The Castle of Giants: Paranormal Mysteries of the Šumava Mountains

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Luckily for you, it's always spooky season on After Dark. The award-winning podcast where we take you to places you're dreaded to go but we'll click play to hear about anyway. From the cursed tombs of ancient Egypt to the freshly robbed graves of Georgian England. Look for After Dark, Myths, Misteads and the Paranormal. It's hosted by me, Dr. Maddie Pelling. And me, Dr. Antony Delaney. Plus, we're on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. A podcast by History Hit. A podcast, a friend of mine, Michelle, gave me a skeptical look one time when I mentioned crop circles that were made by aliens. Well, she said, "A friend of mine used to make them and it got picked up by a reputable channel and they thought it was real." Now, I never knew how to feel about crop circles, to be honest with you. I always thought aliens would have a better way to communicate with us instead of making circles in large fields, unless it meant something more like an alien spacecraft leaving that pattern behind after landing on it or something. But then I started learning about these cases and some of them opened up at least some level of curiosity. For example, a nearby strange light in the sky right before the crop circle appeared, or animals suddenly reacting strange around the time of the discovery. But it turns out that's just the start, at least for the Shumava region in the Czech Republic. There are people spoke of giants, translucent figures, objects floating in the sky, in legends that all seem to point to the possibility that there's something from another planet visiting them. So today we're going to go to the Czech Republic to explore the Shumava region and look at its historical, archaeological, and paranormal phenomena. My name is Edwin. When he's a horror story. Story begins at about a thousand meters above sea level, on a mountain ridge known as Vali, near the village of Poblina. There existed a purestoric hill fort, or Bihrod, also known as Giants Castle. They date this back to sometime between the 7th and 4th centuries BC, and one of the most important signs of Celtic settlement in Bohemia. But what makes this so special is that it's the highest archaeological monument in the entire Czech Republic. Now, I'm not too familiar with Celtic culture, except for when research calls for little snippets of stories here and there. But I feel like I'm by a sleeping giant of culture, stories, and an entire universe of roots that we see today just about everywhere. For us here, I'll tell you something real quick. The end of Harvest Festival that marks the start of winter and begins at sunset on October 31st. Well, we all know what day that is. And everything from games, a trick or treating, the pumpkins we do today, it all comes from Gaelic Celtic Festival. But alright, so these structures were integrated with the natural rock formations, and they were impressive, but there was something very strange about it all. If it was built as a fort, why was it so deep within wild mountains? It didn't even seem to have any strategic advantage. Also worth noting is that the side that was most difficult to get to was heavily fortified, and yet the part where intruders could easily get in was left undefended. It really made me wonder what were they trying to protect themselves from? Excavations in that area have not found everyday objects like pottery shards, animal bones, or the like, but they did find a stone block that was shaped like a stool, which is believed to be a sacrificial altar. And it's this fact alone that makes people believe that maybe Julius Caesar was right when he said that the Celtics were barbarians, because they would get together in the wilderness to do rituals and ceremonies. But I don't know, I think we're oversimplifying it. I did find some information that supports my theory that maybe this castle was more of a symbolic barrier between the spiritual world and ours, but that also opens up a whole other world of ideas. Because the stones are so large, there exist legends that giants once lived there and built the castle. The thing is, there is a well-known story that supports it. Local inhabitants found huge 3-meter bones that glowed. Bones had belonged to these giants. The people used them to make a footbridge across a Losenita stream, and then that bridge was also said to glow at night. Multiple people confirmed the story as it was passed down to them, all describing the exact same thing. When it was investigated, they found that if the bones had existed, they may have been dinosaur bones. The glowing could be attributed to bacteria or phosphorus, and still, there are no definitive answers. And yet, I found more information about the giants in Shumapa that seemed to support the existence of giants, where they say that giants lived there long before people settled into the valleys and on the slopes. But they were hideous and monstrous, and built strong castles from rocks and boulders on the Shumapa peaks. Here's where it gets even more mysterious. The castle was mysteriously demolished by an unknown force. Some say that it was minor searching for gold in the 13th century, then there's another story out there. What about aliens? That it may have been guarded by extra terrestrials, used as a type of refuel station, where it plays to gather energy, something potentially linked to the region's gold deposits, radon and uranium. And it's those alien theories that are connected to many more, and it's really where our story begins. Most of the stories about UFO sightings happened during the former Iron Curtain era in the 1980s, although we have some recent encounters too. But let's start with the Libno region incident in 1985. At the lookout post, that's Batitomas, the air defense department reported a foreign object landing near Voncoba. The alert had come from a young soldier on pH 252, who saw orange lights landing from the sky. Dozens of soldiers and border guards with dogs went out there to search. The radar on Copic, though, was shut down, and two other radars in the area registered absolutely nothing. They found nothing out there. The anonymous witness had reported strange flashes and translucent objects in the sky, in the shape of airplanes without wings. And wasn't the only time they had actually been seen from spring to summer in 1985, in that area from Novapek to Valario from Voncoba. However, there were also unseen by radars, so fighter jets were scrambled to identify them. And during that same encounter, which happened on the first week of summer, the holidays in 1985, at around 11 at night, the air defense system reported that an aerial vehicle had taken off from the same area. So everyone kept searching, but then it had to be called off because there was nothing out there except for one thing. It was left with a circular area of almost no vegetation, about six meters in diameter. The area was said to look as if a very high temperature had acted there, but not an open fire. No insects were visible at the site. A year later, they went back to take radio signal measurements, and the area showed that the pattern was still visible, noting that the radio station power decreased toward it. It became prohibited to talk about it, but there was speculation though. There was a type of Ramita triangle effect there at Hornip Lanna, where it said that one can pass into another dimension. The western border of Czechoslovakia was guarded heavily during the 80s, and still, or better yet, maybe that's why, there were a number of very interesting UFO encounters at surface during the period. When you're keeping watch and are on high alert, you pay more attention into objects in the sky. Sometime of 1983 or 1984, Major Musil, a border guard officer, was on duty. When suddenly he saw what he described to be a red glowing sphere that was moving silently at a low altitude near the signal fence. He kept his eyes on it as he watched it stop and then started up again. That completely rolled out the ball lightning explanation since it seemed to not pose a threat though, no weapons were used. In a separate occasion between 1986 and 1987, another border guard officer and his signal man kept seeing a strange object in the sky, something that described as "orange light" with a diameter larger than a large flashlight. It was at waist height behind the signal fence. The light had appeared silently, and it disappeared a few seconds later, leaving nothing behind. They were now looking for what it could have been, even with their best tracking dogs, but found nothing. In other instances, the officers had also described orange lights floating along the signal fence, and then running across the meadow. But the incidents of strange light sightings continued, like the account from Brona K in 1991, who said that while they were being transported during a snow storm, a beautiful phosphorescent green tinted light of a round shape, about 50 meters in size appeared above their vehicle and followed them for about 100 meters, and then it disappeared. It was silent, and the terrain was completely obscured by snow and fog. But not all of the sightings were light. Some appeared to be physical objects, like the ones that two tourists near Sir Tobolake in Shumavasa, something that described as a steel gray oval ellipse with black dots. It was flying silently, and then rapidly changing speed. Then got faster, it slowed down, and then tilted sideways before accelerating into the sky. This time it seemed to make a sound though, described as a fighter jet, but smaller, and flying at the level of the trees, but not above them. Some say that the Shumavasa region is a very magical place, with unique DNA. They say that it contains a large gold deposit in the bedrock, a radon area, and a lot of energy sites. This might offer an explanation for the frequent UFO activity, maybe recharging their ships, or maybe observing ancient Celts back then. This region is a magical place after all, one that beings from other dimensions, or places in the universe, are drawn to. Up until this point, we've talked about objects in the sky, circling like curious observers. But now, they're about to take shape, literally. Hi True Crime fans, I'm Giles, and I'm the host of the True Crime Show, This Is Monsters. If you like podcasts that take a deep dive into some of the worst offenders on the planet, you should check out my show. We do themed seasons, which average around 20 episodes and have themes like family and idolaters, in the wild and strange and unusual. You can search for this as monsters wherever you listen to podcasts if you want to hear more and listen to them more than 500 episodes I've published. Thanks in advance and be safe. I was able to find one source for this, an interview with a professional driver in a documentary called "World's Most Mysterious Places," Places of Ritual. At the time of the recording, it already happened more than 20 years ago when he used to live with his girlfriend in the lookout tower in the town of Sushitsa and the Shumava region. It was early in the morning when he went downstairs to get to his car. And as he was approaching the open yard where he had the car parked, he saw mysterious tall beings that were standing above the ground completely floating. So as he stood there, frozen, the being suddenly disappeared and he rushed back inside. After a while he went to his car and it wouldn't start. And he was surprised because this had never happened before. And so he pushed it down the hill towards the village where he worked and he kept trying to start the car as he was going down the hill and he still couldn't get it to start until he reached the village. In fear of being thought of as a weirdo, he didn't tell his girlfriend about the incident until five days later. The thing is that the specific area where the lookout tower is is actually associated with a mysterious energy and the same place where all these other giants had been seen in the past. And even recently, actually found a case in July of 1996 where a camp leader saw three extremely tall, transparent yet clear and outline figures at the boundary of the camp he was working in. Used to always surprise me when people would mention with a hundred percent certainty that they've seen an alien, we'd never actually have photographic evidence of it. Now, I figured with all the technology we have in our pockets right now, we should be able to capture something on camera, right? Well a former aircraft mechanic ran into an issue with this. He was in the Shimama region when he witnessed an event that this day is difficult to explain. He saw a huge 30 meter blocks that were rotating over a small valley at night. He later described them as beautiful blocks of ice. Without thinking twice about it, he wanted to capture it on a cell phone as proof of what he was seeing. But when he got home, the photos were gone. Some theories about this lack of evidence tell us that aliens may have mission control technology where these civilizations have the ability to erase photos from cell phones and cameras. The mechanic rumored a weird silence during the sighting followed by a sensation of the ground shaking like an earthquake. Although without proof, few people believe the main incident, let alone their earthquake detail. But okay, so you can't take a picture of them. But what if, and a big if here, we shoot at them? I'm not for this at all, right? But surely actual evidence like that would suffice as proof, right? Well Frannick Plitz got an answer. He was at a neighbor's field shooting at wild pigs. And as he was near the edge of a tree line, he saw a flying saucer arrive and land directly in the middle of this field, one that was between two villages. This man, maybe through instinct, grabbed the rifle and pointed at it. And just as he did that, he heard the weapon shatter. The flint in it stopped working, and the rifle was not going to work anymore. Without much else to do, he leaned the rifle against the pine tree and watched it as it flew away. On an interview of the documentary, he later says that he felt completely hopeless, but there was no way he could have defended himself against them. Another case I found was an environmental expert who was cycling during an evening in mid-July through the Sramava regions, when he suddenly sensed a strange tense calmness. He saw a thing that resembled a bracelet of red light. The light seemed to come from a window where it plates. He got on his bike and rode home, getting into bed, hiding under the covers, trying to decipher what he had just seen, playing it over and over in his mind. In another incident, a group of about 12 people were walking on a Saturday afternoon. When they noticed a herd of about 100 cows all grouped together, looking intently in a specific direction. Because of his unusual behavior, they looked in the same direction and saw a strange, black graphite diamond-shaped floating, about six feet in the air. It hovered, rose up slowly, and then disappeared over the horizon. The group reported feeling no fear and no emotion, though they were in shock at what they were seeing and none reached for their phones to try and record it. They described it as a very pleasant feeling and also felt very calm. When I heard of this incident, I thought of the cash land-dramed case in the United States, with a describe of very similar object. Some say that these flying objects, though, have a type of anti-gravity propulsion system inconsistent with aerodynamics so they can make any shape they want. They can also move instantaneously in any direction at any speed. Could it have been a drone? The witnesses are convinced that it was not, and that it was from alien origin. When asked later about it, they all claim to believe that UFOs exist now. If you've listened for a while, you know I love a good alien sighting story, and these are no exception, but as a love of folklore, I just have to bring this up. Do you remember the translucent figures I told you about, the ones that were said to be aliens? What if they weren't from out of this world? Because in Slavic folklore there's a spirit known as a Leshi, the guardian of the forest. Now they say that he can grow as tall as a tree or shrink down to the size of a blade of grass, where his skin blends into the bark and his beard and hair are tangled with moss. He loves to confuse people and make them walk and endless circles around the forest. People of the Shamava region used to speak of hearing strange laughter or whistling in the woods at night, along with the feeling of being watched. But maybe, just maybe, these tall translucent figures were somehow blending into the trees, making it look translucent. Now it's that old forest guardian reminding us whose territory this really is. Or maybe it's the other way around and the aliens were somehow perceived to be a creature that protects the forest. Either way, something we're not familiar with is out there, and if we all catch glimpses of it every once in a while. Before my skeptic friends out there, here's a theory you might like. These unusual magnetic anomalies somehow link with you with four hot spots, as we know them, which might have something to do with the gold, uranium, and radon deposits in Shamava. But along with that, radon may have health effects that might cause the locals to experience disness, visions, or hallucinations. Is this why we get so much strange witness testimony? If that isn't enough, we can just go with the government conspiracy, especially back then, with the Iron Curtain secrecy. Everything having to do with experimental aircraft, spy technology, and paranoia from the Cold War. But whether it's Cold War's secrecy, strange geological energies, or spirits of the forests, maybe visitors from the stars, it's hard to explain the strange experiences of people in the area over the centuries, those who at the same time were thought to have been taken by the spirit of the forest. You can believe that these were actually hallucinations, but a group of people, seeing the same things at the same time, the same place? So what do we do with all this? A region where giant bones glow in the night, where castles crumble by unknown hands, and where soldiers swear they saw lights that did not show up on the radar. Those places were campers and hikers, sea translucent beings in the forest, and were even the lakes are set to hold whispers of the drowned spirits. No matter how many science-backed, unproven theories exist, these stories have repeated for generations, long before planes were even an idea in our minds. It makes me think that maybe there is something magical about the Shumava Mountains. Perhaps something dark that waits in the shadows and shows up only when it wants to be seen. I often think back on those crop circles because they were also seen in that area, and also reported many new sites and local talk. But maybe we humans make the patterns in the fields and in our stories to explain what we can't understand. We have to at least be open that maybe some of these circles, some legends and some encounters are real. So here we are again. From the Shumava region, by the forests and the valleys, the dark lakes, walking alone. We look in the distance and see a glowing light that hovers and slowly vanishes in the horizon. The sign, maybe, that we're not alone in these mountains. Just like we can't be the only ones out here, floating in the vast, open space that is a universe. This episode of Horror Story was written by me Edwin Coarrubias with research from interviews in the documentary from world's most mysterious places, as well as contributions from the website from the Czech Republic, bojansko.cz Our newsletter subscribers got a heads up about this episode as I was researching it. So if you want to be a part of it too, just tell me your email in the form on my website horrorstory.com. And I'll keep you updated too about what happens around scary FM. It's free and I send it out once a week. You can opt out whenever. Anyway, thank you all for your support. It has been quite a ride this year so far and I can't believe we're getting closer to the best season of the year already and I can't wait. Anyway, if you've tapped follow already, I'll be back next week with another story. Thank you very much for listening. Keep it scary everyone. See you soon. 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