The Danger of Being Infatuated with Abandoned Objects

A Story of a Poor Man with a Tragic Ending

Key Characters

1. Ivan — The man who unknowingly died.
2. Ivan’s Brothers — The ones who helped Ivan.
3. Ivan’s Stepson — Ivan’s stepson, who suffered an injury.
4. The Family Dog — Ivan’s pet who died.
5. Doctors and Authorities — Investigated the deaths.
6. The Abandoned Building — The source of the tragic events.

A kind request to the readers: If you guessed the cause of death or predicted the ending before finishing the story, please highlight the point where you figured it out. Share how you came to that conclusion and what made you think that way.

Ivan found an abandoned building in the forest…

It was 1994, Estonia, Middle Europe. A person named Ivan, from a middle-class family, walked into the forest to collect wood. This forest was very near to his town, so it was not the first time he had come here. Already, for a long time, for many years, he had been coming inside the forest to collect wood. But he would pick up the sticks at the front and return home. He had never gone further.

But since he didn’t get any firewood as he thought, he thought of going deeper and started walking inside. And when he went inside, his town started fading from his sight. When he went further into the forest, he began to like it. We can take the firewood afterward, let’s enjoy it first. Thinking this, he looked around and enjoyed the beauty of nature.

He walked deep into the forest for one hour and suddenly stopped in a place. Because there was a big clearing before him, and before the clearing, he saw a big fence. He had not come this far before this, so he didn’t have any idea of what it is, so he went near that to see what is it. Now, when he went closer, he began to see what is behind the fence. He saw a big building in the middle of the large clearing.

It looked like a big factory or a secret government building. The building was a little inside from the fence. Ivan, who was looking at it surprisingly and shockingly, had an interest in knowing what was inside this building, which was in the center of a deep forest. And he went near the fence and kept his hands on the fence and looked inside it for a few minutes. And when he saw it, he didn’t notice any humans inside. It looked like no one lived there for a long time.

Ivan’s family background sparked his thoughts…

When he came to know that it was an abandoned building, the first thing that came into his mind is scrap metals. Ivan’s family is very poor. Also, He and his brothers live together as a big family. So, when Ivan and his brothers went out, they would steal scrap metals and sell them outside for extra money. And with that money, they fed their family.

Now, seeing the abandoned building, Ivan thought there would be a lot of scrap metals inside. He thought of selling them for good money. He stood there and looked around for a while, and no one was there until he noticed. So, he reconfirmed that it was an abandoned building.

Ivan and his brothers made plans to steal…

And he returned to his house in the town. And on his way, he took some firewoods, and as soon as he went home, he told his brothers about the abandoned building he saw. Hearing this, his brothers were very happy and planned to go there tonight and take what is inside.

The time is past 9 at night, and the three brothers got ready. They took some tools like flashlights and bolt cutters and walked into the forest. After walking for an hour, they saw the fence Ivan had mentioned.

Now, they stood near the fence and flashed the lights around, but no one was there, so they kept their flashlight at the hip and crossed the fence, going near the building one by one. When they went near, they came to know that it was an abandoned building like they thought. But there is a problem: the doors and windows of the building were sealed in a way that they couldn’t be opened.

They accidentally found an underground chamber…

They were devastated and thought that they might get caught if they stayed there, so they got ready to go home. So, again, they started walking towards the fence, and when they were walking, they flashed the lights around.

And when they looked to their right, a little farther away, they saw a small hut-like structure. Seeing this, they looked at each other. They thought that the scrap metals they were searching for might be inside.

So, they went near to check, and when they looked, it was locked with a small lock. Immediately, they opened it with a bolt cutter and looked inside. He saw a mine-like staircase going downwards.

This is the actual image of the underground chamber they found.

Seeing this, they were a little frightened. But there was no sign or sound from inside indicating a human presence, so they flashed the lights in their hands down and walked inside carefully and slowly.

When they got down, they flashed the lights around and were very happy to see it because the underground bunker was fully filled with scrap metals. There were scrap metals at every foot they stepped.

Not only that, a little far away, there was a shelf. At the bottom of the shelf, a different box and suitcase-like structure were kept, and above the shelf, they saw big aluminum drums.

They felt as if they had hit the jackpot…

Now, the brothers knew that the drums would sell for a good price, so they were happy, thinking they had hit the jackpot. But it is good for them only if the drums are empty. if something is there inside the drum, it will be hard to carry it.

So, to check whether it was empty, they went near the drum, and Ivan pushed one of the drums. When he pushed it, he realized that it was empty. They were very happy and pulled it down from the top shelf, then took it to the staircase they had come down

An unexpected incident forced them to change the plan…

When they went to take the next drum, they pulled another drum from the top, and when they took the drum, the drum next to it began to fall down. But it was not an empty drum; something was inside. Also, the weight of the drum was nearly 250 kg. The drum didn’t fall on Ivan’s leg directly, but after falling down, it crashed on Ivan’s leg and smashed his leg.

Immediately, the brothers pushed the drum away from Ivan’s leg, but his leg was severely damaged, and he couldn’t even stand. Now, the brothers felt bad because they had planned to take everything from there, but since Ivan’s leg was injured, he couldn’t walk. How to carry both Ivan and the scrap metals? So, they decided to go home for now, and after Ivan recovered, they planned to come back and take all the scrap metals.

So, after they decided what to do, they took as many metals as they could carry in their hands for now, stuffed them in their pockets, and then carefully carried Ivan up the stairs. They slowly walked to the fence, crossed it, and finally reached home.

The sudden death of Ivan and his dog…

When they got home, the two brothers made Ivan lie on the bed, and Ivan fell asleep within a few minutes. When Ivan woke up the next morning, he was very happy that his leg was alright and thought they could go there tonight. But the truth was, his leg had gotten worse than before.

They waited like this for the next two days, believing that his leg would be cured. But on the fourth day, he couldn’t bear the leg pain any longer. So, he finally decided to go to the hospital. When he went and admitted himself, the doctor asked what had happened? and how he got hurt. Obviously, he can’t say that he went robbing and that a drum had fallen on his leg… So, he said that a tree had fallen on his leg.

So, the doctors began treating him for that, but none of the treatments worked. In the next few days, he couldn’t bear his leg pain, and it began to swell. His health continued to worsen, and 10 days later, after he was admitted to the hospital, his kidney failed and he died.

Now, the doctors couldn’t understand anything. A leg-injured patient had died due to kidney failure. They were confused about how this could happen. Immediately, they informed Ivan’s family, and his family was shocked, and took Ivan’s body and started burying it.

But the family members began to think about how Ivan had died so suddenly. Before they got an answer to their question, another shock awaited them. Their lovable family dog died suddenly.

Ivan’s family is facing a difficult situation full of confusion…

Seeing this, they didn’t know what was happening, because it was not an old dog. It was a healthy dog, lived without any problems, But suddenly died like Ivan. They had no idea what was happening in their family. And from that, four days later…

Ivan’s stepson woke up and came down from his room. When he got downstairs, he told his family that he is not feeling well. When the family members saw his hand, His hand looked like he kept his hands on fire. When they asked about it, he said he didn’t do anything like that, and he also said that he didn’t know what was happening.

Now, they took the boy immediately to the hospital, and the doctors asked, ‘What work had you done with your bare hands?’ He casually answered, ‘For the last few days, I took some tools from my stepfather Ivan’s toolbox and moved them to another place. That’s all I did, nothing else,’ he said.

Special authorities intervened in Ivan’s house…

The doctors already knew about what happened to Ivan and his dog. So, seeing the boy’s hand, all the doctors began discussing the situation. After their discussion, they contacted an authority and said it might be the reason. When they informed them, the authorities came to Ivan’s house that day. When they stepped out of the vehicle, their bodies were fully covered with hazard suits, and asked all the family members to evacuate the house immediately.

And after everyone came out of the house, the authorities took some special tools and went inside the house. All the equipment gave a signal in a particular direction. When they followed it, they went near a kitchen closet. Ivan’s toolbox was inside when they opened the closet — the same toolbox the boy had been handling for the past few days. When they opened the toolbox some usual tools were there. Not only that they saw a strange piece of small metal scrap.

What really happened that day?

When Ivan was injured in the bunker and while returning home, I mentioned that they took some metal scraps with them. At that time, Ivan took this small piece with him. After Ivan died, his stepson handled the toolbox. That’s when he took the small piece from Ivan’s jacket and kept it in the toolbox.

But Ivan and his family didn’t know that. That small piece of metal was extremely dangerous because, as they thought, it was not a normal scrap metal taken from an abandoned house in the forest. The building was actually an abandoned nuclear waste storage facility.

Where did Ivan and his brother make their mistakes?

Yes, That’s where Ivan and his brothers went to collect the scrap metals. But no one knew that was a nuclear waste storage facility because they went through the side fence. But on the front side gate of the fence, there was a strict warning sign that read, ‘This is a nuclear waste storage facility, and no one is allowed inside.

This is the actual image of front side gate fence

Not only that, in that underground bunker, I mentioned there was a shelf with aluminum drums at the top. And at the bottom shelves, Ivan saw a different square-like suitcase. The box was nothing but a radiation shield, and inside that shield, there was radioactive metals. So when they tried to take an empty drum from the top, as I mentioned before, another drum fell down and then crashed onto Ivan’s leg.

Yes, that drum fell on the box that contained the radioactive metal, and when the drum fell on the box, the shield box was broken. The radioactive metal scattered out and fell near Ivan’s leg, but at that time, it didn’t touch his body. When everyone was getting ready to return home, they took some scrap metals and put them in their pockets. Unfortunately, Ivan took a single metal piece, And that too the radio-active metal piece which was near his leg.

Actually, he had already died when he returned from the storage facility, but he didn’t know it. When they admitted Ivan to the hospital, even though they found he was affected by radiation, no one could have saved him. Because of that small metal piece in his pocket near his stomach, a fatal dose of radiation entered his body at that moment.

You may have a question about how that dog died…

That dog usually sleeps with Ivan, that day when the small metal piece was inside the jacket, the dog slept on it and died due to radiation exposure.

Seeing the death of Ivan, his dog, and the hands of his stepson, doctors suspected that it may be radiation poison and informed the authorities. And they also went and found the metal. Finally, Ivan’s brothers and his stepson, all recovered well.

Ref1: https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1053_web.pdf

Ref2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_of_radioactive_material_in_Tammiku

Ref: https://www.komputerswiat.pl/artykuly/redakcyjne/zabil-go-poradziecki-zlom-winne-promieniowanie/wrx166x

Ref: https://maaleht.delfi.ee/artikkel/120223708/herman-simm-mis-juhtus-tammiku-jaatmehoidlas-tegelikult