The Most Famous Russian Analog Horror Series | MAGNITOSHAKHTINSKAIA OBLAST

Something is very, very wrong in the mysterious Russian region of Magnitoshakhtinsk. So wrong in fact that the government started broadcasting informative videos in order to try and protect the population from. .

. . .

. whatever is roaming the area. As it might turn out though, you shouldn't be too quick to follow their advice, because it could actually cost you your life.

. . Hello people.

I wanted to quickly thank everyone who watched and engaged with my last video I put a lot of work in it and I'm really happy that it seemed to touch some of you. It was a bit of an emotional one for me, not gonna lie. So let's move on to today's video.

Some time ago I covered a Russian analog horror series called Siberian Chronicles (or Centrosiberian Chronicles if you want to be pedantic) And people really seemed to like it. After watching more Russian analog horror, I can confidently say that, in my opinion, it is by far the best series that the country has to offer so far. It's inventive, varied, creepy and builds a very interesting plot with recurring characters and an ever-evolving lore.

But in the comments many of you suggested that I check out other series, and the number one most mentioned is definitely "Magnitoshakhtinskaia Oblast" It's not surprising that it's been so "requested" Seeing as it's the most famous Russian analog horror series, with a total view count of over 7 million. While it's not as complex or as well-made as Siberian Chronicles, it still does some pretty cool things, in my opinion. I don't want to give away too much, but as you can see its style is very minimalistic, opting mostly for the use of black stick figures on a blue background.

While it is very simple, it's also very recognizable, and it has spawned a lot of imitators which show you that getting the style right is not as easy as it seems. So now, let's just get into it. So Magnitoshahtinsk is a region that.

. . doesn't exist, much like Centrosibirsk or Mandela County and as you'll see, these guys were very obviously inspired by /ourboy/ Alex Kister.

The name is probably a mix of Shakhtinsk and Magnitogorsk, two actually real places, and obviously they have to pick the most difficult name to pronounce ever just like Centrosibirsk, and Oblast basically just means "region" or "province". First of all, let's look at the title of the first upload, because it gives us important information The first part reads "Opletai attack people in the woods". So we should find a way to translate "Opletai" in English.

It comes from "Opletat" which basically means to entwine something or to wrap something around something else. Seeing as "wrappers" would sound goofy and entwiners too poetic, let's go with So "tanglers attack people in the woods" Alright. The second part reads "Main Russian МЧС department for the region of Magnitoshakhtinsk" Where the МЧС is the "Ministry of Emergency Situations" The description gives us a quote.

So let's watch. We immediately get the Magnitoshakhtinsk МЧС logo and spooky music. Then a text-to-speech voice tells us that with the beginning of spring we have to be more careful because of forest fires and because the tanglers come out of their lairs.

To avoid any encounters with these predators we should stay away from the woodland. What do we do if we actually get attacked? First of all we should try and keep on our feet, as the tanglers often try to squeeze the victim's legs in order to make them fall on the ground.

Second we should try to grab the tangler by the neck. "It is quite easy to do if you don't panic" Thanks, I'm sure it is. It's like when people tell you that you should punch a shark on the nose.

Of course, I'll do that right after I lose my lunch through both ends of my body When you have managed to grab the neck you should try to squeeze it as hard as you can. If you're lucky, and I love the wording the tangler will release you. When you're free you should run away trying to run as close to the trees as possible, as the tangler is quite slow and not very agile.

Most likely, again he'll get stuck among the trees. Be careful and inform the МЧС if you run into a tangler. One cool thing to mention is that the tangler is actually apparently a real figure from South Siberian folklore.

It's a creature that wraps around its prey and then sucks their blood. From what the folklore wiki says, it was believed that the tangler was just half of a person, having only one leg and one arm, and that in this state it cannot do much. But when two of them tie together, then you couldn't escape them even on a horse.

Pretty cool. So let's go and watch the second episode. This one is called "Антиакратическое формирование" which roughly means "Anti-Akratid unit" We'll soon understand what "Akratid" means The description contains the first two lines of the video, which tell us that serving in the МЧС is one of the most honorable and dangerous jobs one can have.

This video was made for the new recruits and candidates for the Anti-akratid unit The handling of emergency situations is one of the most dangerous and risky tasks. Then the voice tells us to pay attention and this plays: Woah. That was dope.

Apparently this was a possession test. If we have a reaction to it, we should immediately go and ask for help at the department for the fight against "Kefalni" dangers. I'll tell you what that means in a moment As you can see, a reaction consists of confusion, delirium, spasms and loss of consciousness.

You'll learn more during the courses of resistance against Akratids. Because of the rise in Akratid activity Magnitoshakhtinsk's government signed a new ordinance, for which any contact between people and Akratids is to be considered an emergency situation. The document was signed on October 23rd of 1992 This at least gives us an idea of when the series is set.

The "Anti-Akratid" unit was created right after this ordinance and their duties consist of the protection of the population from emergency situations, to ensure the general security of people against Akratids, the security of people on bodies of water (? ), if I got that right. I don't know why it's specifically mentioned And then also general patrolling.

Also, the implementation of measures aimed to prevent, forecast and mitigate the consequences of an emergency situation and a bunch of other specific stuff. When doing your duty, you will come face to face with the Akratids Which can be divided into two types: "Pragmats", who have a physical form and present a physical threat And "Kefals" who don't have a physical form and present a mental threat. Hmm, I wonder what this reminds me of.

Also, there we go with the "kefali" thing Both names obviously come from Greek words one from "pragma", which roughly means action, and one from "Kephalos", which means head Well, it's either that or a fish, you decide Also, the video ends with this message "May Birun (? ) help you" I don't actually get what name the voices use. If any of you understand it or know it then tell me, please.

Again, we start with the logo. In the last year in the area of Magnitoshakhtinsk 537 emergency situations tied to Akratids were recorded. 53 of these were tied to an infection of "Неспех", which I think is a play on the word "Успех", which means "success" The infection mostly hits women and elderly people.

The parasite is invisible to the naked eye, but its effects are noticeable and can be lethal. First signs of the infection. Slight fatigue, irritability, loss of appetite Second stage of the infection.

The subject keeps losing his drive to perform his daily chores and duties. Third stage of the infection. The subject stops performing his chores entirely.

He gets a constant headache and nausea, and completely loses his appetite. Fourth stage. At this point, a cure is basically completely impossible.

The subject stops showing any sign of brain activity, and his breathing stops. If you do get any symptoms, you should immediately go to a hospital. When the infected is put in a special МЧС hospital, the active phase of the treatment will begin.

The only treatment known to work so far is making the subject perform normal daily chores. Oh, alright. Chores like.

. . umm Dr yourself with a towel?

uhm. . Look in the mirror?

Put on an HEV suit? Be bloated in front of a basket? And roll a ball?

Put on your shoes and care for some house plants, I guess. This. .

. and. .

. that? And hail the coat hanger?

That's all we need to know about this Akratid So that was actually cute, I think. It's a pretty cool concept, except that it's basically depression until your brain shuts down. And I do like the fact that the cure is basically doing house chores.

In the description we also finally get something more Alright, that's pretty cool. I really liked reading the descriptions in Centrosibirsk, so this is right up my alley, even though it's nothing special. Let's keep going.

This one is called "Ukromshiki", which would roughly translate to something like "hiders". The description tells us that the video is from 1998. "Letting your kid go outside, you should always keep in mind the safety rules against the Hiders" "In the last two years, thanks to these simple rules and to the citizens being more informed, we managed to lower the rate of attacks by half.

First of all, the child should avoid entering abandoned buildings or going near them. Because the hiders often live in such places and await any distracted victim. They usually inhabit the basements of abandoned buildings.

On this building we can see the writing "Велес спасёт наши души" which means "Veles will save our souls" I'm not sure what "Veles" stands for. So what should you do if you meet one of these guys? If it attacks you, then there's basically no chances of survival.

First of all, try to grab hold of something. The akratid tries to grab its victims by the legs and drag them to its lair. If you manage to stay in place, call out for help or try to get attention in any way.

When other people show up, the hider will most likely, again, I can't with the wording, let you go The best way to protect yourself is to completely avoid abandoned buildings and yada yada yada. And then we get. .

. this: That's f***ing revolting. Listen, I hate it when children are used as a cheap way to disturb the viewers in media, but when it's done right it works very well, you know, like in The Blob or in When Evil Lurks or Skinamarink In this case, it gets a pass for me.

It's very unexpected and it's very messed up. Also, this probably doesn't hit as hard for people who didn't grow up in these kinds of places. But trust me, the amount of abandoned buildings in Eastern European countries is crazy.

I used to play in them with a friend and they're always incredibly eerie, mainly because of junkies and crazy homeless people. In fact, the last time I went back to my country, I took a picture. Look, the face itself is quite goofy, but in that atmosphere it becomes very spooky, trust me.

So, imagining myself as a child playing there with the risk of a damn hider being ready to snatch me up? Yeah, no chief. That's the kind of stuff that my grandma would have told me to make me stay away from such places.

Now that I'm thinking about it, it would be a perfect spot to film some kind of horror short. Anyway, next one. First of all, I like that thumbnail.

This one is called "Жердяй", which is kind of hard to translate without making it ridiculous. Because it would be something like "Beanpole". It indicates a tall and lanky person, a slim boy a thin guy a slender.

. . man?

Yeah, I think I'm going to call it "Gaunt". Suggest other ideas if you want. "Citizens in the village of Magnitoshakhtinsk often complain that they hear a strange noise coming from the roof of their house at night.

From January 1993, the Gaunt have been spotted in practically all villages. There's nothing to worry about, consider this your own Gaunt woodland neighbor. " Yeah, sure I will do that.

Of course. "During the cold winters, the Gaunt like to come to the villages and warm their long limbs over the chimneys. " It's funny that the word they use is "лапы", which is more like "paws".

They're trying to be cute about it. "What do you do if you get an uncalled guest First of all, don't worry. The gaunt is relatively harmless.

"Still, that doesn't mean that you should go outside. If it gets scared, it could hit you powerfully on the head. Second, call up the МЧС and give your address They will immediately send someone over Then we get the ending message again.

Be careful and always tell the МЧС if you meet an "unclean"" This is different, now they're calling them "unclean". We get a second video though, which tells us that "since December of 1994, the rules about the Gaunt have changed. They've been categorized as "Kefal" types instead of "pragmats".

So pay attention to the current version. Again, people complain that they hear strange sounds coming from their roofs "You shouldn't underestimate these sounds, it could be a Gaunt. So what should you do?

First of all, try to concentrate. You might feel a headache or nausea. Keep calm and concentrated.

Second, check if the windows are closed. If they're open, try to close them without looking out into the darkness. Third, close the blinds.

And again, don't look into the darkness. Fourth, call up the МЧС. Fifth, don't go outside for any reason Even if the МЧС workers ask you to.

Sixth, don't believe the voices from the darkness. So okay, that was pretty damn cool. I think that these last two episodes are definitely more well thought out and effective.

Let's see where this leads us. . .

This one is called "Woodlanders and the outer woods" "Towards the end of summer, the citizens of Magnitoshakhtinsk go looking for mushrooms in the woods. The smaller woods close to the populated area are relatively harmless if you follow the safety rules and don't wander too deep. But sometimes, the foragers go searching the outer woods.

Outside of wild animals and different types of unclean, these woods are also inhabited by "woodlanders. " So what should you do if you find yourself in outer woods? If you didn't go too deep, then you better leave the woods immediately.

Try not to make loud noises. The "owner of the woods", as they call it, doesn't like it when uninvited guests come and make noise. Also, don't get distracted by the voices coming from the depths of the woods You could hear the voices of your friends and family members.

If you walked in too deep and can't leave, then you need to do the following. First, put your clothes on backwards. Second, find an old dry oak with no leaves and circle it counterclockwise until you see an opening in the woods.

Third, walk out of the woods calmly. Don't turn for any reason. You might hear something getting closer to you from behind or somebody asking you to turn around.

Be careful and never walk into the outer woods. We then get again a message telling us that at the moment of this video's creation, the МЧС didn't have enough information about the Woodlanders. An МЧС patrol has been created to stop anyone from entering the outer woods and to stop anything from getting out.

And then, in the last second, we get this: I don't know what the voice is saying, but we get this strange symbol. You can also notice that the hand of the creature that we see in the video also has a symbol, which looks like an eye. Interesting.

. . So this one is called "Noch Karachuna".

So "Night of the Karachun", which is another Slavic folklore figure, a malevolent spirit of cold and winter sometimes thought to be an underworld deity. Apparently though, it's not only malevolent, as it protects and helps people born in December. So the video starts by telling us about the winter solstice that happens between the 21st and the 22nd of December, and that it's a dangerous time.

It is the night of the Karachun, and during this short period, the amount of emergency situations caused by natural phenomena is higher. Stuff like snowstorms and avalanches have a 47% increase in likelihood. The unclean are also more active at this time, awakened by hunger and by the freezing cold.

The Karachun apparently leads them towards people. So the government decided to turn the days from the 20th of December to the 23rd into holidays, that way no one has to get out. Then we're shown the steps to prepare oneself for the winter.

First, insulate all doors and windows. Second, stock up on wood if you live in a house, or make sure you have your own working electric heating if you live in an apartment, because the central heating systems might give out. Third, stock up on food and water.

Fourth, close up the curtains or blinds on your window or whatever you have to block them off, and check out if the locks on your doors hold well. Fifth, if any of your farm animals died right before this period, take their carcasses away from your home, at a distance of at least 50 meters, and preferably in the woods. While waiting out this period, you need to remember very simple rules, like not leaving your home for any reason.

If you followed the previous rules, there shouldn't be any reason for you to get out. In the days prior to the night of the Karachun, you might run into idols. Attention, under no circumstances should you get close to the idols or try to help anyone in danger by yourself.

You should wear warm clothes, because any type of cold during this night could turn into tonsillitis, otitis and bronchitis, and other complications. In the community tab, we can also find a short story, "Night call" So here it is, if you want you can skip forward. So come on, that was cool.

I think that adding little short stories like this to your series really pays off, if you write them well enough of course. This very much sounds like a classic post you'd find on X or something. nothing amazing, but it adds to the lore and makes this place feel actually lived in.

I started out not really giving a s**t about this series, that's why I didn't cover it before Every time I started the first two episodes I was like "yeah, this sucks" and dropped it But these last ones are actually pretty damn cool because they start building all this lore even though they're so short and you just want to see more. But there's a problem, this episode was uploaded two years ago and it's basically the last one because the project was interrupted from what I gather. But there's a video uploaded a month ago on the channel.

Apparently it's an episode that was deleted before, which they decided to retcon and re-upload. So after two years they decide to upload again, they say that it's not a sign of the continuation of the story, but I don't know, it's kinda strange, isn't it? So let's see what it's about.

The title says "Magnitoshakhtinsk October 5th 1992" October 5th 1992" and the description reads "In memory of the tragedy that took the lives of 146* (I'm proper stupid) people. " The first frame says that the programming is interrupted until the start of approved material. Year 1954, geologists from Moscow led by Mikhail Poliakov discover a colossal deposit of ferruginous quartzite (?

) in the area of Perkov village In a year the worker city of Magnitoshakhtinsk s founded and the work starts. But they make another big discovery, a great amount of antique artifacts and also this strange mummified body. Then we get the same symbol that we saw in the last video and see this, and we hear the same sound that plays during the possession test.

And so the series is over. So this last part makes me kinda mad, because it really does seem like they copied the idea of cursed archaeological findings from Centrosibirsk. Even though it's used in a different way obviously, I wish they would've gone with something more original, it's still pretty cool I guess.

So overall, what are your impressions of this series? I think it could be a very cool one if they kept slowly developing the lore more and more. And obviously there is something weird going on with these government issued videos, with weird symbols appearing and stuff like that.

It's almost as if someone was messing with the information to harm the population. Which again obviously is very much in the style of Mandela. I especially love how many of these things are inspired by actual Slavic folklore, instead of being completely made up.

And again, it's not the first series to use mythology by tying it to its lore but I always find it very cool. I also thought that it was too shallow and minimalistic at first. And I still do think that the first two episodes are kinda weak and it gets better as time moves on.

But then I found out about all the copycats So so many copycats. And they're all complete garbage. Outside the fact that they couldn't even be f***ed to make more than like 3 frames most of the time.

The writing is just abysmal and makes Magnitoshakhtinsk sound like it was written by Melville. I kid you not, it's almost always like: It was obviously written by actual 12 year olds Needless to say that I won't cover them So I hope you liked this little overview of Magnitoshakhtinskaia Oblast and tell me what you think about it, while we wait for the new "Centrosibirsk" episode. Thank you for watching, stay spooky and.

. .