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"They call this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks a local guide, his breath creating puffs of mist in the chilly night air. "So many individuals have vanished here, some say it's an entrance to a different realm." Marius is escorting a traveler on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of strange happenings here date back a long time – the grove is called after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a unidentified flying object suspended above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But don't worry," he continues, addressing his guest with a smile. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, shamans, ufologists and supernatural researchers from worldwide, eager to feel the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being a top global destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are campaigning for approval to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Barring a few hectares housing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius hopes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide describes various folk tales and claimed supernatural events here.

• One famous story tells of a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, then to return half a decade later with complete amnesia of her experience, without aging a day, her clothes without the slightest speck of soil.
• Regular stories describe cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Some people report seeing unusual marks on their arms, detecting disembodied whispers through the trees, or sense palms pushing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there is much clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are vegetation whose trunks are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been given to clarify the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the soil account for their strange formation.

But formal examinations have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's excursions enable participants to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the opening in the forest where Barnea captured his well-known UFO images, he passes his guest an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields.

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

The plants suddenly stop dead as they step into a complete ring. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and looks that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the work of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a place which inspires creativity, where the division is unclear between fact and folklore. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing creatures, who return from burial sites to terrorise local communities.

Bram Stoker's well-known fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – an ancient structure located on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – seems real and understandable versus these eerie woods, which appear to be, for reasons radioactive, climatic or purely mythical, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius comments, "the boundary between fact and fiction is extremely fine."