One of the private houses next to the Shoghakat Church in the town of Etchmiadzin catches the eye of passersby. The two-story home was built in the 1950’s by a man called Adam. Older neighbors remember that Adam used stones taken from the nearby revered St. Mariana Church to build the foundation of his house.

82 year-old Armik Asatryan recounts that when they moved into the neighborhood in the late 1950’s, Adam and his family was already residing in their new house. The old woman remembers the stories of neighbors as to how they pleaded with Adam not to use the church stones. According to the grandma Adam never got to really enjoy his new house. His son died at an early age and Adam, grief stricken over his son’s untimely demise, died soon afterwards. Vazrik, another neighbor continued by saying that Adam kept cows. One of them kicked Adam, breaking his foot. None of the subsequent surguries did the trick and the foot had to be amputated. The severed foot was buried in the house yard. Adam’s health got worse after the accident and he died after a long period of suffering. “As far as I know they dug up the foot and buried it with Adam”, Vazrik added. After the event the remaining family members, who had started to believe in the strange force contained within the four walls of the house, sold the place to a family of repatriates from the Diaspora. Mr. Sultan, the new owner, despite being a pious and God-fearing man, soon started to have strange dreams. Armik Asatryan recounts that Mr. Sultan would often visit them and say what a mistake it was that he purchased the house. He would say that there was a secret tied up with the house that wasn’t known to him. “He would see the same dream over and over – a black angel, his feet in water, would demand that Sultan free him from that suffering”, relates Grandma Armik, recounting the words of Sultan. So strong was the influence of the drams that Sultan covered all the walls of the house, inside and outside, including the cellar, with religious paintings of all kinds; paintings that Sultan himself had drawn. When the dreams returned, even after all these efforts, Sultan built a small holy shrine in the yard. But this also didn’t save the family. According to Grandma Armik, “When Sultan unexpectedly dropped dead in the bathroom, we again remebered the puzzle surrounding the house but didn’t want to impart too much importance to it.” All the while, the ill-fated events became master of the situation – they wouldn’t allow the evil memory associated with the house to be buried alongside the buried foundation stones. On the 40th day after Sultan’s death, his house took its next two unwitting victims. Sultan’s son, just like his father, died suddenly in the bathroom, and the mother dropped dead in the bedroom. Father Ghevond Mayilyan, who teaches comparative religious history at the Gevorgian Seminary, viewed the actions of the deceased, the painting of religious depictions all over the place, as spontaneous works. “All one had to do was go down to the cellar and find that stone or stones and take them back to the church”, said Father Ghevond. After this latest incident, the house was again put up for sale. The next buyer, Father Harutyun, was especially attracted to the house due to its proximity to the church. But before moving in, Hakob, the priest’s son, pleaded with his parents not to make the move. The young boy tells his parents about seeing the same dream for three nights straight – that an evil spirit rises from the cellar and approaches him, threatening to kill him if the family moves into the house. Father Harutyun relates that, “Before purchasing the house many people warned me about the mystery associated with it and advised be to stay way. I figured that after buying the place I could perform a house blessing ceremony and thus rid the place of its evil aura. But I became wary after the stories my boy told me, especially when I found out that the previous owner had similar dreams. I finally decided to give the place up.” The asking price of the house fell drastically after news of its being ‘cursed’ became known. In the early 2000’s, even though market prices for private houses in Armenia were pretty expensive, the two-story home at Dimitrov #1 (now Petrozavodsky) couldn’t be sold for even $5,000. But the house was finally purchased by a young man from Yerevan who sold it just one year later at the same paltry price. “He couldn’t endure it”, stated the neighbors who believe that the unknown entity also hounded the young man. The present owner of the house, Zhora Baghdasaryan, left it unoccupied for a couple of years after buying it in 2004. Afterwards he razed the shower and bathroom built on the stolen church stones and only later dared to let the house breathe, partially turning it into a refreshment stand. Mr. Baghdasaryan isn’t a believer in the almighty and humourosly treats the rumors surrounding the house. In his opinion, such stories are concocted to make men subservient. Nevertheless, he is in no hurry to permanently reside in the house and continues to live with his family in their old multi-apartment house. The mystery surrounding the house doesn’t come as a surprise to ethnologist Hranoush Kharatyan. She has heard many similar stories before. She stated that it is possible that the mystery is linked to the energy field contained in the house. Neither did she rule out a psychological influence resulting from the string of ill-fated events. In the estimation of Father Movses Terteryan, pastor of the Shoghakat Church, that land on which private homes now stand is monastery property. In bygone days, monks once lived in cell-like chambers there. It is just possible that they built the house on the site of a chamber of an influential saint. Father Ghevond Mayilyan has proposed another way out of the situation without delving into the black arts and spell casting that attempted to explain the mystery in the first place. “According to the liturgical canons of the church, the rite of house blessing is performed between the holidays of Christmas and the Holy Resurrection. When the walls and corners of the house are bathed in holy water you can rest assured that any evil spirits will not reappear. In the end, Christ, who resides within us, is more powerful than any evil spirit that exists in the world.”