The mountain Fruska gora: Does the wild man live in Vojvodina?

WE HAVE SEEN THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE CREATURE WE THOUGHT TO EXIST IN THE MOVIES ONLY

The only mountain in Vojvodina, Fruska gora, is famous for its magnificent picnic sites as well as for its fourteen monasteries. But, very few people could assume that there is a really unusual and unique creature hiding in the hills of the Fruska gora.

Sreta Spasovic, an accountant, and Dejan Radulov, a warehouse attendant, from Novi Sad, describe what they have experienced during the winter of 1996, while they were waking around the Fruska gora. Sreta, goes for a walk around the Fruska gora, according to his doctor’s advice and because of the nature of his work, and Dejan, his friend from childhood makes him company. They have been on all known paths in the Fruska gora, and very often they have been out of those paths as they were exploring the beautiful nature of this mountain. Till Saturday, February 15th this year, the monasteries had the greatest impression on them, and they were very often the aim of their walk. But, on that Saturday, they saw something they would never forget – they saw the most unbelievable creature they thought existed in American movies only and in sensational documents.

“I WILL REMEMBER IT TILL I LIVE”

They saw nothing less but the wild man.. Sreta tells what happened that day: “The same as every Saturday, Dejan and I went for a walk to the mountain Fruska gora. We stopped by in Sremski Karlovci, at Dejan’s mother-in-law’s, we had a cup of coffee and headed towards Zmajevac. It was very cold and gloomy morning, and it seemed that it would start snowing any minute. Dejan’s mother-in-law poured us boiled wine in a thermos, and it was very useful for us while we were climbing towards Zmajevac in that cold. We planned to go to Brankovac after we had reached Zmajevac, and then to Glavica. When we reached Zmajevac, we sat for a while, we had some rest and refreshed ourselves, and we agreed not to go to Brankovac along the mountain path, but to go through the untouched nature. After five days of sitting at the computer and writing invoices, receipts and other documents, there is no better way to relax but to go into the wilderness, far away from any civilization and everyday life” – says Sreta and continues:

“We went off the path and headed through the thick wood towards Brankovac. I always carry a compass, so it was easy for me to orient myself, and I have a great help from the military topographic maps of the mountain Fruska gora I had accidentally found a few years ago on the flea market in Novi Sad. The wood was very thick, so Dejan and I had difficulties to get through and very soon we sat down to have a rest. May Dejan’s mother-in-law be blessed, I thought to myself while I was opening the thermos with boiled wine. While we were having a rest and sipping that wine, we suddenly heard loud breaking of the branches coming from Brankovac. I was happy because I thought it might have been a deer or roe-deer which I had rarely seen during the last years on the Fruska gora. I hurried Dejan and we went towards the place from which the noise was coming. The wood was thicker and thicker and I was about to drop the search, when I heard the crackling of the branches again, this time it was much closer than earlier. We ran towards the noise and soon we were on a small clearing.

What I saw at that moment I would remember till I live! Instead of a deer or a roe-deer on the clearing, a big manlike creature, almost three meters tall, awaited us. It was completely covered with thick, dark brown hair, and its hands were disproportionately big compared to his body and they reached almost down to his calves. It was hunchbacked, broad-shouldered and with a strong, short neck with a big head that resembled the head of a chimpanzee or an orangutan, but it was much wider and bigger. It had nothing but the strong, thick hairs on its body, but I did not manage to see whether it was a male or female. I could hardly resist screaming from fear, and when I looked at Dejan, I saw that he was pale with fear and that he was staring in the creature that stood on less than 50 meters away from us. We stood that way and stared at it for the whole eternity, when the creature suddenly noticed us. At seeing us, it screamed in a way that reminded me of the sound of a bear. I was frozen with fear thinking that it would attack us. But, on my surprise, the creature hurried to the edge of the clearing, and it disappeared into the woods at incredible speed.

It is almost improbable that such a big creature is capable of moving so fast and in such an agile way. When we recovered from the first shock, I suggested Dejan that we should follow it to find out some more details about it, but Dejan would not even hear for it. Understandably, he was afraid that the creature might attack us, and deep in the woods there was no help. I was persistent, and in the end, Dejan accepted to follow this unusual and unbelievable creature, though, unwillingly. I was frightened of course, but my curiosity was stronger than any fear.

We headed towards the place from which the creature went into the woods, and we saw the trails there. They were clear, and it was visible that this creature had a thumb and four toes on his foot. I was definitely convinced that it was a manlike creature, not a wild animal as it might have seemed to us because of our fear. We continued through the woods, we followed the trails, and now and then we heard crackling of the branches in front of us. Every time the noise was quieter and quieter, so we concluded that it was running away from us. We felt relief when we realized that it was scared of us the same as we were of him, but anyway it was useful to be cautious. At one moment we did not hear any noises, but we could still follow the trails. I was looking at my compass and I saw that the creature was constantly moving towards northeast. After a few kilometers there were no trails. We searched the district thoroughly looking for the trails, but we found nothing. It seemed as if the creature had disappeared in the ground, or as if it had got wings and flew away. We were so confused that we spent next few hours thoroughly searching the area, hoping to find its den, or at least a trail that could lead us further. But all our efforts were in vain. We could not find a trail or a hint that there was its den or hiding place” – testifies Sreta.

While Sreta was talking, Dejan was mostly silent and he was nodding his head in a significant way, confirming every detail of Sreta’s story. Dejan continued the story: “It was already getting dark, and we had no other choice but to stop the search and to start walking back towards Sremski Karlovci. Since my hobby is photography, I always carry a camera with me when we go for a walk around the Fruska gora. I am particularly proud of the series of photos of the monasteries on the Fruska gora, and I was hoping I would have another opportunity to take a photo of this creature. Unfortunately there was not an opportunity, so I had to be satisfied with the photo of his trails in the snow. The largeness of his foot can be seen if you compare it with Sreta’s shoe next to the imprint of the foot of this creature. When I used up the whole film, we walked back towards Sremski Karlovci, quite hungry and frozen. We decided to get back to this part the next day and to try to trail this unusual creature.

That is what we did, so we spent the whole next day wandering around the woods between Zmajevac and Jastrebac, but we had not seen either the creature or its trails. We were coming back to the same place during the next few weekends, but our search had no results. Maybe it is better that way, since I had the impression that this creature was not aggressive at all, and that it had only wanted to be left alone. Sreta and I have definitely given up the search after the “wild man” from Vojvodina, as my wife calls it, after two months’ time, but still as we are walking through the woods of the Fruska gora, we react to every noise hoping to see this scary, but, as it seems to me, benevolent wild being” – concludes Dejan his testimony.

Judging from what we have heard from these two friends, there is no doubt that in the hills of the Fruska gora there is one really unusual and incredible creature. It is obvious that it is hiding very well since nobody has seen something similar all these years. Sreta and Dejan were so lucky to see something that nobody else had ever seen, and it is questionable whether it would be seen ever again.

This article was published by “ZONA SUMRAKA” the newspaper. Personally one should be careful in taking this story too seriously because I was unable to find some reference or backup of the newspaper’s claim, especially regarding the identity of the two men mentioned in the article.

This map shows Montenegro a member republic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The circled area is that of Mratinjski Hills where Boza Radovic had his encounter with “wild man”.

Article by Aleksandar Sasha Trivich
Posted on UK discussion list by Erik Knatterud December 31. 2002

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