Location:Kırklareli, Merkez, Körpeşler neighborhood, 1983
Narrator:Hadi Yeşil
Watermills, still used in regions without factories today, have a history dating back to the fourth century BC. They are generally established in areas far from human settlements. Körpeşler, a neighborhood in the village of Hamidiye in Kırklareli, once part of Bolu province, was an area covered with hazelnut and poplar trees. There was a watermill near the part of a small water channel connecting to the Karaca creek. One of the villagers, Davut Yeşil from Sancaklar village, was among the farmers who came here to grind his wheat and rice. It was a bountiful year with a rich harvest. He had gathered approximately fifty sacks of wheat and rice. Körpeşler, which today has a population of over four thousand, had a population of around seven hundred at that time. Davut Bey decided to stay overnight at the mill to watch over his products and uncover the truth behind many horror stories told about the mills, despite many warnings from others.
On the night of June 30, 1983, Davut Bey took his provisions and belongings from his home in Sancaklar (once known as Beyciler village) and prepared a place to sleep by spreading his cushions in a room of the mill. After taking care of his work during the day, he performed his evening and night prayers and then lay down to rest.
As the night progressed, Davut Bey, sitting alone by candlelight in the watermill, heard the wooden doors of the old room creak slightly. A cool breeze entering the room lifted the dust off the cushions. While watching the shadows disappearing into the darkness between the old walls of the mill, Davut Bey suddenly felt a strange sensation. The silence filling the room gave him chills.
As his eyes scanned the surroundings, the old, monotonous sound of the wooden gears of the watermill reached his ears. However, this was not a normal sound. Davut Bey began to sense a mysterious atmosphere inside the room. For a moment, he saw a blur appearing in the middle of the room, followed by a faint sound of laughter. His heartbeat quickened for a moment.
Standing before him was a mysterious figure emerging from the old wooden planks of the watermill. The figure, which had no light, appeared clearly like a woman. She was wearing a white wedding dress, and her long hair reached down to her waist. Her eyes were shining, but there was a sense of sadness and melancholy behind that glow.
Davut Bey froze. He felt as if the woman was looking directly at him. However, after a while, the woman disappeared among the old planks. Davut Bey looked around the room in astonishment, but the woman had vanished.
The lights seeping through the wooden door of the storeroom across the room, accompanied by the sounds of drums and zurnas, echoed throughout the entire mill. Unable to sleep due to this noise, Davut sat up from his bed and began to watch the astonishing scene in the storeroom through a small crack at the bottom of the door.
The inside of the storeroom had turned into a wedding celebration, with hundreds of people moving around comfortably in a fifty square meter space as if they were in an open-air wedding garden. Some were eating, some were having fun, and some were just watching.
The crowd inside the storeroom danced like shadows, led by the bride and groom. However, the people Davut Bey saw were so real that he felt he could touch them. With their colorful clothes, laughter, and dances, they created an atmosphere as if it were a real wedding.
The woman in the white wedding dress resembled the woman Davut Bey had seen. When her eyes turned towards Davut, he felt as if a connection had been made between the past and the present for a moment. However, this thought quickly vanished as the woman disappeared again among the old planks.
As the mystical wedding continued with the rhythm of the drums and the melody of the zurna, Davut Bey noticed that many of the people in the storeroom seemed to be from years past. He even saw some people he knew, some of whom were no longer alive, dancing at this strange wedding.
In fear and astonishment, Davut Bey continued to watch this supernatural wedding. While the wedding celebration inside the storeroom maintained its mystery, Davut’s eyes remained fixed on the woman appearing behind the old wooden door.
Following the wedding celebration, the speaker announced the bride and groom’s turn for the gift ceremony. As the speaker’s voice echoed inside the storeroom, Davut Bey’s curious and fearful gaze focused on the gift ceremony of the bride and groom. The bride and groom, adorned with golden ornaments alongside the speaker’s hands holding shimmering jewels, began to put on their horned helmets, onion skins, and sea shells, adding to the mysterious atmosphere of the storeroom. Davut Bey thought that the presence of these strange elements in the gift ceremony signified the extraordinary and supernatural nature of this wedding.
As the wedding celebration continued inside the storeroom, the bride and groom, following the speaker’s signal, resumed their dance. Their dance took place to the accompaniment of traditional wedding music, but the tone and rhythm of the music gave Davut Bey a strange feeling. After a while, the process of adorning the bride and groom with the jewels held by the speaker was completed, and they continued dancing among the festive crowd. However, Davut Bey’s attention remained fixed on the woman behind the old wooden door.
It was 4:00 AM, and the time for the morning prayer was approaching. The wedding was coming to its final moments. Half an hour later, the speaker reappeared, and the music and dancing ceased. The announcer began to speak.
“Yes, dear tribe members, today is the first day of the wedding; we will continue to celebrate for three more days. Bride and groom, you wore your wedding outfits today. Tomorrow, you will wear clothes that were taken out without uttering a blessing. Bride, you will take and wear the wedding dress from someone else's chest that was placed there without uttering a blessing. This much entertainment is enough for tonight. The morning is approaching, the sun is rising, and people have already awakened. We will continue the rest of the celebration tomorrow.”
When the early morning hours arrived, Davut Bey was left alone in the storeroom. The mysterious atmosphere left behind by the wedding still intoxicated the room. The organization inside the storeroom had become chaotic, with the remaining traces appearing as if they had come from a supernatural world.
Davut Bey tried to make sense of these extraordinary events of the night. Perhaps this wedding was a connection between the past and the future. As the watermill continued to work silently in the early hours of the morning, Davut Bey would never be able to share this supernatural wedding with anyone, but he would carry this mystical memory within him for a lifetime.
As he opened the mill door and stepped outside, Davut Bey felt intoxicated by the light cool breeze and the morning silence. With the sunrise, Körpeşler neighborhood was awakening and returning to daily life. However, the supernatural wedding in Davut Bey’s mind would continue to exist on the boundary between reality and imagination.
0 Comments