I. Braila City’s ”Ghost House”

 

Since the beginning it must be said that around The House of Jean Troianos-Hostel for elder people ”Saint Nicholas” from Braila City, or rather "The Ghost House", as the locals named it, floats a real mystery. The building, a real architectural monument, dominate the narrow Ana Aslan Street. Although this area of the city is rich in monumental buildings, The House of Jean Troianos is, on the far, the most beautiful. Built in art deco-style, the building has a luxurious architecture, is exuberant, like a symbol of capitalist success in the inter-war period.
  More, all call it ”The Ghost House”, and its legend, that has shaken the locals before the first world war, is now alive.
  It is said that the first owner of the house, in fact the one who built it, was Nicolachi Mavrocordulas, a wealthy exporter of corn. The story, that circulated by whisper, says that the merchant, crazy jealously, would have killed his wife and buried her in the walls of the building. Then he would be left permanently in Greece. The house was put on sale, and buyers, excited by such a ‘jewel’, appeared immediately. But after a few weeks, the building was on sale again.
  New owners appear, but not even now the house doesn’t let itself too much time inhabited, all leaving as they came. The sale-buy history repeats, which determine the neighbors ask themselves what is wrong with the house. And where you can find out the best in reply about what’s happening in a house, if not the servants?
  So, when they were questioned, the servants told that at night Voica, the murdered wife of the merchant, is showing herself in the manor’s rooms.
  The legend began to catch the outline and move into all the city, such as the fearful locals avoided going near that building. For years the building was not inhabited, later to become, briefly, the financial administration. But, predictably, the direction already decided, in the end that the building was not conducive to the development of such activities. However, before the offices move, nobody knows what reason, the old trim of the house was destroyed.
*
  Braila City, at the time when it was a cosmopolitan city, when you can do business with the largest corn trade in the entire Europe. Among the many merchants who come in the city’s port, in order to make money, it was counted Nicolachi Mavrocordulas. The speculations on his fellow merchants have let them out of business.
  The original Greek, Mavrocordulas was a 60 years old, burly, with black beard and imposing man. He was calculated in business, but his passion was hunting. It is said that he would give up his corn trade business in favor for the hunting. His hunting trips were long through the wild zone in Braila City.
  So, in a winter, he went to hunt foxes. A snowstorm, as there are only in Baragan, made the Greek to take shelter in a small farm. The Greek merchant found here his happiness. Or maybe his unhappiness. He fall in love with the farmer’s daughter, Voica, a very beautiful young woman. Her hair was blond, almost as a winter fox’s fur and her shinny blue eyes would made even a bright summer sky jealous.
  As the tradition says, the merchant had to buy Voica from her father with a lot of money, put her in a sled and departed happy with his new wife. In honor of Voica, whom was beautiful like a goddess, Nicolachi build a fabulous mansion.
  A rich merchant, and his wife ... a lovely fairy tale. This story couldn’t last.
  Even their close friends were jealous of their romantic union. A day before the couple’s first anniversary, Nicolachi invited all their neighbors and friends at a party in his house. A handsome young man appeared uninvited and introduced himself as a newcomer in the neighborhood. He shook hands with the host and asked him:
  -May I have a dance with the lady of the house? his eyes were staring at the young woman’s face. He never seen such beauty before.
  -Of course, my dear boy! Nicolachi answered with a smile.
  -Surely this doesn’t bother you, my love? Voica asked her husband with a worried voice.
  -Of course not, dear. What harm could this boy do to you? And besides I’m having an interesting conversation with our next-door neighbor, so you go get busy.
  After his wife start dancing with the newcomer, his neighbor tolled him with a grin on his face:
  -This youngster kept his eyes on your wife since the moment he arrived here. Looks like you have a serious competition now!
  -Don’t be foolish sir! Nicolachi laughed.
  -I don’t mean to interrupt you gentlemen, but your maid told me yesterday that your wife has been dating this fellow for some time. So he isn’t a newcomer at all; a close friend’s wife intervened. This is what you get if you marry a woman that could be you daughter!
  And then she returned at her husband, leaving Nicolachi on dark thoughts. ”Could it be true, that she is unfaithful towards me?” he asked himself while looking at his wife laughing with the young man.
  The next day he told his wife that he was leaving for a while. He loaded his shotgun and went with the sled on the road. It was a cold winter night, just like the one when he first saw Voica. After few hours of strolling, he decides to return home and see what his wife has been doing all this time.
  The house was empty, all the servants went home, but on a bear rug near the fireplace his wife, Voica was sleeping in the young man’s arms. All his friends stories about his wife became true. But the noise he made when he came a few steps forward, awaking the two lovers from their romantic dreams.
  Voica start crying and begging her husband for forgiveness:
  -Please, please forgive me my love. I promise to you I’ll never do it again. This is the last time I’ll ever see this man!
  Her lover run into the hall but the doors were locked. And then he heard a gun fire. When he returned to the room, the Greek was waiting for him and killed him too. Voica was already laying dead on the bear rug.
*
  Since that night, nobody seen the owners of the house again. Some say the Greek went back to his country and after some time he committed suicide.
  In 1957 the house becomes home for the retirees, what is today. In 1985, after some repairs were done to the house, the repairmen discovered a skeleton buried in the basement. This news hasn’t been given to publishing because of the communism censorship. Moreover, the research on the identity of the skeleton didn’t even took place. The coroners only said that the bones belong to a 30 year-old woman and her skull had a small hole in its forehead.
  Was it the merchant’s unfaithful wife?
  Few years later, the mass-media showed to the locals some strange appearances in the ”Ghost House”. It appeared in the news papers and T.V. the statements of the elders that were living in the Saint Nicholas Hostel. They said, with huge fear, that during the night, they can hear strange noises and in some rooms a beautiful woman appears, and she cries for mercy. That’s probably Voica’s spirit.
  It is known the fact that the ghost, spirit or whatever is the energy, the soul of a person who died and remained blocked between the land of the living and the land of the dead. Many specialists say that in some cases those people suffered a terrible death and they haunt only the places they’ve died or lived in until the end.
  The meetings between Voica’s ghost and the inhabitants were confirmed by the ex-director of Saint Nicholas Hostile, saying that he heard in many nights of the 20th day of every month two loud noises, as they were fire shots.
  Today, the ghosts and the elders are quiet, everybody’s minding their own business in the hostile. Priests and psychiatrists were brought to make peace between the inhabitants, dead and alive and succeeded.
  The legend of the Greek merchant and the ghost house were the subject of ”The son of Monte Cristo” novel, written by Theodor Constantin. The writer tells about a family that lived in the haunted house and, after he soled the book, he went to Switzerland for good.
  The weird part starts when I found out that Theodor died long before the heirs came from Switzerland to reclaim the house, which lead to the story of the son of Monte Cristo, this never been considered as a story no more.
  Maybe the legend of the Greek merchant isn’t a legend at all and Voica’s soul still haunts their house. I am not sure if these things are true or not, because I didn’t find the real version of the couple’s story on the Internet and people in Braila City aren’t scared of the house any more.
  Still, when I walk by the left side of the house to get to my college, I have the strange feeling that someone is unhappy. I don’t know for sure, because I’m half asleep since my courses always take place early in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II. Even a blind found Braila City

An old adage says: ”It is impossible not to find a way, when even a blind man found Braila City”.
Some locals believe that this saying was born because Braila City was the only port city at the time, so it was the only way open to trade towards Danube, and the other seas. Others believe that there is a legend which says that in this small town on the Danube, a blind boy was born.
  Although he was able to take care of his own, despite his blindness, his parents never left him out of their sight. During his entire childhood, they were always near him, trying their best to make their only child’s life happy and safe. One day the boy shared his biggest dream to his parents, to go on his own in the search of a streaming water.
  Being scared that their son might get in trouble or get hurt, they told him to forget this dream and stay home with them, where he can be safe from all the dangers from outside. But one night, when his parents were sound asleep, the blind boy managed to pack some things and food, and left the house without a sound.
  He did so because he was almost an adult and he had enough patience of waiting years until he will be able to go outside alone. Just because he was blind, it doesn’t mean that he wasn’t able to walk alone. He had a long walking stick, sharp hearing ability and his nose was as sensitive as a dog’s. With these abilities, he didn’t need anyone to escort him anywhere.
  This was indeed a way to prove himself in front of everybody.
On his journey, he asked many people for directions, but only one gave him the correct and shortest ones to the nearest streaming water:
  ”Go slowly forward and attempt to keep the straight path without leaving it, until you reach your destination! At the end of that path, you will find the streaming water that you are wishing to find.”
  The blind boy listened carefully to every word from that nice stranger’s advice and followed the indicated path, until his ears began to hear a delicate sound of a pure water streaming.
  This legend was born due to the topography of the city. All main roads are circular, they leave from the Danube and all lead back to the Danube. In any part of town you go, you will get back passing along the Danube.
  If you ever visit this city do this test. It is easy to find your way, that the legend of the blind boy is applied to describe how easy it is to find this city.
  If somehow you get lost, the locals will make fun of you saying: ”Come on, how you got lost? Even a blind man found Braila City while searching for a streaming water!”
  Don’t get insulted if some local tells you this. He or she is explaining to you that it is not hard to find the right way. Or better said, it was. Nowadays, the city developed according to the modern days and I am not sure if it is as easy as it was back then to find the right path.
  To be honest, I never got lost, and I don’t think I ever heard a tourist complaining or asking for directions. This proves that even if the city grew in the last years, people have no problem getting lost in it.

 

III. Criminals in Yellow Van

This is the horrible urban myth of some monks in a yellow van, that killed many children for illegal trades with their organs.
  ”They came in the school’s yard, a monk, a nun and a doctor, with a yellow van. The van's windows are so dark that you couldn’t see anything inside of it. They stop near innocent children, who aren’t with adults to protect them, grab them into their van and off they go. After that, nobody finds them anymore. As if they disappeared for ever.”
  At the ”Matera” maternity unit from Mureș Fair City, where the newly mothers that came from disorganized families, receive social and psychological assistance. They are afraid that this rumor, most likely perfect for a horror film, might be true and someone could try to kidnap their new born babies, kill them with cold blood and sell their organs on the black market.
  ”Some mothers told me that they heard a rumor in a small neighborhood in Mureș City, that an envelope was found on the chest of some dead children, under the age of ten, which contained a big amount of money. The author of those children’s deaths also left a letter which explained that the money is for the poor children’s funerals. I ask myself, what kind of a cold blooded criminal is capable of murdering some sweet children, sell their organs and after that return them dead with money on their chest for their funeral?!”

The headmaster of the maternity unit declared in an interview, looking tired from all the nights that she couldn’t sleep, because of this gruesome discovery.
  This horror story reached all the high schools in the town, and the county school inspectorate send to the headmasters letters, on which they advised everybody to stay calm. Dumitru Matei, the school general inspector, said that the horrible rumor is nothing but a big lie that created a psychosis.
Representatives of the police units were tired of how many times they used the word ‘no’ in sentences like:
”We never had cases, complains of disappearances, abductions or unidentified bodies!” They tried to calm down the concerned teachers and parents.
  ”It’s just a rumor creating panic and hysteria sometimes among the worried citizens.” Livia Popa declared. She is the spokesman of the Police Inspectorate and she never heard of such murder cases.
  The most plausible explanation comes from Simion Bui, the headmaster of the ”Alexandru Papiu Ilarian” college, one of the largest colleges in town.
  ”You know, now is a period of relaxation, it is a calmer time in education, no exams, no theses. Probably the students are bored and they make out horror stories for their own entertainment. I think that this whole thing started from the students, eager for fun.”
  Is this really the truth? That bored students created this rumor just because they were getting bored until their exams began? Then, how could you explain the horrible experience that the headmaster from the ”Matera” unit had witnessed it? Did those dead children, under the age of ten, with some missing organs were just in her imagination?
  If so, then why didn’t she end up in a hospital for mad people?
  This is just another proof that the police without enough evidence, witness or victims; doesn’t move a muscle in investigating a potential crime series. What are they waiting for? How many innocent children have to die and have their organs sold on the black market for them to finally take action?
  Just because the murderers are a nun, a monk and a doctor, doesn’t mean that this case is not serious. Sometimes I think that the jokes with stupid and incompetent police were inspired from real life.
  What do you think after reading this story? Do you still believe that you are safe with the police watching over you?

IV. The bouffant haired girl

Like it says in the blurb, I get all these myths from the Internet and choose only the best ones or the ones I consider they are worth to be mentioned. They are one or two paragraphs long, in other words the whole story is a summary, therefore I must use my imagination to make the story longer, with precise details, so that my readers can easily understand the story.
  Now let me begin another mythical story about a girl who loved her bouffant hair.
  The girl’s name, age and other personal information are unknown, meaning that each of us must decide if she even existed or not. People say that she had thick and curly hair, cut short and it was arranged in some sort of an afro style as Aevin Dugas (search for her picture to see with your own eyes in order to understand what I’m trying to explain here).
  She was a student in middle school and because of her unusually big hair style, her fellow students always made fun of her. Most of the time they threw paper plains which got stuck in her curls or put chewed pieces of gum that won’t get off unless she cut the sticky stripes.
  The teachers from her school tried to contact her parents and talk to them about their daughter’s big hair. Her father was always in business trips and her mother had nothing against her daughter’s tastes. On the contrary, she believed that parents must embrace their children’s creativity in all domains.
  In the end, everybody got used with the girl’s hair and soon she was treated like a normal person. The other students stop calling her names or throw anything on her.
  Things seem to be normal for the bouffant haired girl, until one morning. The girl got ready for school as usual: getting dressed, eat breakfast and went to the bus station. All the way to school she sat in the back seat quietly. When the bus arrived in the front of the school, everybody got out, except the bouffant haired girl.
  -Hey curly girl, get out or you’ll be late! The bus driver shouted at her from his seat.
  Seeing that the girl wasn’t moving, he thought that she might have felt asleep and he went to wake her up. Unfortunately, he found out that the girl was dead.
  An ambulance came to resuscitate her, but this action was useless, the girl had died minutes ago. So, she was taken to the hospital for a necropsy, to determine the cause of her death.
  To their horror, when they removed the girl’s big bouffant hair, thousands of black bugs began to run on the table around the girl’s corpse. After all the bugs were removed and crushed, the doctors easily removed all the hair from the girl’s scalp. If they thought that having thousands of bugs in your hair was disturbing, the girl’s scalp after the hair was removed, was an even disturbing thing to see. She had holes in the head, smeary with blood and bug ordure. In other words, the bugs that lived in her hair for a long time, not only they made their ‘needs’ on the girl’s head, but they also ate pieces of her scalp.
  Her mother was shocked. She told the doctors that her daughter took baths twice a week and she couldn’t imagine how her head could be so dirty.
  Since then, everyone start asking if the girl washed only her body, because she didn’t want to ruin her bouffant hair and being unclean, lead to a disgusting death.
  Students from her school, after hearing the cause of the bouffant haired girl’s death, became obsessed with hair hygiene. They were washing their hairs daily and their parents as well, to avoid ending up with parasites on their scalps.
  This is the story for today. I hope you are taking good care of your hair, wash it and brush it regularly, because who knows? You may die as the bouffant haired girl did.
  Again, it is up to you to judge if this myth is real or not. As for me, I always take care of my personal hygiene, from head to toe, so I’m 100% clean.
  Hope you take care of yourselves as well.

V. The statue from cemetery

In the ''Eternity Cemetery'' of the capital, is a black marble monument, which over time gave rise of many urban myths. The monument had a statue, representing a woman with her arms on her knees, looking as if she’s inviting you to take a sit on her lap, to relax your feet.
  But who wants to sit on a dead woman’s statue ... and even in a cemetery?!
  It is said that the woman, in her life time, was abandoned by her fiance whom she loved so much. She was too destroyed to continue living her life without him, that one night she drowned in a deep cold river. Her body was found weeks later by a local fisherman and her parents built her the black monument with a statue, representing their once beautiful daughter, who had bad luck in love.
  Many people, including youngsters, who had heard stories such as if you sit on the statue’s lap during the night, you will die; tried doing so, but to their luck, nobody who dared to sit on it didn’t died. Therefore, nobody believed anymore that you could die if you sit on the statue’s lap during the night, when the woman committed suicide years ago.
  Unfortunately, the myth became true after all, when a teenage girl tried her luck with the statue. One night, when her parents were sound asleep, she sneak out from her window and went to the cemetery. When she finally found the statue, she took a sit carefully in her lap, between the rocky cold arms. It was the last thing that she did before death hit her.
  The girl’s dead body was found lying on the statue’s lap the next day by the cemetery caretaker, whom had the duty of cleaning the statue every morning. Terrified of what he saw between the statue’s arms, he called the police. Soon this news was spread in many cities and nobody ever dared to sit on that statue again.
  Some say, that the statue took that girl’s life because she was a descendant of the former fiance. The woman couldn’t die at peace, so her soul possessed the statue, and when she felt the blood of her fiance in the girl’s veins, her angry unrest soul has avenged.
  Since that incident, the statue was removed and until now, nobody knows where it was moved. The cemetery caretaker says, when somebody asks about the statue, that the parents of the teenage girl who died in the statue’s arms demanded to see the damned thing destroyed.
  At least now, the woman’s soul can rest in peace that she took avenge on her former fiance who left her for another woman, by killing his successor, the teenage girl.
  The old women took this sad love story seriously and they continue telling this story to the young people, hoping that they will not abandon their loves ones, so that their children would not suffer because of their parents infidelities.
  The moral of the story: the children are the ones paying for their parents, grandparents and so on mistakes, especially those made in love.

VI. The Satan’s Synagogue

As you may know, a synagogue is some sort of a monastery where people gather around to pray and offer sacrifices for the God or Gods that they believe in. It is a holy place, where you feel peace and spiritual guidance around your being just by entering in such place.
  Or so it seems!
  Somewhere, in a place that nobody ever heard nor seen, and that it is not even on a map, there is a certain synagogue that does exactly the opposite. Instead of blessing and praying for the good things in life, the nuns and monks that live there, are making human sacrifices for the devils in Hell. And even more horrifying, they even turned all the crosses upside down and painted on the walls with human blood the number 666 and other diabolical symbols.
  This is the declaration that a mysterious witness made through the phone to the nearest police station. Unfortunately, the police chief didn’t believed this ridiculous story and warn the mysterious person that she or he will end up locked for life.
  After some time, people were talking that the mysterious witness who brought the terrible accusations about the nuns and monks had disappeared. Some say the inhabitants of the synagogue that she or he assumed to be the devil’s servants, made she or he the next human sacrifice to get rid of the accusations.
  Being tired of hearing these stupid things day after day, the same police chief that didn’t believed the mysterious witness the first time, went followed by some of his policemen and reporters to prove once and for all that all these stories are nothing more then lies. He managed to find the synagogue that everybody was now afraid to approach it.
  “This is ridiculous! Everybody knows that this place is the House of the Lord since it was first built.” The police chief added to the people whom were with him before opening the front door.
  On the outside, the building was indeed old looking and filthy, but that wasn’t important. What was going on inside interested the police chief most. He opened the door and after a minute he closed it quickly, looking very shocked as if he was possessed by demons. And this wasn’t far from the truth. As his eyes saw, the walls were painted with strange symbols and numbers, including the satanic number 666 and all the crosses were turned upside down. But what scared him the most were the mutilated corpses laying all around the floor and the evil aura that surrounded his being the second he opened the door.
  To be sure that this place will no longer hurt someone else, an army of priests were summoned to make exorcisms and pray for the dead one’s souls. After they did their holy duties, the synagogue was demolished.
Since then, the police chief pays attention and personally investigates every declaration made in his station, to be sure that it’s for real and not a joke.
  “You never know for sure if it’s a joke or a serious case, unless you check it out yourself. I promise that I will not make the same mistake twice.” He says to his policemen to make them take their jobs even more seriously from now on.
  The only thing that remains unsolved is the disappearance of the mysterious witness that warned the police chief in the first place and those so called nuns and monks. If they are found, a life time sentence is waiting for them in the local jail.
  What do you think when you hear for the first time something that seems unbelievable at the moment?! Do you believe that rumor or you ask for evidence or witnesses before you decide?!

VII. Human liver and onions

Before reading this urban myth, I advice you to not eat anything, especially meat. This story is so disgusting that it might make you vomit. You have been warned!
  Liver and onions, some like this dish, some don’t. I am one of those people who likes eating this dish, but to be honest, after I found about this myth on the Internet, I began to have doubts about eating it again.
  In an unknown town, at an unknown restaurant, the specialty of the house is the ordinary liver and onions. Unlike other restaurants, this dish has an even tastier liver. The chef however, refuses to reveal from what animal the delicious liver comes from.
  Many tried to guess, his rivals even send in spies to steal the recipe, but none came closer to the truth. At least, until one rainy day …
  It was a normal day, nothing unusual except that it was raining a lot. The restaurant that I’ve mentioned earlier was crowded. Everybody wanted to taste the famous liver and onions in the exact same day, when the origin of the mysterious liver was about to be discovered.
  The chef employed an assistant to help him prepare the big amount of food. His new assistant was a teenage fellow, whom never worked in a restaurant before, but learned quickly how to make his boss specialty exactly as he does. At a time, the liver from the fridge was all gone, thanks to the huge number of costumers.
The young fellow was sent then in the basement to bring some more. It was semi dark down there, but he managed to find the freezer where more liver was waiting to be prepared and served. But when he opened the freezer’s door and the light from the inside of it illuminated a corner behind the young fellow, he saw some strange plastic bags. He thought that inside of them were the animals from which the liver comes from, seeing that thin blood wires were dripping from them.
  But when he opened one of the bags, the dropped the livers that he was holding in that moment and his face turned green. Instead of dead animals, the bags contained dead humans.
  Terrified, the young fellow run out the basement and told everybody in the restaurant what he saw there and where the liver came from.
  Since this unpleasant incident, the chef made himself disappeared and he’s still seeking by the local authority. And the costumers who ate the famous liver and onions at that restaurant, well, some became vegetarians, some become very ill and refused to eat again and unfortunately a big number of them committed suicide.
  Until today, that town banned any type of meat to be sold in its area. No one wanted to eat it again after hearing or witnessing the horrible and disgusting truth behind the former famous dish served at the unknown restaurant.
  I said this once and I will repeat it: this story may or may not be true. I don’t know for sure if these events even happened and this is the attraction of an urban myth, right?! To let his audience decide what is real and what is not.
  And furthermore, I would like to apologize if this myth that I wrote have caused some ... trouble or feelings of ill to those who are more sensitive. But I warned you from the beginning that you may feel sick or even give up eating meat. And the title should tell you what to expect, right?!
  Therefore, please don’t accuse me if you will have some unpleasant condition.

VIII. Complaints Street

Thanks to my best friend Georgiana a.k.a. nikyangelg, I have a new myth for you guys and girls: the Complaints Street.

Now you are probably wondering what is so special about this street. Well, this street is ten meters far from the local cemetery. It is said that it’s a border which keeps all the spirits inside the cemetery during the full moon nights at midnight. If somehow, someone is out during that time of night, and to his/her bad luck he/she crosses this border, all the spirits will possess the body until sunrise. The spirits are not bad, maybe they just want to see how things are outside the cemetery.

We may never know for sure. Or maybe let’s ask this drunk guy that you’re about to read.

It was midnight. The dark clouds were unveiling the bright full moon, illuminating the Complaints Street.  It was quiet and peaceful since no one dared to go outside because of the rumors mentioned earlier. No one in their right mind that is. 

But suddenly a male voice began to fake sing out of nowhere, breaking the silence of the night. By the sound of it the man was well drunk. He was medium sized, dressed in a pair of old jeans, a dirty T-shirt and some shabby sneakers with the laces untied. Once or twice he stepped on the laces and he was about to fall on the ground, but luckily, he managed to gain his balance very quick.

“Oh, my love I’m coming hoooome ... *hick* ... my love I’m coming hooooome .... *hick*. Now, wher’ am I now?” He asked himself out loud, trying to look around for a clue to tell him at least the name of the street.

Right in font of him was a pole and he came closer to it to read the blurry letters.

“Complaints Street. Good. I’m almoust home.” He managed to make one step before a fog blocked his view completely. After the fog disappeared, the drunk man was gone as well.

The next morning, his wife and some police men tried to find the drunk men by remaking his footsteps. His wife knew his route from the local bar to their home and she remembered with fear the name of the last street which ended the route.

The police men were very serious about the search mission and advice the wife to abandon the mythical theory about the Complaints Street. “Madam, if we’ll follow this superstition, your husband will never be found. We suggest that you should return home and leave the searching operation to the experts.”

Good luck, officer. You’re going to need it, because the people that were possessed by the spirits so far vanished for ever. I know this since, well ... no one returned alive to tell the truth!

IX. The Witches Puddle

"The Witches Puddle” is a cursed patch of water near Bucharest, Romania’s capital.

There is a legend which says that the puddle is haunted by unholy forces from other realms. At only half an hour distance from Bucharest, it is a mysterious zone being known after the people began to embroider around it all sorts of stories.

But the truth tells us the story that transformed “The Witches Puddle” into a legend well known by those whom live near the capital.

The story begins in the village Boldești, in Boldu-Crețeasca Forest:

“Near Bucharest, at only half an hour distance from Cernica Forest, there exists a cursed puddle, recognized and feared inclusively in the present by the locals. Hidden in the middle of Boldu-Crețeasca Forest, at first sight, the puddle seems to appear as a trivial patch with more than modest dimentions, with a diameter of only five meters. Despite its usual appearance, it is said that this patch of water is surrounded by forces from other realms and it is a place of inexplicable manifestations.” Says an article titled Horror Stories on a Facebook page.

The rumors say that the puddle became known among the witches as well, whom, around some important holydays gather around its surface. It seems that any type of spell, curse or untying chant caste on the shore of this puddle will come true without fail.

Some locals, it shows on the Facebook pages, have been witnessing around this puddle many strange occurrences, such as lightning or storms appearing out of a sudden. Therewith, it is said that many animals refuse to drink the water from here, preferring to die of thirst instead than to touch the surface with their tongues.

Besides all these stories arisen from “The Witches Puddle”, one is truly fascinating. It mentions a theory that the puddle may be abysmal. Of course, the specialists deny this theory and say that all these are just made up stories contrived by people over time.

 

 

The Witches Puddle existed for over 400 years at the intersection where today is the beginning of Republics Street.

In its first years of existence, women whom were suspected of being witches, were thrown into the water with heavy weights tied around their legs and if they succeeded in reaching the surface, they were condemned as Satan’s servants and burnt alive on wooden stakes.

In the Medieval Era, any woman which claimed that she was a healer and prepares cures for several diseases using herbals was labeled as a witch. Also, the most seductive natural beauties that weren’t house wife material and stole the hearts of countless men were labeled as witches as well, especially by the jealous ordinary house wives.

During those times people thought that those kind of women can subjugate men with only a glance because they were worshiping the devil. The fear of witchcraft was so big that the puddle from the center of Brașov became the cemetery for the women that refused to live by the rules of the medieval society.

“In those days, anything out of the ‘patterns’ was considered witchcraft. Fear was very big and wide spread and people believed they were doing society and its families a huge favor if they got rid of any so called witches. The Witches Puddle from Brașov is mentioned in many documents, but nobody knows exactly how many claimed witches ended up in that puddle. The legend says that they were up to 100 accused women. Witch hunting was an ordinary practice in the Medieval Era, but also little later after.” Said Ioan Paloian, an historian.

He also added that: “Murdering witches was a true ritual, a very macabre show to which the entire community was participating. All the executions were public at that time. Those whom were keeping them were inducing fear among the watchers, as well as discouraging women to stray from the ‘pattern’ of society.”

The witch trial was a boundless cruelty. The accused women were brought in front of a crowd, gathered around the puddle, with heavy metal chains around their necks, wrists and ankles. There, heavy boulders were tied with the metal chains and then they were thrown into the muddy water. Those who didn’t drawn, were condemned as real witches, servants of the devil, with evil supernatural powers unknown by the common mortals. If they somehow managed to reach the surface and survive the trial, they were brought quickly on the shore and immediately burnt on the stake.

However, there is no document nor any historical mention that any of the accused have survived this trial.

The legend also states that the unmarried girls weren’t allowed to see witches floating on the puddle because bad luck will keep them company all year long. The same legend also mentions that if an unmarried girl would watch a witch burning she would become ugly and sinful. To keep the curious young girls far from this puddle during the trials, several guards were hired to patrol around it day and night.

A triptych which banishes the spirits from the Witches Puddle was drained at the beginning of the 19th century and today it is crossed by the Heroes Boulevard. At the place mentioned in the legend it is now a triptych dedicated to the heroes of the Revolution in 1989.

The most superstitious ones say that actually the triptych’s cross protects the area from the evil spirits of the dead witches, whom on the night of Saint Andrew they return to the place where they were tortured and killed.

 

X. The haunted tunnel from Teliu

 The biggest tunnel in Romania is originated in a small village called Teliu (near Brașov city). It’s construction started around the year of 1920 and it lasted seven years. At that time it was a bold project which started with an investition of 100 million lei (446 million euros) from a German company.

 

 

The heads of the company thought that since it was a huge investment, the project should be surpevised by two engineers, instead of one to be sure that every cent will be well spended. Failure was not an option. The first engineer, also being the initiator of this project was a Romanian named Colțână and the second was German, named Iulius Berger.

Even if the two men did everything so that the construction of the tunnel would develop without any problems, some accidents did encounter. Some walls had collapsed and metan gases have been emitted during some digging which caused skin burns on the miners’ bodies.

Half way through the construction, the gallery collapsed unexpectedly. It was a big disaster. About 30 workers were caught under ground, but all were saved later on. Even if some of them were badly injured, they all survived. Thus the construction went on and by it’s finalisation no more accidents acured, being a huge relief for the two engineers whom had the fear that the project might bet intrerupted and closed. Fortunetely that didn’t happen.

But the real tragedy came on the inauguration day. The engineer Colțână climbed up the tunnel above its entrance, where a small improvised stage was placed so that the public can see better when the red ribbon would be cut. And Berger was at the bottom of the entrance with a bottle of champaigne in hands, waiting to throw it into the entrance’s arcade after the ribbon gets cut and anounce the name of the tunnel.

Everyone had gathered around near the tunnel and made silence so that the Romanian engineer could hold a short speech then clapped happily after he cut the red ribbon and Berger threw the bottle of champaigne but before he could shout the name of the tunnel, his co-worker droped dead a few centimeters behind him. Berger quickly went to check his pulse and realised that he was dead.

Shortly after this tragedy, the police made an investigation and discovered near the small stage above the tunnel two electrical wires, most likely the cause of the Romanian’s death. Some witnesses say that they saw the engineer putting together those two wires, his action suposely to symbolise the tunnel’s connection to the nearest electrical energy central but unfortunately they made a spark and thus he colapsed to the ground to everybody’s horror.

Therefore, the police closed the case as an ‚unhappy accident’ and everything went back to normal.

At the funeral, the engineer was burried into a tunnel shaped vault. But in 1963 his body was moved to a cemetery in Bucharest. The left behind marbeled tunnel shapped vault was the stolen piece by piece in just a few days. Since then the legend of the haunted tunnel from Teliu has been born.

Many people say that they saw the ghost of the deceased engineer walking around the tunnel, holding two wires in each of his hands at the hour when his death occured. His haunting lasted for seven decades and even today curious people visit the tunnel, especially in the day that Colțână did the terrible mistake which costed his life, hoping to get a shot of his ghost on their cameras and brag about it to their friends.

Some locals think that the tunnel is being haunted because Colțână is upset for the fact that his body was moved to Bucharest and the only way to cease the haunting is to take it back. This theory is based on some Christian funeral traditions, which specifically sais that you aren’t allowed to move a dead body into another cemetery because that will upset the spirits from the land of the dead.

You may ask yourselves, if this theory is true then why was the body moved in the first place?

Nobody knows the answer to this question, therefore Colțână’s spirit will be around that tunnel untill his body is returned to its rightfull place.

And when that is going to happen?!

Another question without an answer.

 

XI. The ghostly trolley-bus

 

  We all have heard many stories about haunted houses, caves, cemeteries and other places; but, how many stories about haunted vehicles have you heard?!

  Personally, I never came upon a horror story or myth about any kind of vehicles, although I saw a tricycle in a movie moving by itself, until one autumn night when I was searching the Internet for new myths from my country to share with everybody on bookrix. And to my luck, I found quite a few, some were a little bit childish or too lame for my taste, but one caught my attention because of its mystery.

 

  The trolley-bus isn’t as popular in Romania as it was a long time ago, still there are many of this type of public transportation in a couple of cities, including the capital Bucharest. Speaking of it, the story that I’m about to tell takes place in a neighborhood from Bucharest that has trolley-buses as the only public transportation available. For what reason, I don’t know.

  All I know from the sources is that it happened on an autumn night, close to Halloween:

 

  The dark grey sky was announcing that a rain was about to begin and the cold wind wasn’t making things better for a young woman whom was running to the trolley station to get to work on time. As her heeled boots were making loud noises on the concrete road she was cursing herself for letting her umbrella at home. Luckily, her red coat had a hoodie to protect her head from the cold weather.

  She prayed that she could make to the station on time, otherwise the trolley was going to leave without her and the next one would arrive after 30 minutes.

  “Why aren’t there more public transportations active in this neighborhood?! Oh yeah, because few people are at work this late and most of them travel with their own cars. If only I had more money, I could do the same.” The young woman was thinking about ways to save money so that she could buy her own car when she spotted a trolley parked in front of the station.

  Thinking it was her ride, she climbed inside of it without looking at the number displayed on the bottom left corner of the windshield to make sure that this one was taking her to the correct destination.

  As soon as she was inside the trolley, the doors close immediately and the vehicle left the station with such a great speed the young woman almost collapsed to the floor. She managed to avoid such accident by grabbing the nearest metal pool and after recovering her balance, she glanced angrily towards the driver’s cabin.

  Normally, every trolley, bus and tram has a driver’s cabin made out of metal and a glass window so that the passengers don’t disturb the driver or interfere when moving; yet this one had a cabin entirely covered by wooden planks.

  Surprised, the woman blinked a couple of times not believing this. After a couple of seconds, she then moved her gaze around the vehicle’s interior and was disgusted by what she saw. The entire place was rusty and dirty, the chairs had their cushion seats stained and ripped and on the floor were all sorts of bugs crawling around the place.

  To her relief, the woman saw her destination through the cracked windows and she was very happy that her unpleasant ride was coming to an end.

  But the trolley didn’t stop, on the contrary, as if sensing the woman’s feelings; the driver began picking up the speed.

  Now the woman was angry and she began shouting towards the barricaded cabin hoping that the driver would stop:

  “Hey ‘genius’! Don’t you know you have to stop at every station on your route? HEY! I know you are in there, just stop this piece of trash trolley right now.”

  It didn’t matter how much the woman was shouting, nobody answered from the cabin and the trolley was continuing its journey undisturbed.

  Losing her last drop of patience, the woman began hitting the cabin with her left boot, hoping to get the driver’s attention this time. After a few tries, one of the planks snapped and the woman was now able to see inside the cabin.

  To her surprise, it was empty. The sight of the steering wheel and the gear stick moving by themselves send a cold shiver down her spine.

  “WHAT?! For God’s sake, someone please tell me this is a joke!”

  Suddenly the trolley stopped near a cemetery and when the doors open once again, the woman jumped out and ran away as fast as her feet could to the nearest police station to report this sick joke.

  After repeating the event for the second time to a police officer, he asked her if she saw the vehicles front number or the plate with the registration code.

  The woman responded sadly, that she was too busy trying to figure what was going on that she ignored any other detail.

  In the end, the police officer released her and began searching for the vehicle with the description he had so far.

  Days have past after the incident and the young woman took some time off from her work. She was having nightmares about that damned trolley, barely ate anything, but she never told anyone about it until the police will find that trolley which caused her such trauma. She even considered talking to a therapist at some point.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when her cell phone began to ring. Hesitating, the woman picked up and when she saw the police emergency number on the screen, her confidence returned and she answered, curious to find out the answer.

 

“-Good day miss, I call to announce that my colleagues and I have found the trolley you described a couple of days ago.

  -Oh, thank God. You have no idea what a nightmare my life has been after that event. I had trouble sleeping every night and I became so paranoid I even considered visiting a therapist.

  -Maybe you should after what I’m about to tell you: the trolley is out of use since 20 years ago.

  -What?! Are you serious? I must admit that it was in a horrible condition but it was still working, I swear.

  -Miss, let me send you some pictures so you can confirm if the trolley is the same as the one from that night.

 

 

 

  -Yes, this is it. But I swear that it was moving.

  -Miss, if you insist with this affirmation, I will personally send you to a therapist or arrest you for wasting our time. Have a good day.”

  With that being said, the police officer ended the call, leaving the woman shocked about the information she received. It just didn’t make any sense how something can move when it was already thrown away. She was inside and felt it with her own hands and feet.

  “Maybe I SHOULD go find a good therapist, at least so I can forget about that damned pile of rusty crap and continue with my life at ease.”

 

  I would like to tell you what happened to the woman after words or even if the trolley does go out sometimes to prank people, but the truth is that the story ends here, leaving us at guessing about the aftermath.

  With that being said, what do you think happened next?

 

P.S. As always, the pictures belong to their rightful owners.

Imprint

Publication Date: 11-25-2011

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
To my beloved little home town, which for some is unimportant, but for me is that special place where my life begun.