Butugychag, Stalin Death Valley. Magadan Oblast, Russia.
This is the 2nd part of Alexander Perelygin’s trekking story about Butugychag Gulag Camp in Magadan Oblast, Russia.
The first one was Butugychag, Gulag’s most preserved labour camp in Kolyma. Part 1.
From the interview with H. Niyazov:
- I was not in Butugychag, God saved me. We considered them as a penal camp.
- How were convicts buried?
- They did nothing special. Just bestrewed deads with corpses with sand or snow, if they died in winter, and that’s it.
- Any coffins used?
- Never. No one thought about coffins.
- Why were dead convicts buried in coffins in on one of three Butugychag cemeteries and why were corpses’ heads cut off?
- That’s because doctors cut them…
- What for?
- Among prisoners, there were some rumours about experiments as a part of training.
- Was it done at Butugychag’s or somewhere else?
- In the Butugyachag camp only.
- When did you learn about experiments?
- Approximately in 1948-1949, just in the form of small talks to scare us…
- Maybe, when they cut off heads, convicts were alive?
- Who knows… There was a big medical camp. There were even professors among workers…
..Friday, local mass media reported that the Tenkinsky highway was washed out again and the Russian Emergency Ministry didn’t recommend any driving on the road. But I was already determined and there were no wish to step back…
I departed in the early morning around 6 am… That time I decided to go alone, as it would give me more speed up.
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Doug Wothke and his Harley Davidson in Magadan, Russia
Today’s hero of the world’s motorcycle news is Doug Wothke!
[CNN World Report]
Today, the first Harley Davidson has made it to Magadan, in NE Russia.
BMW GS riders worldwide groaned in disbelief, as they watched the drama unfold on laptop computers from the relative safety of their local Starbucks.
When asked how he felt after reaching the end of the Road of Bones, Doug replied
“I’m wore out like a 2 dollar whore on nickel night!”
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The morning temperature in July might be at 15C.
Solnechnoe Lake (Sunny Lake, if in Russian) is located in the depth of Tenkinsky region.
Lake and the way to it are very picturesque. It is possible to get to this place by a truck or well-equipped 4wd vehicle.
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On the way to the Butugychag gulag camp
This is not my personal story – This is a story of my friend named Alexander Perelygin. His blog: www.avp-life.com
At the place of Butugychag, 380 thousand people met their death. It is more than the total population of the mordern Magadan Oblast. It is the very place, where highly secret experiments on human brains were conducted. Indeed, it used to be the top secret spot on the map.
..I’ve heard much about this place, saw many photographs. I was pretty much eager to see it myself. So, in September 2010, I had such a chance.
We departed from Magadan in the early morning. By a lunch time, we already reached the 223 km of the Tenkinsky Highway. Picked our backpacks, checked and took still & video cams, and headed on the only available trail, where we eventually lost in 100 km. We didn’t stop, when we lost the trail, but continued our way, as we knew we would get back on the road in a ravine between bald peaks. It happened the way we expected.
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