Case file · Apparition / miracle
The 'growing' stone crosses of Turov
In the old cemetery of Turov in southern Belarus, believers say ancient stone crosses that floated up the Pripyat river against the current keep growing out of the ground; reports of a new cross 'rising' drew crowds in the 1990s.
1990 CE · 52.07, 27.74 · status: legend
The account
Tradition places the crosses' arrival in the time of Saint Cyril of Turov (12th century). The cemetery church of Saints Boris and Gleb was built beside them, and pilgrims touch and kiss the stones. The year marks the documented modern wave of reports, not the origin of the legend.
The sceptical view
Frost heave and erosion can lift stones and expose buried parts; the 'floating' is legend.