THE WOLF MAN i

The year was 1971, and I was travelling in Communist Romania, then ruled by the dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu. My nerves were already bad, following an incident during the day, when a marketplace I had been visiting was surrounded by security men, and everyone was lined up and required to show their papers and ID documentation. Some people were arrested and carted off in lorries.That evening, I arrived in the town of Suceava, and, as was obligatory, had to go to the police station to register, and to be told where I would be staying (there were no hotels for foreigners, you were just billeted in a house, with local people).On this occasion, though, the police told me I would be staying in a forest camp site, about five miles out of town. I took the bus out there and it was getting dark, as I arrived. There about 50 little, pointy-roofed huts, dotted among the trees, and no one else staying there. The man at the reception cabin gave me a very large padlock, and made it clear that I should lock my door from the inside. When I asked why, he just made teeth-baring, growling noises, and mimicked what I presumed were claw-pouncing actions of wild animals.I was already frightened, and at about one in the morning, I