Hoia Baciu Forest is only 20 minutes drive from the center of Cluj-Napoca, in the heart of Transylvania. This place really has a long and frighteningly strange story, accompanied by reports of many mysterious events over the centuries. On the contemporary scene, studies of these phenomena started in the 50′s when the biologist, A.Sift, spotted the mysterious phenomenon of light. Later, in 1968, Emil Barnea took the famous photographs of what have been described as UFOs.
One thing is certain – through its unexplained happenings, Hoia Baciu, has held the interest of experts from all generations. In addition to UFOs and the appearance of other mysterious flying objects, Baciu forest is also a place where strange characters may appear on the soil or on the snow. But this is not all….Walking through the woods one has a great chance of meeting strange appearances – what some say are the faces of dead people watching the visitors who dare to enter this realm of a different dimension. All of these kinds of interactions have unexpected effects on people’s health, reason and lucidity. It is not surprising that the “cursed” forest lying in the center of the enigmatic country of Transylvania became known as “the Romanian Bermuda Triangle.”
Around the world, there are said to be many places with the reputation of being the home and center of unusual phenomena; places that find their reason somewhere outside our limit of understanding and acceptance. This kind of place are really numerous – even though many of them are probably known only on a local level and hardly become famous throughout the country or even the world. This attitude speaks for itself and it underlines the fear and the restraint of the locals when it comes to exploring these sites. Who knows how the occurances of this places had affected the researches into the UFO phenomenon until now.
But it’s not only about the UFO activity, as long as people can tell, this place has been thought of as a gateway to a different dimension in which one can hears ghost scream and sees strange faces of the dead in a show of horror, fear and mystery.
One of the places where all these kinds of unconventional phenomena manifest in all sort of forms is Baciu Forest Hoia lying near Cluj-Napoca, Romania in Transylvania. This region is usually associated with ghostly encounters and strange things happening by the well-known history lovers. With the title of one of the most “frightening” forests in Romaniat according to many, Hoia Baciu actually has something really unique, something that tries to keep our interest and intrigue going strong for more than half a century. One thing is however certain – the forest has what it needs to become a Romanian version of the legend of the Bermuda Triangle.
Looking at Hoia Baciu, today we see a dichotomy. Nowadays, among hikers who want to spend a few moments in nature we find people armed with cameras wanting to capture something special and supernatural. These modern day enthusiasts are doing the same things as Emil Barnea did a few decades ago..
EMIL BARNEA
On the morning of August 18, 1968 the 45-year-old Emil Barnea and his friend Zamfira Mattea (age 34) went for a walk in the Hoia Baciu forest. Along with them, there were two other people, but then in the light of what had happened wished to remain anonymous. The weather was great, so the four of them decided to stay in the clearing and near the road leading to the town. They dined there, in the middle of nature, in what seemed to be at the moment, a charming and relaxing space. Little did they know what kind of mystery was about to manifest.
Finding themselves in the forest and in need of firewood, Emil Barnea decided to leave the group and explore the forest. There were no signs of anything unusual, until the silence was broken by the voice of his companion. It was about 13:23. Returning to the clearing he noticed something unusual in the sky. There was a round vehicle with metallic appearance reflecting the sun’s rays. It rose slowly over Hoia Baciu doing so in complete silence.
The man hurried to the packages and took out the camera trying to take a good shot, and because the subject was not moving too fast, he managed to take two shots. Moreover, he noted, that the object changed its brightness and then accelerated and flew up. One of the images had never been shown publicly, because it contains the supposed couple, that wanted to remain anonymous. It shows a small object vanishing into the clouds.
The appearance lasted for about two minutes , and Barnea , managed in this time to capture just two pictures of the object. Without being specially interested ” flying saucers ” he showed them to Florinowi Gheorghicie from Cluj , which dealt with the observations of UFOs. At the same time he knew from work of the ufologist after the appropriate steps were taken, provided information about the national news agency. One of the photographs Barnea appeared in several newspapers as early as 18 September.
By the time he found out more about subject, the director of the observatory in Cluj stated that Barnea and his comrades succumbed probably to a delusion and badly interpreted the emergence of a weather balloon as a flying saucer. People called them illiterate and drunk and accused them of faking the whole thing. However, traces of a weather balloons were never found in the area , and image analysis ruled out that Barnea could have perpetrated a forgery . But it was not the end of the interest in this issue and soon well-known Romanian ufologist , Ion Hoban.took up the challenge himself.
Meanwhile the fame of Hoia Baciu forest continued to grow, and it soon became a meeting place for the experts of the subject. Not only domestic, but also foreign sources spoke of passing the disc gripped the image.
ALEXANDRU SIFT
A pioneer of research in Hoia Baciu was Sift (1936-1993) , who walked into the woods in the 50′s in search of strange phenomena repeated demonstrations that the untrained eye would consider as natural phenomena . However, Sifts hunt had not begun with a camera, as many may think. Sift still continued his studies and in the 70′s, he gradually expanded the research team and its members – scientists not only from the country but also abroad. Those who visited Hoia Baciu pointed to a number of unusual results.
Among the phenomena that have been registered in the area one could find : flying low flying or floating objects resembling light points (usually white). These were usually accompanied by the appearance of physical phenomena (in the form of radioactivity , magnetic anomalies , microwave and infrasound emissions , etc.) , unusual traces on the ground ( in the grass or snow ) or the accompanying impact on the vegetation. Noted as well is the impact of Hoia Baciu on animals and humans (manifested by redness of the skin, burns, anxiety , headache , increased thirst , dizziness or disorientation , which means that a lot of people got lost in the woods ).
The most characteristic Hoia Baciu appearances are flying objects of different shapes and sizes, sometimes visible to the human eye, but sometimes visible only in photographs . These objects take the shape of pyramids , spheres , cones, cubes etc. . Similar objects have been repeatedly photographed and considered by some to be creatures that are quasi -UFO .
Some researchers that have taken interest in Hoia Baciu also mentioned strange and rather controversial phenomena , that manifested as guests of the forest. People report seeing ” faces ” of humanoids, or their full manifestations. However, we can argue with the Romanian researchers , it is a typical example of pareidolii – the ability of the human mind to watching a well-known shapes in a completely random arrangements of objects .
Also, an interesting aspect is the temporary emissions of gamma rays and beta rays, sometimes highly intense, and the nature of magnetic disturbances mainly in connection with the already discussed white objects. They affect not only humans , but also electronic equipment .
THE THIRD POINT
” The third point ” has a special meaning. It was calledthis in 1993 and it is considered to be the “center” of photographic anomalies. So far, scientists have come to several conclusions about what might be happening in Hoia Baciu and how this translates into the activity of people seeking unusual experiences there . Statistics say that in this area, any kind of anomaly that is recorded is more often than one may assume , however, they have the nature of a more discreet than the famous observation of Emil Barnea . Furthermore, there is noted a relationship between the impact of development on the person claiming that they are in possession of the ability qualified as unusual , but this is not the rule. Moreover, they were found no occurrence of a pattern , they are irregular in nature.
But skeptics and believers can see sources of uniqueness Hoia Baciu by lookingat its past history . Director of the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania says that the roots of the legend dates back to several centuries ago, when both the forest and the adjacent pastures were owned by the Church. To discourage looters , land owners began to spread scary stories about giants living in the forest , which will greatly influence the imagination of those early inhabitants of the Transylvanian land.
ADRIAN PATRU
As we had mentioned earlier, the group Hoia Baciu forest research began in the 1970s, when scholars wishing to unravel the uniqueness of this place focused around Adriana Patru – chemist and professor at the University of Cluj- Napoca .
Author of several books on Hoia – Baciu forest, Patru says that this is one of the few places in the world that, due to the intensity of anomalies – it is thought of as one of the best course of research on the invisible part of our reality. According to Patru , the phenomena taking place in Hoia Baciu may have a source in another dimension, parallel to our reality.
In spite of the research that has been done during the years, we still can not determine exactly what’s going on here . These raw events are either the product of the human subconscious , or independent phenomenon, which has the ability to impact on humans .
One day, when I photographed a rustic ruins, despite the fact that I had a map and knew the area well , I lost my way – he admits. Another member of the group had suffered a kind of ” time travel ” . After being separated from the group she admitted that she could not remember details about the place where it is located , as amended looked like a century ago .
According to the chemist , Hoia Baciu forest is not the only of its kind on the world map . In additionthere are similar areas in Italy , France, Norway and the Americas.
The most important question about the nature associated with this , what is the source of these phenomena , and whether ( as says Patru ) all the fame Hoia Baciu solely due to the impact of unusual forces on the human brain , whether it is a real phenomenon something that is happening in reality, independent of our senses and mind – or is it all a make-believe fairytale?.
