This Paranormal Life - #288 Do NOT Enter These Woods at Night - Hoia-Baciu Forest

Episode Date: November 8, 2022

If you go down in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise... and no, it's not a teddy-bear's picnic, it's the paranormal haunting of a LIFETIME. This week we're adventuring into the dark centre of Hoia-Baciu Forest, the most paranormal forest in the worldSTREAM 'STORIES' HERE - https://rorypowers.ffm.to/storiesSupport us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeFollow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunityIntro music by www.purple-planet.comResearch by Amy GrisdaleEdited by Louis Blatherwick Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who delivers milk to the milkman? Do I really have to pay my taxes if I don't want to? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hello everyone and welcome to This Paranormal Life, the comedy paranormal podcast where every week myself, Rory Powers, and the gentleman across from me, Kit Greer, investigate a brand new paranormal tale. We don't just talk about events, all right? We dig through the files ourselves. We kick down government doors demanding data.

You ever heard of the Freedom of Information Act, f***er? Is what I say to the police officers. This is you talking to the judge after not paying your taxes. Money is information and it's free to be mine. Usually I'm more confident in the moment as well. I stuttered a little bit there, but trust me, when I'm thriving, there's no stuttering. It's full confidence.

It's very convincing. And usually we do get the information. You're shaking. What's happening? I'm just nervous, okay, because that whole taxes shit is catching up to me it turns out you do have to pay him even if you don't want to well that was a quick turnaround for the answer to that question yeah yeah we're answering a lot of these questions really quickly um who delivers milk to the milkman a different milkman do you have a court appointment today? You're trying to rush through this. 245, 245 across town. That's in about 50 minutes. So we don't have a lot of time. No, we're going to be

rushing through today's story, unfortunately. But while we are here to talk about the paranormal, let me tell you, I'm excited, Kit, because today we're not investigating a paranormal event. We're investigating a paranormal place. Okay, okay. I hear what you're saying. I mean, we've had paranormal places on recently, some pretty nuts ones. We've had, I don't know, Centralia. Do you remember that? Yes. It's like living hell in Pennsylvania or something. It's on fire all the time. It's been on fire for like a hundred years. Or maybe somewhere like Bridgewater Triangle, where it's a locus of paranormal activity.

Well, the place we're covering today, some people call it Romania's Bridgewater Triangle. Oh, interesting. Others call it Romania's Area 51. All right, we get it. I'm going to sense there's a lot going on here. Others call it Romania's Loch Ness. All right, I get it. Anything paranormal. Anything. But officially, it's known as

the Hoia Baciu Forest. The Hoia what? Hoia Baciu. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. Okay, interesting. A forest. We haven't been to haunted or paranormal forests

maybe ever or in some time. We talked about staircases in the woods. We once covered Ballyboley Forest. Very true. But usually we don't f*** around in forests that much because it's like, we get it.

They're spooky. There's some creepy looking trees. Sometimes a fog rolls in. There's not necessarily anything paranormal just about the forest. But this place, there is a paranormal party going on and everyone's invited.

Wow. Okay. You're teeing us up for a pretty big investigation, I think. Grab some beer, some space juice, whatever you need, and let's head into the woods today, folks. Because these paranormal teddy bears are about to have a picnic. I think we've exhausted all the metaphors. If you're going out to the woods today, you better be. What's the rhyme?

If you go out for a big surprise. For a big surprise. Yeah. You're in for a big surprise. Why did they make that sound like a threat? It's like, if you go into the woods today, you better watch your back. Because today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic. It's like, oh, it's actually not that threatening.

I thought it was going to be something like super scary. We call it a picnic. It's an orgy. It's absolutely a teddy bear orgy. Whoa, that is a surprise. Before we dive into today's episode, how about a quick message from our sponsors? Our story today begins with Ella, a young Romanian girl who grew up near the forest and has spent hours in the woods with her family, be it summer barbecues or winter snowball fights. I don't know much about the climatology

or the climate. I don't think that's a real word. I don't know much about anything, you'll probably notice. You can't just add ology to shit and think it makes it smart. You passed me the water ology, I'm quite thirsty over here. What is the climate like? Does it have beautiful hot summers and cold winters? I mean, I think it has summers and winters. If it's in Romania, I imagine it does probably get pretty cold.

Okay, got you. But it seems like this is a forest that you can enjoy to some degree. But Ella knew that no matter how much fun you have in Hueyabachu in the daytime, you do not go in at night. How about you watch your goddamn back when you're in this forest? Watch your back, you. But as she got older and entered her angsty teenager phase, she started to question the local legends and rules passed down from her parents. They had always told her that the place was haunted, but was it really? Now that she was 16, that's when you start questioning some of the rules that you've been taught in life.

Maybe I will smoke a cigarette. Maybe racing dirt bikes with no helmet is actually kind of awesome. And maybe, just maybe, I should go into the woods at night. This is exactly what happens when you turn 16. Logic gets turned upside down. You know, you basically have a couple realizations that, uh-oh, at least in my case, when I turned 16, Santa isn't real. That pretty much crumbles your entire reality. That's pretty late to figure out that Santa isn't real. That pretty much crumbles your entire reality. That's pretty late to figure out that Santa isn't real. 16, did you say? Next thing you know, you're like,

I guess cigarettes maybe are good for me. I guess driving without a seatbelt is safer? No, no, no. A lot of those things are fact. I should get my eyeballs pierced. Your eyeballs? Dad, you don't want me to get an ear piercing? How about I get my fucking cornea pierced oh your eyeballs dad you don't want me to get an ear piercing how about i get my cornea pierced okay because i didn't understand what that was the reverse of but all right i see

ears pierced being bad god everything is cranked to 11 oh you don't want me to even think about the forest i'm gonna live in it you start rebe yeah. I mean, and if you think I took finding out about Santa badly, bro, whenever I turned 24 and found out about the tooth fairy, I went to a dark place for a long time. Kit was told as a child not to drink and drive. When he turned 16, he smoked crack and stole a boat. I played GTA once and decided this was my new lifestyle. Yeah, you start rebelling in little ways. And this seems like on paper, a safe way to do it.

You're telling me I can't go to the forest at night. Now that's all I want to do more than anything. Also, teenagers really do love forests because as a teenager, all the things that you now want to do, which is make out and take drugs, you are not a legal adult yet. So you might not have your own premises to do that. So suddenly you start looking for alternatives, outdoor locations. And that is why if you do indeed go down to the woods today, you will probably see like Carrie Hart's Chris carved into trees because teens love hanging out near trees. If you go down to the woods today, you will not see teddy bears having a picnic. You'll see teenagers banging each other, most likely.

That was pretty much six of my teenage years in Northern Ireland because it's just one big forest. That's kind of why we started drinking so young. Oh, yeah. After the Santa shit, I turned to the bottle real quick. drinking so young. Oh yeah, after the Santa shit, I turned to the bottle real quick. So Ella convinced her boyfriend, Jan, to join her on an adventure into the forest after hours. They took powerful flashlights so they wouldn't get lost in the darkness, but were pleasantly surprised at how much the full moon illuminated the forest floor. Sounds beautiful. In fact, it was so bright they weren't even remotely scared as they wandered through the trees.

It felt surreal, magical even. They'd been walking for a while when they approached a large clearing. Ella and Jan knew it well. Everybody did. It was the clearing. This is where you'd have your picnic or build your giant snowman, weather permitting. Oh, yeah. Picnic. Snowman. Oh, yeah. I've taken a few lines of snowman myself in my teen years. You know what I'm saying, brother? I think this is, again, 16 years old.

Pretty innocent at this point. Oh, yeah. Playing a couple of rounds of Pokemon Go. More like sucking and f***ing on the forest floor. You know what I mean, brother? No, no. Nobody knows what you mean. That's not what they were doing. That's not what anyone was doing. They were just here to explore the

forest at dark and have an innocent little dander. And dander isn't code for sucking or f***ing. It just means a little walk. And walk isn't code for c*** or c*** balls means a little walk. And walk isn't code for c***. Or c*** balls. Or anything like that.

They're just exploring the forest. Not each other's bodies. It's really annoying. You're taking all the words out of my mouth before I say them. This is what I'm trying to do so that you don't get to do it. I'm just saying some of the words have changed in meaning over the years. Ella was excited. Not sexually.

Regular excitement. Sure. She didn't think that she'd be brave enough to get this far into the woods, yet here they were. But as soon as they took their first steps into the clearing, everything changed. The temperature plummeted in a heartbeat. The mild night air was suddenly icy and biting. And at the same time, the entire landscape went dark. We're talking a paranormal red flag here. Temperature changes? Temperature changes, light fluctuation, a third thing, you know? Something has shifted as soon

as they crossed this tree line and entered the clearing. Interesting. I don't like this, Yon. Where'd all the light go? Her boyfriend wasn't having the time of his life either. He was in fact shitting himself. Luckily, because Ella was so scared, it gave him the perfect opportunity to get the f*** out of there. Uh, I think

it's pretty cool, but we can leave if you're scared. Obviously if I was here by myself, I'd stay longer but yeah, I guess I you're scared obviously if i was here by myself i'd stay longer but um but yeah i guess you know i could always come back here a little later by myself when it's even darker ah what was sorry no what is it sorry no uh i thought i felt something touch my right leg i think it was maybe my left leg but as i was saying if you want to go if we could ah sorry just i'm a little jumpy the two abruptly turned around and hastily walked back into the woods they pushed on and on through the dark trees and strangely the further

they got into the shade and darkness of the trees the brighter it became somehow the dense forest was brighter than the open air clearing like i said said, you're 16. Up is dawn. Dawn is up. Dark is light. Girls are hot? I thought they had f***ing cooties like two days ago. Now they make me kind of horny? What is this world?

The only thing that made me horny when I was 15 was Barney and juice boxes. This is me at 23. Something absolutely cursed about a 16 year old boy who says he's horny for juice. 15! 15 I said. That's a fine age to still be horny for juice boxes. Your parents are just like, you're not horny, you're just thirsty. You're just like, whatever're not horny. You're just thirsty. You're just like whatever. I just want it.

I don't know what horny means. I'm a boy. You're a 15 year old and you should know what it means. Mommy, I'm horny for cookies. Can I get a snack or something before dinner? No. Get out. You're grounded.

get out you're grounded uh i was with a girl recently who i kind of like this referred to like uh greasy food or like you know unhealthy junk food as uh being slutty okay i was like i kind of dig that because i was like oh what do you want to what do you want to eat and he's like i want something slutty i was like it kind of makes sense so maybe that can be like our thing if you really want something bad you're horny for it yeah it's kind of interesting sense. So maybe that can be like our thing. If you really want something bad, you're horny for it. Yeah, it's kind of interesting the language we use for like food. It's like, you know, like a dirty burger. Yeah. Get over here, you dirty little.

You dirty little f***. We said that. We went the other day to like this vegan place that did like vegan burgers and uh vegan like chicken nuggets and stuff and they were kind of like trying to have their cake and eat it too sure because they were like hey uh it's totally meat free um you know it's it's a really cool place great plants everywhere plants really like hipster place in shoreditch and it's like uh what what are you gonna order and i was like think I'm going to get the clucking f*** dirty burger. It's like dripping in grease and vegan cheese.

I'm going to take the double cheese c*** nuggets. And your side. Can I get the dirty little f***ing nasty fries? Thank you. Yeah. Would you like a side of sin with that, sir? What are we talking about? i'm just hungry now i'm horny for burgers within 15 minutes the pair were out of the woods and they'd learned their lesson you do not go into hoyabachu at night and this is the power of

hoyabachu science is yet fully able to grasp what makes this forest so weird and special. We talked about it at the start. There are other places on Earth that seem to be magnets for the paranormal. Yeah. For example, the Bridgewater Triangle, the Bermuda Triangle. Naturally. Weird pockets on this Earth where strange shit seems to happen on the daily. But the strange thing is, this forest is much smaller

than the Bridgewater Triangle, about 200 times smaller. It covers only one square mile. It's actually smaller than Central Park in New York City. Wow, okay, that's insane. But it is located in a region that you might have heard of before, Kit. Transylvania! Okay, I was hoping this might come up. We're in Romania, that makes sense. I'm horny for blood! He was kind of horny for blood, to be fair. Yeah, that kind of fits Dracula's whole shtick. I seem to remember he didn't really want blood

from, like, gross old dudes. I think it was pretty much babes was his it was the people he preyed on but the clearing that we heard about a couple of minutes ago is a key feature of the forest it's close to being a perfect circle which is strange of course but that's far from the strangest thing about it nobody knows why there are no trees growing in the middle of the woods. Scientists have been there to test the soil and have even been out with Geiger counters to check radiation levels. And there's no significant difference found between the majority of the

forest floor and this barren circle of grass in the center. Kit, I have a picture of the clearing just so you can get an idea of how weird this thing is. I would love to see that. Ooh, wow. Okay, this is a great photo. This is an aerial photo from very high up. You can get a sense of just how small the forest actually is. I know this is only a section of it, but you can just see that it's quite narrow. We're seeing it in wintertime, and there is an unmistakable giant clearing in the middle. Some shit has happened here. Something's going on. Yeah, it's insane how clear-cut this circle is. I mean, there's not even anything growing in there,

not a bush or a shrub. It is just a white patch of snow. Also strange to note, almost all of the trees outside of the circle grow in bizarre twisted shapes. Scientists have examined them them but can't explain why they don't just grow upwards like all the normal trees. Teenage trees, man. They're just, they're on a different planet, bro. Up is down to them. This is very interesting. Now, this is part

of a kind of rare subset of this paranormal life investigations where we're investigating natural phenomena. And in this case, specifically kind of plant life with the forest because do you remember we investigated like fairy circles and such things before? You know, we would have borderline rings of mushrooms and toadstools or rings of plants or bushes. Yeah. And these were kind of notorious for being the homes

of otherworldly entities like fairies. Which famously, if you crossed it or broke the circle in any way, you would encourage their wrath to come down upon you. Yeah, I think you went to the shadow realm. And, you know, speaking of shadow realms, it's kind of like the story that we heard earlier with Ella and her boyfriend almost breaking the circle at nighttime almost entering it but the vibes were so dire and the paranormal activity was so off

the chart that maybe that saved their life that they were so aware of the situation absolutely they came close but um they survived and that might be a big warning sign that a lot of people experience because there's been many other travelers who make it to this section of the woods who have reported feeling nauseous, feeling fatigue, anxiety, or dread. Well, I'm glad it was them and not me that turned up because catch me doing snow angels in the middle of the circle like, this place is f***ing nuts. Check it out, sweetie. Take a photo of me.

Yeah. Nausea, fatigue, anxiety fatigue anxiety and dread i call that nine to five seven days a week you're gonna need more for me to think that there's something up if this circle triggers happiness then i stop dead in my tracks i know something ain't right aka that's the symptoms of being awake between 9 a.m. and the first beer I have at 5. You want me to know something's weird about this circle? Maybe have my parents in the middle telling me they're proud of me. Then I'll know that something ain't right.

Dracula is in the middle of it like, I want to suck your blood. And you're like, get in line, asshole. Everyone's trying to get a piece of me. For f*** sake. Taxman like, get in line, asshole. Everybody's trying to get a piece of me. For f*** sake. Taxman's already sucked me dry, brother. He was horny for my cash. But the stories don't just stop at quote unquote feelings.

This forest is much more dangerous and much more paranormal. Over the years, many people are said to have entered the woods and vanished without a trace. The first disappearance came when a local shepherd was seen taking his flock of 200 sheep into the woods. No one knows what happened when he entered,

but not him or a single sheep was ever seen again. What? Yeah. This is a tiny forest. 200 sheep gone to the shadow realm. I think this might've been the first disappearance recorded in the forest as well. It might even be named after him. Because that's absolutely insane. Like I am looking at the photo of the forest again. It's so hard to imagine anyone getting lost in here forever. I didn't send you a good picture

of the forest. That's during winter time. It looks quite barren. Look at a few other pictures and you'll see just how dense and creepy this place is. You could get lost here. But you said it was only one square mile. Like if you just, I mean, I know this is easier said than done, but if you can kind of walk roughly in that direction. Bro, I've gotten lost in this building before. I could get lost in a forest.

Yeah, it actually is worth seeing it not during winter because it's a lot crazier looking and the clearing is massive. It's also cool to see, I encourage anyone to look this up, the bendy trees are absolutely insane. Yeah, to paint a picture in your mind, this forest looks like the place where every evil witch in every Disney movie lives. Thick, dark trees twisted with sharp branches, foggy, dense, really creepy vibes. Man, if I saw those bendy trees in the middle of a walk, I would be backing out of that forest.

Over the hundreds of years, random peasants have gone missing and never resurfaced. Their ghosts are thought to haunt the forest to this very day. All right, well, you're speaking about the dead, so don't call them random peasants. Well, I don't know their name. Just say people. Just say people. Are you a king?

Some f***ing rando little dirt munchers got lost. And I ain't going in after them. But by far the creepiest story is about a young woman who entered the woods by herself. The legends say that at the time, she happened to be in possession of a valuable 15th century coin. She went into the woods alone and disappeared. Everyone who knew her assumed that she'd gotten lost or killed, but years later, she resurfaced with no memory of where she'd been. It would have been hard to believe her if it weren't for the fact she was still carrying the exact same 15th century coin.

Okay, I was wondering when that was going to come back up. Sure, she could have been killed and looted and someone turned up with all of her clothes and her possessions claiming to be her, but it's also pretty creepy. How long was she lost in there, did you say? Years. What?

Yeah. This is ridiculous. It's like some kind of time warp. This is like the movie Annihilation. Do you remember when in the kind of woods in the wilderness just this wall of paranormal goo yeah kept expanding outwards that movie is fantastic i had to go into it and figure out what was going on but everything was freaking upside down in there yeah this is the

problem we're gonna have with this story today is these woods are so paranormal it's hard to kind of pin the tail on the paranormal donkey lady it's kind of disappearances it is uh ghosts it's fairy circles it's such a mixed bag of paranormal activity it's going to be hard to find out what the cause could be for any of this yeah one of the scariest moments that were caught on camera in this forest was during the filming of a sci-fi series called Destination Truth. One of the camera crew named Evan was exploring the woods with an EMF reader trying to pick up any paranormal activity, when out of nowhere he was forcefully shoved to the ground. Taken aback, he looked around expecting to see one of his colleagues laughing, but he was totally alone.

He stumbled to his feet but cried out in pain when he brushed the dirt from his arms. When he looked down at his forearm, he was puzzled to see three long red scratches on his skin. Wow. As if claws of an animal had ripped through his arm. That is nuts, to be fair. The best part is I actually have the clip of this happening and it is f***ing hilarious. Because the dude is just sitting there trying to measure activity and then in literally one frame, he's like flying in the air. He gets shoved.

So I think we should watch it and kind of, uh, evaluate this evidence. I'd love to see this. That's him sitting down. What? What? What happened? I have no idea.

They literally can't find him. He was thrown so hard. He's gone? How can he be gone? He was raptured. Come in immediately, please. We have an emergency. Come out to the clearing right now.

Okay, they found Evan. He's lying on the floor. He seems pretty hurt. They hit him so hard he turned into Gandalf. He was like, oh! He's going to stay in shock. He's going to get your brains. I have never seen it. I don't know. Check this out.

They're now lifting up his sleeve to see his arm. Bro, look at those scratches. What happened? What happened? Jesus. It does. The scratches does feel reminiscent of, again, other cases. I feel like we've done ones where people in kind of haunted houses or houses with demonic possession, they can end up with these kind of markings yeah i will say though usually when we

hear those stories or see evidence of that the quote-unquote scratches are like very light marks just appearing on someone's body this dude got rinsed these were the kind of scratches that were so deep and fresh that like you know when the skin kind of bumps out what's the word i'm looking for here there's a medical word for it but i'm not sure what it is you can tell just by looking at this guy's arm that the scratches are deep and bad well they might be deep or bad but he's not bleeding but i think it's like that fresh cut you know when you like cut yourself and it doesn't bleed i just don't want people to think that he was hit by a panther. Who knows what it was?

Did you see he flew like 20 feet in the air? Well, this is my question. It's hard to tell what happens when he gets, quote unquote, smacked. But I'm wondering, did whatever scratched him, scratch him? And that's what made him jump back in in pain yeah or did a paranormal wwe wrestler lift him into the air and choke slam him onto the ground the the choice of camera work is also kind of suspicious because we have this wide shot of him for essentially the first whole section of that clip and you assume that's the only camera that you have.

That's why you can't see anything. But then as soon as he's thrown backwards, it like cuts to a close-up of his face where he's like, oh! It's like, all right, so you had a camera yourself the whole time. Right. Yeah.

A little strange, but all I'm saying is... He got hit by something. He got hit by something. And unfortunately, Kit, the night beasts on the ground aren't the only thing you need to be careful of if you're wandering about in this forest sorry you just said you have no idea what happened and then your next sentence was so the night beasts are something to look out for well you know we don't know what it was in particular it could have been a ghost it could have been a spirit but dracula's minions they

have claws. They do. But a lot of the next paragraphs are going to be on the Night Beast. We are now going to avert our eyes from the ground to the skies. On the morning of August 18th, 1968, Emil Barnea was walking in the woods with his girlfriend. And Kit, you know that we love trustworthy witnesses on this podcast, so you'll be happy when I tell you

that Emil was a 45-year-old army officer turned construction technician. Okay, so he knows how to kill and how to get his hands down and dirty and building shit. So, you know. A man of the earth. A man of the earth, a man of his word, clearly. And just to give you an idea of how intense the events of this day were,

they were also accompanied by two other people who to this day remain anonymous to protect their identities. Are they anonymous to protect their identities or because they went missing for eight years? Dude, you night beast related incidents. So what happened that day? Well, to start, it was beautiful. There was no wind, no clouds.

The only sound was the birds singing in the trees. To enjoy the glorious weather, the gang decided to stop and have lunch under the sun. After all, they'd just found a lovely little clearing. Oh, guys, guys, turn back. Emil went off to search for wood for a campfire when all of a sudden, he heard a scream back in the clearing.

Ah! He knew that scream anywhere. It was his girlfriend. He ran to help, pushing through the clawing, twisted trees and bursting back into the clearing. But instead of finding her hurt or crumpled on the floor,

she was standing in the dead center of the clearing, pointing upwards towards the sky. Grab her legs! She's floating! She's floating! They're lifting her! Hovering above them was a round craft, large and metallic

in appearance, reflecting sunlight as if it was plated in silver. The machine was hovering above the woods, making no noise. Emil rushed towards his bag, yanked out his camera now it was the 60s so he quickly had to adjust the settings manually the aperture, the exposure, the focus all set quickly but then once it was done. Don't set shit just get a blurry image, get something

No because if he didn't and I showed you the blurry image you would say the image looks like dog shit and it's not good evidence. So how dare you criticize emil for taking the time to set the exposure gunpowder into the cartridge he had to get the film out of its packaging and guess what he managed to do it all and began snapping for his life he managed to get 12 photos now by this point his girlfriend had been incinerated by said UFO. Yeah, of course,

yeah, but you know. Got the evidence. It comes at a cost. The sighting lasted two solid minutes. In total, Emil managed to take four photos. Only three were ever released to the public. And Kit, I have one of those pictures right here. My mouth is watering at the thought of this juicy paranormal evidence. I'm horny for evidence. Okay, that's absolutely enough. There's a new t-shirt, folks. This paranormal life, horny for evidence. All right, I'm going to send Kit the picture,

but can we just talk about how incredible it is to have a UFO sighting where the witness is not only trustworthy, he's also ex-military, he had a camera with him when the craft was seen, and he managed to take a good photograph of the craft. This is like ticking every single box for paranormal evidence. So I'm expecting a really amazing photograph to make this worth my while. You got it. Check your inbox.

Rory sent me a black and white image. Yeah. Definitely looks period correct. Yeah. Of a forest clearing, forest in the background. And then sure enough, in the sky. I got them cornered, ladies and gentlemen. There's nothing else it could be.

A small disc quite far away. Yeah. I can't hide my disappointment that you said it was Independence Day style, 50 foot wide, hovering inches above his girlfriend's head in the clearing. I didn't say any of that. You said it was plated in silver. It was rotating, even though it was giant. It was whisper quiet. And then this could be a frisbee.

All right, you son of a bitch. How dare you? Show me the lie. We're playing a game of perspective with this photo. It's incredibly difficult to tell the size of that object. Yeah, admittedly, it is. Sure. I also have close-ups of the craft from the other photos that were released to the public.

So take a look at this. You can even see that the thing is rotating this is not a frisbee ladies and gentlemen it looks like the metal top hat from a game of monopoly okay this is great to have now when rory says close up this isn't excerpts of other images but it's just a punch in it's not he wasn't standing next to it obviously no it's punched in so it's very kind of blurry slash pixelated but we get a good sense of the shape of the thing yeah it's some kind of dish imagine like an enamel bowl or as rory says a kind of very shallow top hat yeah it's not a frisbee that's for sure sure. I meant to say, congratulations, dude. When did you start working for the MIBs?

When did that happen? Yeah, so... When did the FBI put you on the payroll? I want to congratulate you, you know? Your paranormal evidence. My friend got a new job working for the bad guys. That's cool. I want to support that.

So do you want to wait to the end of the podcast or do you want to shoot me in the back of the f***ing head now? So do you mean to say that if I do you want to wait to the end of the podcast or do you want to shoot me in the back of the fucking head now so do you mean to say that if i showed you this in a different episode that you would have gone oh my god brother i can't believe you've brought this unbelievable evidence to the table can i say yes now can i just say yes this early in an episode unlike you kit i'm horny for evidence all right and i would have taken whatever you gave me. I'm chubbed up right now. I'm waiting for evidence. But I have to say the chub is going. It's going because I'm just face here with a Frisbee. I can't believe you are no more convinced,

but this is some of the most convincing photographic UFO evidence I've ever seen. Okay, look, hey, maybe to win you over, I can explain to you just how through the ringer this picture was put and the conclusions that individuals came to. Let's hear it. Investigations of this entire event revealed that there were no blimps, no weather balloons, or any other recorded aircraft in the area around the time of the UFO sighting. The negatives were examined by two independent photography experts to see whether they were tampered with,

and there was no trace of any trickery. The film was then examined by a commercial photo lab. They found it to be perfectly above board and had not been altered or manipulated. But that wasn't all. Emil himself was grilled live on TV, and one journalist even tested his vision and reflexes to check if he was a reliable witness. He pulled a gun on him. Say it was a lie. Say it was a lie live on television. He disarms them, breaks the guy's

arms. He's like, ah, you passed the test, Emil. Technicians from a local university studied the photographs in detail to build a small scale model of the craft. They wanted to know if the shading and reflections could be replicated to make sure the photo hadn't been doctored. It stood up to even the toughest scrutiny. Does that kit fill you with any confidence that these pictures could not have been manipulated or faked? They've been cross-examined by experts from every field. It does tell us verifiably that the images themselves were not manipulated, photoshopped, or altered.

In other words, it tells us that the object is real. It doesn't tell us what the object is. I just want to put it out there that there's still an outside chance that this thing is hoaxed in some other way. If he could find a way of getting an object up there. Unbelievable, man. Next time I email you, should I use your government address? Or how should I contact you in the future? You're taking it so pearly.

You're taking the most mild of criticisms and pushbacks so pearly. I want everyone in the paranormal nation to know Kit's been doing this entire podcast with a wire in his ear and sunglasses on. He's in a full suit with a black tie. I'm not. And there's two other men in the room. I can see them, by the way. The two guys in the corner, they think they're hiding behind a

plant. Yeah. One of them's holding up what looks like a megaphone pointed right at me. They're psychiatrists. They're worried about you, bud. They came here to spy on you. They heard you've been locked in your room for the last three weeks researching this case. I didn't want to say anything, but they're worried.

You're all against me. Look, I know that you think this thing is a Frisbee and I know that it looks small in pictures, but it was actually 30 meters wide. None of the witnesses even saw the craft approaching. It was already directly above them by the first time that they had seen it. And if you're going to say that they went to all the trouble to hoax this thing and fake it for some weird reason,

the final nail in the coffin should be that, in fact, in Romania at the time, it was pretty much impossible to make money selling any kind of story about UFOs. Nobody cared. Anyone even writing paranormal books was considered to be untrustworthy. So for an ex-military guy at age of 45 to decide to go out and hoax a UFO sighting doesn't really make any sense. I guess I did forget that aspect that this was during the period of history where Romania was a communist state or part of a communist state. So I guess there probably was a pretty different landscape of media and stuff. It maybe is fair to say that there wasn't the same level of like hoaxing and book sales and et cetera that was going on in other countries. Yeah. There was no

Star Wars fever. There was no Star Wars fever. There was no Star Trek fever. So to come out with a claim like this was pretty much unheard of. In the late 1960s, the site was visited by a biologist named Alexandru Sift. He was there to check out the trees and the soil, but actually had a pretty hard time

keeping his eyes on the ground because of the giant disc-shaped UFO in the sky. Jesus Christ. That's right, a second sighting. The area continued to be a hotbed for UFO sightings and unexplained lights for decades. People have reported losing hours of their lives in the blink of an eye in the forest, something that we thought could have been down to the spiritual supernatural effects of the woods. But also could it be that people who go into these woods

suffer some kind of abduction and memory loss and then they're dumped back in the woods and they don't know where they went or how long they've been gone? You know, people always say time flies when you're having fun. But what they don't say is time goes even faster when you get abducted. It goes real fast. Yeah. There are even travelers who have glimpsed cryptids among the trees.

And quite a few that believe that the forest is actually home to a portal to another dimension. Okay, so we know they're going somewhere. So the question is, where are they going? I have a great picture here that I'll show you just briefly of someone who allegedly took a picture of a cryptid living in the forest. That is, it's a pretty good photo. I'm just laughing because if you just at home, imagine Sasquatch trying and failing to hide behind a

small tree and his arms are poking out either side yeah he's so bulky it's like a baby he's hiding his face so he thinks no one can see him uh it's kind of comical but um it's not a bad photo well kid now that we know a little bit about the Hoya Baciu forest and what happens when we're inside it, I think it's only safe that we maybe come up with some solutions to how we can deal with it. If we ever find ourselves in rural Romania. Now, usually on the podcast, I would say burn it down and move on. But the forest is also beautiful. The locals love it and still venture into it every day. According to Google Maps, there's also a five-star airsoft rifle venue right beside it. So we don't want to

just burn it down or cut it all down. So I thought we could rattle through maybe a few solutions that we could bring to the table. For sure. Option number one, a curfew. You know, a lot of this stuff seems to be happening at night. I know maybe the teenagers won't listen to it. Maybe some sort of electrified Jurassic Park style fence to keep the paranormal locked inside during the hours of, say, 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. You know, Rory, that's really not a bad idea. Now, the problem is, as you mentioned, that the teenagers are really not going to obey any rules we set for them. So maybe we need to look into creating a kind of teenager zone within the forest, which is found to be safe. And we can just leave a bunch of My Chemical Romance CDs and merchandise lying around for them to enjoy. A bunch of vape pens, some condoms, like a free

fire zone. You guys are here. I think it's a good idea. We can pitch it to the local government, see if they're into it. Next would be some sort of paranormal police force, a task force located in the woods, patrolling on the daily, presumably in some sort of dark robes, like a ring wraith,

essentially live in the woods, keeping strangers from interfering with the clearing or any UFO activity. I quite like the concept of a paranormal police squad who, very much like ringwraiths, have robes, horses, and swords. Yeah. The closest we've ever got to, I guess, like a paranormal police is maybe the Ghostbusters. There's a paranormal problem.

Call them up. But they kind of were pretty like normal police. They just had a car. They had like paranormal guns. They showed up. They were a bit like firefighters or something. Yeah, we want to go a little bit more mythical with it. I think I might have a bow staff. Right, and you'll say

you shall not pass and then crack down the staff and then the ghosts would just rip your trousers off leaving you ass naked that's why i bring spare robes everywhere i go and then the last option you know maybe a little impractical but it is uh just release dangerous animals into the woods okay how does that help people won't want to go there anymore so if you kind of like airdrop a bunch of grizzlies, you know, maybe strap a parachute onto the back of them, you know, they'll find a way to survive. And then all of a

sudden people don't want to go into the woods because there's grizzly bears. There's going to be a big surprise. The picnic is you, brother. Just an option. Just another option. To be fair, I think we can pitch these to local government as soon as possible. These are all great. Thank you. Thank you so much. That just about reaches the end of today's episode. I appreciate it's a strange case because like a lot of quote unquote paranormal locations,

it's not just one thing that's going down. It's a whole bag of things. But I think today when we're coming down on our conclusion, we need to ask the question, do we think there is anything paranormal that has happened at this forest? Kit, as my guest for this episode, a skeptical one to say the least, I will do you the courtesy of taking the lead on today's conclusion. Well, Rory, I would simply love to come down on a conclusion to what's really going on in the...

Sorry, one second. Roger that. Over. So what was that? What did you just said? You said, Roger that? Bro, you're wigging. What is going on?

Dude, are you tired or something? I'm in the middle of coming to my conclusion. Okay, it just sounds like someone in your earpiece is telling you what to say. I don't have an earpiece. This is an AirPod, a next generation. Sorry. It's got a wire. No, it's please.

I need 30 seconds. I need 30 seconds. Are you talking to me or are you talking to the. Let's wrap it up. It's all in hand. We're going to shut it down. We're going to go Golden Fox Zulu initiative. It is so clear that you're not talking to me or anything to do with this podcast.

Sorry, just trying to get serious, going crazy on my AirPods right now. Clearly, Rory, we don't have enough to go on here, brother. Right. That sounds like the person in the ear talking. Sure. There's a lot of thoughts running through my mind right now and i'm kind of having to listen to them okay so just choose my words carefully we believe i believe okay that i'm taking the earpiece

the airpods gone so now just hey off the cuff what are your first thoughts i sorry it's really freaking hard without the earpiece man it shouldn't be it shouldn't be you said it was an airpod i don't know what way they i want to come down on this it feels politically fraught hey you're editing this episode right so maybe if i can come down to a conclusion, maybe if I ask you afterwards, if we need to edit it, could you change it after the fact? Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You're safe with me, bud. Sure. I guess now that I don't have the earpiece and I'm just going off the dome, this was really fascinating. I do remember this story and case coming up quite a lot over the last few years. And for some reason we never covered it. So it's been really fascinating. Kudos. you for investigating.

Well, hey, thank you to Louis Blatherwick for editing this week's episode. And thank you to Amy Grisdale for doing the research. Get me out of here, peace. Yeah. Who's really talking here? So it's really cool to get to the bottom of what's going on here. And I have to say, a lot more paranormal evidence than I was expecting. Right? I think I'd maybe shied away from this case because we've done so many like this before, where it's lots of legends and stories about disappearances, but with no real evidence. I wasn't aware of the UFO side of things, the sighting of this craft, the photographs. That kind of blew me away. I went into the rabbit hole deep on this one.

So I think this was a great case to investigate. Absolutely. This really feels like one for the books. But of course, we do have to decide whether it's truly paranormal or not. There is a lot to chew on. But before I decide, I do want to throw it over to you to see what your opinion is. Hey, look, this one was a roller coaster, ups and downs, folklore to evidence evidence we were horny for it all and i think if we are asking the question today do we think that something paranormal has happened at this forest whether it was to cause the clearing whether it's the strange sightings of these ufos or some kind of supernatural activity do we think that something paranormal has happened here? I'm giving it a yes. I'm giving it a yes too, brother. Sound the alarms. Double yes. The guys in the corner seem

really angry you said that. Give me the earpiece, brother. Give me the earpiece. Oh my God. Ladies and gentlemen, who saw that coming? A double yes right here on the podcast. Wow. Yeah. I think, Rory, you're right. It just speaks to some of the evidence we've seen and the sheer volume of all the different things that's going on. But I think the differentiating factor between some other cases like Bridgewater Triangle or Bermuda Triangle, where there might be a lot, but it's all pretty thin on the evidence front. Yeah. And there seems to be witnesses and proof for a couple of different things on this. Yeah. And I do like that it's like, you know, there's legends of the forest. That's why it's so creepy that people have gone in and disappeared or somebody saw this.

But then at the end, they're like, but really, it's the UFO sighting and there's pictures of it. And the people who saw it are still alive and have talked about it for years. So we really have something meaty to dig our claws into here. What a great case and a case that ended a drought of yeses, really. That's right. Drink it up. The heavens have opened. The yes rainwater is raining down on us and blessing us all. Incredible. And enjoy it because with this podcast,

you never know when you're going to get your next one. I think there was one time we had like two yeses in a row. That was unprecedented. It has never happened. But who knows? Hopefully next week we can bring you another yes. Judging by the red dot sights from the sniper rifles

in the building just across from us, we won't be back next week. I'm just going to need you to sign this contract that I do get final cut on this episode, brother, because as you say, judging by the mood of the room, I think we might need to revise that conclusion. I'm a little bit worried about what's going to happen to you, so I'm actually going to...

Hold on. I'm going to give you the earpiece back. There you go. Whoa! A lot of screaming going on the other end of that thing. I'm just going gonna leave it on the table for now okay oh yeah they they uh they don't sound very kind of hard to ignore isn't it yeah thank you so much for listening to this week's episode can you turn it off it's i don't know

how it's so loud i'm gonna eat it okay all right thank you for it's weirdly still here i can hear it in your belly yeah it's also made it like bassier and a bit louder, which is just insane. I'm going to punch you in the stomach. I'm going to see if I can break it. All right. I think it stopped. Jesus. Harsh but fair.

Guys, we will be doing shout outs in just one second. But before we do, Kit and I are so excited to say that we have just released a new single. Holy shit. That's right. Some of you may know and some of you may not know that along with making a dope ass paranormal podcast, Kit and I also make music together. We do. We've actually talked about it on the show before. You might have remembered

that but actually this is kind of special and different because um whilst we've been making music together for a long time this is actually an entirely new project this is the debut rory powers single yeah this is your solo project it's crazy but with kit i'm basically like a a sexy puppet where i'm doing like dances on stage and Kit is in the rafters. I'm a mad German scientist who created Rory in a lab. So to give you guys an idea of what the song is like, maybe you want to check it out and listen to the full version. We're going to play a little 30 second clip right now. The links to the track are in the description below if you want to listen to it.

And then after that, we will move on to our shout outs for this week. Like Rory says, if you like the the track make sure to hit those links follow rory on spotify stream the song there and you know get him in all the usual places for socials and if you don't like it stream it twice as many times because you owe me stream it four to four four times as many times because guess what you hurt my feelings. And now I'm sad. And you need to make it out to me by streaming it more times. So if you're going to stream it 100 times because you really liked it. They'll just stream it if they like it. That's 400, bud. Well done.

You just lost your weekend. Because you have to stream stories nonstop just to make it up to me. And I'm in a foul mood. So it's going to take a lot to cheer me up. Here's the clip. Here's the clip. It started slowly getting to know me. Talking to all our friends back home.

And I heard the stories, they all try to warn me. But you look like a song I heard before. They say you're gonna, gonna hurt me. They say you wanna, wanna break my heart. You said we're gonna, gonna make it. But if you're there for me, why do you feel so far? Cause I'm trying to sleep, but I'm up late. And I'm trying to fight off the heartache.

I thought it would be like the stories. But in the end, we're pretending it's okay. And I'm trying to stop, but you get me. And we're trying to talk, but you get me. And we're trying to talk, but you just scream. I thought it would be like the stories. But in the end, we're pretending it's okay. So a special thank you to Ishmazi. Ishmazi.

Ishmazi, would you be interested in joining me on a little picnic? I know a beautiful clearing in the woods. Okay, don't go with them. Don't go with them. Bring a snack. Bring, you're going to want to bring a camera. Because people at KIT, for example, ain't going to believe you if you don't bring a camera. Just tell them you're going paranormal investigating. It's not a picnic.

They won't come if they do. Thanks to Brendan Ward. Brendan, do you have the capability to ward off evil spirits? Because the commune is kind of like a magnet for bad. And we just need someone to, hey, just bring a bit of luck our way. So if you can ward off some of the bad stuff and bring in some of the good, we'd really appreciate that. And Brendan some of the good stuff and bring in some of the good we'd really appreciate that and bring

in some of the good stuff nice thanks to courtney courtney would you like to court me it's been a while since i've been courted you're going to court soon brother for tax evasion yeah i think it's a really romantic date i turn up i get filed papers. God serve. I owe a lot of money. Thanks to Ari O'Connor Coughlin. Ari, do you like all things scary and paranormal? If so,

I know a beautiful little clearing that you are gonna love. Bring a gun and a camera and meet me in the woods. They won't have a gun. Why would they have a gun? a camera and meet me in the woods. They won't have a gun. Why would they have a gun? Thanks to Andrew Wilson. Andrew, can you get the bill, son?

I'm a little strapped for cash as of lately because I've been courted one too many times in the last few months. So I'm a little strapped for cash. I'm not very liquid right now, except for my tears on the daily. So if you could pick up the bill. You just paid your taxes and you would have been fine. Good Lord, Matt. Thanks to Christopher Batchelder. Christopher made a batch of elderflower wine.

Ooh. That sounds delicious. Can I get a little sip of that? It was poisonous. You don't want any of this, brother. Oh. Yeah. What was the problem with it was it off he thought he had elderflower berries they were poison berries yikes don't make mine don't make cover up i'm not calling it a cover-up but we just need to

to keep this on the down low hey in the commune we got an easy solution brother just slap a lombardi sticker on the bottle and it's good to go. It's borderline safer than whatever we were selling before. Thanks to Stuart, Rick. Come on down to Stuart's Rickshaws. We got every type of rickshaw you could possibly want for your rickshaw business needs. What's a rickshaw? What can I get you?

What's a rickshaw? You've come to the right place, brother. It's a fantastic item. It's like a bicycle with the seats on the back and you ride people around oh no it's not it's it's just the seat why do you work here why do you work here you don't know what it is wheels actually maybe it also is the bicycle one are you talking about just a bicycle around with and you carry people on wheels and they sit in the back it's worrying that you needed to work out what the thing is that you're selling.

Is this your first day? My earpiece is just malfunctioning. Thanks to Josh Urik. Josh Urik is actually an Uruk-hai. From Lord of the Rings. Yeah, kind of overpowered orc foot soldier. An Uruk-hai? Mm-hmm.

Oh, yikes. Why is he listening to the podcast? You know, there's a lot of, you actually have a lot of downtime, much like any army, in between marching on Gondor. Yeah. That doesn't happen that often,

so there's a lot of downtime in which you can listen to podcasts. Wasn't there a brief time on the podcast where we said we were raising money on Patreon to fund our all-orc remake of Lord of the Rings? I mean, that got us a whole orc audience, honestly. They add that up. I loved that. Hey, if you're interested in auditioning for the movie, get in touch.

Thanks to Fee-Fi-Fo-B. Fee-Fi-Fo-ie is a Fifi phony. That's right. They offered me a courting of a lifetime, so I went out expecting wine and a nice steak dinner, and they served me papers. You must know what's coming, that everyone,

when everyone says they're going to court you, like, that's not normally how people ask you out. Maybe get a drink or something. It's like, you're going anywhere nice? We're going to the Thames Magistrates in London. It sounds like a nice restaurant, if you ask me. They said

the dress code was smart casual. A little early for a drinks res, but hey, you know I like a good time. I like brunch. Thanks to Joah. Well, if it isn't the Judge Joah, an executioner.er rory you better run brother they're coming for you from all angles from patreon this is nuts holy shit that's a dangerous

place for them to be because they are gonna be coming for that money thanks lastly today to felicia feather bay feather bay sounds like the kind of place you dock your dream ship. You know, when you're like, had a long day, you put your head on your pillow and you're like, I'm taking this ship to Feather Bay in Pillow City in the night night realm. You know, it sounds like a nice relaxing place where you just kind of, everyone's just chill. It's actually a harbor completely overrun by rabid seagulls it's incredibly dangerous to murder

yikes okay um well that's a lot more similar to the harbour that we have in the paranormal commune

so maybe we could rename it to Feather Bay thanks Felicia thanks to everyone else uh we've shouted out today we hope you all enjoyed

this week's episode of the podcast and of course we'll see you next week but until then folks remember to live fast investigate

and die young baby yeah it's me yeah it's me no no I know I f***ed it I f***ed it no I know I know no yeah he. Yeah, it's me. Yeah, it's me. No. No, I know. I f***ed it. I f***ed it.

No. I know. I know. No. Yeah, he's gone. Yeah, he's gone. It's in the negative. We f***ed it.

No, we'll get him next week. Don't worry. Okay. All right, he's coming back for something. All right. All right, gotta go. Bye. Did I leave my headphones in here?

Hey, bud. I thought I left my... Huh? I left my bag in here. I just wondered if my headphones were in it. I'm not doing anything. All right. I'm not doing anything. I'm my bag in here. I just wondered if my headphones were in it. I'm not doing anything. I'm not doing anything. I'm just going to go home.

All right, bye. See you later. We'll get them next week. Don't worry.