- (Narrator) The Hoia Forest in Transylvania
is believed by many to be the most haunted forest
in the world.
For decades, locals and visitors alike have reported
strange, unexplained experiences after entering
the frightening forest.
Is it just their imagination?
Or could it really be one of the most
haunted places on Earth?
Let's fine out in today's episode of
Colossal Mysteries.
The Hoia Forest lies just West of the city of Cluj-Napola.
The trees in this misty, tangle of woods are warped,
and bent, twisted and contorted into nightmarish shapes.
It's unnaturally quiet.
It's silence only broken by the occasional unseen
footsteps in the distance.
It may be one of the creepiest places in the world.
And given its abnormal atmosphere,
it's also considered by many to be the single most
haunted forest on the planet.
Even calling it, 'Romania's Bermuda Triangle'
Even it's very name references the forest's mysterious past.
It was named after a local shepherd, who disappeared into
the forest with his flock of about 200 sheep,
and was never seen again.
For years and years, strange stories about people
vanishing into Hoia Forest remain local lore,
but all that changed in 1968
when a Soviet military technician named Emil Barnea,
claimed to have taken pictures of a UFO,
hovering above a clearing in the forest.
He is far from the first person to report a UFO sighting,
but his claim is different than most for one big reason,
Emil Barnea had nothing to gain from reporting a UFO,
but he had everything to lose.
Ever since, visitors from around the world have made
the pilgrimage from Hoia Forest
to see the creepiness for themselves.
In the center of the forest, is a mysterious,
near perfect circular patch, where nothing but grass grows.
The Clearing, as it's called attracts all sorts of
strange people to the bizarre forest,
Romanian witches, the death obsessed, and even
the occasional group looking to open a portal
to another dimension.
Scientists have tested soil from the clearing,
but there seems to be no physical difference that would
keep trees from growing there.
Further fueling rumors that forest is haunted,
and full of paranormal power.
People who enter the forest today regularly report
spooky symptoms, like headaches, anxiety, nausea,
and the unshakable feeling that they're being watched.
Electronic devices have been known to fail as well,
and some even report seeing ghostly spirits lurking
between the deformed trees.
These are terrifying stories to be sure,
but is there any chance that they're actually true?
Or could there be a simple explanation for it all?
Well if you ask the majority of experts,
most, if not all of the fuss around Hoia Forest
is nothing more than a few well told ghost stories.
Despite the rumors of unusual vanishings,
there are no official records or
newspaper stories to verify.
In fact, most experts agree that all the hoopla about
Hoia Forest is most likely a case of
collective, fraid nerds.
Since Hoia is a particularly creepy place,
it certainly seems like it might be haunted,
but with little to no evidence to prove it,
it seems more likely that Hoia is just your average,
run of the mills forest, just with the unusually
ominous look to it.
After all, our minds are very good at exaggerating
what we think we see, hear, or feel.
Especially in a place as bizarre and creepy as Hoia Forest,
but until that can be proven beyond a doubt,
there will still be those who have their suspicions
and venture into that dark, gnarled forest,
to find out for themselves.