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Instead, captains sometimes string up zip lines several stories above the water, connecting two ships.

The villagers who still practiced the old Slavist rituals would decorate birch trees, string up flowers and branches, and leave extra offerings for the rusalki.

“He found a waterproof hammock to string up in the yard, and he has a couple of sleeping bags, under-quilts and over-quilts that he can add depending on how cold it is,” Andrew Ortman said.

“I’m lucky to be alive today,” the witness said later as he watched dozens of officers and more than 50 police and government vehicles swarm the area and string up yellow police tape.

The tradition started after the Northridge earthquake in 1994, when neighbors got to know one another better and began stringing up Christmas lights between their houses.