Hoia Baciu Forest

Hoia Baciu Forest

            There’s nothing like a warm summer’s day to take a lovely stroll through the woods. Hiking and camping are some of American’s favorite summer pastimes, to get out and explore the forest, be at one with nature, and see the splendid beauty of the natural world. The thrill of hiking a new trail, seeing things that you’ve never seen, or hiking your favorite trail, discovering new features that you never realized existed. Hiking the trails can be fun, but if you go to Romania, only the bravest hike in the Hoia Baciu Forest, the world’s most haunted forest.

Set near the proximity of Cluj-Napoca near the northern border of Romania, the local superstition is that the forest is cursed and has become the home of the devil. Debate in paranormal circles rage as if the forest should be classified as haunted, UFO grounds, or a dimensional portal not unlike the Bermuda Triangle. All three activities, from ghosts and apparitions appearing, UFO sightings, and disappearances and unexplained missing time have occurred within the confines of the Hoia Baciu Forest. Since the first documented photographs of strange objects in the sky and bright lights with no apparent source, Hoia Baciu has been a place of speculation and mystery.

Those visiting the forest will claim that upon entering, the strangeness begins. People report feelings of nausea, aches and pains, unexplained boils, and some even have reported skin burns; the exact symptoms that one would experience if they were exposed to high levels of radiation. Hundreds of ghost hunters, UFO seekers, and paranormal investigators have taken Geiger counters into the Hoia Baciu Forest in an attempt to seek the source of the radiation, but no investigation has shown any significant increase in radiation levels.

Once in the forest, one might happen to encounter a lone wolf. The wolves watch curiously as people filter in and out of the woods, watching them without concern. The locals report that all the animals in the Hoia Baciu forest are friendly, despite the strange occurrences that happen there.

Aside from the animals, people have reported the feeling of being watched when in the forest. Alexandru Sift, a biologist who’s made many expeditions into the forest noticed that there were shadows within the forest that seemed to watch him from behind the trees. No matter where he was at, the shadows seemed to follow, paying attention to what he was doing. Other researchers say that more than watching, they felt like the shadows of the forest were stalking them, with a much more sinister intent.

The Hoia Baciu Forest has a very rich and diverse vegetation. Covering an area of about 295 hectares, the forest is often overlooked in Romania for more famous haunted castles and legends about Dracula. Even with its strange plants and twisted trees, the Hoia Baciu forest isn’t a very well-known stop for tourists seeking to chance the fates of the paranormal.

The forest became known world-wide in the late 1960s when Alexandru Sift captured several amazing photographs of unidentified flying objects in the sky above the forest. Emil Barnea captured the most famous picture of a UFO in Hoia Baciu in August of 1968. That started the race to the forest, where, in the 1970’s, the area was a center of unexplained phenomena.

No report is too strange for the Hoia Baciu Forest. Pictures taken within the forest show the outlines of people who no one saw when they were in the forest. Spirits and strange floating lights will appear on photos. Many report the failure of electronic devises while in the boundaries of the forest. Other people will report having the sensation of missing time, not realizing that hours, sometimes days have passed while inside the forest.

A common occurrence in the forest is hearing disembodied female voices in the silence of the woods. Laughing can be heard on the air, drifting with the chilling breeze on a summer’s day. People have even reported being scratched while there was no one around to scratch them. All the events in the Hoia Baciu Forest point to heavy supernatural activity.

Deep within the Hoia Baciu Forest is a clearing that has been termed a “dead zone.” No plants will grow in this vegetative dead zone, even though soil sampling has proven that there is nothing biologically wrong with the soil. The clearing radiates out in a perfect circle that all the animals within the forest seem to avoid. Some speculate that this area is the home for the ghosts that inhabit the forest. Others argue that the clearing is a portal to another dimension while some yet claim it is a landing site for UFOs. Pictures taken here show hovering lights and strange outlines that weren’t seen with the naked eyes when the pictures were taken.

Investigators have seen floating lights, orbs, within the forest and on the tree lines of the woods. When investigated with thermal and infrared imaging, it’s shown that these orbs give off no heat signature.

Locals believe that the area contains the spirits of Romanian peasants who were murdered there, the site being somewhat of a collective graveyard where unspeakable horrors and terrors took place. Others believe that the forest location makes it a perfect place for UFO landings. Still others say that the Hoia Baciu forest is something of a vortex spot, a place of power and energy where powers beyond our grasp are converging, trying to tell us something.

No matter the cause, the Hoia Baciu Forest is a place of mystery and wonder. With all the stories and legends coming from the woods, there’s no doubt that people are having some form of experience there. Where that experience is coming from, that’s a mystery for another day. But to earn the title of ‘The World’s Most Haunted Forest’ something deep and sinister must be taking place. Thousands of people and hundreds of researchers make the dangerous trek through Hoia Baciu Forest each and every year, discovering for themselves what the true nature of the World’s Most Haunted Forest is.

To see how Hoia Baciu Forest has influenced my fiction writing, head over to www.leifericksonwriting.com and check out my books today.

“Hoia Baciu Forest – World’s Most Haunted Forest.” Hoia Baciu Forest Worlds Most Haunted Forest. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

“The Lineup | Hoia-Baciu Forest: The Bermuda Triangle of Romania.” The Lineup HoiaBaciu Forest The Bermuda Triangle of Romania Comments. N.p., 06 Apr. 2015. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.