Hoya-Bachu Forest, located near the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca, rightfully bears the title of one of the most mysterious places in Europe. It is called the "Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania".
This analogy suggests itself: here people disappear without a trace, encounters with UFOs are not uncommon … Residents of the surrounding villages prefer not to go to Hoya-Bacha, so as not to incur the wrath of powerful forces, which, in their opinion, live in the forest.
The forest was changing before our eyes …
Bran Castle, built in the 14th century, is considered the main tourist attraction in Transylvania. It was once owned by the legendary Vlad Tepes, better known to us as Count Dracula.
However, in recent years, more and more tourists tend to visit not only and not so much Dracula's castle, but the surrounding Hoya-Bachu forest, in which paranormal phenomena have become almost commonplace.
But a little over 100 years ago it was a forest like a forest. Local residents hunted there, picked mushrooms and berries. A well-worn path ran through the forest, along which travelers were not afraid to travel even at night. Now this road is practically overgrown, and only extreme people will risk going to Hoya-Bacha at night. Or obsessed researchers of the paranormal. Which, however, are enough.
At the beginning of the last century, the forest (then it was still called simply Hoya) began to change literally before our eyes. Straight tree trunks gradually bent at monstrous angles. The soil was overgrown with thick moss. The animals gradually disappeared from the forest, and behind them almost all the birds. Local residents whispered that they saw Vlad Tepes in Hoya, who at one time loved to hunt in these places. It was rumored that the devil himself chose the forest thicket.
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The Lost Shepherd
The Hoya Forest began to justify its sinister reputation immediately after the end of the First World War. In one of the local villages there lived a shepherd nicknamed Bachu (translated from Romanian - "leader", "leader"). The local inhabitants were engaged in cattle breeding, and therefore Bachu, who raised and sold sheep in hundreds, was respected. One June day, a shepherd drove a flock of 200 heads to the fair in the town of Cluj-Napoca. His path ran through the forest. Bachu went there early in the morning and … disappeared without a trace.
When at the appointed time he did not appear at the fair, the merchants, who were waiting for the flock, for which they had already paid a deposit, were alarmed. The inhabitants of the city and surrounding villages (several thousand people participated in the search) literally combed the forest, which covers an area of 35 hectares. But no traces of either the shepherd or the sheep were found.
There were no robbers in these places for a long time, but even if they appeared from somewhere and killed Bacha, hiding his body, it is unrealistic to take such a large flock away so that it would not be noticed in the surrounding villages. The respected man and the sheep disappeared without a trace. And the forest has since become known as Hoya-Bachu.
Time loop
The forest, like a predator that tasted the taste of human blood, demanded more and more victims. Several more people have gone missing in Hoya-Bachu over the years. Their bodies have not been found either. But these tragedies can be attributed to an accident, an attack by wild animals, that is, at least somehow explain. Other stories smell like outright devilry.
For example, here are two cases that happened after the Second World War. The young teacher, who did not believe in God or in the devil, went to Hoya-Bacha for mushrooms. Soon, local residents found her sitting on the edge of the forest.
In 1989, the Screaming Forest, located in Kent near the village of Pluckley, got into the Guinness Book of Records. There was the largest number of ghosts in the UK - at least 12 "apparitions" per year.
The unhappy woman completely lost her memory - she did not even remember her name. And, of course, she could not answer the question of what happened to her in the forest. Another time, a five-year-old girl in pursuit of a beautiful butterfly ran into the forest and disappeared. A search was organized, but the baby was never found. Only five years later, the missing girl - in the same clothes and absolutely unchanged in appearance - came out of the forest, holding the caught butterfly by its wings.
The baby was never able to tell where she had disappeared: for her, from the moment she entered the thicket, only a few minutes had passed.
Educated people, like the teacher mentioned above, despise superstition. Therefore, although the bulk of the locals avoided hiking in Hoya-Bachu, some still went there for berries and mushrooms. Not all, but some soon fell ill - people complained of skin rashes, migraines, dizziness, and causeless vomiting. Doctors were unable to establish the cause of the ailments in absolutely healthy people. After a while, the patients recovered, but a bad reputation was finally fixed for Hoya-Bacha.
World glory
In the 1960s, the Romanian biologist Alexander Sift became interested in the Hoya-Bachu phenomenon. He became the first scientist to seriously undertake the study of the paranormal zone. Over the course of a number of years, Alexander, despite the danger, crossed the forest along and across, spent the night in the thicket, held photo sessions there.
Surprisingly, Hoya-Bachu did not harm him in any way. Alexander Sift noted that in the depths of the forest there is a strange round glade with no vegetation. When comparing soil samples from this glade and with the usual forest one, no difference in composition was found. This means that there are no biological reasons for the disappearance of vegetation within the circular glade.
Alexander Sift noted: UFOs (most often round in shape) can be found anywhere in the forest. But in the area of the "bald" glade, their activity is greatest. When developing the films after night photo sessions, the researcher drew attention to another strange feature. Many photographs show round luminous objects that are not perceived by the naked eye.
By the way, such balls still often appear in pictures taken with digital devices. Scientists cannot give a reasonable explanation for this, but the locals have it. In their opinion, the balls are the souls of the lost people. The fact is that the lands of Transylvania are abundantly watered with blood - this area in the Middle Ages constantly passed from hand to hand. All this, of course, was accompanied by violence. The unfortunate peasants were robbed and mercilessly killed by local princes, Hungarians, Romanians, and Turks.
… In 1968, the Sift business was continued by the Romanian military engineer Emil Barney. Soon after starting observations, he was able to photograph a UFO over the treetops. Experts have established that we are really talking about some kind of flying object, the nature of which they do not undertake to explain. It is believed to be the clearest and most reliable UFO image taken in Romania.
Portal to another world?
Nowadays, numerous ufologists from different countries of the world - Germany, France, Great Britain, Hungary come to Hoya-Bachu. However, paranormal activity in these places has slightly decreased in recent years. Not all visitors manage to encounter mystical phenomena.
However, many of them observe glowing balls in the forest (most often - near the "bald" glade in the depths of the forest). On occasion, researchers hear strange sounds or see flickering shadows and lights. In winter, strange footprints often appear on the snow, which do not belong to any creature known on Earth.
In photographs, you can still often see strange silhouettes and glowing balls that are not visible to the naked eye.
Prestigious publications devoted to ufology, as well as the BBC channel, call Hoya-Bacha one of the most interesting paranormal zones on the planet. Even Nicolas Cage came here, intrigued by the programs about the mysterious forest. For several days, the famous Hollywood actor filmed a documentary about Hoya-Bachu, which he now shows to his friends at private parties. Cage is confident that the trees in the forest changed their shape under the influence of the powerful energy inherent in these places. After this statement by the actor, yoga lovers began to come to Hoya-Bachu. They meditate in the forest and try to draw energy from a mystical source.
In recent years, residents of the surrounding villages have found their own explanation for the whole devilry that is happening in Hoya-Bachu. They are sure that the "bald" meadow in the thicket is a portal to another world. The disappeared people simply fell there. And luminous balls, strange shadows and UFOs are inhabitants of a parallel universe who accidentally entered our world.
But there is another version that explains the mysterious phenomena in Hoya-Bachu. Dracula's castle, which was somehow forgotten in the midst of all this hype around the mystical forest, may well influence its surrounding territory with its negative energy and even be a kind of portal connecting our world with parallel worlds.
Andrey Leshukonsky