My Accidental Visit to the World’s Most Haunted Forest

 

After teaching for the day, I laced up and ran towards the big green blob on the edge of the city. The hiking trail turned out to be a slippery, muddy mess that began behind some houses atop a hill. My running shoes, well-designed for running, not hiking, couldn’t cope with the squishy path so well. But the forest was so quiet and pretty that I didn’t turn around. A mountain peak not too far ahead stole my interest and kept me going.  

 

The path I followed toward the mountain peak trailed mostly on the edge of the forest. As I peered down the paths that lead further in, I got a “definitely-don’t-want-to-go-in-there-right-now” kind of feeling, which is strange for a person who loves to wander in greenery.  

While researching Cluj before our arrival, I happened upon an article about a forest near the city nicknamed both “Romania’s Bermuda Triangle” and “World’s Most Haunted Forest.” What I hadn’t realized was just how close this forest was to the city center. I had had no idea this was the exact forest I ended up in.  

 

Hoia Baciu Forest grew in fame in the 1970s after a military technician took one of the clearest UFO pictures ever while camping there with his friends. You can still see the photos now with a quick internet search.  

 

Stories and legends range from a shepherd’s sheep disappearing, a girl who went missing for years and came out with the same clothes and without aging, sensations of anxiety and nausea, strange rashes, the failure of electronic devices, appearances of apparitions, the feeling of being watched, many, many sightings of orbs, strange circles of light and so much more.  

 

There’s also a large circle deep in the forest where nothing grows, although the soil has been tested and nothing suggests life can’t thrive there. Satanic groups from Bucharest have visited this barren circle and practiced rituals to try and open portals to other dimensions.  

 

(Here’s the best article I’ve read on the Hoia Forest for more info.)  

 

From these articles, it seems you are almost guaranteed some kind of encounter while passing through this supernatural place.  

 

The only kind of experience I had was hearing the Holy Spirit prompt me to praise Him there, which I now understand the importance of, after finding out just exactly where I had been.

It’s a different world altogether when you can pray though. There’s a group that studies UFO encounters and regularly collects data and interviews people who have had such experiences. While this group is secular, and does not believe in the Bible, they have concluded that the only those who have used the name Jesus have been successful in sending UFOs away.  

 

I think we are all aware, whether we admit it or not, that there’s more out there than what we can see.

 

Would you agree?  

 

What do you think about this forest and paranormal activity?  

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

~Ephesians 6:12