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"Locals dub this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation producing clouds of condensation in the crisp night air. "Numerous individuals have disappeared here, many believe it's an entrance to another dimension." The guide is leading a traveler on a night walk through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth native woodland on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of strange happenings here date back a long time – the grove is called after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a unidentified flying object suspended above a round opening in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he states, addressing the traveler with a grin. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, shamans, ufologists and paranormal investigators from worldwide, curious to experience the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is a top global pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, this woodland is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are advocating for approval to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Barring a limited section containing locally rare specific tree species, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the company he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, motivating the local administrators to appreciate the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

While branches and fall foliage break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide tells some of the folk tales and reported ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account describes a five-year-old girl going missing during a group gathering, then to return five years later with no memory of what had happened, having not aged a single day, her garments shy of the smallest trace of dust.
• More common reports describe cellphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Reactions range from full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Various visitors state seeing strange rashes on their arms, detecting unseen murmurs through the forest, or experience hands grabbing them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements clearly observable that is certainly unusual. All around are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been suggested to clarify the deformed trees: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased radiation levels in the soil cause their strange formation.

But research studies have turned up insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's walks enable guests to participate in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the meadow in the woods where Barnea took his well-known UFO photographs, he gives his guest an EMF meter which registers electromagnetic fields.

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

The trees suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath the ground; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and appears that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the creation of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a area which inspires creativity, where the border is blurred between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to terrorise local communities.

The novelist's famous vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building situated on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the count's residence".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible in contrast to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for causes radioactive, environmental or simply folkloric, a hub for creative energy.

"Within this forest," the guide states, "the division between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."