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"Locals dub this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath producing wisps of mist in the crisp night air. "Numerous individuals have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." This expert is leading a traveler on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth local woods on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of strange happenings here extend back a long time – the forest is titled for a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a flying saucer suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he adds, addressing the traveler with a smirk. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, interested in encountering the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be a top global hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, known as the innovation center of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Barring a few hectares home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes that the initiative he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the authorities to recognise the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius describes some of the folk tales and claimed supernatural events here.

• A well-known account recounts a little girl going missing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise after five years with no memory of the events, showing no signs of aging a day, her clothes lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports describe smartphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings include complete terror to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals state noticing strange rashes on their bodies, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or experience hands grabbing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

While many of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, there is much clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are trees whose stems are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been suggested to account for the abnormal growth: strong gales could have altered the growth, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the ground cause their unusual development.

But formal examinations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours allow participants to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the opening in the forest where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO pictures, he passes the visitor an ghost-hunting device which measures electromagnetic fields.

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

The plants immediately cease as they step into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the creation of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a area which stirs the imagination, where the division is blurred between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting vampires, who emerge from tombs to terrorise nearby villages.

The novelist's famous character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – appears real and understandable compared to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for reasons related to radiation, climatic or entirely legendary, a center for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the division between fact and fiction is extremely fine."