as I am embarking on writing an essay on post-socialist Bulgaria's alternative history craziness (Bulgarians as star citizens, Atlanteans, 'teachers from the skies etc) I can't help but think of Tsarichina Dupka - the 'Tzar's Hole' episode of 1990-2, dubbed 'Bulgaria's Area 51'.

In autumn of 1990 a local elevator technician, Dimitar Kekemenov, dreamt that national heroes Levski and Botev told him to lead the Bulgarians to a deep secret - maybe medieval Tsar Samuil's treasure which his family believed was buried in the village, giving it its name...

The rumors reached the Army's General Staff, who consulted clairvoyants. Weird? Yes. But in post-Zhivkova Bulgaria, the supernatural held a draw for some very powerful people. What the real reason the army decided to dig here may never be known - most of the documents were culled

Elisaveta Loginova was the clairvoyant with the direct line to the Other. The army went crazy - she knew where to dig. What would they find? An item or knowledge that would make Bulgaria flourish - in the form of the tomb of the first being that lived on Earth, which was intersex

In December 1990 platoons of troops - including NBC squads - APCs, trucks, descended on Tsarichina. The operation would run up to 16 million levs - probably the most expensive 'archaeological' digs in Bulgarian history. The Voice said: only officers can dig.

They dug: the Generals Dinev and Minchev, Colonel Kunchev - the head of the Air Force's scientific division. Professors were invited, as was a whole platoon of clairvoyants and the head of the newfound organization 'Phenomena', a sort of guild for those in touch with the Other.

In mid-1991, Loginova started writing under the influence of the Voice that stated it was an alien civilization. She would fill 3 notebooks that no one could read. Copies were sent to Baba Vanga, Bulgaria's premier seer, as well as Israeli specialists in ancient languages...

'You will find a yellow monkey - neither man, nor woman. In a capsule. If you open it, the air might revive it. What will you do when it starts talking?' said Vanga, who was against further digging. Later, officers would joke she had meant that they were being monkeyed around.

Others talked of strange material in the very soil they were digging out, as they reached up to 70 meters beneath the surface: a clay that could become harder than concrete, which some interpreted as indicating they were getting close to an ancient, alien tomb - a stellar Adam.

Then THEY came, on the 12th May 1991. At 22:00 Lt. Neykov who was on duty ran into the canteen, ashen-faced, stating there were lights in the sky. The officers and 'phenomena' abandoned their dinner to see lights that covered tens of kilometers of the sky, like a Hollywood film.

Locals recall that the sky was clear, and that objects clouded in heavy clouds descended. Through Loginova the Voice ordered everyone inside their buildings, and to unlock the tunnel. For 10 minutes the officers listened to a dog bark at 'aliens who descended into the tunnel'

Finally, the press got hold of the scent. A parliamentary commission also looked into the use of army funds for this. By November 1992 the digs were stopped as 'total waste of national resources for a mystification'. Not before one of the participants, Prof. Naplatanov, claimed..

...that they had been subjected to 'psychotronic weapons' at the site, leading to his daughter jumping from the 10th floor in early 1991. Naplatanov himself would also commit suicide in 1995, fueling a parallel belief that either the Army or the aliens were testing weapons.

The hole was concreted over, and can still be seen in the village today. Plenty of books and YouTube videos continue to feed on this. Tsarichina was just one of many such narratives that continue circulating - such as the supposed Bastet Tomb in Strandzha.

Bulgarians continue to be fascinated by their supposed spiritual connection. Not just them: in 2017 I met with a German commune that lived in the Bulgarian Rhodopes. They too had decided to move there from Togo due to 'feeling there is incredible energy here, the laylines'.../end