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"Locals dub this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation producing wisps of vapor in the cold dusk atmosphere. "So many visitors have vanished here, some say it's a portal to another dimension." This expert is escorting a guest on a night walk through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient native woodland on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of unusual events here date back a long time – this woodland is titled for a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a flying saucer suspended above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he adds, facing his guest with a smile. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, traditional medicine people, ufologists and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, called the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are advocating for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a small area home to locally rare specific tree species, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

While branches and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius tells various traditional stories and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story recounts a young child going missing during a family outing, then to reappear five years later with complete amnesia of her experience, without aging a day, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of soil.
• Frequent accounts detail cellphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions range from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals report noticing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, perceiving disembodied whispers through the forest, or sense palms pushing them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Research Efforts

While many of the stories may be unverifiable, numerous elements before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to account for the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high radioactivity in the ground account for their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's walks enable visitors to participate in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the woods where Barnea captured his renowned UFO images, he passes the traveler an ghost-hunting device which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're entering the most powerful section of the forest," he states. "Discover what's here."

The plants abruptly end as they step into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this unusual opening is organic, not the result of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a area which inspires creativity, where the line is indistinct between truth and myth. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to haunt regional populations.

Bram Stoker's renowned fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure situated on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – appears real and understandable in contrast to the haunted grove, which appear to be, for reasons radioactive, climatic or entirely legendary, a center for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," Marius comments, "the division between reality and imagination is very thin."