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"People refer to this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his breath producing puffs of vapor in the cold dusk atmosphere. "Numerous visitors have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to another dimension." Marius is leading a visitor on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of unusual events here extend back a long time – the forest is named after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a unidentified flying object hovering above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But rest assured," he continues, facing the visitor with a grin. "Our tours have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from around the globe, interested in encountering the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be among the planet's leading hotspots for supernatural fans, the grove is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, described as the tech capital of the region – are advancing, and construction companies are pushing for permission to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a limited section housing locally rare oak varieties, this woodland is without conservation status, but Marius hopes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, encouraging the local administrators to recognise the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide tells various traditional stories and claimed supernatural events here.

• A popular tale recounts a young child vanishing during a family picnic, only to reappear half a decade later with complete amnesia of the events, without aging a single day, her attire lacking the tiniest bit of soil.
• Regular stories explain mobile phones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses include full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals claim noticing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, hearing ghostly voices through the woodland, or experience fingers clutching them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the accounts may be hard to prove, there is much clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose bases are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been suggested to clarify the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or typically increased radioactivity in the soil explain their unusual development.

But formal examinations have turned up insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's tours allow visitors to participate in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the forest where Barnea photographed his famous UFO photographs, he gives the visitor an EMF meter which registers energy patterns.

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

The trees immediately cease as the group enters into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and seems that this unusual opening is wild, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, form-changing vampires, who rise from their graves to terrorise local communities.

Bram Stoker's famous character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith located on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "the count's residence".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – feels tangible and comprehensible versus the haunted grove, which appear to be, for causes related to radiation, climatic or simply folkloric, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius says, "the line between reality and imagination is extremely fine."