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"Locals dub this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states a local guide, his exhalation forming clouds of vapor in the cold dusk atmosphere. "Numerous visitors have disappeared here, many believe it's an entrance to another dimension." The guide is escorting a traveler on a night walk through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth local woods on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of bizarre occurrences here extend back a long time – this woodland is called after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a UFO hovering above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he states, facing the visitor with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has brought in meditation experts, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from around the globe, interested in encountering the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is a top global hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are pushing for approval to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Except for a few hectares housing area-specific specific tree species, this woodland is not officially protected, but the guide hopes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, motivating the local administrators to appreciate the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their footwear, Marius tells some of the folk tales and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family outing, then to return five years later with no memory of her experience, having not aged a single day, her attire lacking the tiniest bit of soil.
• Frequent accounts describe smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Reactions range from complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Some people report noticing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or experience fingers clutching them, despite being sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are trees whose bases are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been suggested to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth cause their unusual development.

But research studies have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's tours enable visitors to engage in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the clearing in the forest where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO photographs, he hands the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which detects electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most energetic section of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The plants suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a complete ring. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and seems that this unusual opening is organic, not the result of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to terrorise regional populations.

The novelist's famous fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building located on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – feels real and understandable versus this spooky forest, which appear to be, for causes nuclear, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius says, "the line between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."