Bald Mountain - Witches Dance

Bald Mountain in Vydubichi is considered the most mystical place in Kyiv. The ill reputation of this place goes as far back as the times of Batu-Khaan. After capturing Kyiv, he ordered the death of all Kyiv’s residents, who were hiding the in Zverinets and Kitayev caves. The caves were bricked up. It is said that the restless souls of those who died in them still wander around.

The hill has never been built on; It was believed that evil spirits lived here. Only at the end of the 19th century did the Tsarist Administration order the building of the Lysogorskiy Fort, a sign that it thought little of local superstitions.

The fort was intended for the Russian artillery. However, the military men who guarded the fortifications, received strange instructions. For example, before mounting the guard, officers were recommended to “warn the soldier not to be confused by strange sounds. These are just the cries of birds, and the wind”. Neither were the fortifications ever used for defense. From 1906 the fort was instead used as a place for the hanging of condemned criminals. Those sentenced to death were brought here from the prison in Kosoy Kaponier. It was here that Dmitry Bogrov was executed for the assassination of Russia’s prime minister Stolypin. Though the condemned were met at the hill by a hangman and priest, their bodies were not allowed to be buried in Christian cemeteries. The hangmen buried their bodies not far from the gallows.