In 2015, we decided to undertake one of the most comprehensive research projects that our association has undertaken. The target of the research was the forest of Bor. We focused on:

1) introducing the Bor forest

2) separating fact from fiction in the Bor forest

3) night research of the Bor forest

4) analysis of the material taken

Therefore, this paper will also be divided into several chapters in which we will address each section.

1. INTRODUCTION AND WHAT THE ARCHIVES HAVE REVEALED TO US

The Forest Bor is a very interesting rarity in the Czech Republic. It is a place from which the folk mind has created a complete horror place where the supernatural intertwines with reality. One could say that it is a fairy tale book with ghosts and a map of their occurrence. However, as we delved deeper into researching this forest, we were surprised at how many people chimed in with some personal experiences, testimonies and unexplained events.

It was both interesting and enlightening. In the past, when we researched at Christlhof - Pohádka or castle Landštejn, we did not have as many witnesses, apart from individual claims, as we did in this forest. But that is not the only interesting thing.

The Forest of Bor is also interesting in the number of quantity of paranormal events (according to claims circulating among people). In our documentary trilogy we couldn't even mention all of them. Among other haunted ones, for example, a UFO crash was supposed to have taken place inside Bor.

It was clear that we needed to put the individual places together and then go through the archives and try to prove their truth.

So what places and mysterious events does the forest of Bor offer us?

Pet Cemetery - a place that physically exists, but no paranormal experiences are tied to it (yet). Its founding is hard to trace, we think it was created by stealth. Some graves here date back before 2010, but it's hard to estimate how many pets are buried here.

The Black Pillar - a place where the Keeper of the Forest has been spotted several times and repeatedly. And also a place that is supposed to commemorate a tragic event, only today it is not known what it was. As for the Guardian of the Forest himself: he is supposed to be a tall, slender figure, with a hat on his head and an expressionless face. His arrival is supposed to be heralded by a perceptible drop in temperature and the supposed sound of a flute.

The Hanged Mans Tree - this is a deciduous tree on the edge of the forest where hundreds of people were supposed to have committed suicide. The tree itself is said to entice passers-by to commit suicide on it. However, according to other claims, this tree should have been cut down many years ago. The ghosts of those who lost their lives on the tree are also said to appear at its trunk.

At one time, a certain Mr. Cross was supposed to have cut down a branch of this tree. Even while he was cutting it, he was told to stop what he was doing. After burning the branch, he was to have an accident at home, during which his hand, which was holding the saw while cutting, would become paralyzed.

The Wolf Pit - In the first episode of the documentary, we were told that this was an area where wolves used to be hunted and buried. However, we need to update this information. According to the new findings, this site is linked to the medieval trap where wolves were caught, which was a hole in the ground with carrion where the animals would fall when they wanted to get to their food and never come out.

Garages - there are garages near The Hanged Man Tree. You can tell they are the right ones by smelling the fuel there on warm days. In the past, the torso of a man who was supposed to have been murdered was found here and hidden in a tank of fuel or drinking water.

An abandoned unbuilt base - we have misidentified it in our documentary as a missile base under construction based on some testimonies. The truth is, however, that it is probably a resupply site, which those types of buildings should better correspond to. According to the testimony of people who spent the night there, they heard footsteps and saw the white figure of a little girl laughing.

Death of soldiers on patrol - Another well-known mystery is the shooting of three or four soldiers on patrol. One of them survived this shooting with serious wounds and hair white with terror, and was taken to the Budweiser military hospital. Here he was to testify that the soldiers were prompted to shoot by the terror coming from the forest. This soldier was later to die of his wounds.

Abandoned farmhouse - between České Budějovice and Branišov there is an abandoned house where a young girl is said to have committed suicide out of unhappy love. However, her grave was reportedly found empty and she herself was allegedly seen by locals walking through the woods in a hood like a ghost.

These are the most famous mystery stories connected to this forest. We were not interested in UFO crashes or time travel, because it does not belong to the mysteries that we are dealing with in this research.

However, it does beg the question... why is the Bor forest in particular known as a haunted place? Why not another?

There may be several answers. For a very long time, it has been rumoured that a medieval trade route to Budejovice led through this forest, which was raided by robbers who not only stole but also murdered. Moreover, most of the forest was full of deep swamps, which were said to have swallowed up the wandering traders and their cargo.

In fact, the existence of swamps is also evidenced by the contemporary documents on the founding of České Budějovice, which prove that the town had to be drained, drained of swamps and marshes before construction.

When the Bor forest became a military training ground, it was a forbidden place for many. This may have prompted the creation of various mysterious stories for the site and also distinguished this forest from others nearby.

But what do the archives tell us about the Bor Forest and the mysteries within it?

The archives have helped us to deny individual claims and thus get closer to the original truth. But first, let's talk about what we failed to do. We have not been able to find any information to prove or disprove the claim that the body of a murdered man was ever found in the garage. However, we can confirm the smell of fuel. We could indeed smell it in the hot days of July 2015 and, moreover, according to the claims of local old-timers, there was a leakage of fuel tanks underground during the operation of the military barracks, which was insufficiently addressed by the official sites at the time.

Nor have we been able to trace any deaths of the little girl that could factually corroborate the witnesses' observations of her at the former unbuilt base at Wet.

Efforts to trace the origin of the black pillar were also unsuccessful. All we know is that these columns were built either near tragic events or on roads where it was necessary to protect travellers. We can no longer specify the exact reason for this protection.

We have been successful in disproving that there was a tree in the Budejovice Forest of Bor, on whose tree hundreds of people committed suicide. As for the tree on which several hanged men ended their lives, and thus would correspond to the plural term "tree of hanged men", we have managed to find one story. It's about a young couple from the Hotel Praha in Branisov. They spent their wedding night there in the 1920s, after which they were both found hanged the next day in a tree near the forest.

The very story of the cutting off of one branch of the tree by the hanged men has a real basis. We have traced the FTV Prima footage in which a descendant of Mr Kříž spoke. He confirmed that his father had indeed cut down the branch and burned it at home. However, there were no paranormal phenomena during the cutting of the branch, or any accident that would have caused lifelong consequences.

Another debunking of the myth took place regarding an abandoned farmhouse between České Budějovice and Branišov. We can consider it a fact if we write that the tragic event described above never took place on the farm.

We also celebrated success in finding the truth about the shooting of three soldiers of the patrol. Nowhere have we been able to trace records that indicate that a tragic shootout took place at the local military barracks, during which three or four men died on the spot or later in hospital. Even the records of the military hospital have failed to turn up a document that says anything about a man who was shot and then died there and whose hair turned white with terror.

Update 2020: According to the testimony of former soldier Jaromír Bělka, who served in the Bor forest in 1981, several soldiers were shot on patrol in the Plana airport building in the 1970s. This was not for paranormal reasons, but perhaps because of psychological problems of one of the soldiers.

As a result, the facts we obtained helped us separate possible truth from fiction (for the most part). Of course, even so, we are left with a number of variously substantiated testimonies that carry weight. Moreover, they often coincide with each other. We have no choice but to go into the field and spend several nights in the local forest. What will they reveal?

2. NIGHT RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS RESULTS

In July 2015, we investigated possible paranormal activity within the Bor forest. We recorded everything on our IR and IP cameras, dictaphones and EMF meters.

During our investigations inside the Bor forest, we were confronted many times with sounds that belong to the forest at that time. Often we heard footsteps but saw no one to whom they belonged.

We encountered this most often at the Black Column. Here we were literally besieged by regular footsteps throwing leaves in front of us. We even managed to record them on camera and dictaphones (you can see and hear them in: Ghosts of the Forest Bor 3: Night in the Branis part of Bor).

Most likely they were animals, which we confirmed at the Black Pillar, where Katerina Běhanová saw the silhouette of an animal, including the glowing eyes. These phenomena can therefore be classified as rational explanations.

The glowing eyes in the dark is one of the legends circulating about the Bor forest. It is said that visitors can see either white or blue eyes, which signify good souls. Or red eyes that seek to harm the living. The incident described above can therefore serve as a glimpse into the origins of this myth.

Another interesting event that occurred in the Forest of Bor was the recording of two EVPs, which can be seen at the end of the third episode of Ghosts of the Forest of Bor. These anomalies were not of the best quality, but independent analysis by members of the Paranormal týmu z.s. confirmed that they were EVPs, but were unable to determine exactly what the specific meaning of the words in question was.

3. CONCLUSION

Research in the Bor forest has provided important clues to our understanding of paranormal activity and its possible explanations. We have investigated in many places where legends have obscured and often replaced reality. This is also the case in the Bor Forest.

We have been able, through detailed research, to debunk most of the myths circulating about the Bor Forest, including some of the causes. We have also identified possible origins regarding the different understanding of this place.

Nevertheless, research in the Bor Forest confirms that something mysterious is going on inside. An anomaly in the EMF field for which we have no rational explanation yet.

The Bor Forest has become something of a unique place for us. On the one hand, a place with a lot of made-up legends. On the other hand, a factual place with a kind of paranormal activity that may have contributed to the creation of a national myth about this location.

Finally, there is one other thought that emerges from this research. What if paranormal activity does not begin with tragedy and death? What if it begins with the imaginings of the living about hauntings at specific locations? In that case, all places with this paranormal activity do not originate in the dead, but in us the living. And in that case, all this research would fall under the umbrella of parapsychology. But only the future will tell us if this is the case.

VERDICT

Les Bor is a place covered by a thick layer of myths and legends. Behind it, however, is a foundation that has a paranormal explanation beyond the rational. You could walk into this forest all your life and not notice anything. But you can enter it for the first time and experience something. This is where the possible and the impossible collide. Why, we don't know yet. But it's rooted in an EMF field that behaves very differently here than we've seen in other places. Perhaps the future will show us why.

author of the article: Ondřej Bezouška
correction by Kateřina Běhanová
written by: 17.12.2015
last update: 8.6.2021

videos of the investigation

• in Czech without English subtitles