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"Locals dub this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states a local guide, his exhalation creating wisps of condensation in the cold dusk atmosphere. "So many visitors have disappeared here, it's thought it's a portal to a different realm." Marius is escorting a visitor on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth native woodland on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of bizarre occurrences here date back centuries – the forest is named after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a flying saucer hovering above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he adds, addressing the visitor with a smirk. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, shamans, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, called the innovation center of the region – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Barring a small area housing locally rare specific tree species, this woodland is without conservation status, but the guide is confident that the initiative he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, persuading the authorities to recognise the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

While branches and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide describes numerous folk tales and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story describes a young child disappearing during a group gathering, later to return half a decade later with no recollection of her experience, showing no signs of aging a day, her attire without the tiniest bit of dust.
• Frequent accounts detail cellphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses range from complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors claim observing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, detecting disembodied whispers through the forest, or sense fingers clutching them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been proposed to explain the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or naturally high radiation levels in the soil account for their crooked growth.

But research studies have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's walks enable participants to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the meadow in the woods where Barnea took his renowned UFO images, he gives the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which detects EMF readings.

"We're venturing into the most active part of the forest," he states. "See what you can find."

The trees immediately cease as the group enters into a flawless round. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the result of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a area which inspires creativity, where the division is indistinct between truth and myth. In traditional settlements superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to frighten local communities.

The famous author's well-known character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure situated on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the count's residence".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – seems solid and predictable in contrast to the haunted grove, which appear to be, for causes related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide states, "the division between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."