The Tape Library - Archive of the Paranormal & the Unexplained - Inside Bulgaria’s Skinwalker Ranch | The Tsarichina Hole

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

This is the insane true story of the Tsarichina hole, one of the most bizarre mysteries to have ever come out of Europe. When the Bulgarian military roll into the small village of Tsarichina on a cold winters night in 1990, no one expected what they would find. Ultimately it would lead to 2 years of digging to potentially uncover what has now become known as The Tsarichina Entity. This case has it all, UfO’s, Shadow People, Ghosts, Government Cover Ups and Psychic Mediums. Get yourself comfy, this is going to be a wild one. You can check out The Tape Library in video form at www.youtube.com/thetapelibrary Stock footage and additional audio courtesy of Envato Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thetapelibrary Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thetapelibrary Archive of the Paranormal, the strange and the unexplained. The Tape Library brings you the creepiest stories, to keep you horror junkies up all night. True scary stories of ghosts, cryptids, UFOs and true crime. Chapters - 00:00 Skinwalker Ranch 02:26 The Tsarichina Hole 05:48 Operation Sunray 13:07 Mystery Under Tsarichina 15:57 UFOs 19:16 Baba Vanga 20:50 The Entity of Tsarichina Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just to the south of Ballard, Utah, you will find 500 acres of ranchland, the Sherman Ranch. The ranch is what appears to be just another unassuming ranch in the dusty lands of Utah. But for those in the know, it is so much more. This ranch has, for decades now, been the home of countless unexplainable phenomena. From UFO sightings to ghosts, animal mutilations, strange, fluctuations in heat and pressure, and sightings of animals that appear to be exaggerated imitations of what we expect to see in nature. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this place, and we will very likely dedicate an entire episode to it in the future.

This ranch will be known to almost anyone who has even a passing interest in the stranger's side of life. But you might know it as its more familiar name of Skinwalker Ranch. Many people have investigated the ranch over the years, ranging from mediums to intelligence officers. But Skinwalker Ranch isn't the place we are visiting on tonight's episode of the tape library. The reason I bring it up is because, while it is the most well-known site for this strange activity. It certainly isn't alone. Across the globe we find reports of areas that seem to attract

this other worldly phenomena. Places that all areas of Fultian research seem to come together. Places where you are just as likely to see a shadow man as you are encrypted. Places that are just as likely to have UFOs hovering overhead as they are to have poltergeists trashing the place. These places are beehives of high strangeness. Tonight we're taking a trip to Eastern Europe and exploring one of the wildest stories I think we've ever covered on the tape library. It's a tale of secret military operations, psychics, buried treasure

and possibly visitors from another world. Get yourself a warm drink, dim the lights and get comfortable, because tonight we are exploring the insane mystery of the Surich in our whole, a place that has been dubbed Bulgaria's Area 51. In the late 80s, Eastern Europe was changing. The fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized much of that change. The USSR was falling apart, and in Bulgaria, The reign of communism was coming to an end. The future felt uncertain for not just the people of Bulgaria, but for that of its government.

It is in this time of upheaval that our story takes place. A harsh winter in December of 1990. I'm going to ask you to suspend your sense of disbelief with this one. Something very strange certainly happened in the village of Srechna. That much is certain. But we're dealing with reports that are mostly in Bulgarian, and from multiple different sources, who have had varying degrees of involvement in the case, not to mention the fact the waters have been muddied by creepypastair-esque retellings of what happened in Serechnya that further

complicate things. But this case has been documented by journalists, and most notably in a book published by a colonel involved in the incident. I will be covering some of the wilder reported versions of what took place here. But obviously, it is entirely up to you what aspects of this story you believe, or are more skeptical about. As wild as this story is, it does constantly leave you with that lingering feeling of, what if? The village of Saurichina is remote. A place you wouldn't really have any reason to visit unless you happen to know someone who lived there.

For that matter, only a handful of people lived there to begin with. It truly is in the middle of nowhere. Some of the residents claim that the incidents appeared out of nowhere, that the military rolled into the village one night in December and took over. But one local man claims that he was in fact the starting point to everything that took place here. The man in question claims that he had a dream, in which members of Bulgaria's history visited him and told him he was a descendant of the Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria, and that buried underneath the village of Sereichina lay his long-lost treasure,

riches that could only be ironically dreamt of. Not only that, but when the man would walk past the area that would eventually become the Sereichina whole, He would hear voices in his mind, telling him that something important was buried here. He would not be the only one to hear such voices while in the vicinity. We'll get to that later. You would think the apparent dreams of a man living in the farmlands of Bulgaria would not hold much weight with the higher-ups in the country's government. But seemingly, someone took this seriously.

On the 6th of December 1990, The Bulgarian military showed up in large numbers. They fenced off a large area of field surrounding the village, and almost instantly began to dig. This wasn't any normal archaeological excavation. This was a serious military operation. Guards were posted with Klaschnikovs, and they wouldn't let anyone get near to the site, being frequently aggressive with the locals, who understandably had questions. What adds even more strangeness to this event is that the military brought with them multiple psychics.

One of these psychics was in fact the daughter of the Minister of Defense. She came along on the expedition and proved to be vital in even finding the village. Seemingly no signs pointed to it and the heavy snowfall had covered most roads in the area. she was able to see, for a lack of a better word, the route to the village. Soon, the handful of villagers who lived there discovered that the military were there as part of something called Operation Sunray and were under the command of distinguished Colonel Kanev from the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense. They heard the stories of an untold amount of treasure buried underneath their land. A treasure the military seemingly wanted under its control. The fact that

comes less unusual when you consider the uncertain times the country was operating under. But treasure wouldn't be what the colonel and his men were fined. This operation would end up going on for two years, with digging deep into the earth being conducted day and night, and would end up costing millions, only to end up with a large hole that would ultimately be filled with concrete, stopping anyone else, from the ever entering. A huge undertaking, but maybe one that was justified if the amount of treasure that was buried down there was in fact as valuable as had been suggested. But maybe that treasure was just a cover story from the very beginning. Maybe the armed troops, secrecy and unorthodox

deployments of mediums points to the fact that the military were in fact, looking for something else. The operation began to have issues from the very start. The team started to dig, but by the end of the first day they hadn't uncovered anything of note. They consulted the team of psychics, who informed them that they were digging in the wrong spot, with one of them writing underneath a drawing of where the soldiers should dig. This is a dangerous game of chess, and the last move is the most important. This is your move.

This is the place where you should dig. This will be the salvation of Greater Bulgaria. This will save your country from destruction, from the doom of decay, from its crystal fragility. It will become strong as steel, as strong and powerful as it was 1,350 years ago. On day two, they began to dig in seemingly what was the right place. but their brand new state-of-art excavator stopped working. There was seemingly no damage to the machinery or possible issues with it. It just simply stopped.

A recurring theme throughout the years of digging that took place. Electronic machinery of any kind became notoriously unreliable, often breaking down with no apparent cause. Alongside this, one of the psychics appeared to be in some sort of contact with several unknown entities that appear to be sending her information telepathically. More specifically informing the psychic that this operation would uncover a message for all of humanity. These messages from the other side were causing arguments and confusion amongst the higher-ups. And just two days into the expedition, one of the psychics and her father, another colonel who was heavily involved,

quit. Disturbingly, things did not end well for either of them. In 1992 the psychic took her own life and then in 96 the colonel was found under a bridge in Sophia. His death was said to have been under suspicious circumstances but no one was charged with his murder. When the machinery failed them the digging continued by hand pick axes smashing away at the cold solid ground while the ground was hard to begin with over time as they got deeper they found it softened

within the dirt they found a multitude of different colors and textures almost as if something had been added to the ground here but they could never determine what but they weren't just digging down aimlessly the psychics were relaying very specific and complex instructions about where to dig, how much to dig, when to add support beams, or even who was specifically allowed to dig on that day. All of these decisions that were being made were coming from whatever messages were being conveyed

by the team of psychics. Reportedly, it was when they reached about 20 feet down that they encountered it. A thick layer of stone that was too much for their tall. the breakthrough. The only option was explosives. After some testing they discovered that the stone is covered in a strange bacteria that required everyone who came into contact with the area to wear hazmat suits. This is the point where things get really strange. Up until now we have a fairly clear understanding of the actual events that took place in Sarechana. But officially all we know is that the military arrived under the pretense of

digging for lost treasure. They then proceeded to dig for two years at a huge cost to the Bulgarian government. Then they filled the hole with concrete, left, and according to Colonel Kanev, all records and documentation that was created about the events that took place here were destroyed. What follows in this story is pieced together from eyewitness reports from the villagers, the troops, psychics and the colonel himself. However, However, as this story has been told and retold so many times over the past 30 years, it's very hard to distinguish fact from fiction. Particularly as we get into some of the more fantastical elements of what takes place.

I won't be able to stick to a strictly chronological retelling of the events here. But let's get into some of what took place over the following two years. With their machinery still malfunctioning, there's no hope of getting through the stone wall with their tools. The team turned to explosives. Blasting a hole in the fixed stone with dynamite, they uncovered something unexpected. It appeared to be a clear passageway. Travelling down deeper into the ground in a spiral.

Meanwhile, up on the top, the sightings began almost immediately. The guards on the site started reporting seeing creatures, for want of a better word. They'd be hidden in the shadows, just catching glimpses of them moving around. But it was undeniable that they were seeing things that appeared to be humanoid in shape, but distinctly not human in size. These shadow figures appeared to come in two varieties.

One would be around seven foot tall, and the others were on the other end of the spectrum, only measuring about one foot tall. no one ever got a clear look at them, with some suggesting they weren't exactly hiding in the shadows, but were in fact shadows themselves. Sightings of these strange beings began right after the initial explosion, an uncovering of the spiral labyrinth that lay beneath the site, and continued throughout the operation. The team were ordered to start exploring the underground tunnels that they had discovered, hollowed out corridors that ascended deep into the earth, shooting off in different directions. There seemingly was no end to them, although one version of events that we'll get into later,

suggests that the troops did ultimately reach some sort of end destination within the tunnels. Months went by as they explored the dark underground maze. While they weren't finding any treasure, they were coming across something much more hazardous. The bacteria we mentioned earlier seemed to be present throughout the tunnels, causing many troops to fall sick and become bedridden for days, and in some cases, even claiming their lives. The issues with the electronic equipment continued, and all of the radios slowly one by one began to malfunction. Colonel Kenev had a telephone line installed, so that the command post could keep in touch with the village. But almost as soon as the line was operational,

Those who were using it started reporting strange sounds and whispering on the line. They could never make out what exactly was being said, but it unnerved the troops nonetheless. It didn't take long until they started seeing the lights. Unexplainable lights would be spotted hovering in the night sky over the excavation site, moving in peculiar ways that wouldn't be expected of any aircraft. Some villagers and military personnel claimed that they got better looks at these objects, with descriptions ranging across the whole variety of UFO types that have been reported in the past. Traditional saucer shapes, black triangles, and objects shooting flames were all reported by witnesses.

One villager claimed that he was walking one night when a blinding light appeared above his head. Before he had a chance to react he immediately fell unconscious. He awoke the following morning in another village, 40 miles to the south of Sreacher, with no idea how he had gotten there. Much later into the operation, another villager came to visit the colonel late one night. She claimed to have seen three shadowy figures running across her property from the site of the hole and disappearing into the tree line. She then saw a similarly blinding light shoot up into the sky.

Whatever it was made no noise. The colonel sent troops to investigate the supposed origin of this light. When they got there, they found evidence of burn marks in the trees and on the ground around them. All of the men that were sent on this expedition fell sick and were bedbound for multiple days. News of these strange events were starting to get out to the wider world. and a journalist by the name of Dimitar Stakoff decided to investigate. He would go on to write the story that broke the news of the events that took place in Sarichner, and some suggest is the reason for the ultimate cover-up,

and destruction of documents regarding the case. When Dimitar arrived on the site, he was taken aback by the extreme levels of security the military seemed to have put in place for what was apparently an archaeological dig. Approaching the site, one young guard shouted to Dimitar, If you want to live, no pictures. In one of the wilder claims it was made during the operation, the colonel reported that numerous troops were teleported, seemingly at random around the site, if you're walking through a tunnel, and then would suddenly appear on the surface, and vice versa.

In some cases, the troops were apparently found, fused into the rocks, of the uncreactual. maze. The exploration of the tunnels had been going on for close to two years at this point, and while nothing had been found, the military was showing no signs of giving up. Okay, if I haven't totally lost you with tales of psychics, seven-foot-tall shadow figures, UFOs and secret military operations in underground caves, then great. But this is where we're truly going to get into the realm of the utterly bonkers. At some point the famed clairvoyant, Abavanga, made contact with the team at Saričanah, and she had a very serious warning.

They needed to stop digging and not disturb what was hidden under the village. Obavanga rose to fame in the 1970s, and throughout her life has been credited with predicting a whole host of terrible events, including terrorist attacks, wars, natural disasters, and even her own death. At a young age she was reportedly caught in a tornado and thrown into a field. When she was found, her eyes were filled with so much dirt and sand that she ultimately went blind, leading to the completely shut eyes that became a key part in her mystical appearance.

She warned that the dig was about to uncover something that should not be disturbed, something that would reveal the dark truth behind our existence. and disturbed something that had been buried for a reason. Obavanga said the following about the operation at Sarechina. You will find a sealed and pressured capsule containing a yellow monkey, neither man nor woman. What will you do with that yellow monkey?

If you open the capsule, the air will revive it. I ask, What will you do when it wakes up and speaks? Now some of what follows, I'm a little unclear of its origins. The YouTube channel Bedtime Stories recounts this tale of what was found in these caves, and I've read a few other places parroting the same events. But it's unclear whether it was simply made up for a dramatic effect,

or if there is some source from the operation, that claims this is what happened. But supposedly, the team ultimately reached, reached another dead end. They uncovered what appeared to be a chamber. Its walls sleek and smooth as they had been polished. Strange hieroglyphic-like writings were present on these walls. At the far end was another large slab of stone. But this time it was concave in shape, almost like a lens and semi-transparent. More shockingly, it appeared there was something beyond this wall. A large, almost skeletal-like figure, not moving, almost like it had been trapped within the cave.

The troops tried to approach but were blocked by an unseen force. When one soldier tried to force his way through, he was violently thrown back into the walls of the chamber and instantly killed by the impact. A haze began to fill the chamber, and there was a sudden realization throughout the soldiers that whatever was inside this wall was now very much awake, terrified they began to open fire, but their bullets would never reach the figure beyond the wall. The soldiers began being attacked,

seemingly by the same unseen force that had stopped them from pushing forward. The colonel immediately ordered his remaining men to retreat. As they rushed up the tunnels, desperately attempting to get back to the surface, they reported seeing strange lights, a loud humming noise that was growing in intensity, coloured clouds of smoke followed them, and the tunnels themselves began to shake. Once they had made it back to the surface, the colonel ordered his men to close the tunnel, but still none of their equipment worked,

so they were forced to use explosives to bring down the tunnel they had spent two years creating. As I said, this is very likely a feeling. version of the events that took place at the end of Operation Sunray. But something did happen that made them finally stopped the expedition. It's worth noting they didn't simply fill in the hole with the dirt they had dug up. This was farmland that could have easily been restored to its full mistake. Instead, a decision was made, whether that was from the colonel or someone higher up, to not only destroy the tunnel, but to fill it with concrete,

and remove all visible signs from the entrance, ensuring that no one would ever access whatever was underneath the Riechner, ever again. Ever since the 90s, numerous people have visited the site of the former tunnel, and seemingly some of the activity remains, even though the tunnel is long gone. Most notably, researchers from the University of Sofia visited. During their investigation, they reported seeing the familiar lights in the sky, burnt areas aground, and even poltergeist-like activity, with their equipment being thrown around by some unseen force before their very eyes. Years later in an interview, the Colonel would claim that they weren't sent there to uncover

any treasure. They had simply used the legend of a buried treasure in the area as a ruse. His true instructions were to retrieve something that his higher-ups referred to as object number one. That's all for this entry into the tape library. As I said, this is one of the most out-there cases we've ever covered, but I couldn't resist tackling it. Hopefully I've done a good job of getting across the key components, but as I said, much of the writings on this case are in Bulgarian, which makes it tricky, and I think more so there

maybe anything we've covered since the Ambitville hauntings. The lines between fiction and fact have really been blurred here. If you have any thoughts on this case, I'd love to hear them. So please do drop a comment below. We'll be back very soon with some more spooky goings on. I'm currently deep into the research on a great case of a haunted farm in the UK. So hopefully I'll be sharing that with you soon. If you don't miss out on that, then please be sure to subscribe. Thank you for sticking with me until the end. Pleasant dreams.