Russkie strashilki - Season 1 (2003)

There are terrible rumors in the city about a shape-shifting man-pig, who attacks people on the dark night streets, devours the voting ballots and devastates the food storage. Masha Palkina and Lev Venedictov undertake a journalist investigation and solve the secret of this mysterious phenomenon.

Pyotr Nikitich Smelov, the editor-in chief, sends Lev Venedictov and Mash Palkina to investigate the story about a giant mushroom found in the vicinity of the town of Ugrumovsk. The journalists could not have expected this trip to become just the beginning of an amazing journey into a wondrous anomalous Zone.

This episode is a sequel to the previous episode, "Wonders behind the Fence". When Lev Venedictov and Masha Palkina find themselves in the anomalous zone, they have to escape from armed persecutors. Finally, they find discover the village of Zagibalovo, where they encounter the weird inhabitants of the zone and their extraordinary environment. Here, Masha meets her first love: the local shop assistant, who turns out to be a young centaur. The name of the village may be roughly translated as "Kickbucketry".

This episode is a sequel to the previous episode, "Zagibalovo and its Inhabitants". Lev Venedictov and Masha Palkina continue their adventures in the anomalous zone and discover even more extraordinary inhabitants and natural (or, rather, unnatural) phenomena.

This episode is a sequel to the previous episode, "Firebirds, Gnomes and Giant Worms". Lev Venedictov and Masha Palkina continue their journey in the wondrous anomalous zone and finally find their way back home.

An unusual household goblin lives in a Saint Petersburg apartment. He drinks all alcoholic beverages in the house, wherever the dwellers would hide the bottles. Lev Venedictov and Masha Palkina organize a ghost hunt. At the same time, the newspaper "Grim Tales from Russia" starts a city parliament membership campaign for its editor-in-chief, Pyotr Smelov.

Patients keep dying for no apparent reason in a city hospital. The inexplicable deaths occur in the intensive care unit #13. Since the police is unable to handle this case, Lev Venedictov an Masha Palkina come to rescue. While they manage to find a bomb in the hospital's basement, the case remains unsolved - not for the series viewers, though.

Masha Palkina dreams to turn her beloved centaur Yura Gorbunov, who lives in the anomalous village of Zagibalovo, into an ordinary man. She finds scientists who plan to clone the human part of Yura's body in order to use the organs of the clone for a surgery. Meanwhile, Yura becomes friends with his clone brother and saves him from the cruel medical "utilization".

An old teacher, who lives in a small village, experiences frequent close encounters with extraterrestrials. They communicate with the teacher in disguise of various famous historical figures. Quite astonishingly, Lev Venedictov and Masha Palkina verify the existence of the aliens. Later, however, they discover the true nature of this phenomenon.

Incidentally, Lev Venedictov and Masha Palkina come into possession of a metal trunk which contained human bones, as well as an antique miniature portrait of Peter the Great. The tall size of the reconstructed skeleton matches the description of the Russian king. Is it really his skeleton? The search for the truth brings the journalists back to the history of the October Revolution.

A huge tanker with waste from Mexico is trying to enter the village of Zagibalovo. The regional authorities, conspiring with mafia, are planning to bury the poisonous waste in the anomalous zone, known from the previous episodes of the series. The journalists from the "Grim Tales" attempt to stop the evil plan, but not entirely successfully.

Miracles are occurring in the regional art museum housing a collection of original paintings by famous Russian artists. Some parts of the paintings disappear and seem to miraculously materialize in the town. Lev Venedictov and Masha Palkina solve the real secret of the mysterious phenomena, which involves organized crime and corrupted authorities.

Masha Palkina and Lev Venedictov encounter a man who suffers from a strange mental illness and claims to reside in the mysterious City of Happiness. The journalist follow the man and discover the abandoned results of a mass-scale Soviet psychotropic experiment.

Masha Palkina and Lev Venedictov learn that the residents of Blerova, a small village near deep forests, are being disturbed by a scary witch, who possesses a walking hut on hen's legs, like the legendary Baba Yaga. The journalist trace the witch, who takes them prisoner and proves to be rather a warlock.

Whenever a thunderstorm breaks out in the vicinity of the town of Suisk, one or several houses burn to ashes. The most striking fact is that the these houses form an oval, if one draws a line between then on the map. Lev Venediktov and Masha Palkina investigate the anomaly, but are being confronted by the local mafia. An unexpected rescue comes at the very last moment.