In 1976, chess grand master Dmitri Valslav Goreksky disappeared while walking his dog in the Kuraginskiy forest east of Chibizhek. No trace of Mr Goresksy has ever been found. His dog, Najia, was reported to have turned up twelve days later in Shalinskoe, 100 kilometers north of where Goresky disappeared, apparently in good health. Sensationally, according to several unconfirmed reports, Najia now had a vocabulary of around 250 words and could construct meaningful and complex Russian sentences. She was also a good seven inches longer than the size recorded on her government dog license. Vets examining her also noticed a strange bruising on Najia’s tongue “inconsistent either with trauma or the ingesting of a large animal”. None of the words she had apparently learned, however, could shed any light on the whereabouts of Mr Goresky; nor could any explanation be found for her substantially increased size. Najia accompanied the first search party organised to find Goresky, but demonstrated “complete indifference” to any notion of the success of the mission. She was subsequently abandoned. Kuraginsky forest police chief Mikhail Vorenskina was quoted as saying at the time, “it’s as if the dog has somehow replaced or even assumed Mr Goresky. It doesn’t make any sense”. The investigation continues online to this day, in an unofficial capacity. 
talking-dogs / chess-grand-masters / mystery / Russia / 1976 / history / jokes / lovely / reading / paranormal
