Source: Paul Stonehill youtube
Description:
Paul Stonehill discusses the mysterious phenomena surrounding Olkhon Island, located in Lake Baikal, Russia, with a focus on its cultural, spiritual, and natural significance. In 2019, tourists on Olkhon Island, one of the largest islands in Lake Baikal situated in the Irkutsk region, reported hearing strange voices addressing them by name, attempting to convey messages.
This prompted a scientific expedition equipped with sensitive recording devices to investigate these claims. However, the researchers abruptly abandoned their study and left the island without providing any explanations, fueling speculation about whether the tourists' reports were genuine or if they encountered something inexplicable.
Olkhon Island is steeped in mystique, with longstanding rumors of strange sounds and voices reported by unrelated individuals. The island holds profound spiritual significance for the Buryat people, who consider it a sacred place inhabited by the spirits of their ancestors. Local legends describe powerful spirits, such as Khan Hoto Baba, a divine figure sent by higher gods to protect the land, who descended to Olkhon as a white-headed golden eagle.
His son, Hanuayon, is believed to be the first shaman gifted by Tangri, the supreme sky deity. Another figure, Ain or Burhan, the guardian spirit of the island, is said to reside in the Shamanka rock cave, protecting those with pure intentions. The island’s highest peak, Mount Iime (1,274 meters above sea level), is also sacred, with myths of an immortal bear chained at its base, symbolizing nature’s strength and the cycle of life and death.
Paulsuggests that the reported voices might be natural phenomena, such as acoustic effects caused by the island’s unique landscape and climate, a phenomenon observed in other distinctive natural settings like mountains or coasts. Olkhon’s allure lies in its blend of mythology, nature, and human experience, attracting researchers and tourists eager to explore its mysteries.
The island is a hub for Buryat shamanic traditions, with rituals aimed at harmonizing human relationships with nature and spirits. These practices draw both locals and tourists interested in experiencing ancient Buryat culture.Olkhon, covering approximately 730 square kilometers, features diverse landscapes, including sand dunes, steppes, coniferous forests, rocky shores, and Siberian taiga.
Despite its harsh winters, it is rarely cloudy and hosts fewer than 2,000 residents but attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists annually. The island, part of the Baikal National Park, a protected federal area, contains restricted zones off-limits to tourists. It is also rich in archaeological sites from the Neolithic era, considered a “place of power” with strong mystical energy, where visitors report not only voices but also visions.Buryat traditions include “serge” ritual horse pillars, believed to concentrate mystical energy and inhabited by spirits.
Locals offer milky substances to these pillars, which are never intentionally broken and must collapse naturally. Historically, every Buryat man was associated with at least three serge pillars during significant life events. The narrative concludes by noting the ongoing fascination with Lake Baikal and Olkhon Island, mentioning the speaker’s decades-long investigation into phenomena like mysterious underwater humanoids, with a promise of more videos and a call for viewer support.
Return top
