Hello everyone,
I've been troubled for a while by some vague memories from the '94-'97 period, a time of profound transformation for our country. Back then, the exodus to the West, especially to Germany, was a sad but somewhat common phenomenon. The Saxon villages around Cincu and Sibiu perhaps felt this departure most acutely. I remember long drives through once vibrant landscapes, and the increasingly frequent sight of abandoned houses, with blank windows and rusty gates. An oppressive silence had settled over many of these settlements.
However, beyond this massive migration, I have a strange feeling, an untold narrative thread that haunts me. In those years, did any of you notice... disappearances? People who simply vanished, without a trace? I'm not just talking about those who left for the West, but about a different kind of absence, one shrouded in mystery. Houses abandoned not just due to migration, but left abruptly, with personal belongings still inside, as if time had suddenly stopped for their inhabitants.
I recall vague rumors, whispered in corners, about bizarre occurrences, about a general sense of unease in certain communities. It was a turbulent period, with many changes, and perhaps my mind is now weaving disparate memories together. But I can't help but wonder... did those disappearances, those hastily abandoned homes, have a more... unusual explanation?
I know it sounds like speculation, but during that period, there was also the Institute of Life... a name that sparked all sorts of rumors and theories. Could there be any connection? I know, I know, I'm sliding down a dangerous slope of assumptions.
Looking back, it's sad to see how those houses, witnesses to a rich history, remained empty, contributing to an artificial real estate bubble, with exorbitant prices for ruins. Now, many of them are occupied, out of desperation, by people seeking a roof over their heads, in a bitter irony of fate. Those who should have inherited them struggle in cities, far from their roots.
Do any of you remember something similar from that period? Did you hear stories about inexplicable disappearances or a strange atmosphere that hung over those villages? Any memory, however vague, might shed some light on this persistent feeling of... something unfinished.
