Well, I did mention the Hoia-Baciu forest before, but not in the context of comparing it with other weird forests from all around the world, so today we shall see a couple of these.
First off I think we should start the list with the Dancing Forest in Kaliningrad.
This place is also known as the Drunken Forest by the locals, so if you ever want to visit make sure to use that. It's a pine forest, but the unusual part comes in when you look at their shapes. Almost every one of them is twisted in some way or other, and people still don't know why. There are of course some theories about it, but nothing is confirmed yet. Theories like positive and negative energies, like the instability of the soil or the really strong winds in the area. I also heard that in the past there were people who manually twisted some trees as they grew so they could use it in constructions.
Now on to the second one, Dark Entry Forest.
This one is a little bit closer in myths and legends to the Hoia-Baciu one. It's located in Connecticut, in Cornwall. There is a little abandoned place here called Dudleytown. The place is visited rarely nowadays because the local police is usually alert to ghost hunters and such, and whoever tries to get closer to the place will be charged and arrested for trespassing. If you want to read into the legends about the place, you can check them out here. For now maybe it will be enough to know that the place is associated with strange sightings, unexplained murders and mass suicide. Visitors to the place say that the forest is unusually devoid of wildlife, and its eerily quiet - not even birds chirp.
All right, the next one I think I already mentioned in the past too.
The Sea of Trees or Aokigahara is known for two things: a neat view of Mount Fuji, and suicides. The forest is really dense and because of this it blocks out pretty much everything, even the sound of the wind. The forest is full of Japanese and English signs that try to make people reconsider committing suicide in there, but despite of this there are countless of bodies found in it every year. There is a body search organized every year since 1950, and the forest workers usually go in there with long tapes marking their ways. They always leave them there, so their route is usually filled with garbage and litter marking not only their passing but the treasure hunter's and suicidal people's left-over possessions too. And of course if you follow a tape chances are you will find something - people who are not too sure of committing suicide also use tapes to mark their ways so if they change their mind they could find their way back.
Here's a documentary about the place if you want to check it out. NSFW tho!
And now let's get down to the one you have been waiting for. The Hoia-Baciu Forest.
This little forest is getting more and more attention from all over the world. It's practically talked about in every single internet site that has to do with weird thing (er... not that I would know, right?).
This forest is one of the most famous places in Romania, and it became famous in 1968.
But of course the locals knew of its existence for a looooong time before that - and every person with a little sense avoided it like the plague. Those who ventured inside to chop some wood, cut some grass or just gather some berries noticed that there is definitely something strange going on in there.
People who venture inside are usually hit my nausea, headaches, and sometimes even burns to their skin.
Alexandru Sift, a biologist who became enamored with the stories going on about the forest started visiting the place to study it. He noticed that every time he went for a longer stroll there were weird shadows following him around.
The most common phenomenon in the forest includes seeing mysterious orb-like lights, female voices, giggling, apparitions, and cases of people being scratched. In the 1970s, the area was a hotbed for UFO sighting and unexplained lights.
The local vegetation in the forest is bizarre and some trees hold an unexplained charring. On August 18, 1968, a military technician named Emil Barnea captured a famous photograph of a saucer-like object over the Hoia-Baciu Forest.
Anyways, I read about some strange stories considering the forest too. Stories that have weird mist in them - or other strange weather phenomena like really strong wind and rain only in the forest (Like if you leave the forest the rain suddenly stops, as if there was a protecting wall or something between the two places).
I heard stories of old people asking for directions and then disappearing. I heard stories of people entering the forest and even though they know it like the back of their hand they get lost. Of machines stopping functioning correctly. Of other people entering and then disappearing only to reappear five-ten years later unchanged and with the same clothes, knowing nothing about the time passing.
It's kinda freaky whenever I think about it - though it's that kind of freaky where you just have to know more.
All right, so as I said these were stories. I'm pretty sure that nothing too bad will happen to anyone who visits the place for a few hours - well, unless they scare the creep out of themselves with their overacting imaginations (Which I sadly have, so I usually avoid going in there. Hell, I can creep myself out even by sitting in the safety of our house sometimes).
Oh, by the way, before I close this post. I found a couple of videos about this you might want to check out. I'll link them in for you, but you should know that both of them are in Romanian.
