Romania has long been on the sidelines of Polish tourist interests, although it has everything a vacationer could expect: wild nature, cultural wealth, high mountains, warm sea, historic towns and wonderful museums. Thrill-seekers can enjoy special attractions, such as Dracula's Castle in Bran or the haunted forest near Cluj-Napoca.
The Hoia-Baciu forest is located near the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca and is known as one of the most mysterious places in Europe. They call it the “Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania.” The analogy is obvious: people disappear here without a trace, UFO encounters are not uncommon, and there is supposedly a portal to another world there. Residents of nearby villages advise against entering the Hoia-Baciu forest, so as not to incur the wrath of the sinister forces that they believe reside there.
The main tourist attraction of Transylvania is considered to be Bran Castle, built in the 14th century. It was once ruled by the legendary Vlad the Impaler, better known as Count Dracula. The cruelty and bestiality of the ruler of Wallachia towards both enemies and his subjects are confirmed by historical sources, but they do not in any way prove Dracula's vampirism .
The forest itself is located west of Cluj-Napoca, but despite its proximity to the city, parts of it can be difficult to get through. It covers an area of about three square kilometers (297 ha), and the area around the forest is built up and absorbed by civilization. In addition to the mysterious and enigmatic history, there is also a very real history here. Nearby is one of the oldest Neolithic settlements in Romania, which according to scholars was established around 6,500 BC.
The southern boundary of the forest is formed by an east-west ridge of a hill that marks the valley of the Someșul Mic River. To the north, the forest adjoins a slope that joins the Nadăș River. The eastern edge is formed by a valley that divides the hill from north to south, while the western edge adjoins Melurilor Hill. There are several springs with drinking water on the northern edge of the forest. In general, it is a mixed deciduous forest with downy oak, sessile oak, hornbeam, dogwood, hazel, black locust, Scots pine, black pine, lime, Norway maple, wild apple and pear. There are also various herbaceous plants. The 12-hectare area covered with downy oak is protected as part of the Natura 2000 project.
In recent years, more and more tourists have been trying to visit not so much Dracula's castle, but the surrounding Hoia Baciu forest, where paranormal events have become almost commonplace. And yet, a hundred years ago, it was an ordinary forest. Locals hunted there, picked mushrooms and berries. A worn-out trail ran through the forest, on which travelers were not afraid to travel even at night. Today, this road is almost completely overgrown, and only lovers of extreme experiences risk a night trip to Hoia Baciu. Or ardent researchers of paranormal phenomena, of whom there is no shortage.
At the beginning of the last century (then it was simply called Hoia), the forest began to change literally before our eyes. Straight tree trunks gradually twisted at strange angles. The ground on the forest floor was overgrown with thick moss. Gradually, animals disappeared from the forest, and after them, almost all the birds. Locals whispered that in Hoia they saw Vlad the Impaler, also known as Dracula , who loved to hunt in these places at one time. Rumors circulated that the forest thicket had been chosen by the devil himself.
The Hoia forest began to earn its sinister reputation right after the end of World War I. In one of the nearby villages, there lived a shepherd nicknamed Baciu (which in Romanian means “leader” – a wealthy farmer, a kind of Carpathian shepherd). The locals were engaged in animal husbandry, and so Baciu, who bred and sold sheep by the hundreds, enjoyed general respect. One day in June, the shepherd drove a flock of two hundred sheep to the market in the city of Cluj (the name was changed to Cluj-Napoca by the Romanian authorities only in 1974). As usual, he drove the animals along a well-known path through the forest, but he never got anywhere. He left home with his sheep early in the morning and disappeared without a trace.
When he did not appear at the fair at the agreed time, the merchants waiting for the flock, for which they had already paid an advance, began to worry. The inhabitants of the city and the surrounding villages (a few thousand people participated in the search) literally combed the forest, but no trace of either the farmer or the sheep could be found. There had been no robbers in this area for a long time, but even if a group of thieves had appeared from somewhere and killed Baciu, it would have been unrealistic to steal such a large flock without drawing attention in the area. The generally respected farmer and his sheep disappeared without a trace. People concluded that he had fallen victim to the powers of the devil, and from that moment on the forest began to be called "Hoia Baciu".
The forest, like a predator, having tasted human blood, kept demanding new victims. Over the course of several years, several more people disappeared in Hoia Baciu. Their bodies were also never found, but these tragedies can be considered unfortunate accidents, attacks by wild animals, and we can try to explain them somehow. Other stories, however, can be smelled from a distance as devilish tricks. Here are two examples that happened after World War II:
A young teacher, who was considered to believe neither in God nor the devil, went to Hoia Baciu to pick mushrooms. After some time, the locals found her sitting on the edge of the forest. The woman had completely lost her memory; she didn't even know her own name. And of course, she was unable to answer the question of what had happened to her in the forest.
Another time, a five-year-old girl ran into the forest chasing a colorful butterfly and disappeared. A search was conducted, but the child was never found. Only five years later did the missing girl – in the same dress and externally unchanged – emerge from the forest, holding a caught butterfly in her hand. She too could not tell where she had disappeared: for her, only a few minutes had passed from entering the forest to catching the butterfly.
Educated people, like the aforementioned teacher, consider such stories to be superstitions. That is why, although local residents avoid entering the forest, some visitors will always go there to look for berries and mushrooms. Not all, but many of these daredevils complained of various ailments soon afterwards: skin rashes, migraines, dizziness or vomiting without cause. After some time, they would recover, but the bad reputation of the Hoia Baciu forest continued to grow.
In the 1960s, Romanian biologist Alexandru Sift became interested in the phenomenon of the Hoia Baciu forest. He was the first scientist to seriously study this mysterious area. Over the course of a year, ignoring the threats, he traversed the forest in all directions, spent the night in the forest wilderness, and conducted photo sessions. Interestingly, Hoia Baciu did not harm him at all. Alexandru Sift noted that deep in the forest there was a round clearing devoid of vegetation. A comparison of soil samples taken from this clearing with ordinary forest soil did not reveal any deviations from the norm. This means that the lack of plants in the clearing is not due to biological reasons.
Alexandru Sift drew attention to the photos taken during night sessions in the "bald" glade: after developing the photos, they often showed peculiar, large, luminous objects, invisible to the naked eye. Such luminous balls still often appear in digital photos today. Scientists have no explanation for them, but the locals know what they know: the balls of light are the souls of people who died here. The point is that the Transylvanian land was abundantly soaked in blood. In the Middle Ages, it kept changing hands, of course during battles, and the unfortunate local inhabitants were ruthlessly robbed and killed by both local rulers, Hungarians, and Turks.
In 1968, engineer Emil Barnea continued Sift's research. Shortly after beginning his observations in the Hoia Baciu forest, he managed to photograph a metallic UFO disk floating above the trees. Experts determined that it was indeed some kind of flying object, the nature of which they were unable to explain. It is considered to be the clearest and most reliable UFO photograph taken in Romania.
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