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"They call this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a local guide, the air from his lungs producing clouds of condensation in the cold dusk atmosphere. "So many individuals have disappeared here, some say it's an entrance to a different realm." Marius is leading a visitor on a night walk through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of strange happenings here extend back hundreds of years – the grove is titled for a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a flying saucer floating above a round opening in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But no need to fear," he states, facing his guest with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in meditation experts, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from around the globe, curious to experience the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being among the planet's leading hotspots for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, called the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are advocating for approval to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a limited section containing locally rare specific tree species, the forest is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the government officials to appreciate the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their footwear, Marius tells some of the traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account recounts a young child going missing during a family picnic, later to reappear after five years with no recollection of the events, without aging a single day, her clothes without the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts detail mobile phones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Feelings vary from absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals report observing strange rashes on their bodies, hearing unseen murmurs through the woodland, or experience hands grabbing them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

While many of the accounts may be hard to prove, numerous elements before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are trees whose bases are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been given to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the earth account for their unusual development.

But formal examinations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's excursions enable visitors to take part in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the clearing in the trees where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he passes the visitor an ghost-hunting device which registers energy patterns.

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

The plants immediately cease as the group enters into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this strange clearing is natural, not the work of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the border is blurred between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing vampires, who return from burial sites to haunt nearby villages.

The novelist's well-known vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – appears real and understandable versus this spooky forest, which seem to be, for reasons related to radiation, climatic or purely mythical, a hub for creative energy.

"Within this forest," Marius states, "the boundary between fact and fiction is very thin."