Anatoly Moskvin: The Life of a Scholar Obsessed with Death

Anatoly Moskvin’s story might have remained confined to academic circles if not for the chilling obsession that ultimately unravelled his reputation and horrified the world. Known for his linguistic brilliance and expertise in Celtic history and folklore, Moskvin’s life appeared, from the outside, to be one of quiet dedication. Living reclusively with his parents, he spent his days surrounded by books and obscure artefacts. However, when the secret he had kept hidden in his Nizhny Novgorod apartment came to light, the story sent shockwaves through Russia and beyond. As authorities revealed the grim truth, families of the deceased were devastated to learn that their loved ones’ graves had been desecrated, their bodies mummified and kept as “dolls” in Moskvin’s home.

A Disturbing Childhood Encounter with Death

The seeds of Moskvin’s obsession were sown in childhood. As a young boy growing up in Nizhny Novgorod, he often wandered cemeteries with friends, spending hours walking through rows of silent graves, particularly in the Krasnaya Etna Cemetery in the Leninsky district. In an article written before his arrest, Moskvin shared a particularly haunting memory: he had been forced to kiss the forehead of an eleven-year-old girl during her funeral. Recounting this traumatic event, he wrote, “an adult pushed my face down to the waxy forehead of the girl in an embroidered cap, and there was nothing I could do but kiss her as ordered.” This encounter left a profound imprint on his psyche, merging fascination with unease and sparking a lifelong interest in death and burial rituals.

Scholarly Pursuits and a Peculiar Fascination with Cemeteries

After graduating from the prestigious philological faculty of Moscow State University, Moskvin built a reputation as a brilliant philologist and linguist, fluent in thirteen languages and a published scholar of Celtic folklore, history, and occult practices. His academic work earned respect in his field, yet his particular interest in cemeteries and death customs set him apart even among scholars. In his apartment, he maintained a massive library of over 60,000 books and documents, many of which related to death, burial practices, and the occult. His peers described him as both “a genius” and “an eccentric,” dedicated to his work but shrouded in mystery due to his reclusive lifestyle.

The corpse of murder victim Olga Chardymova, aged ten, was one of the 29 he dug up and turned into mummified dolls, some with music boxes wedged in their chests. 

In 2005, Moskvin’s scholarly devotion to cataloguing the dead took on new significance when a fellow academic, Oleg Riabov, commissioned him to document and list the names of the deceased in over 700 cemeteries across Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Over the next two years, Moskvin embarked on an exhaustive pilgrimage, covering 752 cemeteries on foot, sometimes walking up to 30 kilometres a day. He would sleep in haystacks, abandoned buildings, and even coffins, approaching his work with an intensity that few understood. Alexei Yesin, editor of Necrologies, a weekly paper Moskvin contributed to, later described his work as “unique” and “priceless,” though it remained unpublished.

As Moskvin documented graves and memorials, his fascination with cemeteries deepened into something more obsessive. His nightly vigils over graves and meticulous documentation, while initially tolerated, hinted at an unsettling attachment to the dead.

Life at Home: A World Apart with His Parents

At home, Moskvin led a cloistered life with his parents, Elvira and Yuri, who, though loving and supportive, knew little of the full extent of his actions. His apartment was a curious place, filled to the brim with books, artefacts, and an extensive collection of dolls that his parents assumed were simply another quirk of his academic interests. Despite their close quarters, Moskvin’s parents remained largely unaware of his deeper obsession and were shocked when the truth came to light. Elvira, his mother, would later say that she had noticed strange smells in the apartment, but Moskvin dismissed her concerns, attributing them to his vast book collection.

Unbeknownst to his parents, these “dolls” scattered around the apartment were not mere toys but were in fact mummified corpses, each dressed in colourful clothes and wigs, posed on shelves, sofas, and in small corners of the cluttered home. For years, Moskvin’s parents had been living surrounded by these remains, unaware of the grim reality that filled their home.

The Grisly Discovery and the Families’ Shock

In 2009, families in Nizhny Novgorod began noticing that graves were being desecrated, with some graves even dug up completely. Initially, investigators suspected that extremist groups were responsible for the vandalism, and the Russian Interior Ministry assigned specialist detectives to investigate. The investigation, however, failed to identify a culprit until 2011, when authorities caught Moskvin painting over Muslim gravestones in a cemetery. They searched his home, leading to the discovery that would horrify the nation.

The police found twenty-six mummified bodies arranged like life-sized dolls in Moskvin’s apartment, dressed in children’s clothes and posed in various parts of the flat. Police video footage revealed a disturbing scene of corpses propped up on chairs, resting on shelves, and seated beside piles of books. Moskvin had preserved the bodies using a mixture of salt and baking soda, then dressed them and applied masks and wigs to create the illusion of living dolls.

For the families of the deceased, the revelation was devastating. They had buried their loved ones, believing they were at rest, only to learn that their children’s remains had been removed from their graves and kept in Moskvin’s apartment. For many parents, it was as if they had lost their children all over again. One mother, speaking to the press, expressed her anguish, saying, “It felt as if he had taken her twice.” Another father described the situation as a “nightmare,” stating that he could not understand why anyone would do such a thing.

The horror and heartbreak experienced by these families were compounded by the violation of sacred trust and privacy that comes with burial. They had to reconcile with the disturbing fact that, for years, they had unwittingly lived with the thought of their children’s remains under the care of a stranger who saw them as “dolls.” For some parents, the experience left them in a perpetual state of loss, with no way to restore the dignity that had been taken from their loved ones.

Moskvin’s “Children” and the Distorted Desire for a Family

In the aftermath of his arrest, Moskvin claimed he was driven by empathy for the deceased. Drawing on his study of Celtic and Yakut rituals, Moskvin believed he could communicate with the dead by sleeping on their graves. He began exhuming bodies, convinced he was “rescuing” the spirits of children who “called” to him. Over time, as it became more physically demanding to sleep on graves, he began bringing the bodies to his apartment, where he created “dolls” that he saw as his children.

Moskvin’s desire to care for these children stemmed, in part, from an unfulfilled wish to have a family of his own. His attempts to adopt a child had been denied due to his income, leaving him with a sense of loss that he attempted to fill with these exhumed “dolls.” He would celebrate their birthdays, sing songs, and even hold holiday gatherings, seeing himself as a father figure. Moskvin insisted that his motivations were purely paternal, denying any sexual interest and stating that he only wished to give the spirits a “safe” home. His actions, however, left the families feeling violated, describing his behaviour as “monstrous” and “unforgivable.”

Anatoly Moskvin's parents

Psychiatric Evaluation and the Parents’ Anguish

Moskvin was ultimately diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and deemed unfit to stand trial. The Leninsky District Court sentenced him to indefinite psychiatric care rather than imprisonment, a verdict that left many families feeling that justice had not been served. They struggled to understand how a man who had desecrated their children’s graves would not face legal punishment. As one father said, “He should be held accountable for what he did, and a hospital isn’t punishment enough.”

Moskvin’s parents, too, were left to grapple with the horror of his actions. They had supported him, unaware of the secret he was keeping in their home. Elvira admitted feeling responsible, haunted by the idea that they had lived among these exhumed bodies without realising it. Friends and neighbours distanced themselves, and Moskvin’s parents were left in isolation, trying to make sense of the son they thought they knew.

Legacy of Trauma and Loss

For the families of Moskvin’s “dolls,” the effects of his crimes are profound and ongoing. The desecration of their children’s graves reopened their grief and left them in a state of unresolved mourning, as they struggled to accept the unimaginable violation. Many have been left with a sense of profound anger and confusion, with some saying that they will never find peace knowing their children’s graves were so cruelly disturbed.

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