Comments on: Chernobyl Tour

By: » Abandoned Malls

» Abandoned Malls — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:01:37 +0000

[...] is it about abandonment that’s so compelling? From Chernobyl and Pripyat to mental hospitals to lost theme parks from Korea to California, we can’t help [...]

By: » Abandoned Malls

» Abandoned Malls — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:01:29 +0000

[...] is it about abandonment that’s so compelling? From Chernobyl and Pripyat to mental hospitals to lost theme parks from Korea to California, we can’t help [...]

By: Katlyn Carpenter

Katlyn Carpenter — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:22:59 +0000

My science teacher was one of the first people to go to pripyatt,russia after the nuclear exsplosion. He brought the video in to school he said that everything is radioactive and nobody can go back.

By: Claire

Claire — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 23:30:44 +0000

Actually it was Elena and the friend she went with is a very good friend of mine. How dare you question her story. I have heard the tale from her travelling companions own mouth as well as seen the pictures (hard copies not email copies). So before you debunk a story check your facts. The lady in the leather jacket holding the geiger counter is my friend. So not only are you calling Elena a liar but my good friend.

Shame on you!

So if you please can post on your little blog that the story is in fact correct and they were in the REACTOR building.
Thanks,

By: Mark Shepherd

Mark Shepherd — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 01:16:42 +0000

Elena is the first person to publish such dramatic pictures for the rest of us to see and the work she has done is GREAT!!!

My suggestions are that the tour opperator now offering tours based on Elena’s adventures is trying to ‘pass her off’.

Elena has done this out of her love for her country and her passion for bikes.

I only wish there were more people out there willing to dedicate a few days of there lives so we can read these incredible stories.

By: wick-li

wick-li — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 08:26:10 +0000

“We have to do a school report and you are not giving us any info on what happened to the people, and the environmetn, we need a story from someone and about someone who lived through this inccident.”
you will find questions and answers in a bus on the way of the following in the area of alienation
http://forum.pripyat.com/showthread.php?t=1108

[tags]pripyat, photo chernobyl, true story elena filatova , never bike in Chernobyl area, tour to Chernobyl, Chernobyl ask and answer[/tags]

By: notn

notn — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 02:38:44 +0000

After looking at links in which people addressed the issues to her on a biking forum, I believe she took a bus tour if she went at all. One thing that stands out is that if she did ride her motorcycle through there so often, why doesn’t she have more pictures or newer ones? That’s just one obvious issue that stands out now - I had believed her until coming accross this link. Anyway, some people are saying that everyone tells lies when they write articles. Um, no everyone doesn’t. Bad writers tell lies and stretch the truth as a way around their ineptitude and laziness. Do we want our surgeons and pilots to do whatever they want when it gets tough? No. Our families and communities rely on the truth and hard work. Without them, there is no society worth living in.

By: skye blue

skye blue — Tue, 30 May 2006 10:29:33 +0000

2:45 a.m. Los Angeles;

I have spent the entire day wth elena; april 26th passed in LA with hardly the stirring of a ghost; I am so grateful to this woman who has placed us in the Land of the Wolves and made me realize why no one with an interest in nuclear power wants us to be CONNECTED to this history. “What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times….. and You were There.” And that is what this unbelievable. So what if she has taken some artistic license, if she has, that’s what artists do. Never send to know for whom the bell tolls;It tolls for thee.

By: Daniel Cuthbert

Daniel Cuthbert — Mon, 08 May 2006 11:04:44 +0000

VERY SAD!

I was with Rimma on the 10th March 2006 for 2 days and Im devastated to hear she passed away

great woman!

By: Twenty Years And A Day « MaisonBisson.com

Twenty Years And A Day « MaisonBisson.com — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 03:52:49 +0000

[...] It is there that I learned that Rimma Kiselica, the woman who has guided so many of those who’ve reported from the dead-zone, died on March 19. [...]

By: EvilLawnGnome.com » 51.389N, 30.10E

EvilLawnGnome.com » 51.389N, 30.10E — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 01:12:26 +0000

[...] done it? In terms of our readiness for self-sacrifice, we have no equals.Â permalink | trackback uri| [...]

By: Twenty Years Ago Today « MaisonBisson.com

Twenty Years Ago Today « MaisonBisson.com — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 22:01:23 +0000

[...] Despite this, a thread of fascination with the abandoned cities, especially near-by Pripyat, pervades much of the peer-produced work related to Chernobyl (David McMillan’s photos are an outstanding example). Day tours of the area are available from SAM Travel Company Ukraine (and maybe here too, but where are the booking details?). [...]

By: Tsernobyl 20 vuotta - Linjakohinaa

Tsernobyl 20 vuotta - Linjakohinaa — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 07:34:38 +0000

[...] Google Maps puolestaan tarjoaa mielenkiintoista materiaalia ilmakuvien muodossa Tsernobylin alueesta tarkempaa tutustumista varten. Viime aikoina paikan pÃ¤Ã¤ltÃ¤ otettuja kuvia lÃ¶ytyy myÃ¶s Kid of Speed -sivustolta, joskin sivun tarinoita uskoo ken tahtoo. Tuota sivustoa kohtaan on esitetty kritiikkiÃ¤ oman matkakertomuksen kera. Halukkaille jÃ¤rjestetÃ¤Ã¤n siis retkiÃ¤ ydinvoimala-alueelle. Nonih, eikÃ¶hÃ¤n noita linkkejÃ¤ kahlaamalla saa yhden tyÃ¶pÃ¤ivÃ¤n kulutettua. [...]

By: Casey

Casey — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 16:53:33 +0000

meganmartin03: thank you for pointing out my error, I’m embarrassed not to have noticed it myself long ago.

Regarding the dubious factuality of Elena’s story, I think it’s pretty certain that some of the details are fictionalized, but that doesn’t prevent me from appreciating the rest of it. Like you, I’m intrigued and fascinated (and saddened) by the disaster, and I recommend my followup: 20 years after Chernobyl.

By: MEGANMARTIN03

MEGANMARTIN03 — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 19:08:40 +0000

In response to ROGER April 12,2006-
Elena owned up to borrowing many of the pictures-if you actually visited her sites, both old and new, you would read where she acknowledges that many of the pictures are historical, and some borrowed from other websites. She follows this by stating that if anyone saw a picture that belonged to them and wished her to remove it, she would. As far as “get a grip” with the notion of someone being able to pass through the checks single-handedly without having to be on tour, I have close family in very high ranking positions in the military, and defense department-One uncle which has taken turns both in the pentagon, and in S. Korea territory. This uncle has children, my cousins, whom have both had very privledged experiences as a result of my uncle. Do not discount the possibility, you would be suprised what one could get away with in this world if they are either A. wealthy enough to persuade, or B. know the right people. Just because you are not privlidged to be in either position does not mean that someone else isn’t.

By: MEGANMARTIN03

MEGANMARTIN03 — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 18:57:13 +0000

Just a note-First-To the author-if you are going to dissect and attempt to disprove anotherâ€™s report or experience, you should double check your own article for errors before publishing, it just makes you look like a “hater” (jealous). Please correct the date of the disaster in your first paragraph from 1996 to 1986. Thank you. Second-I have been intrigued by this disaster and have been reading many articles and reports both bias and non-bias depicting the events, points of blame, and statistic reported evidence of contamination and radiation, and don’t see much variance in Elenaâ€™s story. What makes hers unique and attractive is how she makes it relative to anyone reading it-the story is very human and tugs at your heart. Hopefully by attaching personal experience to this ghost-town will stir a conscious effort to be less careless and arrogant in our future experiments to avoid such lingering devastations on our beautiful world.

By: Roger

Roger — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 07:40:38 +0000

I just went on the Chornobyl tour on 7 April 2006 and I have seen first hand what it takes to get inside. And, I didn’t see any private cars or motorcycles on the roads.

There is the first checkpoint where passports are presented and names checked against the list the guard has. This is at the 30km Exclusion Zone border. Then, there is a second checkpoint at the 10km Exclusion zone. Before we reached there, we picked up our guide in the town of Chornobyl and he had an official list with our information on it and that had to be presented before we could get in.

To the people who say ’so what if her story isn’t true?’ Get a grip. Fiction is fiction and lies are lies and this story needs neither. Pointing out that someone is lying isn’t ’sour grapes.’ It what you should do.

This story needs no fictionalization. Tell it like happened. I got in a van in Kiev with three other people and took a guided tour of the Exclusion Zone. It was heartbreaking. People lived there. People died. People are still dying. Lives were disrupted in ways we can barely imagine.

It’s not sour grapes nor is it shooting the messenger to point out that lies do nothing to make this story, or any story, better. Her site is filled with other people’s pictures, some there is snow on the ground, others everything is green. Some are black and white, others color. The one of the ships at the dock had to be taken from a helicopter or airplane. It is one thing to present these pictures, quite another to present it as your personal experience.

By: Lacey

Lacey — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 16:13:52 +0000

I’m another student doing a report on Chernobyl and I’ve found many references to first, second, and third person perspectives. I did not know about http://www.kiddofspeed.com until today, but I have every intention of looking it up. Regardless if Elena wne ton her own or on a tour bus, she still has legit information that matches up with everything else I’ve discovered on the inciedent. What room do we, as non educated researchers, have to judge whether or not she did go? It’s not as if that’s even the main factor.
The information is given: learn it, use it, live it.

[tags]judge, elena, student[/tags]

By: brian stiff

brian stiff — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 05:43:05 +0000

Elena is a fraud bearing an entertaining tale. Her story would have been better if she’d included sightings of stumbling, brain-eating, mutant zombies, but that would have made the story even less believable.

By: The Web Is Not A One-Way Medium « MaisonBisson.com

The Web Is Not A One-Way Medium « MaisonBisson.com — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 18:41:25 +0000

[...] Anybody who questioned the Pew Internet and American Life report about how teens use the internet and how they expect conversations and interactivity from the online services they use might do well to take a look at this comment on my Chernobyl Tour story: Student Looking for Info that your not give us February 3rd, 2006 10:11 [...]

By: Student Looking for Info that your not give us

Student Looking for Info that your not give us — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 15:11:16 +0000

you people suck. We have to do a school report and you are not giving us any info on what happened to the people, and the environmetn, we need a story from someone and about someone who lived through this inccident.

By: TuFur

TuFur — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 08:04:35 +0000

Whatever…she made two very engrossing websites with enough accuate info to educate and entertain…

By: MaisonBisson.com » Blog Archive » Homer Simpson Nuclear Safety Simulator

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 12:42:32 +0000

[...] Go look at the Chernobyl tour to see what happens when you mess up. [...]

By: RJ

RJ — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 02:33:48 +0000

I read about Elena’s website, KiddofSpeed, on a friend of mine’s Livejournal, but never did look at the site until recently. When this all happened, I was only 6 years old, and now 20 years later I learn a lot about tragedy, and what it looks like. The human in me wants to mourn for what’s happened, and the adventurer in me wants to go on one of those tours. Legit or not, the pictures, the photography, the creativity in the writings and all… it really has brought out an interest in me, be it passing fad or a deeper curiosity. Thank you Elena, or Lena, whoever you are.

By: james alderwood

james alderwood — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 17:18:41 +0000

yeah. i don’t understand why anyone is intent on disproving that elena rode a motorcycle through No Man’s Land. if you look at the radiation maps it’s entirely plausible, in a land so vast, that there are unguarded ways in.

i don’t even want to know if she did take a bus. her version of the tour puts me in a different place.. an eerie, reflective setting, alone with someone i can identify with. she is my guide and i like her. i spent 2 hours in the dead of night, taking it all in.

read some of her other writing and you will see she has a talent for evoking the most sublime twilight zone vibes.

By: Rob Ruick

Rob Ruick — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 02:20:26 +0000

Why is it that people are so quick to want to shoot the messenger? I have returned to this site a number of times.I think Elana has done a wonderful job.She not only deals with the tragic aspects,but points out how many acted with great courage.I love the way Elana writes.It is in a conversational tone,like she is speaking to a group of close friends.Elana’s style reminds me of a professor I had for a number of Russian and Soviet history classes.He had lived near Karkov,was captured by the Germans during the war,and found his way west after the war,fearing to return to Stalin’s rule.Elana’s distrust of her leaders shows much insite.I wish people here in the U.S.had displayed such a distrust of Bush before he got us into Iraq.

By: MSI

MSI — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 04:43:19 +0000

where can i find info on The other reactors? Are there accounts of how they reacted to the explosion? How about the Pripiat River? Did the water get contaminated? Did it effect other ecosystems? Please tell me where I can find info on just about everything! Thanks

By: shemet

shemet — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 11:46:33 +0000

weird effects of chernobyl

By: S.B.

S.B. — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 07:46:26 +0000

I agree with Adam S. Whomever is writing these things about that woman has issues.

By: Adam Stanhope

Adam Stanhope — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Sour grapes? The Serpent’s Wall site makes her seem legit.