BaleaLacBâlea Lake (Romanian: Bâlea Lac) is a glacier lake and a small mountain resort nearby, situated at 2,034 m of altitude in the Făgăraș Mountains, in central Romania. In september 1978, enconters with a strange entity frightened a group of military conscripts.

September 23, 1978 at 24:00, two technicians from the upper station of the cable car were awakened due to a reddish, circular light, which was visible through the dense fog, occupying the whole field of view. The witnesses estimated that it was at about 5-10 meters from the window. It was a perfect silence. Initially they thought the Balea Lake main chalet was burning, but this was not confirmed. Subsequently, were eliminated other possible explanations: car headlamp, flashlight etc.

In a wooden barrack, not far from the cable car, a number of military conscripts (between 12 and 20 after different sources) were stationed unarmed, brought to construction works.

Around the same time, the „fruntaş” (equivalent to "lance corporal") Ioan Dörr came out of the bedroom of the barrack, to drink water. On the way to the tap, at the corner of the building, he spotted, at 6-8 meters, a dark, motionless silhouette, 1.90-2.00 meters high, lit only by a bulb above the door. Because of fog, the military man could not distinguish details. He shouted "Who's there?", but did not receive response. Therefore he thought it is prudent to return inside the barrack. Five minutes later the figure was still there, close to the wall of the building; but, after another ten minutes, it was gone.

In the next evening, it was clear and without fog. Around 21:45, in front of the building, sergeant Ion Radu drew the attention of soldiers Dörr and Vulpe that, on a mound in the direction of the cable car, at a distance of 15-20 meters, is standing a dark silhouette. Its height was estimated at 2.5 meters, by comparison with a two meter high diesel tank, next to it. Dörr said the silhouette was like an astronaut making slow movements. Meanwhile, the soldiers from the next bedroom began shouting that someone has opened the shutters of the windows. These were assured, shortly before, with wires twisted with pliers and with a cross chain (the shutter locks were at 2.5 meters from the ground). Other soldiers began throwing stones at the strange being, who in the meantime has moved slowly on the mound. At one point, sergeant Radu grabbed a club, and went in there, shouting to the soldiers D. Sibu and Gh. Stan to follow him. Arriving at 1-1.5 meters to the creature, Radu raised the cudgel to hit it. There was a blast as a "breath of a tiger" and the sergeant fell backwards in snow, as if struck by lightning, with his arms stretched out, and his head to the valley. The other two, who were at 3-4 meters distance, remained paralyzed for a few seconds. The entity, which - according to some witnesses - have hands with long claws, examined the sergeant, then disappeared, "like floating in lateral jumps". Two other witnesses watched the scene somewhat from far. One of them said that the entity was moving "like a man walk on water, leaning over to one side and another, but not as a bear or other animal, because I saw plenty of bears. It was like floating, when on a leg, when on the other".

The two soldiers that accompanied the sergeant went to drag him; then, with the help of two other comrades, they carried him into the cottage. He was unconscious, but has not unclench his hand on the bat. He recovered only after ten minutes of repeated resuscitation attempts. He did not remember anything from the moment he picked up the bat. Meanwhile, on the same place where had been "the shadow", five soldiers saw above the ground "a wreath of lights", with a diameter of about half a meter. Four lights were smaller and four larger, "about the size of an egg," which "danced in circle" and "jumped from side to side."

The soldiers barricaded themselves in one of the rooms. Over about an hour and a half, they heard someone scratching at the window shutters. Two witnesses said they heard a deep voice that apparently uttered the words "sergend ... sergend ...".

A sleepless night followed for all ... The next morning they noticed on the shutters, that had been painted with only 2-3 days ago, four parallel scratches, oblique, spaced about 10 centimeters, intersected by a fifth, perpendicular to them. At the place where Ion Radu fell, the soldiers did not see, on the snow, any other trace besides those of the sergeant.

The next night, the soldiers were so frightened that, except of the sergeant and of a corporal, they got off to a chalet, at the resort "Bâlea Cascadă" (1200 meters elevation), the lower end of the cable car. They returned on 26 September, along with an officer.

The case was investigated by a group of members of the club "Universe" in Sibiu, led by Gabriel Pal and George Butiu, along with engineers Justin Capră (a famous inventor) and M.T. from Bucharest, and subsequently by Călin Turcu. They collected written statements and sketches of the events, as well as drawings of the "silhouette", as the witnesses perceived it.

After several years, sergeant Ion Radu confirmed to Călin Turcu the events, adding that in the barrack were 20 military and the entity was "like a thick tube of metal with a diameter greater than 50 centimeters without other characteristics" and it was not much taller than him. The officer, who climbed with the military on September 26, came armed, to encourage the soldiers and he stayed at the cottage a few days afterwards. The soldiers were horrified, among other things, because the entity has left no trace on the ground. About two months after the event, a committee of military investigators came at the place. They concluded that "it was a phenomenon of electrification, or magnetization, of the air" which caused an "electric shock" able to take him down. Sergeant Ion Radu appropriated this explanation.

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