Angel of Light (A Zak Bagans Story)

Chapter 68: Hoia-Baicu Forest

Authors Note: Just a quick note to apologize if the Romanian translations are off in this chapter. Blame it on Google Translate. :)

Chapter 68: Hoia-Baicu Forest

Roughly three hours later...

Zak, Andrei and I had been driving for the past two and a half hours after leaving Sighisoara, and we were finally coming up near the Hoia-Baicu Forest.

The Hoia-Baciu Forest, known as one of the world's most haunted forests, covers an area of 250 hectares, and is situated near Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The forest got its name after a shepherd, and his flock of 200 sheep, disappeared and were never seen again.

There's also another story of a little girl having wandered off into the forest one day and having disappeared. Her family looked for her for years, but never found a sign of her. Then, one day, five years later, the girl walked out of the forest, wearing the same, untarnished clothes that she had been wearing on the day she disappeared, with no memory of what had happened during the five year period.

There's also a strange section in the middle of the forest, known as "the dead zone". It is nearly a perfect circle, and no vegetation will grow within it. Soil samples have been taken and analyzed, but the results show that there is nothing in the soil that should prevent the growth of plant life. The locals believe that it is a hub for this paranormal activity, or that there are portals or vortexes to other dimensions located within the circle.

I was starting to get a little nervous about investigating the forest, not only because of my drawings from earlier, but also because of all the different types of activity reported there. For decades, there's been reports of UFO's, light anomalies, ghosts, elementals, and many other unexplained events. These events have generated so much fear, most Romanians refuse to enter the forest at night.

This was, most likely, going to be a very crazy night.

~*~*~*~*~

I had my camera on and was filming - from the backseat of the car - for the past ten minutes or so.Filming the scenery as we drove, but now focused the camera on Zak, who was sitting in the passengers seat in the front of the car.

We also had a very small camera attached to the inside of the windshield, just above the dashboard, to get a straight on view of Zak.

"Oh wow, look it, right up here. Right up here, this is one of the world's most haunted, mysterious forests, and it's known as the 'Bermuda Triangle' of Transylvania. And right now, it is an awesome moment to be actually seeing the edge of this Hoia-Baicu Forest," Zak said, glancing back at my camera now and then.

As Andrei turned onto a new road, we saw a small group of what looked to be teenagers, walking down along the side of the road.

"Should we talk to them? Should we ask them?" Zak asked, looking at Andrei.

"Sure," Andrei replied.

"Okay," Zak said, as Andrei slowed to a stop and put the car in park beside the group of teenagers. Three boys and three girls.

I turned in my seat a bit, so I could film Zak and the teenagers outside the car.

"Hello," Andrei said, leaning toward Zak, as the teenagers reached the car.

"Hello," Zak said as well.

Andrei first asked the group - in Romanian - if we could talk to them about the forest, and if they minded be on camera. They answered - again in Romanian - that it was no problem.

Zak never liked to film anyone without asking permission first. He often reprimanded Aaron if he started filming people who happened to be nearby, without asking first. I knew part of it was because of Zak's social anxiety, thinking of how he'd feel if people just suddenly started filming him. But I knew most of it was just professionalism.