Mysterious places and legends from Romania

Like I promised some time ago,I opened this thread to present to you some of the most mysterious places and legends from my country(and we have a lot of them).
Sorry if I make mistakes,obviously english is not my first language.
Here we go:

1. Witches pond

Located near Boldesti village,in Boldu-Creteasca forest,at aprox. 20km from Bucharest,this is one of the most feared locations in Romania.
It is very small...with 5 meters width,200 meters long and only 1.5m deep.It never grows,no matter how much it rains,and it never drains.
It became well-known amongst people because of the unexplained happenings around it.
No animals drink from it,no animals go near it,unexplained murders happened around it,sometimes people report strange weather,like snowing only in that location,or raining only above it,lightning,storms starting out of nowhere,etc.There are people reporting strange small spherical lights dancing around it(orbs),and hearing screams at night.
For centuries,witches gather there around Saint Gheorghe's night,Sanziene,and Saint Andrei(Andrew) for various rituals(even in our times,there are reports of old women seen around the pond at night).
It is the location where Vlad Tepes (Dracul or Dracula) was betrayed by his men and decapitated,and his body was thrown in the pond...
It is said that his blood made the whole pond red,and since then strange things started to happen,including Dracula legend.After that,some monks from Comana monastary retrieved his body and buried him in the monastary's yard.
In 1977,a great dizaster happened...a 7.8 Richter earthquake wich destroyed a lot of buildings and left a lot of bodies behind.
Dictator Ceausescu commanded that some of the remains to be thrown in that pond and in other places where no people lived at that time.Tons of materials,and even bodies were thrown there...there was no water left,it was covered with the debris.
But after a couple of days,the pond was intact,it swallowed all the materials and the bodies...to this day,nobody has an explanation about how tons of materials,and hundreds of bodies just disappeared in such a small pond...
A more recent story about Witches pond is about a woman who was dragged there by a man,trying to rape her,and after hitting her,she passed out,and when she woke up,there were pieces of that man all around her,and his blood was draining in the water...
The police said she couldn't do that,he looked like he was attacked by a large bear,but there are no large animals in that forest.
You can google more about this location(I don't know if you'll find something in english).
This is only a small part of the Witches pond legends.

2. Moroi

Most people from other countries confuse "moroi" with "vampire" (also known as "strigoi",I'll also talk about them).This is totally wrong.
Since modern times,even some romanians confuse moroi with strigoi,because of the movies and because they lost contact with rural people,who are more aware of the difference.
Moroi's are children that were brutally killed at birth by their mothers,before they were baptised.
In romanian culture,children who were not baptised,are not welcome in a normal cemetary,they must be buried somewhere else.
If no ritual of protection was done while they were buried(washed with holy water,and other things like that),7 years after their death,they will get out of their grave at night and look for their mother and for all the people who knew she was guilty and didn't punish her.
They start with the mother...usually when she sleeps,the moroi will sit on her chest and give her nightmares,and if she wakes up,she will be paralized,but will feel all the pain that child felt when he/she died.
The moroi will torment the mother until she will be driven crazy and will commit suicide,and her soul will be dragged to hell.

3. Strigoi

These are the real vampires,and they are not romantic,they are not beautiful in their true form,and never benevolent.
Hollywood and book authors made their "cool" image,but it's totally wrong.
Their true name comes from romanian term "strig",or "strigat"(wich means scream),because before they attack,you can hear a very terrifying scream,like no animal or human can make.
They can be children or adult people,who were very violent while they were alive,and in some cases,there are signs even from birth of a man or woman who can become a strigoi after death.
If the child touches himself and ingests the blood,or the liquid he is covered in immediately after birth,he can become a strigoi after he/she will die.
And there is another possibility to become a strigoi...if the mother,while pregnant drank water from a place the devil touched.
When they are very well fed,they can appear as almost normal humans at night,trying to lure people in the forest,or dark places if they are in a city or village,so it can kill without being disturbed.
They try that by asking for help,and if they are not distracted by someone,they can hypnotize the victim to go with them.
But they do not look normal even then...they look very pale,with dry skin,and visible veins,sharp teeth...
There are cases when they even entered bars trying to make someone to go with them.They can be tested by offering garlic,onion and they fear the crosses and any holy object,and also animals go crazy around them.
Their movements are usually slow,not like the movies when they run faster than cars,but they can attack very fast if provoked and they are very strong when they are well fed,but very weak when they are not...so they must trick the victim somehow.
A starving strigoi will almost decapitate the victim when is feeding,leaving the crime scene look like an animal attack,but only a little blood left around and inside the body.
It will leave only small marks when it is strong enough to control those violent impulses and it can make the victim stay quiet by hypnosis,and if the victim ingests blood from the strigoi before it dies,it will also become a strigoi.
They can't enter a house,unless the owner is not alive,or they get invited inside,and they can't enter a holy place.
It's not an invisible force that keeps them out of the houses,but if they enter without invitation,they will vomit all the blood ingested and will also come out from the ears,eyes,nose,etc...until they dry completely and die.
There are only two nights of the year when they are powerful enough to enter without invitation,and without being harmed by the power that kills them in any other night of the year if they enter without invitation.
Those nights are Saint Gheorghe's night(23 april) and Saint Andrei's night(30 november).
In those nights,people can protect themselves by wearing crosses,by washing windows and doors with holy water,and by putting garlic all around the windows and doors,and also crushing garlic around them so the smell is more powerful...this creates some sort of holy wall that strigoi can't cross.
Also,very old strigoi's are stronger than new ones.
They can be killed by beheading,or with a wooden stake driven through the heart.
Also,they will sleep during the day,and if exposed to the sunlight they will dry so much,and become so hot,that they will look as if they burned(but not burst into flames,or become dust like in the movies).
There are tons of romanian stories and legends...but I talked enough for now.
I will post more in a few days.
I hope you will enjoy this thread!

reply to post by exodus27

I hope you will enjoy this thread!

Surely did. Thanks for putting in the work.

That pond is scary. Anybody up for a camping trip? We could go there bottle it, sell it and see what happens to people…

What a great thread, thanks!

I've never heard these stories before, but they sound fascinating!

The story about the killed children who sits on their mothers chest and gives the nightmares, sound a lot like sleep paralysis.

S&F!

reply to post by exodus27


Thank you for sharing your well written thread on the curiosities of your Country. I really enjoyed reading it. I'd love to visit that pond with some motion detector cameras.

Des

Thanks for this thread I enjoyed it, I am of Bohemian ancestery, and always facinated with the lore from your part of the world. A Well written post.
S&F
Ed

Thank for taking time to write this up! Really enjoyed this read. The pond is fascinating, have you been there? Also, any other personal experiences with Strigoi & Moroi?

Very interesting as not many stories are known from Romania. ( at least I don't come across many)
S & F to you.

Looking forward to more!

reply to post by Comex


Thank you all
And no,I never been there(just passing by the forest in a car). But I know about someone who died there.
And I never encountered a moroi,or a strigoi...but I know a lot of stories about them(even recent ones).
I had my part of unexplained happenings,but not with something like this.
This is what I heard from my friends and from a cousin of a boy that died around the pond.
I was 16 years old when it happened(I am 27 now). A boy older than me(he had 20 years I think) from my neighborhood and some of his friends went in a trip to Sinaia(it's a resort in the mountains),and from there they went to some relatives of one of his friends,near Boldu-Creteasca forest.
When they returned,while passing by the forest,they had an accident(the driver was drunk).
They were five people,two girls and three boys. Two boys and a girl died in the accident(including the boy I knew),but the other two were not found in the car or near the car,they run into the forest and were found in front of the pond,both dead,the girl with open mouth like she was screaming when she died,and the boy was found without a hand(and the hand was never found as far as I know).
And both of them had their chests crushed.

I also heard about some teenagers(from news) a couple years ago,who were camping there(because of the legend) and they disappeared.Nothing was found,except for a couple drops of blood in one of their tents and their clothes and other stuff.
Also,their cars were left there,but no sign of violence in the cars or around them.

On a lighter note. I visited your country way back in 1979. One of the places we visited was this....

The Merry Cemetery (Romanian: Cimitirul Vesel pronounced [t͡ʃimiˈtirul ˈvesel]) is a cemetery in the village of Săpânța, Maramureş county, Romania. It is famous for its colourful tombstones with naïve paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the persons that are buried there as well as scenes from their lives. The Merry Cemetery became an open-air museum and a national tourist attraction.

en.wikipedia.org...

I have almost the exact same picture as this one...


Here we have a 3 year old girl who was killed by a car



Another died driving his car into a tree



And this one by firing squad (?) or as a prisoner (?)



Rainbows
Jane

reply to post by exodus27


Thanks man I always enjoyed the Romanian legends. Not to mention some of the places they have in Romania.
I'm gonna say thanks a second time for the work you put in.

reply to post by angelchemuel


I'm glad to hear about your trip here There are lots of places to visit.
Sadly,they are not well kept because of the corrupt politicians...
And also as a country gypsies give us a bad name.
I hate that people are confusing romanians with the gypsies(because their alternate name is "rrom").
Anyway...
I can't see all the text,but the last one is about a man who died in a war(that is old military uniform,with bayonet rifles).
And the one who wrote it was an illiterate person(I hope this is the term,in romanian is "analfabet").
Probably because most people from country side were not well educated,especially at the time that cross was made.
And some of the words are not used anymore.

"Aci figurez si ieu
pe cruce si nepotu meu
foaie verde de durzau" (I can't see the rest of the text,but I'm sure it is a poetry).

Correct version:

" Aici figurez si eu
pe cruce si nepotul meu
foaie verde de durzau"

Translation:
"Here I lay myself,
On the cross with my nephew,
Green leaf of small pine"

It has no rhyme in english,but in old romanian poetry expressions like "grenn leaf of =pick your tree=" was used only for rhymes,it didn't always had sense other than better rhymes.

reply to post by exodus27


This is a great thread, thanks for sharing your stories. You have St. Andrew's night too? Wow, I never knew that, that's really interesting. I'm looking forward to the rest of your stories

beansidhe
reply to post by exodus27

 

This is a great thread, thanks for sharing your stories. You have St. Andrew's night too? Wow, I never knew that, that's really interesting. I'm looking forward to the rest of your stories

Yes we have...it is said to be the protector of the land

reply to post by exodus27

Thanks for posting this. I love interesting reading on this subject. About English not being your native tongue? Dont worry. A lot of us English cant speak it very well either!

"T'aint nuttin 'but a thang!"* Thank you again

*meaning in general-"It's not anything (speaking good English) but a "thing" (as in some-thing that doesnt really matter in overall importance if its not your native language), so it's ok and understandable". ie: Dont worry about it!

What a fascinating read! I'll probably have nightmares tonight due to some of those pictures, but it was worth it. Thank you for sharing, OP.

I'm from Romania too, born and raised in Turnu Magurele. I'm in the US now but I'm finally going back to visit in june for a honeymoon. Maybe we'll visit that pond and turn our trip into one of those honeymoon's gone bad horror movies lol
Love the stories!

Fifaboy
I'm from Romania too, born and raised in Turnu Magurele. I'm in the US now but I'm finally going back to visit in june for a honeymoon. Maybe we'll visit that pond and turn our trip into one of those honeymoon's gone bad horror movies lol
Love the stories!

I hope not (the part with the horror movie).
I'm glad to see a fellow romanian around here.
Well,I'm not 100 percent romanian,I'm part german,but I was born and raised in Bucharest
Anyway,maybe you will remind me some legends from our country,so we can talk about them here.
I will post some more stories anyway in a couple days.

Have fun in your honeymoon!

Si ca sa fie totul ca la carte: Casa de piatra!
(for the others: this is a romanian saying for newly married couples,it means I wish him a rock house,or a stone house,it represents stability and a strong family).

reply to post by angelchemuel


I'm definitely telling my family to get me one of those gravestones when I die. Grey is so... boring.

reply to post by Pajamathief


I know, they are cool aren't they! .
Rainbows
Jane

What are you more interested in? Legends about creatures or mysterious places?
I'm asking this because I want to know wich are more interesting,so I can prioritize them.
Tomorrow I will post some more stories.