Ivan the Terrible wasn't born a monster. He became Russia's first-ever tsar in 1547, and for years he was actually impressive — expanding the empire east into Siberia, modernizing the legal code, building St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Then his first wife Anastasia died in 1560, and Ivan became convinced that the boyars — Russia's powerful noble families — had poisoned her. Something inside him broke. What came next would define his name forever.
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Ghosts & Curses·1/3·1′
The place
Moscow Kremlin
The Ghost of Ivan the Terrible
The tsar who haunts his own fortress
1584 - presentMoscow Kremlin
Moral of the Story
“The sins of the powerful echo through the very stones of the places where they ruled”
Characters
I
Ivan the Terrible (ghost)K
Kremlin guards through centuriesSource
Kremlin guard testimonies, historical folklore compilations, Russian ghost literature