An expatriate Russian infantryman recalls a strange incident that he and others experienced during an invasion of Chechnya in 2009. Fairy lights appeared and caused havoc among the soldiers.
In 2022, Mikhail Zaitskavich, a former Russian soldier, spoke to the producers of the TV show “Mission Unexplained” about his strange encounter in Chechnya in 2009. They re-created it though, because of his current status as a US infantryman, they opted to use a pseudonym.
According to Zaitskavich, he had always wanted to be in the military. Originally from Arkhangelsk, his father was a sergeant major with the Russian air force and it was his desire to follow in his footsteps. In 2009, Zaitskavich was selected to be a recon infantryman which, in the Russian military, meant he was among the best of the best. Around that time, tensions between Russia and Chechnya started to heat up.
In the spring of that year (2009), Zaitskavich was sent there with his platoon. They were assigned the task of fighting the enemy utilizing unconventional means, ie: diverting supply lines and gathering intelligence on the enemy by talking to villagers. Sometimes the villagers would lead them to the places where the soldiers hid their weapons and it was up to them to retrieve them. Zaitskavich recalled that in Chechnya in the springtime, it was always raining or foggy.
One night, while retrieving a cache of buried weapons, they noticed some lights in the forest. They could be seen with the naked eye but they were quite far off. It appeared to be 10 small lights, all moving erratically. Zaitskavich then noticed what sounded like voices or whispers. It sounded like two people, speaking Chechen. It was very quiet at first but it started to gain in frequency until it sounded like they were whispering right next to his ear. Soon,10 more voices, he guessed, joined in the whispering all speaking at once. He began to panic, fearing that they had been made. He thought maybe the lights were a distraction, a common tactic used by Chechen soldiers and they would be ambushed.
Ivan, a teammate and good friend of Zaitskavich, suddenly started speaking loudly. It seemed as though he was trying to communicate with his father, who had died two years earlier. He started to run towards the light, dropping his gun and his pack. Zaitskavich assumed that his friend had lost it or the enemy was playing with their minds. Fearing for his friend, and worrying he might give up their position, he chased after him. Ivan just kept repeating, “I'm coming, father!” He was in a dead sprint running towards the light.
As they got closer, and the lights got bigger, Zaitskavich found it odd that he could make out no definition in them, nobody or nothing was behind them. They just looked like lights floating in mid-air. “That was strange to me,” he recalled. Ivan, now on his knees, arms at his side, was in front of a body of water, directly in front of the lights. He seemed to be in a trance and despite Mikhail's attempts to snap him out of it, he just kept talking to his father, to the lights. “At the time I wasn't asking what this might be, I was just worried about not getting shot,” he noted.
Eventually, the commander of the team arrived. He looked at Ivan and then at the lights and then muttered, “The fairies have him.” Zaitskavich couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He didn't know what to make of it as he'd never even considered it to be something paranormal. Ivan eventually passed out. “When I looked back up from his body, the lights were gone. It was terrifying!” They carried Ivan back to their original location. “Ivan had no idea what had happened to him. It was like he was in a coma. He couldn't remember actually the whole day. It was extremely weird that he couldn't remember any of it.”
The next day they just nodded at each other and carried on with the missions. “It is the strangest event that ever happened in my entire life,” Zaitskavich admitted. In hindsight, he believes the lights had sinister intentions for him and the others. It appeared to Mikhail that they were attempting to lure Ivan to the water, possibly to drown him.
Zaitskavich, a former nationalist, eventually became disenchanted with the Russian military. He exchanged important information with US officials and was, in return, granted citizenship. He now lives in the US and has cut off all ties with his family. He has resumed his career as an infantryman, now as an American.
Source: “Mission Unexplained” Season 1, Episode 2. Mission Unexplained. Cottage Life Network. March 2023. tv.cottagelife.com/shows/mission-unexplained/
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