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"They call this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a local guide, the air from his lungs creating clouds of vapor in the crisp evening air. "Countless visitors have disappeared here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." This expert is leading a visitor on a evening stroll through what is often described as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth native woodland on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of strange happenings here date back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a UFO floating above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he states, addressing the visitor with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and paranormal investigators from worldwide, eager to feel the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, described as the innovation center of the region – are advancing, and developers are campaigning for authorization to clear the trees to erect housing complexes.

Barring a few hectares home to area-specific oak varieties, this woodland is without conservation status, but the guide believes that the company he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their boots, Marius recounts numerous folk tales and reported paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story tells of a little girl going missing during a group gathering, later to reappear five years later with no recollection of what had happened, having not aged a single day, her clothes without the smallest trace of dirt.
• More common reports describe smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals report noticing strange rashes on their bodies, detecting ghostly voices through the trees, or sense fingers clutching them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the tales may be unverifiable, numerous elements visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose bases are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been suggested to explain the deformed trees: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the soil cause their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's tours allow visitors to participate in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the meadow in the trees where Barnea took his renowned UFO images, he passes the traveler an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

"We're entering the most active section of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The plants abruptly end as we emerge into a complete ring. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's clear that it's not maintained, and seems that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the result of human hands.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a location which fuels fantasy, where the border is blurred between fact and folklore. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to frighten local communities.

Bram Stoker's famous character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure perched on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – seems real and understandable compared to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for causes nuclear, environmental or simply folkloric, a nexus for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide says, "the boundary between reality and imagination is extremely fine."