Cheerful Forests, Haunted Forests
Here are photos I took of the forest several months ago. I went on a beautiful hike. The only bad thing was that my camera ran out of batteries. During this hike, I saw more forest snails than I have ever seen before. Usually it feels like great luck to see one forest snail. I must have seen fifty during this hike! The only proof I have is the one picture I took of a snail right before my batteries died. Forest snails are especially beautiful. They have more of a twirl to their shell than garden snails. They look more whimsical, like the type of snails that a forest sprite would ride in a story book.
Forests are either cheerful places brimming with life, calm places full of peace, or creepy places full of terrible mysteries. All the forests I have been to have either been cheerful or calm, but I'd love to visit a spooky forest.
I learned about a spooky forest in Transylvania called Hoia Baicu forest. All sorts of strange and amazing things happen in this forest. A wide variety of strange activities happen in this forest: UFO sightings, ghosts, missing time, sudden illness, black fog and floating faces.
One story I read was about a little girl who wandered into the woods. Probably she was chasing a butterfly, picking wildflowers or pretending she was a great world explorer. Caught up in her little kid world, she went too far into the treacherous woods. Her family must have been distraught over their missing child. They probably thought they would never see their little girl again. But then, five years later, the girl came wandering out of the woods. She was wearing the exact outfit she had been wearing five years prior (either she didn't grow very much or the outfit must have been snug.). The outfit looked in pristine condition, no dirt smudges or signs of wear an outfit would surely experience after being worn for five years. When asked to recount what happened during the five years she was missing, the little girl remembered nothing.
The forest was named after a sheep herder. He lived a long time ago and spent his time with his sheep, walking from one place to the next. Maybe all his sheep had names and he talked to them while they walked together. Maybe he remained silent and listened to the sound of his sheep's gentle baa's and the jingle of the large bells around their necks. Certainly he must have cared about all his sheep. If you are responsible over another's life, it is difficult not to form a bond. One day, the shepherd wandered into the forest with his two-hundred sheep. That evening, he never returned home. He was not greeted by a wife and a hot bowl of soup. He did not get rest his weary feet by sitting down in his favorite chair while his children recounted stories from their own day. He disappeared with his baaing, jingling sheep never to bee seen or heard from again.
Sometimes people enter the forest and feel intense anxiety. They develop strange rashes that blotch their skin. Their heads feel tight and full of intense pounding. They don't feel comfortable. They just want to leave.
Sometimes they hear disembodied voices or see glowing orbs.
Probably, once someone walked into the forest and saw nothing at all except trees. Instead of anxiety they felt disappointment. The stories weren't true, at least not for them, at least not yet. But they probably vowed that there would be a ghost or a UFO or an uneasy feeling somewhere out there in this world full of strange occurrences. Maybe, after their failed haunted forest trip, they visited a haunted house. This time, they saw the most amazing ghost float from the rafters. A glowing blue haze of ghostly light appearing just for them.
(Sources:
Baidya, Sankalan. "20 Interesting Mysterious Hoia Baciu Forest Facts."Facts Legends. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2016. <http://factslegend.org/20-interesting-mysterious-hoia-baciu-forest-facts/2/>.
Swancer, Brent. "The Cursed Forest of Transylvania | Mysterious Universe."Mysterious Universe. N.p., 23 Dec. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2016. <http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/12/the-cursed-forest-of-transylvania-2/>)