Mysterious places and legends from Romania

reply to post by exodus27


Both...but probably places for me...at least I can arrange a Romanian trip around them

Rainbows
Jane

New stories
4. ielele(aka Sanziene)

Ielele are magical creatures,with connections to witches and the devil.
They appear as beautiful young girls,gathered in the night and dancing in a circle,destroying the land where they danced,leaving it sterile.Sometimes you can find a burned circle in the ground,or a circle in the crops,similar to modern interpretation of UFO activity,but nobody knew about UFO's at the time the legend started.
They appear especially when the moon is full and on 24 june(Sanziene's night),and no man is allowed to see them.If you see them,and they didn't saw you,you must be protected with garlic,basil,wormwood,leaves of walnut or lime,and you can make the cross sign(but they must not see you doing it,because it will make them mad and attack you before you can complete the sign),or else you will become handicapped.If they see you,and you didn't saw them,they will call you by name,and you must not look at them,because you will die in a painful way.And if you ignored them...they will follow you at home,and try to lure you outside,by calling you and offering diverse things.The house can be protected by keeping a horse's head in front of the house,because they fear it and leave.They are attracted by young boys especially,because they need their souls,so if you are a young man the probability to be attacked is higher.There are lots of stories about young boys disappearing after being called outside by young girls.
There is also a dancing ritual that young boys used to do for protection,it's called "dansul calusarilor"(dance of the horsemen).
At Barbuletu,in Dambovita there is a place nicknamed Dead Man's place,because for centuries,there have been hundreds of sightings of those mysterious girls,and every time the person who saw them became handicapped,or died is a horrible way.
There's a lot to talk about them,we can do it in the comments if you want.
5. Hoia-Baciu forest

Located nead Cluj-Napoca city,this is one of the most haunted forests in Romania.
It is nicknamed "the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania",because of the high number of disappearences.
All the trees in the forest look strange,they are twisted and they grow like in no other place on earth.
A couple years ago,a sheperd and his 200 sheeps disappeared with no trace.There have been people capturing strange things in photos and videos,sometimes cars won't start again for no reason if you stop there,also there have been airplanes that had malfunctions when they flew above the forest,compasses are going wild sometimes,and you rarely see an animal near it.
People reported hearing feminine voices deep in the forest mocking them and laughing in a strange way,shadows moving in the forest,small lights in the trees,even sightings of loved ones who passed away.
People who live near this forest are afraid to go there,but there are tourists who ignore the warnings and they camp outside the forest,and even in the forest,hoping to see something.
There have been cases when the tourists disappeared with no sign after going in the forest.
Specialists from Germany,USA,France and Hungary went there to study the phenomenon and they all come up with photos of strange structures,apparitions,even faces in the dark,orbs,silhouettes and other unexplained things.
There is a lot more about this place too,but I will leave it for you to find out.
6. Banffy Castle

Constructed near Bontida(Cluj County) by the Banffy family between 1437 and 1543,the Banffy Castle is now a ruin haunted by the people who died there.It was a beautiful place,until the nazy invasion,when the germans evacuated the Banffy family in 1944,and transformed the castle in a military hospital.
It is still nicknamed the Versailles of Romania,even if it is now just a ruin in most part.
Recently,the foundation "Transylvania Trust" allocated 2 million euros for renovations,but it is enough for only 20% of the castle.
After the war,when nobody used the building anymore,lots of kids entered there to play.
Two girls from Bontida,Maria and Ionela found an underground hidded tunnel between Banffy castle and a church.The tunnel was used by some of the Banffy family members as an escape route when the germans attacked.
The tunnel was later blocked by people,fearing that the kids might get hurt playing in there.
Before the tunnel was blocked,some boys entered there to play and were attacked by bats and they swore they saw soldiers coming after them.The years passed,and the sightings became more frequent,people reporting seeing injured german soldiers between the walls of the castle,Banffy family members walking in the yard,or watching from the windows.
There have been cases of kids telling the parents they were playing with an old man who lived there,and his name was Miklos(that was the name of the Count Miklos Banffy,who lived there between 1873 and 1944,and he died in 1950).
Lately,people say that in some nights,you can see someone walking with a candle through the halls of the castle,and you can even see transparent figures walking through the walls and doors...

Thanks for the tread. No mention of the book "Transylvanian Sunrise," or the Romanian Sphinx?
My uncle was (now deceased) a lawyer for a "war machine" manufacturer who set up shop in Romania over 20 years ago. He said many people were interested in this country for some reason.
I'm planning a visit myself soon.

Cool (in a terrifyingly creepy way)!

Thank you for the info, the Witches Pond in particular, I shall spend the rest of my day hunting down as much info as I can on it!
I do love hearing of something I've never heard of before

Q33323
Thanks for the tread. No mention of the book "Transylvanian Sunrise," or the Romanian Sphinx?
My uncle was (now deceased) a lawyer for a "war machine" manufacturer who set up shop in Romania over 20 years ago. He said many people were interested in this country for some reason.
I'm planning a visit myself soon.

Don't worry,I will talk about the Transylvanian Sunrise,Romanian Sphinx,Babele and other places

Yeap! Very true!

I see romanian vampires everyday (not even bother to capitalise romanian...), specially those ones that exploit all the children in western Europe, forcing them to begging in the streets. So, yes, I now believe that vampirism originates definitely in the Carpates. Apologies to the (few) decent Romanians. Sometimes I wish a (bigger) iron wall was rebuild!

I particularly am intrigued by the legend of the "Swinging the old woman around".
Apparently the more times you swing her around, the more fortunes are bestowed on one.
It pays if the old woman is creepy.....creepier the better.

au.news.yahoo.com...

Also intrigued of the legend of locking disabled and interllectually challenged children away in institutions, then forgetting to feed or look after them.........quaint little country really.

mactaties
Yeap! Very true!

I see romanians vampires everyday (not even bother to capitalise romanian...), specially those ones that exploit all the children in western Europe, forcing them to begging in the streets. So, yes, I now believe that vampirism originates definitely in the Carpates. Apologies to the (few) decent Romanians. Sometimes I wish a (bigger) iron wall was rebuild!

I'm sure you are confusing gypsies with romanians. True romanians go outside the country for decent work,and we have a lot of smart people working in Microsoft(a lot of the programmers there are romanians) and in other big companies.
We hate the gypsies too,because they give us a bad name.
Romanians are not dark skinned like the gypsies,and have different features,we look more like italians and other latin people(because we are related).
Yes,we have a lot of gypsies here,but they are NOT romanians,they only have romanian citizenship.
Their alternate name is "rrom",that's why some people think they are romanians.
Please make the difference.

EDIT:
The recent happening with that old woman is also made by gypsies from country side,they are not romanians.And they will be punished(if they were not already).

reply to post by mactaties


I agree that they need better education,and I do not consider myself better than anyone,but I never did something illegal,and never did something rude to anybody...and I hate people who puts me in the same place as the ones that do these things.
That's why I told you that they do not represent the rest of the people from my country.
Bad people are everywhere,not just in Romania.
And gypsies in general are bad people,and they give us a bad name in other countries.
I assure you that there are far less bad romanians than gypsies,just come here and talk to people and you'll see the general opinion about them by true romanians.
We are trying to educate them,there are even special schools and special courses for them,but most of them do not care about education...that's the real problem.
And I already told you,they are not romanians.They only have citizenship.
Please,let's not continue with this nonsense,and please understand that most of us are not like that.

Here is an example...this is how romanians are in general(click on the captions for subtitles):

reply to post by exodus27


Again, thank you for this thread,I really am enjoying it. nevermind that other person
that is derailing this thread, some people like to argue and be rude
Thanks Ed

Very cool thread.

I remember watching an episode of, "Destination Truth" where Josh Gates an crew went to a haunted romanian forest and had a crazy encounters, resulting in one crewman being abruptly pulled up resulting in these long clawed scratch marks on his forearm.
It was such a profound experience that they went back for more.