The circle of witches, discovered in a forest near Bistrita – TimpOnline.ro

A mysterious circle was discovered in a forest near Bistrita. In the past, people believed that these were witch-haunted places where people who disappeared into the forest were trapped. Others, however, believe that there are places where UFOs have landed.

“Aliens are definitely vegan. Images of so-called UFOs, captured in a forest near Bistrita. The alien ship had just taken it to Bârgău… Probably after horns or strings”, wrote to a group of mushroom pickers from Nicolae Șuteu county, the one who made these frames public.

In reality, however, it is about natural formations formed by a colony of perennial fungi, which grow in the form of a circle or semicircle. They occur mainly in forest, but can also be found in meadows and pastures. Inside, the vegetation is burned, due to the consumption of nutrients, outside, the vegetation grows luxuriantly, due to the production of nitrites. The circle consists of the carpophores of the fungi arranged in a ring, which surrounds a circular area of ​​grass under which the mycelium of the fungi is located. The mycelium (root) grows in a radial direction and widens more and more with each subsequent fruiting.

The grass inside the circle generally dries out as the mycelium consumes the soil’s water and nutrients. Sometimes, however, the fungus releases substances that promote the growth of the grass, which becomes more lush and takes on a dark green color.

The rings can normally grow from 5 to 40 cm per year until they reach a diameter of about 10 meters and then become stable over time. The phenomenon can be caused by approximately 60 species of fungi.

These circles held an important place in European mythology, where they were believed to be the doors of fairy kingdoms or places where, according to various traditions, witches, fairies or elves danced. There was also a belief that the circle was a place of imprisonment for people who disappeared into the forest. According to old stories, there were such cases when a man went out to pick mushrooms and never came back. The people of the village could search for him day and night, but when all searches were abandoned, the person returned home. Only he thought he was lost and wandered in the forest for a few hours, but in fact it was a week.

In order for the “witch’s circle” not to work, it was necessary to run around the ring from right to left nine times. If the ritual was performed correctly, then a person could “hear” the conversations of witches, fairies, mermaids, etc. If a mistake was made, then great care was needed because the witches were going to bring “trouble”.