Forests can be inherently spooky places. The trees with their twisted branches that can block out the sun to cast deep shadows upon the underbrush, the strange, unidentified sounds that sometimes emanate from the surrounding wilderness, the chilling howls echoing from far off in the distance, all of these elements can conspire to create a truly unnerving experience. For the most part, there is usually no real danger present, and this eerie feeling is all in our minds, yet for some sinister woods, there may be more to that prickling hair on your neck than just an active imagination. Here we will journey through some forests that have long been said to be either haunted, cursed, or both.
Long holding the image as the legendary home of vampires, ghouls, and werewolves, the Transylvania region of Romania also has the distinction of harboring one of the most haunted, cursed, and indeed spookiest forests on the planet; a dark, sinister woodland full of all manner of unexplained phenomena and bizarre, unexplainable events. Hoia-Baciu Forest lies west of the city of Cluj-Napoca in the Transylvania region of Romania, in an area that is actually not particularly remote and is fairly well visited and popular with those seeking outdoor recreation. The area is has also become popular among researchers from all corners of Forteana due to its unusually high amount of strange phenomena. Although the forest itself is a mere 1 square mile (3 square kilometers) in area, it nevertheless has a long history as a cursed and forsaken place, and also boasts a full spectrum of weirdness, including ghosts, apparitions, spectral entities, disembodied voices, mysterious disappearances, unexplained physical effects on visitors, UFO activity, and magnetic anomalies, among others. It is hard to imagine anywhere else on earth that has concentrated such an intense amount of bizarreness into such a limited area of land, and this has earned the area the nickname of “The Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania.”
Locals have a long tradition of avoiding and fearing Hoia-Baciu Forest. Indeed, the name of the forest itself derives from an unexplained occurrence. Legend has it that a Baci, which is the Romanian word for “sheep herder,” once guided a flock of sheep into the forest and never returned. Despite an immense search for the missing herder, no trace was ever found of the man or any of the 200 sheep he is said to have been with. It was as if they had just stepped off the face of the planet. The area quickly gained notoriety in local folklore as a place from which none returned. The people of the area also believe that the forest is the lair of the ghosts of peasants who have been violently murdered, and it is said that if one enters here with their own murderous thoughts, the forest will show that person for what they really are before exacting punishment. This ominous reputation as being a haunted, cursed place has long kept the people of the region from going anywhere near Hoia-Baciu Forest, and for a long time, it was considered taboo or bad luck to even speak of it.
It is not hard to see why such legends and folklore have taken hold. The atmosphere of Hoia-Baciu Forest is certainly menacing, with its ancient, gnarled trees that are often said to appear to have screaming faces twisted into the bark, and some of which display odd burn marks or mysteriously charred trunks. It is said that electronic equipment is prone to malfunction here and that compasses have the tendency to go berserk as soon as the forest is entered. There is also a thick, intangible air of dread pervading the murky forest. One of the most commonly reported occurrences of visitors to the forest are the inexplicably intense feelings of unease the place evokes, and it is not uncommon for people to experience a heavy sense of anxiety, excessive thirst, the sense of being watched by unseen eyes, fear, sudden, potent panic attacks for no discernable reason, and a strong desire to flee even in the absence of any particular danger.
Visitors have also reported extreme migraine headaches or feeling disoriented, nauseous, dizzy, having a sense of lost time, or of having unexplained sharp pains in various parts of the body. There have been accounts of people in the forest losing consciousness only to wake up in a different area with no sense of how much time had passed or what had occurred during their period of unconsciousness. Others have described having powerful memories of their past come crashing into their mind, only for the memories to fade upon leaving the forest. On other occasions, people have reportedly experienced astral projection, with their consciousness floating about as they look down upon their body upon the forest floor, only to come suddenly crashing back into their physical form. There are additionally many accounts of people feeling unexplained physical sensations such as sudden gusts of cold, tingling, tickling, or electric shocks. On occasion, there have even been those who have entered the forest and suffered bizarre physical injuries such as nose bleeds, bruises, rashes, scratches, welts, and even burns for no apparent reason at all.
This pervasive cloud of foreboding, the feelings of being watched, and the mysterious physical sensations and injuries inflicted by unseen forces seem to tie well into the ghostly stories surrounding Hoia-Baciu Forest. A wide variety of apparitions are commonly spotted through the gnarled trees, and travelers tell of often hearing disembodied voices or laughter. Faces are known to suddenly flash into existence in front of startled visitors, in addition to appearing in photographs upon being developed, when nothing out of the ordinary was seen when the pictures were taken. Disfigured, distorted faces have also been known to materialize out of the trees themselves as if they were growing or blooming from the branches and trunks. There are occasional reports of a thick black fog seeping through the trees and underbrush, as well as glowing eyes floating about. EVP activity has also been reported in Hoia-Baciu Forest, with eerie unidentified voices emanating from the ether over radios or even cellphones.
One of the most common forms of ghostly activity reported here is the presence of flickering, dancing lights that cavort among the trees and have no discernible origin. Often, these orbs will blink into and out of existence without warning. These mysterious orbs of light have been studied by paranormal investigators using a range of scientific equipment such as infrared cameras and thermal detectors. It has been found that these orbs do not seem to produce any heat, as thermal imaging equipment has thus far failed to turn up any heat signatures for them. They also seem to be completely random in their activity, with no real rhyme or reason as to when they will appear or when they are most active.
Poltergeist activity is also allegedly rampant in the forest, with belongings such as cameras or bags being violently flung into the underbrush by unseen forces, as well as people being aggressively pushed around or thrown down to the ground. One such occurrence was captured on an episode of the TV show Destination Truth, when one of the crew was suddenly and violently attacked by an invisible aggressor. According to the crew, the man in question, Evan, was sitting in a clearing when there was a sudden flash of light, and he was thrown across the clearing to the other side. The somewhat disoriented Evan then found that he had inexplicable scratches all up and down his arms, despite the fact that he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. He later reported that shortly before the incident, he had heard strange female voices behind him before being blown across the clearing as if by a strong wind. The entire episode was captured on film and remains unexplained. The Destination Truth team was also able to capture the mysterious orbs of light on film during their investigation.
Whether there are really ghosts here or not, Hoia-Baciu Forest is also well-known for its high number of unexplained disappearances. It is said that over 1,000 people have vanished without a trace within the forest over the years, to never be seen again. The rare cases where these missing persons have been recovered are cloaked in weirdness. One such case involved the disappearance of a 5-year-old girl who subsequently appeared 5 years later, aimlessly wandering the forest. To the girl, no time had passed, and she was wearing the exact same clothes she had been wearing 5 years previously. To add to the strangeness, her clothes were found to be in remarkably good condition, far from the wear one would expect from 5 years wandering the wilderness. Upon questioning the girl about what had happened to her, it soon became apparent that she had absolutely no memory of where she had been or what had happened to her. Five other people who vanished into the forest also turned up later, only in these cases, they were found dead. It was determined that all of these recovered bodies had died of suicide.
As creepy as all of this is, it is still not the extent of the mysteries of Hoia-Baciu Forest. The area is well known for its frequent UFO activity as well. The forest’s reputation as a UFO hotspot is mostly thought to have begun in 1968, when a biologist by the name of Alexandru Sift, who was actually in the forest to study its many strange anomalies, snapped a series of amazingly clear photos of a disc-shaped craft flying above the tree line over a meadow. This was quickly followed by more such photos, most notably the clear photos of a UFO taken by a military technician named Emil Barnea on August 18, 1968. Well into the 70s, Hoia-Baciu Forest became renowned for its intense concentration of UFO sightings and photographs. The most recent high-profile UFO sighting to come from Hoia-Baciu Forest occurred in 2002, when two residents on the top floor of an apartment complex in the adjacent city of Cluj managed to capture 27 seconds of footage of a bright, cigar-shaped object around 50 meters in length hovering over the forest. The UFO reportedly slowly made its way across the sky before disappearing into thick cloud cover. UFO activity in the forest is so intense that alien abduction is often offered as a possible reason for the many missing persons and cases of lost time reported from the area.
The bizarreness of Hoia-Baciu Forest goes even further yet. One of the most unusual features of the landscape here, other than the strangely crooked, twisted trees and mysterious char marks on their trunks, is the presence of a circular area around 300 meters wide, which is completely devoid of vegetation and which demonstrates high levels of electromagnetic activity and other anomalous readings. Investigations into this mysterious dead zone within the forest have turned up no rational reason for why no vegetation will grow there. Soil samples have shown there to be nothing out of the ordinary and indeed nothing to distinguish it from the soil surrounding the barren circle. So far, it is a complete mystery as to why nothing will grow here. Electronics brought into the dead circle also often go haywire or stop working entirely due to the potent electromagnetic fields permeating it. In addition to these unusually strong electromagnetic disturbances, there are also magnetic anomalies, and other measurements have shown the circle to exhibit abnormal microwave, infrared and radioactive readings. Locals in the area point out this bizarre circular patch as being the epicenter of paranormal phenomena and weirdness in the forest, and it is claimed that it is here where the ghosts of the murdered peasants reside.
The variety and intensity of unexplained phenomena to be found at Hoia-Baciu Forest have, perhaps not surprisingly, spurred on various theories to try and explain what is going on here, running the gamut from the plausible to the absurd. One theory is that the forest holds a gateway or portal to another dimension, or brushes up against some thin spot between our world and another. It is postulated that this could explain the various entities and orbs frequently spotted in the forest, as well as the missing people and even those who have experienced lost time or seemingly teleported from one area to another. Others believe that there is some sort of alien base here that is causing the UFO sightings, orbs, and even hallucinations and abnormal readings on various measuring equipment. Another, far-out idea is that the forest was the real center of the lost Atlantean civilization, and that these mysterious, ancient inhabitants created various teleportation portals with which to travel anywhere in the world and indeed the universe.
Whatever the causes for the vast amount of paranormal activity in Hoia-Baciu Forest, there is no denying that there is something out of the ordinary going on here beyond our current understanding. The forest has drawn specialists in various fields from all around the world, looking to try and find some hint as to what processes generate these various phenomena. Despite a growing body of evidence and documentation of strange happenings occurring here, no one has really been able to figure out just what is going on here or why it should be concentrated within the forest.
In addition to researchers and investigators from both paranormal and scientific disciplines, the enigmatic Hoia-Baciu Forest attracts large numbers of people from all over the world, from all walks of life, ranging from people coming out of a morbid curiosity or in the hope of seeing something weird, to those whose beliefs could be considered fringe, and even allegedly Satan worshippers. The forest is very popular among Wiccans, who see it as a place of power that can boost the effectiveness of their various spells and rituals, and imbue their charms with added potency.
Another one of the most allegedly active cursed and haunted forests is a small, remote wood in the US state of Virginia, which is so thoroughly steeped in the unknown that it is almost in a category unto itself. Along the picturesque coast of Chesapeake Bay, located in the Tidewater area of Mathews County, Virginia, is the quaint, sleepy little town of Diggs. Aside from its charming locale and scenic coastal scenery, the rural town is otherwise quite unassuming, and one wouldn’t be inclined to think that there is anything particularly striking or out of place here, certainly nothing spooky or ominous. Yet branching off from Diggs is a road called Haven Beach Road, which leads off to a nearby 50-acre patch of dense pine woods and boggy marshland nestled in the wilderness area near Whites Creek. Although certainly spooky with its thickly packed trees that blot out the sky to make it a dark, eerie place, the wood is also fairly mostly unassuming and easy to miss among the similar scenery of the region, if it weren’t for the fact that this particular forest has long been steeped in colorful history and a shocking amount of high strangeness and otherworldly phenomena, and is indeed considered to be one of the most haunted, cursed places in Virginia, if not all of the United States.
Known as Old House Woods, the area was once a popular port before and during the Revolutionary War, both for soldiers as well as pirates, who used the dense wilderness area as a place to hide out and lay low, and bands of these pirates were often said to be camped out in the murky wilds here to the point that it was considered a perilous area to pass through for travelers. It was also a popular port area during the American Civil War, when it was no less surrounded by tales of danger. Perhaps it is this history as a place of war, murder and thievery that has so imbued it with a sinister reputation for all manner of legends and ghostly phenomena that spans over 200 years, which have also earned it the nicknames “Black Forest” and “Haunted Woods.” Indeed, even the origin of the name of the forest itself, Old House Woods, has hints of the paranormal. The name is said to have come from the fact that in the late 1700s, there once stood in the center of the woods a colonial wooden-framed house known as the Frannie Knight house, which, according to the lore, was a long abandoned, decrepit structure that was haunted by ghosts and set itself on fire only to put itself out again on its own. It then caught fire once again, years later, again without any discernible cause, this time to burn down to its foundations, which are now overgrown and strangled with vegetation and are all that remain of the house today.
Old House Woods and the nearby beachfront area are so permeated with legends and intense bizarre phenomena that it is hard to even know where to begin. Very pervasive are numerous legends of treasure and loot buried throughout the locale by both British soldiers and pirates. One such treasure is said to have been buried along the shore of Whites Creek in the 1600s by one of the bands of pirates that were known to frequent the area. It is said that the pirates buried a sizable stash of gold coins here before heading out to get more. Unfortunately, their ship was said to have been lost at sea in a raging storm and the treasure was never found. Spookily, if stories are to be believed, they did not give up on getting back their treasure even in death, and to this day, there are occasional sightings of a band of spectral pirates digging along Whites Creek, still trying to regain their long-lost loot.
Another treasure said to be buried somewhere here is that of a treasure-laden ship sent to America in 1651 by England’s King Charles II in the wake of the Battle of Worcester, as a precaution in the event that he was forced to flee England to take refuge in the colonies. The ship was allegedly on its way to Jamestown when it got waylaid by a storm and found itself lost and meandering along Whites Creek. It was here that the crew was ambushed by bandits, who mercilessly killed them, stole the sizable haul of loot, and buried it out in Old House Woods for safekeeping, fully planning to come back later to retrieve it. Depending on the version of the tale, the bandits then either headed out to sea and were killed in a storm or were captured and put to death for their crimes. In either case, the treasure is said to have remained where it had been hidden. Again, this is another treasure which is said to be guarded by specters, in this case, the restless spirits of the crewmen of King Charles’s ship, who dutifully and perhaps eternally watch over it even in death. Some versions of the story even claim that the dead bandits also return to the site to dig for the treasure in the dark of night, sometimes wielding glimmering ghostly lanterns.
Another popular lost treasure tale in the area revolves around the Revolutionary War, during which, in 1781, men under the command of the great British military leader and colonial administrator General Charles Cornwallis are said to have retreated into the woods from advancing Patriots while hauling a large hoard of stolen loot to bring back to their commander. Realizing that they could not evade the enemy while carrying so much plunder, they allegedly hid it in Old House Woods at a spot near White’s Creek with the intention of returning later to get it, but their later arrest in the wake of the war prevented anyone from ever doing so. Cornwallis’s lost treasure is said to still be hidden out in the woods, hidden among the forgotten, scattered dead. Similar to the other lost treasure tales, there are allegedly ghostly British Revolutionary War soldiers prowling Old House Woods searching for the hoard of gold and silver coins.
With all of the alleged stashes of lost treasure reportedly buried within Old House Woods, one might imagine that this would be a haven for amateur treasure hunters, and one would be absolutely right. Over the years, many have gone to look for these fantastical treasures to no avail, and those are the lucky ones. One of the rumors about these lost treasures is that they have a way of making those who look for them disappear. There have been persistent stories of would-be treasure hunters entering the woods to never be seen again, and one particularly spooky story is that of one such treasure hunter who allegedly found one of the stashes, only for his boat to be found drifting in the bay carrying very old gold coins but no sign of where the man had gone. He was apparently never seen again. It is unclear if these alleged disappearances have anything to do with all of the ghostly treasure guardians or if they really even happened at all. However, a very real obstacle to looking for the lost treasure is the fact that much of the land of Old House Woods is now private property, so anyone looking to search for themselves should beware of both ghosts and landowners looking to punish trespassers.
The ghosts of soldiers, ship crews, and pirates have a lot of company at Old House Woods, and indeed, the area seems to be absolutely teeming with all manner of entities, phantoms, apparitions, and other peculiar ghostly phenomena. One of the most bizarre such phenomena is the presence of whole ghost ships that appear in the area. Perhaps the most well-known account of these is a sighting made in the late 19th century by a fisherman by the name of Ben Feribee, who was out in his boat fishing on Whites Creek near Chesapeake Bay when he allegedly saw something rather frightening. According to the report, a large, masted wooden vessel like a galleon suddenly appeared, with “lights at every mast and spar” and shadowy crew members visible standing on board peering off into the distance. The mysterious ship was headed right for Feribee, whose calls went unnoticed by the ship’s crew, and who maneuvered his small skiff in a panic as it became clear that it was on a collision course. However, when the huge ship came looming over him and a catastrophe seemed inevitable, rather than the impact that should have surely come, the ship instead continued right past him without incident, leaving churning waves and the sound of music like a harp in its wake. Feribee stared in astonishment as the ship reportedly continued on its path, hovered up over the beach, and proceeded to float up over the trees as if it were still on water. It was then that a rope ladder could be seen being dangled off the sides of the phantom ship, with men carrying “tools and other contraptions” climbing down it into the wilderness.
There have been various other reports of phantom ships as well, usually describing a similar sight; a large wooden sailing ship of some sort, often described as looking like a Spanish galleon, which will either appear out in Chesapeake Bay or in Whites Creek and float over water, sometimes as much as 50 feet over the waves, as well as over land and trees before disappearing, sometimes right before startled witnesses’ eyes. In most reports, the ship is completely silent, and it is often described as being wreathed in a mysterious fog that crawls in along with them. On occasion, shadowy crew can be seen on the decks, who seem to be oblivious to any attempts to call out to them or signal them. Some reports have told of the ships stopping in midair directly over the Old House Woods, where they proceed to disgorge ghostly crew that proceed to either search the area for something or simply vanish.
In addition to ghost ships are the myriad apparitions said to roam these woods. One of the most famous is the ghostly figure of a woman who is said to be dressed in a flowing white gown, often described as emanating a blue or green glow, and with her hair appearing to be whipped around by the wind even on calm nights. Frighteningly, the spectral woman is known to walk among the trees or even float above the ground while unleashing a deafening, unearthly scream, and the lore is that her appearance is an omen of an impending storm, which has gained her the nickname of the “Storm Woman.” It is believed that if the Storm Woman is seen, it is a portent of doom and it is a good idea to vacate the area, as it most certainly means that a vicious storm is on its way to ravage the area.
Another commonly reported ghostly phenomenon is the presence of spectral Revolutionary War-era British Redcoats among the thick trees of the woods. One such account was given by a local resident named Henry Forrest, who often went duck hunting in the Old House Woods area along White’s Creek. One night, Forrest claimed that he had been out hunting ducks when he came to an inlet and saw what he took to be a group of black ducks upon the water, which he prepared to shoot at. As he raised his rifle, the black shapes then reportedly began to morph, pulse, and grow into the terrifying visages of ghostly Redcoat soldiers, who then proceeded to march towards the startled hunter. Forrest made a hasty retreat back to his small boat nearby, which, much to his horror, had one of the phantom Redcoats casually sitting within it. Forrest claimed that he threatened to shoot the strange intruder, and that its response was “You shoot and the devil’s curse to you and your traitors breed.” Apparently, this did not scare the hunter, who pulled the trigger only for his rifle to emit an impotent click. He fired again and again, only to similarly be unable to actually get his gun to work. The ghostly Red coat then began to rise, and that was when Forrest threw his rifle at it and ran away in terror. Other similar reports speak of being approached by marching bands of the spectral Redcoats or even being fired at by them, with the ghostly bullets passing through bodies or obstacles without doing any damage at all. In some instances, these Redcoats are said to be looking for something, likely the lost treasure of Cornwallis.
Perhaps even weirder than ghostly Redcoats is the story of strange skeletons dressed in armor wandering around the woods. One witness by the name of Jesse Hudgins reported in 1926 that he had been approached by a group of mysterious strangers carrying lanterns that exuded an unearthly glow. As he came closer to the strangers, he noticed that they were skeletons wearing some sort of old-fashioned armor. One of them approached and waved an archaic sword menacingly at him. In another account, a man’s car broke down on a lonely road through the woods, after which he reported being approached by what he described as a skeleton in armor. The skeleton approached the car and purportedly said, “Is this the King’s Highway? I’ve lost my ship,” which sent the terrified man running for his life, leaving his car behind.
It is not even the ghosts of men that one should look out for here, but also those of various odd spectral animals. One such mysterious phenomenon is that of two black dogs that are known to pounce from the underbrush to terrorize passersby, attacking cars, chasing people, and even, on occasion, jumping into truck beds to claw at the vehicle before vanishing into thin air. Sometimes, only the barking of the dogs can be heard reverberating through the wilderness. There are also reports of phantom black horses, ghostly crows, and even headless cows wandering about the woods.
The area has long been plagued by a variety of other miscellaneous strange occurrences. Travelers once refused to pass through the area, not only because of the pirates and bandits thought to be lurking within, but also because horses would fly into a panic in the vicinity or refuse to go any further. This feeling of dread extends to human beings, with some visitors being overwhelmed by a feeling of imminent doom or potent panic, with some refusing to continue past a certain point. There are also instances of people feeling like their breath has been drawn from their bodies, leaving them choking and unable to breathe. Since the area was first settled right up to modern times, strange orbs of light have been seen dancing through the trees, as well as a strange green glow said to engulf the entire area. There are also frequent reports of a strange smell like sulphur which will suddenly pervade an area until it becomes an unbearably noxious cloud before fading away.
Visitors who have braved the impressively bizarre lore to come investigate have reported phenomena ranging from malfunctioning cameras and other electrical equipment to batteries suddenly going dead despite having just been recharged. Paranormal investigators who have come here claim to have collected photos of ghostly images, bizarre videos of strange lights or figures, and EVP recordings ranging from voices to footsteps, to even the sound of cannon fire, all of which were not audible at the time of recording.
Many of these stories certainly carry the distinct feeling that they are mere urban legend or spooky lore, and perhaps that is what some of them are. The dark wilderness, trees with branches that block out the sun, and the slightly unnerving quiet of this place all lend themselves perfectly to tales of hauntings and horror. Yet the sheer persistence of these stories, and the myriad accounts going back over 200 years, is enough to give one pause and wonder if there is perhaps something more to it. Is this just an old, creepy patch of woods saturated with dark history, or are there really some unknown powers that make this place deserving of the title of one of the most haunted places in America? We may never know, but it is sure compelling to look in through the shadows and trees and wonder what strange mysteries they may hold.
Moving along, we come to the rural wilds of Larne, Northern Ireland, where there is a peaceful little tract of idyllic woodland called Ballyboley Forest. Although the forest as we see it today was largely planted in 1957, this place has a history much more ancient than that, and beneath the placid, quiet veneer and overlaying the forest that existed here before is a roiling darkness and tales of druids, ghosts, strange monsters, and magic. Indeed, the quaint Ballyboley Forest has steadily over the centuries accrued a grim reputation as a very haunted, even cursed place, full of ghosts, monsters, and more.
The area has been known as a malevolent locale for centuries, and was long avoided by travelers. It is said that during the 15th through 17th centuries, this was a place where countless souls entered, only to vanish and never leave, disappearing without a trace. The Celtic traditions of the region painted the woods as a place of spirits and the mysterious Druids, who were said to worship elementals and old pagan gods, and who carried out strange, arcane rituals in the gloom, often supposedly making sacrifices both human and animal at enigmatic stone altars interspersed between the twisted trees. There are also old Celtic tales that tell of the Druids using the area to open up actual gateways to other worlds. Indeed, there have been found unexplained stone altars, circular trenches, and other ancient ruins have been found within the forest, although their purposes and whether these were built by the Druids are unclear.
The stories of Druids lurking within the Ballyboley Forest have continued right on up into modern times, with frequent reports of encounters with four ghostly, robed figures believed to be the ghosts of the Druids of the past. These figures always have faces covered by their hoods, and are seen to watch visitors, only to vanish into thin air. At times, they are said to carry with them spectral burning torches and to circle campsites at night, evaporating into the ether just as suddenly as they came. On occasion, stone altars can be seen with smoke rising from them but no fire, the area penetrated by the screams of long-dead human and animal victims, often said to sound reminiscent of an “abattoir.”
One modern account of these mysterious figures is on the site UK Wild Man, where the witness explains that he had been out on a camping and mountaineering trip in 2005 with a group of fellow high school students. They were there on a church-sponsored field trip, where they would hike and camp for a few days. One night they spent camping out in Ballyboley Forest, and there were several other groups at campsites nearby. At some point during the evening, some very weird events allegedly began to play out when some other campers began shouting out that there were some dark figures moving about at the end of a nearby firebreak, which is a long tract of treeless land for the purpose of slowing down forest fires. Some of them went to investigate, thinking it might be someone lost, but there turned out to be no sign of anyone there at all. Things would get odder still when they returned to camp and tried to put it all out of their minds, which wouldn’t end up working out. The witness says:
“We were all gathered round a gas stove having hot chocolate, when someone else noticed some kind of movement down at the far end of the fire break. This time, the figures that had been previously sighted were holding some kind of torches- but this is where it got a bit stranger. Rather than modern torches or Maglites, the figures seemed to be holding what were either branches that had been set on fire, or some kind of oil-lanterns that you held out in front of you.
We counted 4 of these figures (this is important to remember). Someone later that night (who lived on a farm and would therefore know a bit about this) claimed that, after the figures vanished, they could hear sounds like an abbatoir in the distance- echoing cries and squeals of animals. Needless to say, after the figures vanished, our young imaginations ran wild and we began to assume the worst was about to happen. In a small and very religious country like Northern Ireland, you are brought up hearing of stories of the witchcraft and devil-worship that supposedly takes place in secluded forests- and it took a lot of discussion and freaking out before we decided that someone should ring the nearest teacher with our group’s emergency mobile phone.
But eventually, more rational voices began to pipe up and assure the more frantic campers that it was probably just other groups in the forest (the fire-break stretched very far back- about a kilometer), and we decided the best course of action was for everyone to go to their tents, keep torches handy and stick together. The next morning, save for a few rumors of figures and lights being seen running around the tents, we laughed it off and carried on with the expedition.”
A similar report comes from 1997, when two witnesses claimed to have been walking in the forest when they had heard a “flapping sound,” which they tried to ignore as just a trick of the wind. As they continued through the trees, they claimed that they were soon assailed by the sounds of what sounded like a woman screaming and moaning in agony. This seemed to get louder as the increasingly panicked men picked up their pace through the woods, and they then purportedly found themselves coming upon a tree that looked to be covered with blood, seemingly fresh and just smeared all over the bark, yet there was no sign of anyone else out there, and the screaming had stopped to leave silence crashing down upon them. The grisly sight of all of that blood sent the men scrambling to get out of there, and as they did, they claimed that they had seen four figures dressed in ragged brown hooded cloaks standing at the tree line watching them.
Perhaps tied to these ghostly phenomena are various other oddities that campers and hikers have reported in the area. The overwhelming sense of being watched is very common, as are sudden bouts of panic or disorientation, often accompanied by myriad physical symptoms such as headaches, nosebleeds, nausea, dizziness, or fainting. These episodes are sometimes reported together with instances of missing time, or of the witnesses suddenly finding themselves in a different part of the forest for no discernible reason. The forest also reportedly has zones where one can enter and find all sounds of the forest to cease completely, leaving nothing but a blanket of utter, unbroken silence, and there are areas that will exhibit sudden massive fluctuations of temperature. What is going on here? Why should this place hold such power?
Besides strange phenomena and robed ghosts, there have also been very bizarre reports of creatures in the forest that can only be described as something very much like Bigfoot in nature. Despite what you may think, large hairy hominids have been sighted all over the world, and the UK is actually no different, with an absurd amount of reports of such creatures, including even Northern Ireland and Ballyboley Forest. The Irish version of Bigfoot is commonly known as the gruagach, meaning “hairy one,” and it has been seen all over Northern Ireland over the centuries, working its way into the regional lore in the process. There have been occasional sightings right into modern times of what is described as an immense, ape-like humanoid in Balleyboley Forest, including campers reporting the sounds of howls from the beasts and even “wood knocking,” a behavior known in the North American Sasquatch wherein the creatures apparently bang on trees or logs to make intimidating noises.
One report of a Bigfoot-like creature in the forest comes to us from the site CryptozoologyNews, and supposedly happened in 1998. The witness, Caroline Breen, says she was walking some dogs up at the Ballyboley Forest with her husband when they came upon a patch of dead trees and spied something big crouching behind it. Her husband stepped closer to take a look, and the witness says of the whole scene:
“We thought at first it was a human, but as it raised its head in the air, we saw it. The dogs got agitated. I told him to step back. He thought it was a chimpanzee or something. He got closer, to within 15 feet or so, and it was then that it reared up on its legs. It was very tall and it was carrying a big stick. It ran so fast through those trees, like it had done so a thousand times. I don’t know if this was a Bigfoot but my husband didn’t think we got these types of things in Ireland.”
The beast was described as having a face like a chimpanzee, covered in dark brown fur, and as standing around 8 feet in height. If this were some sort of hairy ape-man, like reported in other areas of Northern Ireland and the British Isles, then what could it be? It seems rather ridiculous to think that some immense, hairy proto-human could be roaming the wilds of Britain, yet the stories continue to come in, and one is inclined to wonder whether this is anything really biological in nature at all, but rather something inter-dimensional, seeping through the folds between worlds, or something more spiritual or ghostly.
The Ballyboley Forest has some things in common with other far-flung, cursed forests of the world, in that we have an eclectic mix of various very odd phenomena that, for whatever reasons, have managed to congregate here at this one spot. Why should this be? Is there some immeasurable quality to this ancient forest that draws to it these forces? Are there energy lines or some power that tethers these things to it? Of course, as with other regions of the world with similar phenomena, there is the idea that this could be the result of overactive imaginations, or possibly some natural phenomenon such as ultra-low frequency sounds, also known as infrasound, which can result in a lot of disorientation and hallucinations. In the end, we are left with a place that has managed to accrue various tales of the bizarre over the centuries, and perhaps the only way to really know what is going on is to go experience it for yourself. It is another quaint, creepy forest holding mysteries that will probably live on, no matter what the answers may be.
Forests can definitely be some spooky places, especially at night. Yet as we have seen here, some take the spookiness up to a whole other level, and if you ever visit one of these places, it might be a good idea to be very aware of your surroundings. You never know what might be out there with you.
