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"Locals dub this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his breath creating clouds of condensation in the cold night air. "Numerous individuals have vanished here, it's thought it's an entrance to a different realm." Marius is guiding a traveler on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval native woodland on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of unusual events here extend back hundreds of years – the grove is named after a local shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a defense worker called Emil Barnea photographed what he reported as a flying saucer hovering above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But no need to fear," he continues, addressing the visitor with a smirk. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, shamans, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from worldwide, curious to experience the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for approval to clear the trees to erect housing complexes.

Except for a small area home to locally rare oak varieties, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius hopes that the organization he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the local administrators to appreciate the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

As twigs and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius recounts some of the local legends and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale describes a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family picnic, only to return half a decade later with complete amnesia of the events, showing no signs of aging a moment, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of dust.
• Regular stories explain mobile phones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Feelings include full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals report seeing strange rashes on their skin, perceiving unseen murmurs through the trees, or feel hands grabbing them, although sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements visibly present that is certainly unusual. All around are plants whose bases are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been suggested to explain the deformed trees: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the ground account for their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's excursions allow participants to take part in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the clearing in the trees where Barnea took his renowned UFO photographs, he passes his guest an EMF meter which detects EMF readings.

"We're stepping into the most active section of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The trees abruptly end as they step into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the creation of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is blurred between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting creatures, who emerge from tombs to haunt local communities.

Bram Stoker's famous fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure situated on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – seems real and understandable compared to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for causes radioactive, climatic or simply folkloric, a hub for creative energy.

"Within this forest," Marius comments, "the division between reality and imagination is extremely fine."