the soldier who threw away his career for one photo (Hoia-Baciu, 1968)

everyone hypes Hoia-Baciu as "Romania's most haunted forest", the bald circular clearing where nothing grows, the bent trees, hikers getting nausea and headaches and that feeling of being watched. fine. but the detail that actually sticks with me isn't ghosts. it's a guy named Emil Barnea. August 19……