© Author Leonid Kaganov, original russian text here
© Translated by Alexander Manuelian and Robert Higgins

Spell Of Body Spirits

I see the lights, I see fire flames,
This is where the beast hides.
I chased it for so many years
And I found it in this steppe.

V. Butusov

Take off his handcuffs! Do you want to smoke? Go ahead take it. Yes, its "Parliament". Take the whole pack, help yourself, please. Don't worry its all yours.

- OK now Mr. Stepsov a year and a half ago you raped and then murdered two women in a most gruesome manner. One of them was pregnant. Did you know that?

- I didn't know she was pregnant... - Said someone quietly.

- Right, well, you remember what you did, but why?

- I was drunk. - someone said without any emotion.

- You realize that you received death sentence, Don't you?

- Yes. - someone whispered.

- How long have you been on a death row?

- I don't know... Several years... - the voice was barely audible.

- What time of year is now?

- I don't know...

- It is August and you have been on a death row for 5 months. Psychiatric experts concluded that you are sane and there will be no appeals. This is it. When do you think your sentence will be executed?

- Right now...

- Don't rush. Let's say at any moment but... You have a small chance of freedom.

At this moment on the tape you could only hear noise of body movement, a quick sigh. Moments later authoritative voice said:

- We are offering you to participate in an experiment that has great importance for science. As you may know there are no more secret experiments. Not like it was in former USSR. Those times are in the past... - the voice was laced with irony. - Now we have to ask your permission and have you sign documents. The experiment is dangerous but if you survive you will go free in a month. You will be given new identity, will live in other city and will never see anyone you knew before. Of course if you tell anybody about this deal then...

- Ohh, yes, I understand everything.

- There will immediately be some accident involving you. We are not joking, it's not our style. - The man continued, - We are offering you a deal that we can all benefit from. Any questions?

- Wa... What are my chances of staying alive?

- There is a very small chance as you may have guessed. That is what we are actually testing. I can tell you that all 43 previous candidates died during this test.

- Is it some new poison or a weapon?

- Well, what I am going to tell youwill certainly surprise you.

I leaned forward and stopped the tape. Silence surrounded me. On a background I could hear water breathing deeply inside the kitchen heater. No, this is not what I expected at all.

Again I glanced inside the red stomach of Igor's briefcase. Thick paper file lay there on the red velvet like a piece of food in a stomach. Old plastic bag with garlic cloves the same bag I saw in the hospital just a little while ago. Sealed silver paper envelope. I put on a latex glove and pulled out the envelope without thinking about consequences. It lay on my palm now slightly vibrating. I carefully tore off a piece of the envelope and a small card fell out. There was text printed in big bold letters. I gazed at it:

Confused I reread the text and noted that it has one peculiar quality - it didn't bring any associations but rather sounded mechanical. It felt rough and artificial. For a moment I even felt some metallic taste in my mouth. As I thought of it more my mouth filled with saliva and I nervously gulped.

It felt for a second that there was some stream of smells in the hot air in the kitchen. There was a faint smell of my forgotten childhood. Maybe it was rather the smell of its attributes like smell of the nursery, kindergarten or the hospital and also screams of babysitters, wet floors washed with chlorine, burned oatmeal and slick ugly toys made of thick plastic.

It was obvious the things in Igor's briefcase were quite strange. I shook my head then stuck the card back to the envelope and put it down on the sticky kitchen table.

* * *

Igor came to our school when I was in the 8th grade. We became friends right away. He was from a family that had professors in every generation, he had read a lot of books and behaved quite maturely for a 15 year old. Despite all that he was doing the same things I was at that time - listening to heavy-metal rock and wearing black Metallica t-shirts. When we finished high school we both applied to the School of Journalism. It was so strange when Igor couldn't get high enough score to get accepted. His failure was most likely caused by a number of small unfortunate circumstances because I am sure Igor knew all the subjects much better than I did.

This failure was a big blow to his self-esteem but unnoticed by everybody else. Igor even thought of going to the seminary to become a priest but soon he abandoned that idea and instead got into the occult science, joined cults and, I suspect, starting to drink. I couldn't be sure about it, though. The course load was very heavy during the first year of college and I didn't see Igor for months. At the end of the summer Igor showed up again. Looking good with a smile on his face he told me that he was accepted to college and was going to major in History. We started meeting each other more frequently.

Igor was studying African culture, learning Swahili. He was spending all his free time in libraries. He talked a lot about magic rituals of ancient tribes. For quite a while this was the only subject he could talk about: spells, prayers, voodoo and so on. Hard to say how it all could fit into his school program but I think he finally found a good instructor and specialized in African cultures and languages. At the same time Igor got involved with computers and that brought us back together.

After graduation I started working as a journalist for small newspapers. I tried to do serious reporting but never succeeded. In the end I got a teaching job at a high school. So I was a literature teacher and did some work translating from French - it helped that I knew it well.

Igor got assigned right after college to some secret military science facility by the recommendation of his college professor. At the beginning I thought he was working as a spy. There may be some intelligence work done in Africa plus there aren't that many people here who can speak Swahili. But after Igor told me about his work. He said that his department studied various spells, black magic and all that surreal stuff. Several times he traveled to places like Uganda, Nicaragua even South Africa. I couldn't quite imagine the process of information exchange between high-ranking Russian military officer like Igor and the chief shaman from some wild tribe. However, Igor's apartment started filling with rattles and African drums, masks and started looking like the science museum's exposition on exotic tribes. It all really bothered Igor's wife Inga who joked about Igor forbiding her from dusting off any of those things.

I was a guest at Igor's house many times and every time he would lay out his "magic" theories to me. It was weird sometimes when the tall and svelte Army major wearing house slippers would sit in a chair and while he gently stroked on old smoked skull that he brought from one of his trips, he would start talking about the uses of a voodoo dolls. It seemed that he really did believe in what he was saying and at some point I thought that this is what he was doing at that secret facility - having discussions about that voodoo crap and brainstorming sessions on how to develop a better curse to beat our enemies. Later I found out from Igor that there were some practical uses for his "shaman" studies. His department for example developed a so-called "truth serum". Igor took some special courses and had a pretty good knowledge in the chemistry of poisons and psychedelic drugs. He could talk for hours about skopolamin, tetrodoksin, snake venom, poisonous kinds of toads fish bugs and so on.

I stopped to take a deep breath and came out from that mess of dusty memories in my head. I looked over the kitchen. Over dirty wallpaper, greenish spots on the ceiling, the stove covered with a dark brown crust, over a chair with wide-open briefcase on it. I looked at the cup of already cold tea, a little cassette player and the strange silver envelope. Somehow the thought of the text of that note was bothering me. It seemed to live in the back of my mind. Faint like a shadow. I didn't even remember the nonsense written on that note but its image stuck in my head like a splinter. Suddenly, a crazy thought came out of nowhere and I jumped. Who knows what Igor have planned? What if that paper was soaked with some poison? Could it be the one that saturates through the skin or evaporates and gets inhaled?

Oh, God! I let out all the air from my lungs but then relaxed and discarded that paranoid idea. Igor would never store any of his poisons in a plain paper envelope. Even in the silver paper envelope. But who knows? He is dying now. Maybe he's already dead? It was one past midnight. I yawned nervously, looked in the window and the memories came up again.

* * *

It was damn good idea to put on a white lab coat that day. Even with the lab coat they didn't let me in the building right away. They carefully studied my passport, called somewhere several times. Finally, some nurse showed up and took me in. It was probably the same nurse who called me this morning saying that Igor was asking for me. After walking through several hallways we came to his room.

The air in that room was heavy and cool. I didn't recognize him at first. Igor lay under several blankets. I heard his labored breathing. It looked like he was asleep. There was an oxygen mask, several IV lines and some medical equipment I have never seen before. Later I was told it was a dialysis machine that they hook him up to three times a day. I've never been told his diagnosis.

I was standing looking at his face and was shocked to see how skinny and dead pale it was. So different from how I remembered it.

- I'm so glad to see you. - He whispered.

The nurse quietly left the room.

- Igor! My God, what's happened to you? - I said awkwardly.

- Well. Seems this is the end for me.

I was about to argue but he raised his hand and whispered:

- Later, later. There is no time for that. Listen I want to ask you a favor. This is my last request. I have no one to help me. You have to promise me that you'll do it!

- I promise.

- Write it down. - Igor whispered.

I took out my notebook and pencil.

- Write down my address.

- Igor, I know your address! - I argued.

Still, I want you to write it down... He whispered - Take my keys there on the night table.

I looked up and saw the keys next to the water bottle. I just remembered that I brought him some apples. I took the keys and put the apples on the table.

- Later. Please, keep writing. - Painfully quiet said Igor.

I put the keys in my pocket and wrote down the address. Here is what Igor wanted me to do: I must get to his house, open the closet in the living room. Remove linen, pillows and blankets and remove a sheet of plywood that covers a secret compartment. There should be a briefcase there that I must remove then take as far as possible out of the city limits and burn it somewhere in a quiet place. Also I should never try to open it.

- What's in there money? - I asked for no reason.

Suddenly, Igor moved convulsively and pulled out a plastic bag from under the sheets. He quickly put it to his mouth and started breathing into the plastic bag. I could swear I saw garlic cloves in it. Igor was breathing in and out of that bag for about a minute. Finally, his breath normalized, he pulled out the bag and closed his eyes.

- Victor, I've already left you all my money in my will along with the car and my house as well. - he said slowly with his eyes still closed. - But you must burn that briefcase closed. Can you promise me you won't open it?

- I promise. But why?

- It's a long story, man. There is death in there. Slow and painful death. Sometimes it can be fast if you're lucky. Do you believe me?

- OK. I believe you. - I said quickly.

Igor whispered again:

- The briefcase is locked. I won't tell you the code. You won't need it. It will burn! It is made of plastic... Splash it with gasoline... I've got a canister in my garage. You've got the keys already... If it won't burn easy break it and burn everything inside. Don't look inside, though. Don't even stay too close to it. Take an axe, it is in a toolbox in my room... Bury the ashes. Take a shovel. I don't have a shovel. Find something. Use the axe. - Igor stopped to catch a breath. - Write it down - canister in the garage, axe in the toolbox. Bury the ashes. Write it down!

I carefully wrote everything down.

- Do it today, promise me! Will you?

I looked at the clock.

- Igor, it's four o'clock. There is not enough time to get to the forest, may I do it tomorrow?

Igor didn't say anything but lay with his eyes closed. That scared me but he started talking again:

- OK. Tomorrow early in the morning... But you've got classes... Victor, take a day off, go to the forest. It is not that far. Take my Ford.

- I can't drive. You know it.

- Oh, really? Why? Oh well, take a train. Somewhere far like 50 Mile Forest, remember? We went hiking there back in school?

- Yeah, I remember.

I may hang on till noon at most. I've got to know that it is destroyed. I was too late to do it myself... I was always too late... Stop by the hospital on your way back. See me at least for a minute. I have to know that nobody will get that poison. But you have to take the briefcase today, please! Write it down!

I opened my notepad again and wrote: "I have to know nobody will get that poison." Igor again grabbed his plastic bag and put it to his mouth. He was shaking. The bag was shaking. It seemed like some invisible fumes were moving in and out of the bag. He finally stopped.

- Listen, just go and grab that briefcase today. It can stay at you place for tonight. My mother-in-law is comming today she doesn't have a key from my house, but still...

At this moment I started becoming suspicious.

- Igor, is that briefcase hazardous? Is it gonna blow? What's inside? Is there some infection or one of your poisons in it? You said something about poison.

Now Igor thought that I would be too scared to even touch the briefcase. He quickly said:

- It was just a figure of speech, man. The briefcase itself is harmless just don't look inside. There are some notes papers, tapes. They are not dangerous, it is what's inside...

I wrote down again: "Papers and tapes are OK".

- Um, look what if there are some bad fumes when it burns, bad if released in the atmosphere?

- No. Not a chance.

We stopped talking. Igor didn't move. Then I found the courage to ask:

- Igor. Your wife. Inga. Did she die from... - I couldn't finish.

- From the same thing. - Igor cut me off. - It is not contagious at all. It is in the brain. It simply turns off all other organs. Usually, it starts from the lungs and finishes with the lungs as a rule. Inga died fast. Just took two days. I had it different. First my heart and kidneys... later my lungs too. It is slow with me, already six months... Thursday will be exactly six months since I... if I last till then. I was immune... I thought I was immune...I thought I had found an antidote. Then Inga... But it only bought me some time. And my whole team thought that...well they are all gone already. I am the last one left. I destroyed everything but the briefcase. Kept it till the end. What an idiot! Nobody will know we didn't even mention it in our reports... - Igor started yawning and quickly pulled the bag to his mouth.

I looked at it with total confusion and interest and Igor said quickly pushing out the bag:

- It helps to breathe when there is garlic in the bag. In and out. In and out. It is good for other spells but helps with this too. I don't know why. Shamans from Urgendo sometimes use... - Igor started coughing. - Well, anyway, it is not that useful.

I noted that despite anything Igor was still his old self. Still telling his stories about Africa. Meanwhile I was starting to understand what they did in their secret laboratory. It looked like they created some kind of weapon, but how could I find more details, how was transmitted?

- Igor, is it poison? Is it radiation?

- Neither. Much worse. Just plain death.

- It can't be like that - I said confusingly.

- Yes it can't be like that - agreed Igor, - It is black magic. Spell.

- A spell? - I got confused.

- A spell that kills your body's spiritual energy - slowly exhaled Igor and became silent.

- Is it verbal? - I asked just in case. It was all starting to look very strange.

Igor didn't respond this time and I spoke again:

- Look Igor you are a scientist. You are an atheist how can you believe in such things? Maybe it is just some kind of poisoning? Maybe other doctors should look at you?

- What other doctors? This is the top military hospital in the country. They have the best doctors in this glass shithouse, my friend!

- But a spell. It is kind of...

- It's just a word. It is actually the name of the project - "The Spell of Body Spirits". - Igor stopped and then said sadly:

- Could you just talk to me for a while, Victor? Please, tell me something.

I paused trying to think of anything worth telling him about.

- What can I tell you about? - I asked.

- Please, man, you live such an interesting life. You're a journalist. You should have so many cool things happening around you but you've got nothing to say?

That annoyed me a bit.

- Igor, what are you talking about? What damn journalist am I? I live in a one-room shithole and work at a school. I spend my evenings in front of the computer and do translations. A couple of months ago I had some of my college friends over. Five people came up and so we just talked about who is where and who got married and all that crap. This shit is considered a "cool" thing in my life because nothing better has happened to me.

- Soon I'm gonna live in one room hole. - Igor whispered, - You will be in a five-room apartment.

What he said stopped me. I paused and then the sadness and the horror of the whole thing just went away and I started talking about my work in school. I told him about the kids I teach. I told him about all those funny things they write in their essays and reports. I told him about the scandals, the love stories and the accidents at school. I talked for quite a while. Some of the stories I may have already told him but it didn't matter now. At some point Igor even laughed quietly. Then the nurse came in and said it was time for me to go. I hugged Igor before leaving. I felt like I knew that his sickness was not contagious. Igor looked me in the eyes.

- But you remember, you promise, right?

- Yes, I'll do it.

- Swear?

- I swear.

- Swear on our friendship!

- OK. I swear on our friendship: I will do exactly as you said. - I told him and Igor calmed down.

The nurse validated my pass and walked me out. I went through the park and got to the bus station.

In ten minutes I was almost to Igor's house but I stopped first at the store and bought a pair of latex gloves. Just in case. Then I went to the house and easily found the briefcase and an axe. But I didn't go to the garage for the gasoline canister. That would be too much. I could do it all without additional fireworks.

It happened suddenly right when I was entering the front door in the building where I lived.

I didn't even try to open it!

It fell right out of my hands when I was searching for the key and opened up because it wasn't locked at all! It happened so fast that I didn't even realize what was going on. The briefcase smashed down on the cement floor and its intestines came out. Books, notes report cards, few audiotapes. In panic and trying not to breath I put everything back then ran upstairs and threw the briefcase on the balcony. After that I took off latex gloves and washed my hands several times. It was only then that I opened my notebook and red the line that said: "I have to know nobody will get that poison." "Papers and tapes are OK"...

* * *

That was when I decided to go for it and began reading the transcripts from Igor's briefcase.

It seemed like Igor's dissertation along with research materials and reports. At the beginning I struggled with all those strange words and names but then I got more and more into it. Many things were written in plain and easy language so it got easier to read once I got further on. It was dangerously exiting to read this top-secret material that was so easy to understand.

* * *

"The human brain appears to be a sophisticated Electro-biochemical mechanism. Many areas of the brain still haven't been studied but there is a great deal of study that was accumulated on the influence to human brain. We are mainly interested in the non-chemical effects on the brain. This area was not studied in great detail. This project is dedicated to the subject of spells and their effects on the human brain.

In order to start somewhere lets look up the word 'spell' in the dictionary.

Etymology: Middle English curs, from Old English. Date: before 12th century

1: a prayer or invocation for harm or injury to come upon one

2: a cause of great harm or misfortune.

Look at the description 'Old English'. This raises the question - Why is a real phenomenon called "old"?

The explanation of the word is not quite clear as well - "a prayer or invocation". This can be also defined as words that cause harm. Therefore we will use this definition: "SPELL - specifically defined and developed information that results in direct non-traditional influence on the one's brain." The word "non-traditional" should be stressed because otherwise any word would qualify for the definition of word "spell".

Consequences of that influence may have various forms but in general it all comes down to forcing someone into a condition that will cause things like rage, calm, unconsciousness, sickness or even death. Since appearance of those conditions is so sudden it cannot be explained based on modern expertise in psychology or physiology or other conventional medicine and therefore is considered an anomaly.

"The spell phenomen" is widely used in tribes that still have primeval cultures in some remote parts of Africa, Australia and South America. Shamans who have perfected the technique of applying a spell do get full control over people in their tribes by possessing the power to kill them. This fact is proven in many editions [ 2, 3, 4, 5, 14 ] listed in Appendix A. There are detailed descriptions of executions with the use of spells and also some video materiel [1A].

The spell applied mostly by shamans however there is some information [3, 5] that in some cases it could be used by anyone. There is even a case [5] where a spell applied by a representative of a European country.

What does a spell consist of? It is a string of words that may partially sound meaningful and must be pronounced in a certain order. A spell most likely affects people of the local tribe and less likely to affect people from neighboring tribes. African spells don't affect Australian aborigines and vise versa. What causes this? In order to understand the way curses work we have to look at the research data in psychophysiology.

Obviously, besides non-chemical influences on the brain there is the possibility of influence through the organs of the senses. Nature took good care protecting the brain from this type of influence but there are some ways through which it still may be accomplished. There are 3 types of influence through the senses - psychological influence, biological influence and combined (a curse).

Let's look at psychological influence first. A typical influence comes through what we see and hear.

Traditionally, received information is accepted analyzed criticized stored. The core of non-traditional influence is to deliver and store information while bypassing the conscious mind. To go directly into the mental activities just below the threshold of consciousness, meaning an influence on the subconscious.

VISUALLY INDUCED PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE

This phenomenon is sometimes called "The 25th frame effect" or "Subliminal effect". A frame with a predefined image is inserted after every 24th frame on a film. The time of exposure during the play is 0.04 second and not obviously detected right then. However, if a person is watching an advertisement on TV (which is typically about 25 seconds long) then the image on the 25th frame is seen for a total of 1 second. It may still pass undetected but it does influence the subconscious. In many countries there are laws and codes that prohibit the use of "25th frame" [12, 22]; Russia has that law too. Therefore, more sophisticated technology is now being used where the "special" image is not inserted in a separate frame but rather tints or parts of the image are blended with every frame of the film or video. This technique requires heavy computer processing but is 1.3 times more effective than use of the "25th frame" method and legally very difficult to prove. The discovery of this technique in 1979 revolutionized the advertisement industry. New ways to get the message across quickly appeared.

These new 'commercial video flicks generally have little or no meaning but contain scripted commands. Starting with an invocation like ('Hello, Lady!', 'Hey dude!', 'Excuse me, Sir!' ). Then comes a message simular to "This product is the best. You need it". The flick then ends with phrases like "Remember it!"

HEARING INDUCED PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE

Also known as "Silent Whisper". This works on the same principles of the subliminal effect, but is not nearly as effective and therefore not banned from use. It is widely used in radio advertisements [24]. The use of "Silent Whisper" is kept from the public.

The other method of hearing induced psycho effects is influence on subconscious during sleep, the time when the conscious brain is mostly 'turned off'. This method is called 'Hypnoedical' and used in teaching during sleep.

In summary, these methods of psycho influence do not allow the development of effective mass weapons and therefore are irrelevant to our project.

BIO INFLUENCE

Bio influence has no connection with transfer of information but rather works on stimulation of brain structures through the senses. The work of the brain can be imagined as a complex combination of electrical impulses between brain cells. Stimulation of one area will affect others [15].

The main focus of research will be in finding way to affect specific zones in the central part of the brain that manage the activity of the heart and lungs. The organs of the senses are not connected to vital organs. All outside information received by the sense is processed by the "outer" brainsurface. However, during practice we found that the use of specifically composed data allowed us to bypass the upper, outer layers and affect the core areas of the brain. Let's look at these methods of influence.

VISUAL BIO INFLUENCE

Visual zones are wide and spread around the back of the brain but there are no known practical and effective ways to affect those zones. Some people can be affected by light that flashes with specific frequency. This may cause an effect of a light trance, or sometime even seizures. Therefore sparkling objects and mirrors are often used during hypnosis to produce that light flashing effect.

TACTILE EFFECTS

The tactual analyzer is located in a narrow area on the top of the brain. It is spread over the 'walls' that separate sections of the brain and almost reaches the core structures. This allows the application of more serious bio influence.

There is research [15] into ancient Japanese methods of water dropping tortures. The use of water dripping slowly, monotonously on the top of a person's head could cause insanity of the subject. It could also be used to reach 'enlightenment' (the technique known as 'waterfall meditation' used by ninja warriors [21] ).

There is also another well-known phenomenon of 'annoying scratching' caused by fingernails scratching a glass or simular surface. The noise can cause hysteria in some people but generally just really annoys others. Tickling is another good example of a very strange phenomenon that is separately investigated in [26,27]; therefore we merely mention it here.

GUSTATORY BIO INFLUENCE

These sensors are not developed enough and don't allow the desired access to the brain core. Therefore we consider gustatory influence on the brain to be practically impossible.

AUDIO INFLUENCE

Audio zones are located on opposite sides of the brain in the temple areas. The work of both sensor zones is shown in Diagram # 4. The zones work as biorhythmic generators and everything located between the temples is affected by biorhythmic waves. This unique quality allows us create resonance and affect core structures by using specifically formulated and applied sounds.

Abnormal sound applications are the most known and were widely used in ancient times. Epic stories and legends of every culture tell us about abnormal sound effects, such as the popular legends about singing sirens [31], and the tale about the man with the magic flute [33]. The widely used effect of drums - there is no ritual that goes on without some drums or tambourines [4]. In our own time all popular music hits use the phenomenon of rhythmic effect. Simple analysis of modern pop songs shows the use of a 2 Hz rhythm that works in resonance with brain waves at a frequency similar to that of the light flicker technique. The rhythm even causes uncontrolled foot movement in people that have never been interested in modern pop culture. Audio influences can also cause epileptic seizures in some people [25].

We also should note the effects of irritating sounds that are similar to the 'nail scratching' sound.

These abnormal reactions can be caused not only by actual scratching of nails but also by the sound of it; the same core areas of the brain are affected in both cases. The core zones border the tactual area and are also located between the temple zones.

This is pretty much all that audio influence has to offer and therefore it has little if any use in our project

COMBINED INFLUENCE

Combined influence as well as psycho influence represents an influence through information. We use information to influence others, but this time we address the specific information targeted to the parts of the brain that are responsible for interpretation and processing of the particular type of information. Those areas are well known and documented. Prime targets would be lower layers of those brain areas. If we can achieve simultaneous stimulation of all areas then we will be able to break the order and functioning of other deep areas. As mentioned before, information processing is performed by visual and hearing structures. Stimulation of the brain's visual proccesing core doesn't achieve the desired effect due to its distance from important brain structures, some are left to work with hearing. The hearing receptors are located in the left and right temple areas, but their functions are not similar! Speech recognition areas are located in the left-side structures and all other functioning such as processing of tone, rhythm, sounds and noises are in the right side.

Tribe shamans take advantage of this without even knowing any scientific details.

As we mentioned before, the spell of shamans consists of practically meaningless words. However they are meaningful enough to stimulate and affect the left brain area and at the same time they are spoken with the appropriate timbre, cadence and tone of voice to affect the right part of the brain. Therefore spells of African shamans will never affect Australians and vice versa because the foreign words will not be affect the left temple areas. This is why it is so difficult for someone other than a local shaman to perform a spell because he can't reproduce the correct intonation and rhythm of the curse.

It is relevant to point out here that a good audio recording of shaman's curse will work as well as that of a live shaman and this has been confirmed in our experiments.

Our department focused on studies of combined stimulation (a spell). Unfortunately, prototypes of the curses used by shamans had little or no effect on our people. The reason is the relatively under developed right temple brain area sensors of modern humans (see data of modern pathologo anatomy [11]). This makes logical sense because there is no need for people in modern civilization to hunt in the wild or to have well-developed senses required for detection and recognition of faint sounds and noises. There are of course exceptions... musicians, for instance. By the way, curses do work on their developed brain areas. Traditional modern curses are weak and short. They cause death only in exceptionally rare occasions. The modern curses have gradually turned into common profanities. A profanity clearly has meaningful context for stimulating the left temple area and the proper sound for affecting the right area. The whole intonation and the sound of those profanities were discovered and then used and perfected by our predecessors for many years. Try to swear with a different tone expressing tenderness or interest and the cursing will lose its negative effects right away. Usually profane words if used correctly will at least make someone feel bad. Sometimes they can cause depression, loss of energy headache and very rarely fainting. In cases where the victim has a serious heart condition, sudden cursing with the right intonation may have very serious consequences, sometimes including even a quick death. The speed of death in this case would make any shaman envious. Unfortunately, daily use of those words lowers their effect and their actual intent. Not many people realize or even imagine the real meaning of the words used in foul swearingbecause after excessive exposure there is no processing of it going on in left temple area and therefore the curse loses its power. It becomes possible to use it without any harm to the health and so many people simply begin cursing left and right. The sound of powerful cursing provides intensive simulation of the right temple brain area and thus pleases such people because it stimulates their general brain activity. It is interesting that for people who are sensitive to profane language the same pleasing stimulation is made on the left temple part of the brain by normal and meaningful words but without the damaging intonations used in foul swearing. An example would be reading good poetry.

As it follows, people who are more intellectually developed are more susceptible to curses and suffer more from their effects. Reality proves this over the course of time the general intellectual level of society goes down while at the same time another interesting process takes place - the best survivors are those for whom foul language and curses became just some ordinary sound. They pass this tolerance onto their children not genetically but socially. This phenomenon has not been studied by science. Under this influence the new kind of intellectual individual is raised - the one who gets immunity to curses from childhood. This interesting observation deserves separate studies but we will not concentrate on it.

The importance of combining meaningful sounds into curses can be shown in the following examples. In our opinion words like 'sting', 'mosquito' or 'key' would be effective as curses if in time they would acquire some shocking and vulgar meaning. At the same time the word 'cunt' is an example of a curse but its analog 'pussy' would not likely become a curse at all due to the absence of proper sound components and would merely be a harmless squeak.

Modern languages have a variety of speech curses that are not considered foul. They are a complex combination of words and sentences which usually affect only superstitious people, because they understand the meaning of those curses. However, the left part of the brain in the majority of educated people is protected against curses and so called jinxes.

Our conclusion:

Neither psycho nor bio nor even combined influences can be used effectively for our project. We experimented with mixing them together and with modifications to enforce the effect... aural, visual and olfactory but our experiments proved to be ineffective because the attention of the person switches from one kind of signal to another, ignoring the first one.

OUR PROJECT

After long research we had found a weak spot in biological protection that nature is unable to heal.

The results had a mind-blowing effect because there is no doubt that our research data could find uses in government security, intelligence, science, advertising and even in medicine. However we admit that the results of our project would most likely be used at some point as a weapon of mass extermination. It is easier to harm brain activity than change it to operate with positive and beneficial direction and purpose.

We found that there is another receptor of information that is absent in wild human tribes or undeveloped nations but very well developed in modern civilized people. It is written language. Readable text is actually visual source that is being processed by the back part of the brain core. The majority of orthodox theories never consider the written or printed text as an effective source of visual influence. At the same time it is known that speech processed by temple areas in the lower part of the left temple. The reason is that the child learns speech first and therefore the processing structures for speech recognition start forming in hearing areas... temple or side areas. After that the child learns to read using visual sensors... eyes. However the meaning and words of the language are already encrypted in the neurological brain structures of the left temple area of the brain. The child learns to put together the images of letters and then words in the back area of the brain, connecting them with their audio equivalent.

In our course of learning many complex neurological connections develop between the left temple and lower back part of the brain such that during reading both back and temple parts of the brain process the information and become potentially subject to the effects of spells combined with the very important other brain areas. The result is much more powerful influence 'generator' than the ones that are just in the two temple areas.

After this discovery our task was to develop a text that would cause energy resonance between the temple and back areas of the brain. After several experiments involving the use of EEG and neuro-mapping machines from our medical research facilities we received somewhat startling results... on the second stage of the experiment three volunteers and a lab technician died from suffocation. After this accident security measures were introduced such that text was composed and edited on computer without screen output then, a hard copy would be printed separately or in the context of another text including this report.

Summary:

The text that was created and tested has been shown to cause death in any person with 100% effectiveness if:

- Russian is his native language.

- The person was brought up in modern society and knows all commonly used sayings and slang.

- There are no brain anomalies or psychiatric disease that could reduce the effect.

Additional Comments:

The text had no effect with testers numbered 73 and 121. Azerbaijan and English were their first languages. However, it is possible to develop analogous text in any language if there is enough testing material (volunteers).

The text didn't work with tester #77 a Buddhist who lived fairily isolated for 27 years in a monastery in the mountains. During trail testing he had a negative reaction to word 'cow'. The word 'cow' is part of simple testing on standard language associations. Individual is being asked 2 questions 'What color is a refrigerator?' - the answer is white in 99% of answers and then without a pause 'What do cows drink?' The typical answer is milk in 92% usually followed by the correct answer - 'water', and even after three days only 40% gave the correct answer (water). The pattern "cow" is quite known among our population and was distributed under our control [22] becoming some type of old joke, made up long ago by someone unknown.

I took a break from the reading for a second. Yes, Igor had tested me with that 'cow' joke a couple of times and both times I gave the wrong answer. But I could never have guessed that he was actually testing me, then without my knowledge. I sighed and continued reading.

The idea of 'cow' testing is to check how well some standard language associations can be dominant over the human mind. The brain of a normal person, given the association 'refrigerator white cow drink' in a short time without much thinking, gives the answer... 'milk'.

In order to reach the desired effect our final text has three times the number of test units (associations) determinde to be sufficient during development. The text contains a large number of associations and therefore works even for those who might have a negative result to pattern testing such as with the the word 'cow'.

More comments:

From 200 volunteers seven survived for various reasons. Some had Down's Syndrome or late stages of schizophrenia or had some kind of head trauma in the past. Such people are not affected by our text and should be dealt with using traditional remedies. The text worked on left-handed individuals as well as on right-handed, however, sometimes effects took longer to be seen on left-handed individuals.

I stopped reading again and thought that I am actually a lefty but learned to work with my right hand. Interesting that when you read something like this you always try applying it to yourself. I smiled and continued reading.

Our strategy for develping the text got the name 'method of invisible associations'. The library of data was created with almost 40,000 words. During the interview with test volunteers they were asked to give their association to every given word. At the end we compiled huge amounts of data concerning typical associations. Using electronic tools we measured the reactions of various parts of the brain to every word.

The result was that the strongest resonance was made by words that were learned in early childhood. Using computers we synthesized a text where words were selected based on the summary of direct associations.

There are many small and invisible associations formed in our childhood while reading and listening to stories and fairytales. The text excites the area between the left temple and the back areas of the brain. The excited area affects deep brain structures and stays permanently in the central brain core.

The area then affects:

Breathing structures - irregular breathing, loss of breathing rhythm, difficulty breathing.

Yawning - continuous yawning and a sensation of some 'shallow space between the ears' - a term used by testers and not otherwise explainable to us.

Heart structures - heart arrhythmia followed by heart failure.

Saliva glands - increased salivation.

Throat muscles... a mild choking sensation

Secondary effects include 'heart stiffness', sweat, cold limbs, dizziness and feelings of unexplainable fear following the feeling of 'unstoppable changing in the body', 'feeling of doom' and then 'fear of death'. Volunteers described the sensation of 'unstoppable changing in the body' as feeling like 'being stuck in a trap'. One tester even described it as a feeling of being 'hooked on a fishing hook and someone is pulling the line'. We couldn't completely understand and interpret those descriptions.

The symptoms that develop have following characteristics:

- Symptoms appear after some time. Usually they grow slowly and are not noticed by the individual, sometimes taking several hours. However if asked to concentrate and describe what is going on in his body the person will be able to describe the conditions shown above. The power and speed of the symptoms will grow with every minute and generally stays constant, sometimes lowering (like being forgotten) and then increasing again to a painful peak. Practical study showed that a quick increase in the symptoms happens when the tester is asked about them or slowly increase (realizing on his own) doesn't really affect the outcome of the test. The time until death depends only on the mental strength of the individual.

- Not all of the symptoms described above appear. There may only one that appears, while there can be two or three. Subjects with high intellects (there were only a few of those among our volunteers) had different symptoms that were characteristic of that group only. We will omit the description of those symptoms due to their lack of pattern and high diversity. There is only one frequent symptom that is worth mentioning. It is feeling of some sort of skin irritation all over the body. Sometimes it is accompanied by a headache in the temple areas and less often in the front or back of the head.

- The text doesn't work when administered by running one line text from a monitor or by audiotape. There were no tests done using 25th frame technique. The text works only when individual is reading it from the piece of paper or from the monitor. It is significant that even after skimming or quick reading the text is still effective almost 100% of the time.

METHODS OF PROTECTION

There are no effective methods of protection or treatmentss, however...

Here I stopped reading and yawned. It became too boring. There were too many pages left and I didn't want to read it all and quickly browsed through the rest of it. There were some graphs and some tables and a list of literature references taking almost three pages. I looked at the list, which had some strange freaky names like "Drum of Lower World", "Neurological Hyperventilation", "Zombification" and many others. Many materials were written in English.

I put away the papers and tried to remember the last time I saw Igor before he entered in the hospital. It was at Inga's funeral.

It was calm and peaceful in the cemetery during that spring day, the air becoming warmer with the season. It was refreshing and bright that day. There were just a few people - some of Igor's coworkers and his wife's friends. I tried hard not to look at Igor. I just couldn't bear to see his pale grayish face, looking like an old black and white photograph. We walked in silence and pushed a cart holding the coffin along a small, narrow dirt road covered by last year's leaves.

I looked at those leaves rotted away by winter so only their skeletons were left and thought that they were spread here on purpose. We stood in silence while the diggers vigorously shoveled cold clay from the site. When the coffin was opened for the last time and a fresh wind blew over Inga's face, Igor leaned over and quietly said; "Sleep in peace. I'll be there soon."

Perhaps I was the only one who heard what he said and at the time I didn't really think it was important. However, I often recalled it like I did it this this morning. Therefore I wasn't surprised when half a year later a woman called me and asked me to visit him at the hospital.

To get my mind on something else I took the cassette player and pushed the Play button, after rewinding for several seconds due to the old habit.

* * *

-... previous candidates died during this test.

- Is this... some new poison or a weapon?

- Well... what I am going to tell you will certainly surprise you. It is just a piece of paper with some text on it that you should read. Usually testers die within a time frame of from several minutes to one week. If you are still alive after four weeks then you've earned your freedom.

- Just by reading some text?

- Yes. Before the test you will receive a shot of some calming medication. Believe me it is absolutely harmless. We could even work without it but your nervousness will bother you and will interfere with our monitoring equipment. There will be nothing else. All you have to do is read the text and answer our questions during the experiment. Agree?

- Uh... Can we do it without a medication?

- I understand your concern. If I were in your situation I'd feel the same way. However, I wouldn't be in your place. I am not a killer after all - the man paused, probably while being given some annoyed look... So you don't believe me? Just think about it. Would you refuse if I made you an offer to test a poison under the same conditions? I have no reason to lie to you. And why don't you believe me? I told you all the information about the experiment that is needed, even more that you are supposed to know. It is your decision but there isn't much time to think about it anymore. By the way do you think in case you refuse we will take you back to your room or downstairs to the basement? OK. I repeat one more time... do you agree or do you want to... - I could feel the man's grin - bargain some more?

- No, no, I agree. I agree. I'm not. I do agree, agree!

- OK. Now relax and sign right here and then right here and here write 'informed about conditions and procedures of the experiment." Date, signature. What? Today is August 27 1997. Now we will go to our laboratory and start the experiment within the hour. Guards! Get him ready!

I anticipated hearing a jingle and the mental image of handcuffs became so realistic that a metallic taste filled my mouth. I gulped, but suddenly there was silence. The tape ended with a loud click that startled me. I didn't rush to change the tape but instead got up and poured myself a glass of awful tasting tap water.

For some reason I was very thirsty, as if the room was full of hot air. I went back to the table and put on a next tape.

* * *

- What? This one?... it sounded like the same convict but now he was speaking more slow,sounding tired.

- This is just monitoring equipment. Please, stop asking questions, Mr. Stepsov. Believe me it would be better for you.

I grinned when I heard that "it will be better for you". What a bullshit!

- Everything is ready. Do you hear me loud and clear?

- Yes.

- How do you feel?

- Fine.

- Be more specific!

- Straps on my head are too tight.

- That's OK. Look in front of you. Now on the table you will shortly see a piece of paper with text. Slowly read it. Are you ready?

- Yes. Here it is. Level one... from here, right?

- Stop!!! Shut up!!! - the scream was so loud that the microphone whistled painfully. Right away the voice said:

- I told you not to read aloud. One more time, read without saying anything then the second time read it aloud, slowly and clearly. This will be registered on our computer. You can't fool it. After you're done reading turn the paper over and report that you are finished. Assistants will then enter the room and remove the text. Then we will start working with you. But I have to warn you one more time... if you read one more line of text without my command I will shoot you right here. You looked at those holes on your chair remember? That was one of your fellow volunteers. Is everything clear now? Go ahead!

The voice stopped and silence filled the room interrupted only by the sound of timer clicking. After a while the voices started again.

- So how do you feel?

- Pretty good.

- What did you think when reading that text?

- Nothing.

- Give me more details!

- I don't know. I didn't understand anything. May I read it one more time, just don't do anything to me!

- Stop. Stop yelling.

- I am nervous

- Why are you nervous? Something in the text made you anxious?

- No.

- Then why? Do you feel any danger?

- N-no... Some tension like before a thunderstorm when it gets hard to breathe.

- Hard to breathe?... The voice sounded excited... Tell me more about it!

- I don't know, just like something stuck in my throat. No, not that. It is like when you are nervous and need to take a deep breath - a deep, loud sigh now was heard on the tape.

- OK you took a deep breath. Do you feel better now?

- Yes. But soon I will have to take a breath again.

- Why will you have to?

- I don't know. I have no idea, what did you do to me?

- Don't scream. Need more sedative?

- No, I don't need it.

- OK, so what has been done to you?

- I don't know how to say that.

- Just say it. Faster!

- Well, before all my life I was breathing automatically without thinking but now I have to do it all myself.

- Explain what you mean by saying "myself"?

- I don't know! I thought you were joking about that text until I felt it! Oh God! What do I do? What is happen to me?

- There is nothing to do. Just wait. Everybody at first thinks that we are joking. Do you believe in God Mr. Stepsov?

- Yes! I don't have much air! I...

- Well, you are going quite fast, Stepsov. Now it's time to say your prayers. What else can I tell you? Don't shake so much you're messing up the equipment...

All the yelling and screams started to annoy me and I turned off the recording. I had certainly got myself involved in a very unpleasant business. Igor had trully been trying to protect me. It would really have been much better if I didn't know anything about it at all. It is a good thing I red here that the text should not be stored in printed format. But what if some idiot had decided to put that piece of paper in this package? There were some strange graphs and drawings... I gulped and thinking about it almost made me sick. No, fuck those military wizards and their top-secret projects. I better stay away from it, as far as possible. The less you know the better you sleep. I should burn and bury this crap as Igor told me.

I yawned once more and opened the window. It was time to go to bed. Tomorrow I must go to that damned forest. Easy for him to say "Call in sick". I am a very responsible teacher. I can't skip teaching the class. I should do everything before the school. Early enough to be on time though. I yawned one more time... got to get some fresh air and go to sleep for at least a couple hours. It is almost dawn, almost morning.

I've got to get some fresh air.

9'.09.2000, Moscow
 
© Autor Leonid Kaganov, original russian text here
© Translated by Alexander Manuelian and Robert Higgins