet failure.

1 US Spies

Russia is currently working on a TV show to rival HBO’s ‘Chernobyl’. Albeit hugely successful, many ex-Soviet officials blasted the HBO show, claiming it was inaccurate and slanderous.

The Russian show will be based on a CIA conspiracy,^[10] claiming that US spies triggered the explosion to sabotage the Soviet Union.

The CIA has already admitted to interfering with Russian technology by planting malware in its computer systems, is it possible that this is what happened at Chernobyl?

“One theory holds that Americans had infiltrated the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and many historians do not deny that, on the day of the explosion, an agent of the enemy’s intelligence services was present at the station,” the director of the upcoming Russian show said, AV club reported.^[11]

The Cold War is over you say? I think not.

I’m the kinda guy that applies gentle, soothing pressure to your dog’s body on firework night. Conspiracy fiend. Why has that flower delivery van got a satellite dish on top of it?

The horrendous 1986 melt-down at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, is still the worst nuclear accident in history. In fact, according to the June 17th, 2019, issue of Business Insider magazine, Chernobyl is still considered to be the most severe nuclear disaster in the world, and was worse even than Fukushima in Japan in 2011, and the 1979, Three-Mile Island accident in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. This article commemorates the 35th anniversary of this terrible catastrophe, and is a tribute to the brave men and women, many who gave their lives, to help keep millions safe from its toxic horrors.

Related: 10 Haunting Images Of The Chernobyl Disaster And Their Backstories

10 Ghostly Haunts Of A Catastrophe

A nuclear physicist from the University of Buffalo named Andrei Kharsukhov, had a horribly frightening experience while at the Chernobyl power plant, when he reported hearing someone screaming for help while there in 1997. He was visiting the infamous “Ground Zero” of the Chernobyl disaster, and said that he got there around 7:30 in the morning and went directly to the Reactor 4 sarcophagus. While taking readings, he reported to officials that he could distinctly hear someone faintly, yet frantically, screaming for help in putting out a fire, so he ran back upstairs and told those who let him in what he saw. But they told him that he was the first one to have entered the place in three years. And not only that, they reminded him that it requires a password to get in, a handprint to enter, and someone going inside without their knowledge would have set off an alarm.

If that isn’t strange enough, before the disaster in early April 1986, people who lived in the area started experiencing really strange occurrences. There were reports by power plant workers of seeing a large, black, bird-like creature, with a twenty-foot wingspan, and large, glowing red eyes that would eventually be dubbed the “Black Bird of Chernobyl.” Those who saw this apparition would also report suffering from things such as horrible nightmares, and getting menacing telephone calls, and that these got worse right up until the very morning of the accident on 26 April, 1986.

Many researchers attribute the things reported at Chernobyl to the “Mothman”—an eerily similar creature, reported to have plagued the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, just prior to the 15 December, 1967, failure of the Silver Bridge that killed 46 people. They also contend that historical evidence suggests that this entity appears to be a harbinger of death since Mothman-type creatures have been reported elsewhere in the past and, as in both cases, Chernobyl and the Silver Bridge, the phenomena hasn’t been reported since.

While preforming a paranormal investigation of Chernobyl, and specifically the remnants of Reactor 4, the Destination Truth team from the SyFy channel, were dumbstruck to witness what appeared to be a human figure on an infrared camera system running inside Reactor 4.

9 Nuclear “Shadows” Of Pripyat’s Missing Residents

Most of us go out of our way to steer clear of such things as nuclear disaster sites, but some apparently think, “Hey, let’s sneak in and paint the place up!” Rumored to hail from destinations like Belarus and Germany, dark graffiti artists, ignoring reports of deadly radiation levels, over time have slowly stormed the exclusion zone with their arsenal of multi-colored spray paint cans, and left their artistic works—some hauntingly beautiful, while some likewise disturbing—in Pripyat proper, and the surrounding area. Much of the more dramatic graffiti is in the city of Pripyat, where artists portrayed silhouettes of the missing residents of the abandoned city who were evacuated the day after the accident on 27 April, 1986, never to return. For example, in one building, depicted reaching up for a light switch, is a small girl with little bows in her pigtails, while outside, a small boy pulling his toy truck looks to be peeking around a corner as if to surprise someone. In other buildings, walls are adorned with silhouettes of people looking as though dancing, yet in another, three kids are frozen in midair, as if having just jumped from an unseen trampoline, and floating while holding each other—maybe in joy, maybe in horror—that being left up to the viewer. Many feel it is no coincidence that many of these silhouettes are so much like the disturbing “nuclear shadows” left behind by victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb attacks that ended WWII.

8 The Abandoned Carnival Of Pripyat

Many might not know that the Pripyat Amusement Park was not yet finished on 26 April, 1986, and so it had never officially opened. Scheduled to do so in just five days on May Day, May 1st, the park stands as a destitute and abandoned icon of the Chernobyl disaster, and a stark reminder of all that could have been. The park featured all-time carnival favorites such as an 85 foot (26 m) Ferris wheel, a parachute ride, bumper cars, boat swings, and a shooting gallery. Many Soviet cities had similar amusement parks dubbed, “Parks of Culture and Rest,” and some are still in operation today, but the Pripyat Amusement Park never did get its “day in the sun,” even though it was briefly opened to the public on 27 April, prior to evacuation orders being given later in the day. Although the park wasn’t ready for patrons, residents were excited to get a chance to visit the fairgrounds, though most of the rides weren’t in service. Today the park sits looming and lonely—a life never lived. The bumper cars sit where they were abruptly left, with leaves swirling around the ride. The Ferris wheel is frozen in place, and the paint is chipping and fading. The paint on the yellow canopies is still bright in spots, but with the orange color of rusty-neglect prevailing elsewhere, silently moaning a forlorn story.

7 The Bloody Red Forest

It’s been 35 years since the disaster at the Chernobyl power plant, and although wildlife seems to be thriving, the flora and fauna does offer up some perplexing signs of being radiated. According to a study that began in 1991, the organisms responsible for decomposition and replenishing organic matter back into the ecosystem (such as insects, fungi, and microbes), are presenting symptoms of radioactive contamination. One of the more pronounced phenomena has been dubbed “The Bloody Red Forest,” which is a set of woodland where all the pine trees turned a blood-red color right after the meltdown, and then died not long after. The most disturbing aspect of the Bloody Red Forest is that even after 15 to 20 years after the catastrophe these trees were not decaying, when most rot into dust within a decade of being on the ground. In light of this, scientists decided to run some tests by filling specially-prepared garbage bags with leaf litter from uncontaminated areas, taking care there were no insects or decomposers present, and then leaving the bags out in both contaminated and uncontaminated wooded areas in the exclusion zone for nearly a year to check the decomposition rates of the leaves. Bags left in uncontaminated areas were as expected with normal rates of decomposition between 70% to 90% of the leaves decomposing. But the leaves in contaminated areas retained 60% of their original weight, indicating much less activity by natural decomposers. This suggests that the radiation exposure has had a detrimental effect on the ability of the Chernobyl ecosystem to replenish itself with nutrients, which could be causing the stunting of tree growth that has been recorded. A more pressing problem though, is the fact that the leaves in contaminated areas stayed intact and dry, even after almost a year, and could present a fire hazard, which in turn, presents the danger of radioactive contaminants being spread outside of the exclusion zone by forest fires.

6 The Sad Yet Creepy Dolls Of Pripyat

Horror movies featuring evil dolls that come to life, such as Child’s Play, Dead Silence, and Poltergeist, to name but a few, have always done well at the box office. Maybe it’s their intrinsic creepiness since dolls can appear “dead” even in daylight with their board-like limbs, lifeless eyes, and 1,000 yard stares. But when abandoned to radiate and rot after a nuclear disaster, the affect is greatly magnified, and serves as a stark and truly sorrowful reminder of the tragedy that took place there. The 49,000 residents of Pripyat that were evacuated on 27 April, were told that it was only temporary, so most thought they’d be coming back soon, and left everything they owned behind, including the kids who abandoned their toys—many being left right where they were being played with—since they weren’t allowed to take them with them. So little girls left their precious dolls wherever they were when the evacuation was ordered to start—at home, in school, in nurseries – and many of these dolls were left in the real-life postures that only kids could conceive of in their wonderful young imaginations. Many left in these sad play scenarios have suffered severe radiation damage, making their appearance all that much more disturbing, while the position of some were most likely staged for the cameras of future “dark tourists.” Many of these tragic reminders have been caught on film with their radiated faces, and blank stares in such postures as: peeking out of windows—while wearing gas masks, holding on to each other in an apparent gesture of mutual comfort, resting in the ruins of the catastrophe, laying down peacefully in a bed of roses, or sleeping with their eyes open in their crib. One of the saddest is a tea party of four, forever frozen in time.

5 The Stalkers Of Chernobyl

The Chernobyl “stalkers” are a truly bizarre subculture. They were born out of the suppression and oppression of Soviet history, along with the influx of American-style commercialism that helped breed corruption and then economic crisis in Russia and the Ukraine—or at least that’s what some experts think. In short, stalkers are those who enter the 621-square-mile (1,000 km) exclusion zone illegally, apparently for their own morbid curiosity—kind of like the so-called, “rubber-neckers”—who, when driving by the scene of an accident, just can’t help but strain their necks to gawk as they go by. The phenomenon was “legitimized” in 2007, when Ukrainian computer programmers introduced S.T.A.L.K.E.R.—a post-apocalyptic first-person shooter video game—that takes place in a virtual exclusion zone around Pripyat and Chernobyl. (The acronym stands for “Scavengers, Trespassers, Adventurers, Loners, Killers, Explorers, and Robbers.”) The creators of the game said they wanted to get the word out to the world about Chernobyl, and of course, make a cool video game. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has done well selling over five million copies, including five sequels, sold mainly in Russia and Eastern Europe.

4 Hospital Of Doom

High up on the roof of the Pripyat City Hospital #126, a sign ironically reminded the residents of the freshly-minted Soviet model-city, “Health of the Nation—The Country’s Wealth.” Situated in the micro-district of Pripyat on Druzhby Narodov Street, the hospital’s main wing is part of a sprawling medical complex called, МСЧ-126. Pripyat City Hospital had 410 beds, with clinics and outpatient facilities fanning out that were interconnected. Complete with a dental clinic, maternity ward, infectious disease clinic, and a morgue, the city had been prepared for any emergency they could’ve imagined—the operative word of course being “imagined,” for nobody had foreseen the horrific events of 26 April, 1986. Normally a busy hospital anyway, after Reactor #4 went into meltdown on that fateful night, this is where 237 plant workers, firefighters, and soldiers ended up being treated for severe radiation poisoning, many to never leave alive. According to a 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) report, 28 fireman and rescue personnel died within the first three months. The victims clothes were so radiated they had to be taken to the basement of the hospital where they remain to this day. Eventually, victims were taken to Moscow where the only facility able to treat radiation victims resided. Hospital documents and medical instruments, lay strewn about in haphazard chaos, and the basement is the most radiated location in the city, and had to be abandoned within just days of the incident due to the skyrocketing radiation levels. To this day, many think the place is haunted, since during a paranormal investigation of Chernobyl, the Destination Truth team from the SyFy channel, discovered multiple human-like figures moving through frame in video surveillance taken of the hospital.

3 Radiation-Munching Fungi

Earth has both a magnetic field and an atmosphere that protects us from dangerous radiation, neutrinos, and cosmic rays from the sun and outer space. NASA knows all to well that astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) get exposed to twenty times the radiation we get down here on the planet, and that it presents a serious problem to not only the crew, but sensitive electronics also. So after discovering that a fungus called “Cladosporium sphaerospermum” thriving around the heavily-radiated Chernobyl disaster site, consumes radiation through radiosynthesis, they decided to experiment with it in space, and over the course of a month found out that the fungus actually blocks radiation literally by eating it! The experiments on the ISS revealed that Cladosporium was utilizing melanin to transform radioactive gamma rays into chemical energy, and that this ability may turn out to be useful in future space exploration. They are hoping that the fungus may be used to both shield equipment and the crew from deadly radiation during long space flights, and even more importantly, help clean up radioactive waste.

2 Mutated Animals Of Chernobyl

One of the most obvious questions that came up after the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, was whether or not wildlife would suffer from mutations. Hundreds of people died soon after the accident, and along with birth defects, many more have contracted cancer. But scientists around the world were completely surprised to find that the wildlife in the exclusion zone came back much sooner than had been predicted, and life seems to be doing well considering the circumstances. Many researchers thought that life would take decades, maybe centuries to come back from the accident, but it didn’t, and animals are doing rather well for the most part today. But they weren’t surprised at the effects of the radiation, and not all of them were spared. Ten years later it appears that both the wild animals, and the domestic ones left behind, were indeed affected having been born with major birth defects such as multiple heads, muzzles, and legs. They also found other defects such as a cat with two faces; a lamb with eight legs; a two-faced calf; and another calf with legs growing from its back. Plants have also suffered, including the so-called “Red Forest,” a stand of dead, discolored pines that were killed by radiation.

1 The Ukraine’s “Hottest” Tourist Destination

There is a new phenomena dubbed, “dark tourism,” and the Chernobyl disaster site, and the city of Pripyat, are on the top of the list, and quite literally, comprise the “hottest” tourist destination in the Ukraine, no pun intended. In commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the historic tragedy, and made possible by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine International Airline started offering aerial tours the day before the anniversary of that fateful day when Reactor Number 4 went into meltdown on 26 April, 1986, giving their passengers a unique view of the abandoned nuclear power plant and the city of Pripyat for around $106USD (2,970 Ukraine hryvnia). Their ticket gets them a seat with a panoramic view of the city and the Exclusion Zone from just above the minimum allowed altitude of 3,000 feet (900 m) above Chernobyl on a Embraer 195 jetliner, with a chance to have a selfie taken with the pilot. Although ground-based tours of the Chernobyl control room, and Reactor #4 are available, a hazmat suit is required, making aerial tours an instant hit with tourists with the premiere selling out in two days. Although the coronavirus has severely dampened tourism to the disaster site, it hasn’t stopped it. In 2019, 104,000 tourists visited Chernobyl, whereas in 2020 only 32,000 did, with the highly-popular HBO series “Chernobyl” accounting for 80% of that figure. Chernobyl and Pripyat continue to be visited illegally in spite of the dangers, and the threat of very large fines that can be levied against those who get caught engaging in their “dark obsession.”