A woman in the garden

 I live in the village of Kostino, Moscow region. The village is small — there won't even be a hundred people. I don't have a husband (he died 4 years ago), I live alone, my children have grown up and live separately.

I woke up very early that day because I was suffering from insomnia. It was about half past four in the morning, and there was a thick fog. At that time, the strawberry blossom season began. When I woke up, I got up and decided to take a breath of fresh air.

When I left the house on the porch, I saw a strange picture: an unknown woman in her fifties was picking strawberries in my garden. Moreover, she was dressed very strangely — in a red robe with a strange hat on her head and strange shoes in the fashion of the 1940s. I shouted in disbelief for her to leave (in obscenities). After she turned around and noticed me, I saw her dark black eyes and a look of fright on her face.

From what I saw after that, I was in deep shock. The old woman's legs somehow bent, and not at the knee, but in the opposite direction, and, jumping over the fence, she disappeared. Realizing that it was some kind of devilry, I flew into the house, took valerian and lay down to rest - I was shaking all over with fright. When I woke up at ten o'clock, I went outside with the same fear and great curiosity and saw the same woman picking strawberries, but in different clothes. Speechless with fear, I began to recite a prayer, after which the woman, barking something obscene, for some reason fell to the ground and disappeared. And she never came back.

I became very ill, lost weight, and even prepared to die. I knew for sure that I was seriously damaged. I asked my friend about what I saw, and she replied that there was a boarded—up house on the edge of the village, in which sounds could be heard every night, wild screams and whistles.

Everything that caused me wild fear passed after the local men burned down this damn house.