Sue Darroch and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

TITLE: Footprints in the Snow: Tales of Haunted Russia
AUTHOR: James L. Choron
PUBLISHER: Zumaya Publications LLC
GENRE: Body/Mind/Spirit/Parapsychology/General
FORMAT: Trade paperback, perfect-bound, 260 ppl, $14.99 USD, Trim Size 5 X 8; ebook, $6.99
ISBN: 978-1-934135-06-8, paperback; 978-1-934135-07-5, ebook

This book is definitely on my hot summer reading list! Books on this subject coming out of the former USSR are fascinating, and sadly rare. This one in particular promises to be a gem, and I am looking forward to it!

Here is a bit about the book to whet your own appetite:

She is Mother Russia, the largest nation in the world, and her turbulent history has left her filled with restless spirits. Footprints in the Snow is a collection of true and documented stories of the paranormal from Russia and Eastern Europe. Excerpts, in shorter and less detailed form, have been published in numerous Russian and English language publications, primarily through the Illya Resink Library Collection and in various local magazines and newspapers along with such prestigious US and UK publications such as "Fate" and "Phenomenon" Magazines..

Footprints in the Snow: True Stories of Haunted Russia is a reporter's view of documentable paranormal incidents. The stories are told through the eyes of a professional skeptic, one who does not “see ghosts behind every tree.” Statistically, more than 96% of all such stories turn out to be quite natural in origin. There are exceptions.

The stories in this collection have all been thoroughly investigated and documented. These are not the high profile cases you hear about all the time. Most of them are little known outside their immediate area and only by the people immediately involved. You will not find "Ivan the Terrible" or "the lost Princess Anastasia" in these pages. Those cases have been treated frequently enough already. What you will find are some documented and verifiable accounts of paranormal activity in this country that have, so far, defied any rational or normal explanation. They are interesting and informative reading and entertaining. These are true reports of actual happenings presented in a way that leaves it to the reader to decide the cause of these "footprints in the snow."

EXERPT:

My apartment building is located just across the street from an elementary school and kindergarten that have served our community for more than seventy years. Here in Russia, this isn’t unusual. The school was part of Lenin’s first Five-Year Plan, and was one of the more successful parts.

Late at night, long after the school is closed and completely empty, we can hear children laughing and playing in the playground. It lasts for about five minutes—a relatively long time; but when you look out the window you see nothing. There are no children there.

Everyone in the building is used to this. It happens several times a year, and it’s gone on for decade—at least fifty years— So has what follows.

After about five minutes, there is a high-pitched, screeching sound, followed by an explosion. Then sound of children playing turns to screams, and then stops.

Welcome to Russia, arguably the most haunted land on earth...

The stories that you are about to read in “Footprints in the Snow” have all been thoroughly investigated and documented. These are not the “high profile” cases that you hear about all the time. Most of them are little known outside their immediate area and by the people immediately involved. You will not find “Ivan the Terrible” or “The lost Princess Anastasia” in these pages. Those cases have been treated frequently enough already. What you will find are some documented and verifiable accounts of paranormal activity in this country that have, so far, defied any “rational” or “normal” explanation. I trust that you will also find this to be interesting and informative reading. Hopefully, it will also be entertaining.

Attend a quiet family picnic in the forest where a soldier of the Second World War lies in an in an unmarked grave and ill-repose – and cries out to a little child to find him. Stand in shock and awe as a tomb is opened after seventy-six years and the horrible cause of a woman’s nightmares is found. Watch as a little girl plays at the feet of her aging parents – half a century after her death and smile at the continuing presence of – in spirit – of “The Countess”, a little grey cat that never knew she was a cat. March stalwartly across the length of Russia – in the heart of winter – with the rag-tag but undefeated soldiers of the “Legion of the Damned”, as they try to shepherd their families to safety across the wild Ural Mountains – every winter for more than 175 years. These accounts are all -- each and every one -- true reports of actual happenings. It is up to the reader to decide the cause of these “footprints in the snow.”

Nineteen years is a long time to spend in any country not one's own. In that time, Dr. Choron has learned a lot about life and living in Russia, especially about the Paranormal. In these pages the reader can literally hear the staccato notes played by the “Drummer Boy of Taratovka” as he warns his loved ones of fire – year after year after year. These pages take you on a visit the office and the home of one of the most blatantly evil men the world has ever seen where his presence is still felt half a century and more after his death and into the bowels of the most notorious prison that the world has ever seen – a place that Alexander Solsinitsyn called the “inner circle of hell.” Here, in “Footprints in the Snow” the reader can go along to the barricades during the “August Revolt” of 1991 and stand beside a man who has come there to fight for freedom for the second time in 100 years. He or she can know that love lasts forever as they walk down a quiet village street, smile and wave at the pretty little girl in the garden who will always and forever be a child or as you hear the story of the little boy who will never – ever – leave his mother and the teenage girl who is known as the “Angel of the Mourning.” Stand in a tiny cemetery and watch the little girl that a whole town calls “Our Little Hero” play at the feet of her parents… alongside her sixty-five year old grave – seen by all but those who love her most…

Enjoy your stay in paranormal Russia – live in buildings alongside men, women and children that have resided in the same apartment for five generations – and more -- and in some cases for centuries. Enjoy your stay in a hotel in which room service is provided by a pretty young maid – who was murdered ten years before your arrival and look out the window and see the young woman who has been standing on the platform waiting for the train – since a cold and windy night in the winter of 1972. Ask the neighbors about their daughter’s “invisible playmate”.

The reader can ride along with a young policeman as he follows a running ten-year-old child down the darkened streets of a small town in a desperate attempt to save an orphanage from fire – for the second time in fifty years. Visit the teachers of the “world’s oldest straight-A student.” Go on investigations with Major Maslov, the police prefect who is constantly called on when a case is “just a bit odd.” Or -- they can follow along as all of Russia watches on television, reads the papers and listens on the radio about the heroic trek of “the Legion of the Damned” as leave their bloody footprints indelibly imprinted in the snows of the Siberian wastes – year after year -- just as they have for almost two centuries…

Dr. J. Lee Choron is not a “parapsychologist, nor does his professional degree represent any paranormal pursuit or study. He is a PhD optical engineer and has spent a lifetime as a photo analyst, reporter and journalist. He is a “professional skeptic”. He is not a man who “sees ghosts” behind every tree or around every corner. He does not believe that everything that goes “bump” in the night is from “beyond”. He has investigated and documented these accounts thoroughly. The stories within the pages of “Footprints in the Snow” are taken from literally hundreds of stories concerning “hauntings” and “sightings” from all over the great land of the Tsars. They are largely unknown in the west, but they are the best – of the best. Dr. Choron is a collector of facts. He makes no judgment and no assumptions as to the causes of these incidents. The facts are here. It up to the reader to decide for themselves why there are so many “Footprints in the Snow.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. James L. Choron is a journalist and writer living in Mamontovka, a suburb of Moscow. He has resided in the Russian Federation for more than sixteen years, and is a former senior executive with the Eastman Kodak Company. He is a decorated veteran of the United States Military, a Master Mason, an 32* Scotish Rite Mason and the Presiding Bishop of EGnU (Eclesia Gnostica Universialis) for Mowcow and Western Russia. He is currently owner and Chief Executive Officer of Old Guard Productions, a company dealing in motion picture and television logistics and properties, and American Business Training, a company which deals with sales and customer service training for Russian companies seeking to introduce Western business practices and standards. Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in the small East Texas town of Center, he holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Stephen F. Austin State University and a masters and PhD from Moscow State University in the same subject as well as a graduate degree in optical engineering. A working journalist for slightly more than thirty-five years, he has columns in numerous publications in both Russia and the United States. He has numerous hobbies, primarily related to paranormal and historical research, both of which he has been involved for over twenty years. He has published a number of independent articles on paranormal encounters and activities and on historical topics, and is a staff member on several online publications and forums dealing with history and the paranormal. Dr. Choron is also a lifelong natural "sensitive" who has, since birth, been aware of the presence of Spirit Entities.