Tunguska: The Story, part 2

A small biography of Leonid A. Kukik (1883-1942), the real hero of Secret Files: Tunguska. He was the first one to organize an expedition to explore the Tunguska region.

Leonid A. Kulik was borned in the city of Tartu in Estonia.

He became a student at the St. Petersburg Forestery Institute and followed up his studies with mathematics and physics at the Kazan University.

He, later, joined the russian army for the Russian-Japanese war (1904-1905) and also for the World War 1 (1914-1918).

After WW1, he became a teacher at the Mineralogical Museum in St. Petersburg. His speciality: study and collection of meteorites.

His greatest move was to convince the soviet authorities that it would be a good idea to investigate all the fallen meteorites on their territories and that the soviet gouverment would be able to sell some very needed minerals to the the soviet industries. Everyone would become winners.

He got the assignment and while getting ready for his expedition, he came across an old re-printed newspaper article about a strange explosion that had happened in the Tunguska region in Syberia. This article also mentionned that some eyewitnesses that were travelling on a train for Syberia did see, after stopping, a fallen object that had been too hot to be examined closely.

After some more research, Kulik became convinced that a really big fallen meteorite could be the only possible explanation. He then decided to make this event his new priority.

In 1921, his first expedition did not go very far. The maps were not as good as our modern ones but he did manage to get near the general area and was able to collect many stories told by the natives people from that region.

In 1927, a second expedition was organized and he was able to reach the Tunguska " event " site after many difficulties like poor food, millions of mosquitos, infections and also due to the fact that his first natives guides did refuse to go all the way on the sacred land of the god " Ogdy " who has cursed the Tunguska region. Kulik did find another team of natives guides that were willing to accompany him for the rest of the journey.

We will soon tell you of Kulik's findings in a next article.

Kulik did organise more expeditions until the beginning of World War 2. He was captured by the german army and died of typhus in a prison camp on April the 24th, 1942.

The friends of the Secret Files: Tunguska salute your courage, Leonid A. Kulik

Also read: Tunguska, The Story, Part 3