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"People refer to this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, his breath creating clouds of condensation in the cold night air. "Countless individuals have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to another dimension." The guide is leading a guest on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient native woodland on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of unusual events here date back a long time – the forest is named after a local shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a flying saucer floating above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he continues, turning to the traveler with a grin. "Our tours have a perfect safety record."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, traditional medicine people, ufologists and ghost hunters from around the globe, interested in encountering the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being one of the world's premier destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are advocating for approval to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a few hectares containing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to recognise the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their footwear, the guide tells numerous folk tales and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account tells of a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family outing, only to return half a decade later with complete amnesia of the events, without aging a single day, her clothes shy of the tiniest bit of dust.
• Regular stories detail smartphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses include complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Some people claim noticing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, perceiving ghostly voices through the woodland, or experience palms pushing them, although sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

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

Multiple explanations have been proposed to explain the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the earth explain their strange formation.

But formal examinations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours enable visitors to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the trees where Barnea captured his well-known UFO photographs, he gives his guest an EMF meter which detects electromagnetic fields.

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

The vegetation immediately cease as the group enters into a flawless round. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this unusual opening is organic, not the creation of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a area which fuels fantasy, where the border is blurred between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering vampires, who return from burial sites to haunt local communities.

The novelist's renowned character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – appears real and understandable compared to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for causes radioactive, environmental or simply folkloric, a center for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius comments, "the line between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."