Via Flickr:
On a vast mountain plateau 2250 metres altitude in the Bucegi Mountains of the Southern Carpathians in Translyvania stand clusters of giant stone mushrooms and the enigmatic Romanian Sphinx. The stone mushrooms are called ‘Babele’ which means ‘The Old Women’ in Romanian.

There are a multitude of legends and origins of these mysterious stone sculptures. Although the official story is that these stones were shaped by the wind, I’m not that sure if this is the case, as these stone mushrooms are granite which is one of the hardest rocks formations and generally resistant to a hammer and chisel.

There are also a host of legends, speculation, and intricate conspiracy theories surrounding these stone monuments, that the Pentagon and the Illuminati under the auspices of clandestine organisations such as the Vatican, the Bilderberg Group, the Romanian Government, and the CIA  etc have discovered an extensive network of underground tunnels and vast chambers constructed by extraterrestrial visitors who have left certain alien technology artifacts that if revealed could have a profound impact (in true Stargate fashion) on the future of mankind.

It is also rumoured that the original Stone Tablets that Moses received on Mount Sinai (linguistic aficionados note that the town of Sinaia is very near) have been concealed in a secret and hidden chamber buried deep beneath the Sphinx, and that a meridian drawn in the exact centre of this subterranean chamber divides the world into two equal halves. I find the latter particularly amazing, as thinking about it for a moment; if I were to draw a meridian between my legs – the world would be divided into two equal halves too.

In the absence of any facts I would speculate that it is emblematic of an Indo-European Dacian Mushroom religion. There is a lot of material about the Dacian sacramental use of entheogens (Amanita Muscaria) from Mircea Eliade, Robert Graves to Terence McKenna.

Anyway speculation and secret mysteries aside, it is a fantastic experience, a totally awesome (slightly nerve-racking) cable car ride that travels over more than one deep abyss to get there. I definitely plan to return to spend more time there and do some more speculative musings.