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"Locals dub this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, the air from his lungs producing wisps of condensation in the crisp evening air. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, some say it's a portal to a different realm." Marius is leading a traveler on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient local woods on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of bizarre occurrences here date back a long time – this woodland is named after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a UFO hovering above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But don't worry," he adds, turning to the traveler with a smile. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, ufologists and paranormal investigators from across the world, interested in encountering the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, described as the tech capital of the region – are advancing, and developers are pushing for approval to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a small area housing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, motivating the authorities to appreciate the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their boots, the guide recounts numerous local legends and claimed supernatural events here.

• A well-known account recounts a young child vanishing during a family picnic, only to return five years later with complete amnesia of her experience, without aging a single day, her clothes lacking the tiniest bit of dust.
• More common reports describe cellphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Feelings include absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors claim noticing strange rashes on their bodies, detecting ghostly voices through the woodland, or experience palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

While many of the tales may be hard to prove, numerous elements clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are trees whose bases are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been proposed to account for the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the soil cause their strange formation.

But research studies have found insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's walks allow guests to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his well-known UFO photographs, he gives the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which measures energy patterns.

"We're entering the most powerful area of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The trees immediately cease as they step into a complete ring. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and appears that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the creation of human hands.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is blurred between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to haunt nearby villages.

The novelist's famous vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – seems tangible and comprehensible in contrast to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for causes related to radiation, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide says, "the boundary between reality and imagination is very thin."