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"Locals dub this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a local guide, his breath creating wisps of vapor in the crisp night air. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, it's thought it's an entrance to a parallel world." Marius is leading a guest on a night walk through commonly known as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient local woods on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of bizarre occurrences here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is titled for a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a flying saucer hovering above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he states, addressing the visitor with a smile. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from worldwide, curious to experience the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being a top global pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, this woodland is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are advocating for approval to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Except for a few hectares housing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the organization he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their boots, Marius tells numerous folk tales and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account tells of a little girl disappearing during a family outing, later to reappear five years later with no recollection of the events, showing no signs of aging a single day, her attire lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts explain mobile phones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Feelings range from complete terror to moments of euphoria.
• Some people claim noticing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, hearing disembodied whispers through the woodland, or feel fingers clutching them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Research Efforts

While many of the tales may be hard to prove, numerous elements clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are vegetation whose bases are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been given to account for the misshapen plants: strong gales could have altered the growth, or naturally high radiation levels in the ground explain their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have turned up inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's tours allow visitors to take part in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the forest where Barnea captured his famous UFO pictures, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which measures energy patterns.

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

The trees abruptly end as the group enters into a complete ring. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this unusual opening is natural, not the creation of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a location which inspires creativity, where the line is blurred between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering creatures, who return from burial sites to terrorise nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's famous vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith situated on a stone formation in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – feels real and understandable versus the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for factors radioactive, environmental or simply folkloric, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius comments, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is very thin."