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"Locals dub this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath producing clouds of vapor in the cold dusk atmosphere. "Countless visitors have disappeared here, some say it's an entrance to a different realm." The guide is guiding a visitor on a night walk through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of strange happenings here extend back a long time – the grove is named after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a flying saucer hovering above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But rest assured," he adds, turning to the visitor with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in meditation experts, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from worldwide, eager to feel the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of the region – are expanding, and real estate firms are campaigning for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Barring a limited section containing regionally uncommon specific tree species, the grove is without conservation status, but the guide is confident that the company he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, encouraging the government officials to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide describes numerous traditional stories and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story recounts a young child vanishing during a group gathering, only to reappear after five years with no recollection of the events, having not aged a moment, her clothes without the slightest speck of dirt.
• Frequent accounts detail smartphones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Reactions include absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors state noticing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, hearing ghostly voices through the trees, or sense palms pushing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the stories may be hard to prove, numerous elements clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are vegetation whose stems are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the ground account for their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's walks enable participants to take part in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the trees where Barnea captured his renowned UFO images, he hands the visitor an ghost-hunting device which detects energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most energetic area of the forest," he says. "Try to detect something."

The vegetation abruptly end as the group enters into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the result of human hands.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a location which inspires creativity, where the border is indistinct between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting creatures, who emerge from tombs to haunt local communities.

The famous author's famous character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But even myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – seems real and understandable versus the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for causes nuclear, environmental or simply folkloric, a hub for fantasy projection.

"Within this forest," the guide comments, "the division between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."