Mõisamäe

“Help! I need help!” Jennifer rasped the moment someone picked up.

“What is your emergency?” Maria quickly switched to English.

The undergrowth of the grove that separated the yard from the road was thick and lush enough for Jennifer to hide in. Her view was limited, but she could still hear the muffled voices coming from the building.

“Miss, what is your emergency? Are you injured?” the dispatcher repeated.

The scene Jen had just seen still lingered before her eyes. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks and her heart pounded against her ribs.

“They were beating someone with sticks! A woman! And something was burning,” she stuttered between sobs, pressing her hand over her mouth. She couldn’t risk having them hear her.

“I need your exact location right now,” Maria asked firmly.

A shrill creak cut through the air and the voices abruptly got louder. The adrenaline hit Jen. Moving quietly didn’t matter anymore.

“Oh, my god! They're outside! I can’t speak...” she whispered feverishly, darting toward the road at full speed. The branches whipped her face, and blackberry vines tore at her ankles like barbed wire.

For a long moment, all Maria heard was footsteps, panting and rustling. Then it suddenly got quiet.

“Miss, are you there? Can you hear me?” she demanded.

Silence.

Maria checked the map on her screen, which showed a red circle to the southeast of Võru, not precise enough. She briefed the patrol team working that night—possible violent incident reported, witness left the scene, call disconnected.

Incoming call. Same number.

“Miss, what happened? Are you in danger?”

Jennifer had to catch her breath before she could speak. “I didn’t see the ditch and I fell. I must’ve ended the call,” she said, wheezing.

“Are you in danger? Yes or no?”

“No, I don’t think so. I got away. I don’t think they saw me. They ran out yelling something. I went to look for help. And—” she burst into tears. Her ankles burned with sharp stinging cuts as she stumbled onward.

“The officers are on their way, but I need your exact location. Can you tell me where you are?”

“I don’t know exactly. There was a sign earlier.”

“Can you find it again?”

“Yes... I need to go back to my car.”

“Tell me immediately when you’re there. What is your name?”

“Jennifer,” Jen whispered.

She kept as close to the forest as possible to use it as shelter if needed. The towering spruces swallowed the remaining daylight greedily, but it felt safer than walking on the road. Forest litter crunched under Jen’s feet as she made her way back to her car, trying to steady her breathing.

“Jennifer, are you there? Can you hear me?”

“I can see the sign,” she whispered.

“What does it say?”

“Moisama… something. I can’t say it right. It has letters I don’t know—dots and wavy marks over them,” she said through tears.

The map and the search engine narrowed it down to three possible matches, one of which sat right in the middle of the red circle on Maria’s screen. It was close enough to try.

“Does it start with M-O, with the O having a wavy line over it?”

“Yes.”

“And does it end in A-E, with the A having dots over it?”

“Yes!”

“Is it possible the sign reads Mõisamäe?” Maria asked, pronouncing the name slowly.

“I think so… yes,” she hesitated.

“Is there a number next to it?”

“Number one.”

“Got it. That puts you about one kilometer from Mõisamäe. There are only two roads into that village where that sign could be. Jennifer, are there fields or forests around you? So I know which side of the village you are on.”

“Forests. Thick, dark forests.”

“I’ve got your location. Are you able to get back to your vehicle?”

“I’m almost there.”

“Get into the car and lock the doors. Do not leave it. I’ll update the officers on your location. Stay on the line.”

“Yes,” Jennifer sobbed.

She sprinted to her car and curled up in the seat, lowering herself almost entirely below window level. Her whole body was shaking as the scene still played in her mind on repeat.

“Can you hear me, Jennifer? Are you in the car?” asked Maria.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Good. The officers are coming. Now, tell me exactly what happened.”

Jen inhaled deeply and let out a shivering breath before opening her mouth. “I was on my way to Voru. Vooru? The O has the mark over it.”

“Võru,” Maria corrected.

“Yes, that. I was on my way there when I got a flat. I remembered I’d just seen a house in the distance, a bit off the road a few minutes earlier. I left my car by the road and walked back to ask for help.”

“What happened next?” Maria asked gently, hearing only Jennifer’s shaky breaths and sniffs on the line. “Jennifer, what did you see?”

“I don’t know what it was,” Jen said, her mind returning to the yard. “They were beating a naked woman with sticks. And chanting. Someone was laughing. I didn’t understand what they were saying. And there were candles... it smelled like something was burning. I'm— I’m sorry. I don’t know! I ran away immediately.”

“Did you see any weapons besides the sticks?”

“No.”

“Was the victim tied up?”

“I...um...I don’t know. I didn’t see. They were all gathered around her,” she broke into tears again.

“It’s okay. The patrol should be nearby now. Stay in the car until an officer comes to you.”

* * *

Quick scan of the surroundings revealed nothing out of the ordinary. The officers escorted Jennifer to the patrol car and followed her directions to the location. They parked the car where it couldn’t be seen from the house.

“So it all happened here?” asked Officer Kehva from the passenger seat, ready to take notes.

“Yes. I entered the yard through this gate,” said Jen, pointing at the smaller gate next to a large one. “And I walked straight up to the main house. I knocked, but no one answered. Then I heard voices around the corner and followed them to a little hut further back.”

Officer Päll started the car without turning on the headlights and slowly moved closer to the gate to see the yard and the buildings there.

“That one. Right there.” Jen pointed toward the back of the yard as the hut came into view.

“That one?” asked Officer Kehva from the passenger seat and scribbled something in his notebook.

“Yes, definitely that one,” confirmed Jen. The officers shared a look so quick, she wasn't sure it really happened.

“Right… Miss, walk us through the incident one more time before we go and check out the place. What did you see exactly?” asked Päll, eyes narrowed, gaze still fixed on the hut.

“I knocked on the door. When no one answered, I opened it. That’s when I saw it. Four or five people beating a naked woman with sticks. The room was dark, almost pitch black and they were surrounded by candles.” Jen’s voice broke.

Päll asked Jennifer to describe the sticks, voice curious.

“Uh, they all had a whole bunch of sticks. Straight from outside, I guess—they still had leaves on,” Jen said after a short pause, trying to read the officer’s expression.

“Birch?” asked Päll. Kehva's head snapped up, glanced at Päll, then turned toward Jennifer, his head moving first, his gaze following a second later.

“Maybe? I don’t know.”

“Were the other people naked too?” Officer Kehva asked.

“Yes, they all were,” confirmed Jennifer.

Kehva pressed his fist to his lips, exhaled slowly and coughed. He suddenly seemed very interested in something out the window.

Päll turned to Jen with a smile, “Uh-huh… so um… was the room hot?”

“Yes, the heat hit me as soon as I opened the door,” said Jen, her voice still shaking.

Officer Kehva clicked the pen and hooked it onto his note pad’s spiral, turning back to his partner and Jennifer.

“And it was dark, you said?” Päll reached for the laptop, reading the notes they'd gotten from the dispatcher. “There were candles and it smelled like something was burning.”

“That's right,” Jennifer said.

Both officers sighed, leaning their heads against the headrests as the tension drained from their shoulders. Jen played back the conversation in her mind, looking for what she had missed. Before she could ask anything, Officer Kehva turned to her, “Miss, where are you from?”

“Florida,” Jen answered, still not understanding the change in atmosphere in the car.

Officer Päll opened the car door, and Kehva followed his lead. “You can come with us,” he said.

With the earlier shock still in mind, she hesitated, but the officers seemed certain. Still, she kept a few steps behind the men.

They walked up to the hut Jen had pointed out earlier. Kehva gave Jenifer a slight smile and banged on the door. The chanting inside stopped.

A woman wrapped in a bath towel stepped out, eyes wide at the sight of two men in police uniforms.

Before the door swung shut behind her, Jennifer managed to get a glimpse inside. The earlier horror scene fresh in mind, she was almost disappointed. A group of sweaty people were lounging on a high bench, speaking quietly, striking their limbs with the branches Jen had described earlier. A few short candles flickered on the floor.

Jennifer kept glancing at the woman. She didn’t appear harmed or injured in any way. The woman looked at Jen out of the corner of her eye, her face still turned toward Officer Päll, and said something—something that sounded like a question—but Jen couldn't be sure.

Päll seemed to be explaining the situation to the woman. He spoke in a calm, melodic tone, pointing at Jennifer, the car parked by the gate, and the hut as he went on. Jen heard her name a couple of times, and each mention was followed by a new reaction from the woman. She gasped for air, pressed her palms together at her chest, then turned toward Jennifer and gave a small laugh.

Two long rows of bundled branches hanging under the hut’s eaves caught Jen's attention.

She turned to Officer Kehva and nodded toward the bundles. “That’s what they’re using?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Feels nice,” he shrugged.

“Getting hit with branches feels nice?”

“Not branches. Whisks. It’s called whisking. And they’re soaked in hot water before use – it softens them. Most people like it.”

Jennifer scanned the little wooden building. It had one tiny window, and the wall above it was pitch black, as if it had been scorched by fire.

Suddenly a loud rustling came from inside and the door flew open with a loud creak that echoed over the yard. Four people darted out, still buck-naked, ran to the small pond next to the hut—looking over their shoulders at the officers as if surprised—and jumped in. Their shouts of excitement and laughter echoed back from the forest. Then they swam over to the small dock and took turns drinking straight from a large jar, occasionally nodding at the officers and Jen with slightly puzzled looks.

“I’m sorry, what exactly is going on here?” Jennifer asked, hoping for an answer that would explain what she was seeing.

“Do you know what a sauna is?” Kehva asked.

She blankly stared at Kehva. “Of course I know what a sauna is. I’ve been to a spa,” Jennifer said, not seeing the relevance.

Kehva waited patiently, tilting his head toward the hut and gesturing with an open palm like a magician.

Her eyes flicked between the officers, the group by the pond, and the rows of hanging whisks. “A sauna?” she mumbled.

Officer Kehva nodded.

“But... before... I swear... I mean, I they were...” She didn’t finish her sentence.

She thought back on the softly lit room with relaxing music and scented steam she had experienced a few years earlier. Then on the group whipping—or whisking— the woman with branches. "It’s a sauna..?” she wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement.

“It’s a sauna.” Officer Kehva confirmed.

“But the burning smell?” Jennifer asked, looking at the grimy part above the window.

The officers chuckled and translated the question to the woman.

“No aroma saun. Old smoke saun. See? No chimney in the roof,” said the woman in a strong accent, pointing at the roof of the hut and smiling widely.

Jennifer gulped, and the blood rushed to her cheeks. Heat wave flowed through her body, and it had nothing to do with the sauna. Or the whisking. Or the suddenly stifling air.

She turned back to the group by the pond, trying to imagine herself in the dark hut. Willingly smacking herself with bundles of branches? Jumping in a pond? Drinking whatever that communal jar contained?

Walking back to the car, Jen was still deep in thought when she heard the chanting-like sounds again. The two officers were simply talking to one another, she realized.

As the people in the sauna had been earlier. 

Just talking, she told herself. 

They were relaxing, she kept reassuring herself.

“Järgmine laupäev sauna teeme või?” asked Päll. Kehva nodded approvingly, opening the car door for Jennifer.

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Author's notes: The Estonian smoke sauna tradition has been inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

* Content note: The UNESCO video contains a few clips of nudity in a cultural/traditional context.