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"People refer to this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his exhalation forming wisps of mist in the cold night air. "Numerous people have disappeared here, some say it's a portal to a parallel world." Marius is escorting a guest on a evening stroll through what is often described as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth native woodland on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of unusual events here go back a long time – the forest is called after a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, along with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a unidentified flying object floating above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he states, addressing the visitor with a smile. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from around the globe, interested in encountering the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being a top global destinations for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, called the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are campaigning for approval to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a limited section housing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is not officially protected, but Marius hopes that the initiative he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, motivating the government officials to acknowledge the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide describes various local legends and alleged ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account describes a young child disappearing during a family picnic, later to rematerialise after five years with complete amnesia of what had happened, without aging a single day, her clothes shy of the tiniest bit of dust.
• More common reports detail cellphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses range from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals report noticing strange rashes on their arms, perceiving disembodied whispers through the trees, or feel hands grabbing them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the tales may be impossible to confirm, there is much clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are plants whose stems are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to clarify the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radiation levels in the earth account for their strange formation.

But research studies have turned up insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's excursions permit visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the meadow in the trees where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO pictures, he passes the traveler an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most energetic part of the forest," he comments. "Discover what's here."

The plants abruptly end as they step into a flawless round. The single plant life is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this strange clearing is organic, not the creation of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a area which stirs the imagination, where the border is blurred between reality and legend. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing vampires, who return from burial sites to haunt nearby villages.

The novelist's renowned character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building perched on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – seems tangible and comprehensible in contrast to this spooky forest, which appear to be, for reasons nuclear, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a hub for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," the guide says, "the division between reality and imagination is very thin."