Kryakutnoy (russian: Крякутной) or Furtzel (russian: Фурцель) was a fictional early 18th-century

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n inventor, who allegedly invented the

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...

fifty years before the

Montgolfier brothers The Montgolfier brothers – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (; 26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (; 6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) – were aviation pioneers, balloonists and paper manufacturers from the commune A ...

. In 1820s or 1830s a collector and well-known forger ''Aleksandr Ivanovich Sulakadzev'' claimed to have discovered a following fragment in a chronicle attributed to a

Ryazan Ryazan ( rus, Рязань, p=rʲɪˈzanʲ, a=ru-Ryazan.ogg) is the largest city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census ...

police officer:

1731 года подьячий нерехтец Крякутной фурвин сделал как мяч большой, надул дымом поганым и вонючим, от него сделал петлю, сел в нее, и нечистая сила подняла его выше березы и после ударила о колокольню, но он уцепился за веревку, чем звонят, и так остался жив

Translated:

In 1731 scrivener Kryakutnoy from Nerekhta _town_close_to_Kostroma.html" ;"title="Kostroma.html" ;"title=" town close to Kostroma"> town close to Kostroma">Kostroma.html" ;"title=" town close to Kostroma"> town close to Kostromamade a ''furvin'' [an otherwise unknown word ostensibly signifying the balloon] like a big ball, blew it up with smoke unclean and smelly, made a loop, sat into it; and the devil raised him above the birch tree and the hit him of the bell tower; but he managed to hang onto a bell rope and so he survived.

Later the Sulakadzev's text tells that for his witchcraft the inventor should be executed, but was spared and only exiled to

Solovetsky Monastery The Solovetsky Monastery ( rus, Солове́цкий монасты́рь, p=səlɐˈvʲɛtskʲɪj mənɐˈstɨrʲ) is a fortified monastery located on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea in northern Russia. It was one of the largest Christ ...

under promise to never fly again. The text was interpreted as a description of a

invented fifty years before

. The manuscript was discovered firstly in the 1900s and then rediscovered again in 1940s, at the time of Soviet fight against worshipping the West and was widely used to claim priority of Russian science in

Aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...

and was widely popularized. It is also shown in the

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( rus, Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greates ...

's movie

Andrei Rublev Andrei Rublev ( rus, Андре́й Рублёв, p=ɐnˈdrʲej rʊˈblʲɵf , also transliterated as ''Andrey Rublyov'') was a Muscovite icon painter born in the 1360s who died between 1427 and 1430 in Moscow. He is considered to be one of the ...

(but set more than three hundred years earlier). In 1958 Dmitry Likhachov published a book claiming that the original manuscript was falsified: *The word нерехтец (''nerekhtets'', resident of Nerekhta) is written over немец (''nemets'', "German") * The word Крякутной (Kryakutnoy) is written over крещёной (''kreshchonoy'', "baptized") * The word Фурвин (''furvin'', "balloon") is written over Фурцель (Furtsel). The change in the manuscript seems to be done by another hand at some point between 1831 and 1901 (possibly closer to the later date when the manuscript was first published). The rest of the document appears to be an original manuscript of Sulakadzev, whose work however has no credence either as he was known for his forgeries.Dmitry Lihachyov Textology. Part VII Falsifications
/ref> The unlucky inventor of the hot air balloon thus was, according to Sulakadzev's original concoction, not a Nerekhta resident Kryakutnoy but a German baptized in

Orthodox Christianity Orthodoxy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Late antiquity, A ...

with the last name Furtzel. Later this fictional German was Russified to make the story more patriotic. Although the story is considered now by the historians to be a hoax, it is still mentioned occasionally in fiction and in popular writing on aeronautics.

References

{{Reflist Nonexistent people used in hoaxes Propaganda in the Soviet Union