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"People refer to this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath forming clouds of condensation in the crisp evening air. "So many individuals have gone missing here, it's thought it's a portal to a different realm." The guide is guiding a traveler on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval native woodland on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of strange happenings here date back hundreds of years – the grove is named after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, along with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a unidentified flying object floating above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he adds, facing the traveler with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, shamans, ufologists and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be among the planet's leading hotspots for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, called the tech capital of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for permission to clear the trees to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a limited section containing area-specific specific tree species, the grove is without conservation status, but the guide hopes that the company he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, encouraging the local administrators to appreciate the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their footwear, the guide recounts various local legends and reported supernatural events here.

• A well-known account tells of a five-year-old girl vanishing during a group gathering, later to reappear five years later with complete amnesia of the events, having not aged a day, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports explain cellphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Some people claim noticing strange rashes on their arms, hearing unseen murmurs through the trees, or sense palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the stories may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose stems are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to explain the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or naturally high radiation levels in the soil explain their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have found insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's walks allow participants to participate in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the clearing in the trees where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO photographs, he hands the traveler an ghost-hunting device which detects electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most powerful part of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The trees suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a flawless round. The single plant life is the short grass beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the creation of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a area which fuels fantasy, where the division is unclear between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering creatures, who return from burial sites to haunt local communities.

The novelist's famous fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – seems real and understandable compared to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for causes radioactive, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a center for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius says, "the line between fact and fiction is very thin."