Anatoly Moskvin, The Corpse Doll Collector

As Moskvin walked home from school one afternoon in 1979, he said he was apprehended by a group of men wearing black suits; the men were dressed in black as they were part of a funeral for 11-year-old Natasha Petrova who had been killed by ‘accidental electrocution’.

One of the men pushed Moskvins's face into the coffin and forced him to kiss the deceased girl, which he did.

The mother of the girl then placed a ring on Moskvin's finger and the girls; this ‘marriage’, of sorts, is what Moskvin believed led him to become fascinated with the dead.

In the weeks following the incident, Moski suffered from terrible nightmares where he said the deceased spirit of Natasha would call on him to learn the dark arts—so he could raise her from the dead.

To suppress these nightmares, Moksin dabbled in a few rituals which were to help ‘keep spirits away’, and this is how his obsession with death rituals began.

He even went as far as to join a satanic cult and told the other members about his nightmares. However, Moskvin expressed his sadness that he cast Natasha away, and made it his objective to learn about the dark arts that she spoke of.

During the 1990s, Moskvin began researching ancient rituals that would allow him to speak with the dead. He found that many tales of ancient Celtic druids would lay upon the grave of a deceased person, in order to hear the dead speak.

So Moskin would read through obituaries—particularly interested in the deaths of young children—and when he found one that he felt ‘spoke to him’ he would visit the grave and lay on top of it.

In 2009 families of the deceased began to notice the graves of their loved ones had been tampered with. After a terrorist attack occurred at the Domodedovo Airport in Moscow in 2011, investigators found ties to a particular cemetery. 

This is where they found Moskvin painting over images of deceased Muslims, but not damaging anything els. The police apprehended Moskvin and then went to search his apartment for further evidence, and what they found left them shocked beyond belief.

The officers walked into the apartment and were met by the sight of several large dolls, wrapped in fine clothing and boots, and were even found to be wearing make-up - but they were not life-size dolls, they were the deceased, mummified bodies of around 29 young girls.

At the time of Moskvin's arrest, he was 45 years old and lived with both his parents who assumed that Moskvin's ‘doll collection’ was strange, but probably just a phase or an unusual hobby. 

Little did they know that under the facade of each doll was the mummified body of a deceased young girl.

Upon his arrest, Moskvin worked with the police officers, explaining his every action and motivation. He told the investigators that he would choose his victims by reading their obituary, and if one called out to him, he would go to the grave site and lay on the grave.

He explained that sleeping on the grave would give the child's spirit the chance to speak to him, to ask him to "resurrect" them, and that he only ever removed the bodies of those who asked him to.

Once he had removed a body, Moskvin would either hide them in a mausoleum where he could prepare them for mummification or transport the body back to his apartment. 

Moskvin told the police that he hoped to remove the bodies and take them back to a warm, comfortable environment, such as his home, which would make their spirits feel more comfortable so they would be more willing to speak to him.

Plus, it would be easier for him to hear them when they were not underground.

The process in which Moskvin worked to keep the ‘dolls’ at his home began at either a secret location local to his apartment or in his apartment. It is at these places where he would begin the mummification process using a combination of salt and baking soda.

He would either leave them in his secret locations to dry out, or he could let them dry out at his home—this was because his parents would often vacate for several months at a time to a summer cottage, leaving enough time for Moskvin to prepare his bodies. 

Once the bodies were mummified, he would wrap and dress them back in the clothes they were buried in, put make-up on them and even stick toy eyes to their faces so they could watch cartoons with him. Moskvin also told investigators that he would place nylon tights over their faces and stuff their bodies with rags to make sure they maintained their shape and softness.

Moskvin believed that if the bodies of the deceased were left to rot, the spirits would be angry—trapped within an ‘ugly’ decaying body. 

Another bizarre and macabre discovery was awaiting the police. When the investigators began to move some of the corpses, they would hear music from music boxes that Moskvin had also stuffed into their bodies.

They also found many notes around his house detailing his methods of mummification. 

When Moskvin was asked why he did what he did, he gave a few reasons—one of which he stated was that the parents of the deceased simply left them abandoned in cold, dark graves, and this tormented Moskvin deeply.

He also stated that he was very lonely and had always wanted children of his own. He had even tried to adopt a daughter, but was denied due to his low salary.

Another reason for Moskvin's actions was how he was waiting for science to progress to the point of being able to resurrect the dead.

The question of his relationship with the dolls was also put to him, but he insisted that he never saw the dolls as sexual. He saw them as his real children and even held birthday parties for them, sang to them, and even watched TV with them.

The 29 ‘dolls’ that resided within his apartment ranged in age from three to 25 and some had been in his possession for nearly 20 years.

One particular body was identified as 10-year-old Olga Chardymova.

Olga was abducted by a drug addict, with the intention to steal her earrings and other belongings, but when Olga tried to escape, the addict hit her over the head with a metal pole—her body was not found for nearly 5 months.

In 2012, as the investigation into Moskvin continued, they exhumed the little girl's grave and found a hole in the top of the coffin. 

When the police raided his home and found several notes detailing his actions, they found one note detailing how he stole Olga’s body in 2003 by digging down into the grave, creating a hole in the top of the coffin to exhume her body. 

Olga’s mother, Natalia, would visit her daughter's grave daily, and was even in the process of painting a fence around the grave. As she would arrive to visit her child, she would find stuffed animals left as gifts, as well as notes signed by ‘DA’ meaning ‘Dobry Angel’ or ‘Kind Angel’ as this is how Moskvin viewed himself.

The notes would contain things such as congratulating her on public holidays, and even keeping track of what school year she would be in. He would also leave decorations on her grave for New Year and referred to her in his notes as ‘Little Lady'.

This torment of Olga’s family members lasted for almost 9 years. 

Olga’s mother, having already lived through the agony of not knowing where he daughter had been for five months when she disappeared, then learned that her daughter had been snatched away from her once again.

Natalia buried her daughter for a second time in an unmarked grave to ensure she would be left to rest in peace.

Moskvin was charged with the ‘desecration of graves and dead bodies’ under ‘Article 244’ of the Criminal Code. 

During the trial, he was given a psychiatric evaluation and it was determined that he suffered from Schizophrenia and would not be fit to stand trial.

He was sentenced to serve his time in a psychiatric ward.

In 2018, Moskvin—now in his fifties—was almost released to his psychiatric work from his home as psychiatrists believed he was improving. This motion was denied.

It was also claimed that Moskvin warned parents not to rebury their children as he would dig them up again once he was released.

Since Moskvins arrest, many of his colleagues have cut ties with him, and his parents live in isolation due to the torrent of abuse they faced when their son's antics came to light. It is even documented that Elvira, Moskvin’s mother, wanted her and her husband to commit suicide, but her husband refused.

It is not known if Moskvin will ever be released.