"Romania's Bermuda Triangle" - the world's scariest tourist destination/HoiaBaciuProject
Hidden between two mountain ranges in Transylvania, Romania, is a creepy forest that locals didn't dare enter for fear of what was hiding there. Now, a tour company has decided to take a risk and enter the Huia Bacio forest, where there are rumors of terrifying supernatural phenomena, including UFOs and aliens hiding there.
Legend has it that the forest was named after a shepherd named Baccio, who apparently entered "the most haunted forest in the world" with 200 sheep - and has never been seen again. The legends circulating about the forest include a host of unexplained disappearances - including the story of a young girl who entered and never returned. She was presumed dead until five years later she emerged from it immaturely, wearing the same dress she had disappeared in and she could not remember where she was.
Marius Lacin is in charge of the "Via Bacchio Project" which aims to prevent this forest from being destroyed. In an interview with The Sun, he said: "There are a lot of stories and rumours that are generating a lot of interest around this forest. The legend tells of strange things that happened there, mysteries of disappearances and supernatural energy scattered all over the forest."
Many locals and visitors who wandered around the area claimed to have seen ghost appearances of soldiers who died in battles that took place nearby. In the middle of the hir stands a circular section where no vegetation grows - and where much of the paranormal activity has been documented.
The trees at the end of the circle grow in strange distorted shapes, and scientists even took samples of the soil from inside the circle, but were unable to determine why nothing grew in it.
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Tour guides working with the Hoya Bacio Project say they witnessed many events that defy logic while giving forest tours.
The forest first gained a reputation for evidence of extraterrestrial life after biologist Alexandra Sift took several photos of what appeared to be a UFO flying over trees in 1960. Email Barnea, a local military technician, took more photos of a flying saucer above the treetops in 1968—and the stories took off.
Investigators quickly tried to refute Barnea's picture, but no weather balloons, airships or anything else were found in the sky that day. His photo negatives were also checked to see if they had been altered – but there was no evidence of this.
UFO photographed over forest Hoya Baccio/screenshot, oia Baciu Projec
Despite these stories spanning decades, many still choose to venture into the forest with the help of the project's tour guides. Lacin said some of his guides witnessed unexplained events themselves while in the woods, ranging from electronic device malfunctions to chilling sounds.
"Participants talked about whispers that seemed to emanate from the fabric of the forest, a frightening feeling of being scrutinized by invisible eyes, and even accidental capture of enigmatic images with their cameras," he said.
Many who enter the forest with their cameras have taken pictures of inexplicable bullets floating near the trees. Some visitors reported feelings of nausea, dizziness and disorientation - with many reports of scratches and bruises appearing suddenly after the tour.
One tourist said: "I found a strange picture on my phone that I didn't take. After the tour, I slept with the bedside lamp on on my Airbnb!"
Despite the harrowing stories and experiences, Lacin said: "These tours created an amazing phenomenon. There is a kind of cross-cultural thread that connects diverse people from different countries, continents and backgrounds. In some pockets of the forest, people consistently report similar feelings and strange and inexplicable experiences."
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