A basement discovery frightens residents in Kostanay

Tengrinews.kz - A frightening discovery was made by residents of an apartment building in the center of Kostanay.

The apartment residents contacted the building maintenance cooperative requesting the removal of ritual items, but were refused. Residents are unsure what to do with the headstone and cross.

"When a pipe burst in the basement, my neighbor and I went down and saw a cross, a headstone, and a slab. We thought perhaps one of the long-time residents would shed light on this story, but no one knew anything. There used to be storage units here for each resident — maybe they were stored there, and when they were dismantled, no one dared to take them out. It looks more like a child’s grave marker than an adult’s — it's quite small," said Oksana Kurbanova.

She also suggested relocating the items either to a cemetery or somewhere else.

"I believe these items don’t belong in a basement. They should be in a proper place. It troubles me, mentally and physically, especially since I live one floor above them," Kurbanova added.

The building maintenance cooperative also commented on the situation.

Photo: Tengrinews.kz

"We’re trying to decide what to do. Not everyone would be willing to take on such a responsibility, and you can’t just load up and throw such things in the trash either. No one had seen the headstone there before — we only learned about it from the residents. But most likely, someone from the building left it there," said Inna Sherudilova, deputy chair of the maintenance cooperative, ‘Victoria.’

Photo: Tengrinews.kz

Local residents suspect that perhaps an elderly resident had purchased the headstone in advance and stored it in the storage area. The only unclear part: why is the headstone so small, as if intended for a child’s grave?