The Red Shoes of Saint Petersburg: The Real Cinderella

In 1892, during the height of Imperial Russia, a ballerina named Yelena Vetrova performed in a private court ballet for Tsar Alexander III. Her satin slippers, sewn with shards of crystal, were a gift from the royal cobbler — said to make the wearer dance “as if kissed by God.”

That night, Yelena danced until her feet bled. She could not stop. Witnesses described her as smiling through agony, spinning faster and faster until her bones cracked. When the music ceased, she collapsed — the slippers had fused to her skin.

Her body was buried in the snow behind the Mariinsky Theatre. When thaw came, only the shoes remained — pulsing faintly beneath the frost.

Decades later, a choreographer tried to recreate her final performance. Midway through rehearsal, every mirror in the studio shattered. On the floor, among the glass, they found a single crimson slipper.

The police sealed the theatre. But every year on that date, ballet dancers leave out pairs of red shoes — to keep her from coming back for theirs.