Tsarichina is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in western

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, located in

Kostinbrod Municipality Kostinbrod ( bg, Костинброд ) is a town in western Bulgaria. It is the seat of Kostinbrod Municipality. It is located 15 km west of the capital city of Sofia. It is located on two important transport corridors: Lom — Sofia — T ...

The Tsarichina Hole

The town became famous among the paranormal community in the early 1990s and was even nicknamed, "Bulgaria's Area 51" due to its famed Tsarichina Hole. The hole was dug by the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense, who excavated an area in the center of the village during a project which occurred from December 6, 1990, to November 19, 1992, initially in search of a purported hidden treasure of

Tsar Samuil Samuel (also Samuil; bg, Самуил, ; mk, Самоил/Самуил, ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died October 6, 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was ...

. The project was abandoned after two years due to “financial concerns” and the hole sealed with concrete. A number of locals and foreign investigators reported the town had since become a hotspot for what they described as paranormal phenomena starting as soon as the digging began. Many have reported seeing strange lights and some UFOlogists claimed to have been hit with a, "beam of powerful light," over the course of their investigation. On top of that, during the two year dig more than one local claimed to have heard voices from a paranormal entity they associated with the hole. Famed clairvoyant

Baba Vanga Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova (; ; 3 October 1911 – 11 August 1996), commonly known as Baba Vanga (), was a Bulgarian mystic and herbalist. Blind since early childhood, Baba Vanga spent most of her life in the Rupite area of the Kozhuh mount ...

was even cited as reporting that a non-human entity existed in the hole during a visit to the village. Conspiracy theorists' speculation about the event ranged widely, some citing rumors claiming the military excavated a triangular object of unknown origin. Many theorizing it was extraterrestrial or of protohuman origin. The findings of a 2007 bTV documentary on the Tsarichina project, revealed that most of the military documents surrounding the event had disappeared from government archives or had since been destroyed. ''

Triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

'' is an upcoming film about the location.

References

Villages in Sofia Province {{Bulgaria-geo-stub