On april 26th, 1986, the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant near the ukranian
city of pripyat exploded.
The explosion caused deadly radiation to seep out into the atmosphere.
The town of Pripyat was evacuated a few days later, and many people died as result of nuclear
sickness.
The world health organization estimates that over 30 thousand people died as a result of
exposure to the radiation, and that number could be as high as 90 thousand.
Chernobyl is thought of as one of the worst disasters ever, so naturally, there are lots
of scary stories that go along with it.
Here are 10 scary stories about Chernobyl that you shouldn’t listen to at night.
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Here are 10 scary stories about Chernobyl.
Coming in at number 10 , we have Mutant animals.
When residents of Chernobyl and Pripyat were told to evacuate, they were told to leave
their pets at home.
The animals that were left behind were extremely affected by the radiation.
There are many reports about deformed and strange looking animals found near Chernobyl.
This photo is of a piglet born near Chernobyl, that suffered from dipygus, a severe congenital
deformity where the body axist forks left and right partway along the torso, and the
pelvis and legs are duplicated.
This piglet is currently on display at the Ukranian National Chernobyl Museum.
Animas that currently live near Chernobyl are not as affected, but there are instances
of genetic mutations.
Birds that live near the exclusion zone have developed smaller brains, dogs don’t live
as long.
Nowadays, animals that live near Chernobyl are actually thriving, but we still don’t
know what the long term effects of exposure to radiation does to the human body over time.
After the explosion took place, there are upsetting reports of dogs howling and running
after busses, longing for human contact.
Next up at number 9, abortion.
Its estimated that anywhere between 100 thousand to 200 thousand abortions were performed in
Europe as a result of Chernobyl radiophobia.
After the disaster took place, Eastern European doctors advised, and in many cases--forced
pregnant women to have abortions so that their children were not born with birth defects.
But the fact is, many of the women that gave up their unborn children did not experience
a dangerous level of radiation—a level too low to cause any problems.
Its crazy to think that these women were wrongfully advised to give up their children because
people were so afraid of the effects of radiation.
Next up, at number 8, we have the Chernobyl dolls.
Does anyone else find dolls terrifying?
How about dolls that were meant to symbolize nuclear horror?
After the explosion, the town of pripyat was littered with childrens dolls and toys.
And it seems that someone has taken it upon themselves to arrange the dolls on hospital
beds.
Some of them have gas masks on, and many of the dolls faces are destroyed.
These dolls were probably placed there by tourists, who are actually told not to touch
anything while visiting Chernobyl.
Sure, its safe to visit Chernobyl for a few hours, over 10 thousand tourists flock to
the exclusion zone every year, but in doing so, its clear that they have touched contaminated
objects like these dolls, probably to make their instagram photos look cooler.
Lets hope they also didn’t get radiation poisoning in the process.
At number 7, we have the liquidators.
Chernobyl was a mess that could not be cleaned up without people, people that would undoubtedly
get radiation poisoning from being so close to the damaged nuclear reactor.
At first, the soviet government sent in robots to the exclusion zone to help put out the
fire.
But the radiation in the air was too much for even the robots.
So the government sent in soldiers instead.
The soldiers were given a choice, they could either serve 2 years in Afghanistan, or spend
2 years shovelling sand into the exposed Chernobyl reactor.
At the time, it was believed by people in the Ukraine that vodka helped protect you
from radiation, so the liquidators took a shot of vodka and quicky shovelled sand onto
the reactor.
But even 2 minutes of exposure to the radiation was enough to kill many of these soldiers
who died of radiation poisoning.
Are you ready for number 6, the elephants foot.
The elephants foot is a large mass of black corium with many layers.
Its essentially a highly radioactive lava flow that’s formed the shape of a wrinkly
elephants foot.
Its made up of silicon dioxide and traces of uranium, and was first discovered 8 months
after formation.
If you went anywhere near the elephants foot for even 60 seconds, it would kill you.
If you are exposed to it for 30 seconds, the following week you will experience dizziness.
The photos that we have of the elephants foot show a worker interacting with it, taking
samples.The elephants foot is still highly radioactive, not as radioactive as it once
was, but still highly dangerous.
Exposure to it for an hour will kill you, and it will remain radioactive for the next
100 thousand years.
It is dubbed the most dangerous piece of waste in the world.
Next up at number 5, the grim effect on children.
Children under the age of 5 who were exposed to high radiation levels are likely to suffer
from health problems.
Things like stunted growth, bad dental health and immune disorders.
Chernobyl children are also 10 times more likely to get thyroid cancer.
The thyroid gland is most sensitive to ionizing radiation at 4 years or younger.
And according to the world health organization, thyroid cancer rates among children in eastern
Europe went up by 90%.
To this day, in the Ukraine, 6 thousand children are born every year with genetic heart defects.
Theres been a 200 percent increase in birth defects, and a 250 percent increase increase
in congenital birth deformities in children born in the Chernobyl fallout area since 1986.
And for many of these children, it will affect future generations.
In Belarus for example, 85 percent of children carry genetic markers that could affect their
health at any time, and also be passed on to their children.
At number 4, we have the Blackbird of Chernobyl.
A few days before the day of the disaster, multiple workers saw a terrifying winged creature
with a black body and piercing red eyes.
Many people regarded these sightings as a bad omen.
Most of the witnesses are now dead from contamination, but according to Archeologist Robert Maxwell
who worked at the site, he heard stories about the Blackbird of Chernobyl from local residents
while he was working at the exclusion zone.
He says that the blackbird is similar to the mothman, a creature that is said to live somewhere
close to Point Pleasant in West Virginia.
It was seen between November 1966 and 1967, and also duriong the collapse of the silver
bridge.
Like the mothman, Many witnesses saw the blackbird of Chernobyl flying away from the reactor,
and after the disaster happened, the sightings stopped.Many people believe that these beings
are a sign that bad days are coming.
He said, like a moth is drawn to a flame, the mothman or the blackbird are simply drawn
to the energy of disaster.
Its time for number 3.
Being a place where so much death occurred, Chernobyl is ripe with ghost stories.
One of the most famous comes from a Andrei Kharsukov.
Nuclear physicist Andrei Kharsukov had a strange encounter when he went to chernobul in 1997.
He said that he went to the power station at 7:30 am, and then went to the Number 4
reactor sarcophagus.
This is the exact place where the explosion happened.
He couldn’t enter because of the radiation, but he swears he heard someone screaming for
help from a fire inside.
He said.
Tessa its quote 1.
I ran upstairs to tell someone, but they said that when I entered the reactor control room,
I was the first person to open that door in three years, and the only way to get inside
the old reactor is through the doors I came in through.
If someone had gone inside the reactor when I was not looking, they would have tripped
an alarm that goes off when the reactor door is opened mechanically.
The reactor door requires a password and a handprint, yet someone, or something, was
inside.
Later that evening, as we were eating dinner outside the building by the river next to
the plant, a flood light turned on in the room of the installation.
There was no way anyone could be inside.
As we ate, we figured there was a power surge or something.
Then just as my colleague said that, the light turned off
At number 2, we have the firefighters.
There are few people who are remembered as heroes the way the Chernobyl firefighters
are to this day.
The firefighters that were sent to put out the fire at the scene did so at 1:23 am.
They were not dressed in radiation gear, they were dressed in standard issue soviet firefighter
uniforms.
That’s pretty much a death wish, and many of them did die, but not before suffering
painful agonizingly long deaths.
Vasily Ignatenko’s face was peeling, at which point the doctor told him a cup of milk
would help because he was only suffering from fume poisoning, as many of the patients at
the pripyat hospital were told.
Vladimir Pravik was a 23 year old firefight was exposed to so much radiation, his eyes
changed from brown to blue.
He died two weeks later.
Very few of the Chernobyl fire fighters live on to this day, and the ones that are alive,
are barely 40 years old and are suffering from terrible health problems and are unable
to work.
To make matters worse, Chernobyl survivors and their family are only given about $70
a month to live on by the Ukranian government.
Its estimated that 28 firefighters and clean up workers died within 3 months of the disaster,
and they all died from radiation sickness.
Coming in at number 1, the moment you have all been waiting for The next story on our
list comes from a musician named Yuri, and a survivor of Chernobyl.
Back when the disaster first happened, performers were brought in to calm the local residents.
But many of these performers ended up getting radiation sickness themselves.
Yuri was once a classicly trained pianist who has lost his eyesight and developed numerous
illnesses.
After the Chernobyl disaster, he was in a state sponsored musical dance troop that was
sent to Pipyat and the surrounding area to calm residents.
They were not told that they were going to a highly radioactive danger zone, and were
forbidden from talking to locals.
Even though the effects of radiation and death were all around them, they gave their best
performances ever.
Yuri described a ballerina who’s hair was falling off as she spun.
Blood leaked from her nostrils and down her cheeks from her ears as she danced.
This was the last time this ballerina would ever pirohuette.
Yuri escaped the USSR and began to lose his vision on the flight.
He is the only musician who lived.
Honestly dude that last one was so hauntingly beautiful and sad to hear about.
It really struck a cord with me.
Tell me which fact was the scariest to you down there in the comments, for now I’m
going to wrap up this video with some comment features from our video, Chernobyl creator
has warning for instagram influencers.
HisFits – I really want these people to find the elephants foot.
If you don’t know what that is then google it and come back.
Googled and that’s savage bro.
I wouldn’t wish an elephants foot on anyone.
Original AShrella – man I hope the Chernobyl tour guides get paid well
Aim bot – why would I want my news entertaining, just tell me.
Why the heck not?