Anomaly Z-1009
Description: The anomaly concerns the phenomenon surrounding the Primeval Beech Forest Preservation Zone, specifically that portion of the zone within the region of the Carpathian mountains in Romania.
Immediately, upon setting of the sun, mists rise from the floor of the forest impeding visibility. This phenomenon occurs no matter the meteorological conditions in the area or the local temperatures. Even when temperatures are far below freezing, which would normally impede the process by which vapor creates mist, the mists of the Carpathians rise without fail.
Park rangers under the employ of the Romanian National Park Service are instructed to clear out any visitors from the zone long before sundown in order to minimize public awareness of this phenomenon and to protect the public from the negative influences of the mist. Individuals within the mist become disoriented, lethargic and confused, often leading to an overwhelming desire to recline on the forest floor. Respirator masks rated for chemical weapons will prevent this anomalous effect, but the source of the psychogenic effect of the phenomenon is completely unknown. Attempts to secure samples of the vapor from the mist have been ineffective. Additionally, the mists do not extend beyond the boundary of the forest.
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Recovered video documentation – 12 November, 2002
Foreword: The following transcript contains the recording from a digital video camera found with several articles of clothing on the morning following the recorded date. The original owner of the camera has not been found.
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[The camera pans up to see golden light play along the tops of the nearby trees. Most of the vegetation is bare and encrusted with snow. The camera pans down to ground level to frame a young woman in outdoor gear and carrying a backpack. The hikers are moving through the forest but not along any marked trail. A voice of a young man is heard, presumably the one operating the camera.]
Camera operator: Sorina, I don’t think this is a good idea.
Sorina: Relax, Marcu, we already went over this. We’ll camp in the cabin we saw earlier, can even have a fire. No one will know.
Marcu: Why do we need to do it in the first place? It’s fucking cold.
Sorina: How many years have we wondered why they shut down the park every night?
Marcu: Forever.
Sorina: Exactly. Every day, an hour before sundown they hurry everyone out of the park no matter how many there are. And it changes with the seasons, exactly one hour before sunset no one is allowed in the park. Not even the rangers. Every other park like this in the country, hell anywhere on the continent, there would be camping.
Marcu: But not here.
Sorina: But not here! So, we’re gonna find out why. At the very least we’ll stay the night and leave in the morning and get evidence so we can prove it.
Marcu: Evidence of what? Strigoi?
[Sorina scoffs and continues marching through the trees. The light starts to diminish until almost no light is seen. The two hikers take out battery lanterns and continue moving through the trees. Mist starts to rise from the forest floor.]
Marcu: Sorina!
Sorina: Wha–
[Sorina does not finish her question, instead staring at the mist rising from the snow.]
Marcu: That shouldn’t be happening. It’s too cold for mist and anyway, it’s coming from the snow.
Sorina: Just keep moving, the cabin is just a few hundred meters ahead.
[The two continue to move through the trees as the mist gets thicker and thicker until Sorina is barely visible only a few meters ahead of the camera.]
Marcu: Get back here!
[Sorina gets closer but continues to move through the trees. Other than her backpack just ahead of Marcu, all that is visible is the swirling mist around the camera.]
Marcu: We need to turn back, we could get to the road in an hour and hike back to the car.
Sorina: It’s just mist, you big baby.
Marcu: I can’t hear anything.
Sorina: The mist is deadening the sound, that’s how it works.
[Smiling, Sorina turns to Marcu and puts a hand on his chest.]
Sorina: Come on, we’ll be there in a few minutes, I’ll make a fire and warm up some of your mom’s stew we brought, it’ll be like in high school. OK?
[He hesitates, and she takes his hand in hers.]
Sorina: Think how much better it’ll be when you’re warm in the cabin.
[He shrugs but laughs, moving to follow her and she continues through the trees.]
Marcu: Why is there even a cabin here? No one stays overnight.
Sorina: Who knows? But it’s pretty lucky we found it earlier, right?
[Marcu begins to answer when a movement just at the edge of the camera makes him stop and turn.]
Marcu: What was that?
Sorina: What?
Marcu: I saw something move!
[Marcu turns the camera wildly trying to cover the whole of the forest around them.]
Marcu: Maybe it was a wolf. Do you think it was a wolf? There are gray wolves up in the mountains. Sorina?
[Marcu moves the camera around and Sorina is nowhere to be seen.]
Marcu: That’s not funny! Where are you?
[Movement is seen in the corner of the camera’s field of vision again, forcing Marcu to search around for the source again.]
Marcu: Come on… This is childish. Let’s go home.
[Marcu turns in place for several moments, presumably looking for Sorina. A high-pitched wail echoes through the mists. The sound does not match any known animal in the archives.]
Marcu: Sorina?
[The wail is heard again, and suddenly Marcu has turned and run in what is presumably the opposite direction. For the next fifteen minutes the only sounds are Marcu’s panicked breathing, and the camera is whipping around violently by its strap around his shoulder, making it impossible to see anything besides the ground and occasionally Marcu’s side as he runs. Suddenly the camera falls, landing such that some light is visible from the lantern Marcu has dropped. The wail is louder now, the source much closer to the recording device. Suddenly blackish red liquid splashes across the lens, Marcu screams and then collapses, only his feet in the right half of the frame. After a moment, his feet begin sliding away, as Marcu is presumably dragged entirely off camera. A deer’s hoof is seen as an entity steps around the camera without noticing it – or without recognizing what it is. Suddenly a woman’s hand is visible, covered in bark and moss laced into her skin. At the point of contact, blood seeps out from the flesh where the moss or bark has grown through. The hand touches the lamp. The hoof is seen again, seemingly coming from the same entity. Antlers brush up against the lamp and the camera, sprouting out of a mass of dirty human hair. The head turns, blurry and unfocused. The face is covered in blood and dirt. It is not Sorina.]
[The camera shuts off.]
End of Log.
Source:
Grigori Karpin
Mr. Illustrated
