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"Locals dub this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his exhalation forming puffs of condensation in the cold night air. "Numerous visitors have gone missing here, some say it's an entrance to a different realm." Marius is guiding a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of unusual events here date back a long time – this woodland is named after a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a flying saucer hovering above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But rest assured," he continues, turning to the traveler with a smile. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, traditional medicine people, ufologists and paranormal investigators from worldwide, eager to feel the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is a top global hotspots for paranormal enthusiasts, the forest is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and developers are campaigning for approval to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Except for a small area home to locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the initiative he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their boots, the guide describes various folk tales and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a five-year-old girl disappearing during a family outing, then to rematerialise after five years with no recollection of her experience, showing no signs of aging a single day, her attire shy of the smallest trace of soil.
• Regular stories describe cellphones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors claim seeing unusual marks on their arms, hearing ghostly voices through the forest, or feel fingers clutching them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the tales may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. All around are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been given to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the soil account for their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's tours allow participants to take part in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the meadow in the trees where Barnea took his famous UFO photographs, he gives his guest an ghost-hunting device which detects EMF readings.

"We're stepping into the most energetic part of the forest," he comments. "Try to detect something."

The trees abruptly end as we emerge into a flawless round. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and appears that this unusual opening is organic, not the result of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a location which stirs the imagination, where the border is indistinct between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering creatures, who rise from their graves to haunt local communities.

Bram Stoker's well-known character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building located on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – feels tangible and comprehensible compared to the haunted grove, which appear to be, for factors related to radiation, environmental or entirely legendary, a center for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the line between reality and imagination is very thin."