Romania’s Hoia Baciu is popularly known as one of the scariest forests in the world. The forest is situated to the west of the city of Cluj-Napoca, near the open-air section of the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania. One can reach the forest by walking southwards from Cluj-Napoca.

Hoia Baciu and its surrounding areas are covered by trees. Sunlight does not reach properly in several places deep in the jungle even during the daytime. One can feel uncomfortable while entering this forest in the morning. The local administration has marked the entrance of the forest with a statutory warning. It may be noted that Hoia Baciu, covering an area of about 3sqkm, is also considered as one of the densest jungles in the world, and known as Romania’s Bermuda Triangle! People consider Hoia Baciu as one of the scariest forests due to various incidents and stories around it. There is no explanation of those events.

Normally it seems scary, when one ventures deep inside Hoia Baciu is terrifying, as the area is shrouded in mystery. Many have reportedly disappeared in this eerie forest of crooked trees, and never to return. According to local legends, this impenetrable forest of Romania is named after a herdsman. He, along with a herd of 200 sheep, vanished within the woods. One tale tells of a young girl who disappeared into the forest with a 15th-Century coin in her pocket. Although she reappeared five years later, the girl was unable to remember where she had been. These disappearances were just the beginning as this forest’s reputation as a paranormal hub, and the reputation started to grow in the mid-20th Century.

Emile Bernia, a military technician, helped Hoia Baciu gain fame by claiming that he saw a spacecraft of aliens in this forest. He also clicked a photograph of that spacecraft. The image caught the attention of people across the globe. The specific area of Hoia Baciu where the alien craft is believed to have landed is called The Clearing. Surprisingly, that particular area is completely empty, as there is not a single tree. Not even grass grows there. Furthermore, the trees around this place are not particularly big.

Others, too, claimed to have seen the alien vessels in this forest. One of them is Biologist Alexandru Siftin. Siftin, too, photographed flying objects in the forest in the 1960s. Some said that they saw a strange light in the sky of Hoia Baciu, and also an object like a flying saucer. Some even claimed to have met the aliens! However, no proof of this has been found so far.

There are several scary stories surrounding Hoia Baciu. It is believed that the souls of those who had gone missing in the forest still roam around, there. Several people claimed to have heard strange voices inside the forest. The Mirror reported in May 2022 that there were many first-hand reports from people who visited the forest and left with strange symptoms that ranged from a mild case of unease to physical symptoms, such as severe rashes, headaches and even burns.

A section of the Romania scientists is reluctant to consider Hoia Baciu as a mysterious place. They have argued that there is a higher-than-normal level of radioactivity in certain parts of the forest due to the presence of natural uranium. There are also many who have visited the forest without experiencing any odd events happening to them.

However, a series of paranormal activities and strange occurrences have made Hoia Baciu one of the world’s most haunted places.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das