The Stone People of Belogradchik
In north-western Bulgaria, a crowd of red rock towers stands in the hills. Each has a name and a story: a horseman, a monk, a nun with her child.
What was reported
The Belogradchik Rocks are sandstone and limestone pillars up to 200 metres high, rising from the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. A Roman and later Ottoman fortress was built among them, using the rocks as walls.
People have given the rocks names and stories: the Madonna, the Horseman, Adam and Eve, the Schoolgirl, the Monks. The best known is of a nun called Valentina who fell in love and had a child; she was cast out and, as a storm broke, she and the monks who judged her were turned to stone.
Explanations offered
The rocks were shaped over millions of years by wind, rain and temperature changes wearing away softer layers between harder ones, and their colour comes from iron oxide. The legends are folk stories attached to their human-like shapes.
- When
- Told for generations
- Where
- Belogradchik, Vidin, Bulgaria
- Witnesses
- Bulgarian folklore
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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