We are talking about the favorite of Hetman Mazepa, the Chernihiv colonel, general of the convoy, Vasyl Dunin-Borkovsky. Mystical stories about him can be found in the works of Ukrainian ethnographers of the 19th century and even in the newspaper "Chernihivski gubernski obstavi" for 1888. Legend has it that Vasyl was one of the sons of the noble Kasper-Andrzej Dunin. The people considered the colonel a sorcerer and sorcerer. It is claimed that he was unbaptized and unmarried. He was buried in the vestibule of the Yeletsky Monastery in Chernihiv in 1702 — allegedly without a funeral service. No cross was installed in the church, only a tombstone with an epitaph.
After his death, a plague began in the city. And six months later, bodies of people who died of anemia began to be found. At night, the spirits of the deceased and his servants were often seen in the estate, howling frantically.
People used to say this:
people say
that colonel
wanders at night,
His soul is suffering
Everyone is looking for peace.

Residents of Chernigov were also disturbed by a mysterious black carriage that allegedly left the church at night and drove around the city. People appealed to Archbishop Ioann Maksymovich to stop the exorcism. One night, the priests, led by the hierarch, gathered near the Red Bridge and began to pray. When the crew approached them, it dissolved into the air. This is what local residents claimed.
After that, the Cossacks took out and opened the coffin of Dunin-Borkovsky. The colonel looked rather fresh, and held a pipe in his teeth. It was decided to drive an aspen stake right into his heart.
Such is the legend, and what was the story? The first fiction is that Vasyl Dunin-Borkovskyi was unmarried. If we turn to the modern "Genealogy of the Ukrainian Cossacks", we will learn that Vasyl was married twice. Considering the fact that the second wife was the daughter of the Chernihiv priest Maria Shuba, it is very doubtful that she would have left her deceased husband without mourning.
Yes, Vasyl himself sympathized with the church, was a philanthropist - it was with his money that the Yeletsky Monastery was built. The epitaph for his grave was written by Archbishop Ioann Maksymovich himself. If we talk about the missing cross on it, then this is a common practice in the case of burial in the church: the deceased is already under the cover of the cross.
Vasyl Kasperovych's wealth is also easy to explain without the intervention of otherworldly forces: after the Peace of Andrusiv, he accepted Orthodoxy and joined the ranks of registered Cossacks. In 1668, Hetman Doroshenko confirmed the universal right of the 28-year-old centurion to his father's estate, the village of Birkivka, which was given to Kasper-Andrzej Dunin for his service by the Polish king Władysław IV.
One fact really raises questions: the tombstone was broken. But a rational explanation can be found for this too. The epitaph testified:
He always served kings and leaders without flattery.
The first would be justly famous according to the hetman,
Because he was kind to everyone with his deeds.

In 1702, when Dunin-Borkovsky died, the hetman was Ivan Mazepa. Later, such words could provoke indignation among those who considered Mazepa a traitor. Accordingly, the desecration of the grave was most likely the result of political strife.
People of that time often accused those whom they feared, envied, or for political reasons of collaborating with demonic forces. Be that as it may, we have our own beautiful legend about the "Ukrainian Dracula". So why multiply the glory of the Wallachian prince of the 15th century one more time?