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"They call this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, the air from his lungs creating clouds of condensation in the crisp night air. "Numerous people have vanished here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." The guide is guiding a guest on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of unusual events here extend back a long time – this woodland is called after a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a unidentified flying object suspended above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But no need to fear," he continues, addressing the traveler with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, interested in encountering the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be a top global hotspots for paranormal enthusiasts, the forest is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, called the innovation center of eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for authorization to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a limited section containing locally rare specific tree species, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the company he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius tells various local legends and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account tells of a five-year-old girl disappearing during a family picnic, then to return half a decade later with no recollection of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a day, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of dirt.
• Frequent accounts explain smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Feelings include complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals state seeing strange rashes on their arms, perceiving ghostly voices through the woodland, or sense hands grabbing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the tales may be impossible to confirm, there are many things visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose stems are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been given to explain the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the ground cause their crooked growth.

But scientific investigations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's excursions permit guests to participate in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the clearing in the forest where Barnea photographed his famous UFO pictures, he gives his guest an ghost-hunting device which detects energy patterns.

"We're stepping into the most powerful area of the forest," he states. "See what you can find."

The vegetation immediately cease as we emerge into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the creation of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a location which stirs the imagination, where the division is unclear between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing creatures, who return from burial sites to haunt nearby villages.

The novelist's renowned fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure perched on a stone formation in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But even myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – feels solid and predictable in contrast to the haunted grove, which appear to be, for factors related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide comments, "the line between truth and fantasy is very thin."