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"Locals dub this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, the air from his lungs forming clouds of vapor in the chilly night air. "Numerous individuals have gone missing here, some say it's an entrance to a different realm." This expert is leading a visitor on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient local woods on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here date back hundreds of years – the grove is named after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea photographed what he reported as a flying saucer floating above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But no need to fear," he adds, addressing the visitor with a smirk. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from around the globe, curious to experience the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being among the planet's leading destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the Silicon Valley of the region – are advancing, and real estate firms are campaigning for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a small area home to area-specific specific tree species, the grove is without conservation status, but Marius is confident that the initiative he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, encouraging the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

When small sticks and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their shoes, Marius recounts various local legends and claimed supernatural events here.

• A well-known account recounts a young child going missing during a family outing, later to rematerialise after five years with no recollection of what had happened, having not aged a moment, her attire without the slightest speck of dirt.
• Frequent accounts describe cellphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Feelings include complete terror to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals claim noticing unusual marks on their skin, detecting ghostly voices through the trees, or experience palms pushing them, although sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be unverifiable, numerous elements clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose bases are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the ground cause their crooked growth.

But scientific investigations have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's walks permit participants to engage in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the meadow in the trees where Barnea took his famous UFO pictures, he gives the traveler an EMF meter which registers EMF readings.

"We're entering the most active section of the forest," he comments. "Try to detect something."

The vegetation abruptly end as they step into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this strange clearing is wild, not the work of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a location which fuels fantasy, where the division is blurred between reality and legend. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting vampires, who rise from their graves to terrorise nearby villages.

The famous author's renowned vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – seems real and understandable versus these eerie woods, which seem to be, for causes nuclear, atmospheric or purely mythical, a hub for fantasy projection.

"Within this forest," Marius comments, "the line between fact and fiction is very thin."