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"Locals dub this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a local guide, his exhalation forming wisps of vapor in the crisp evening air. "Countless people have vanished here, it's thought there's a gateway to another dimension." This expert is leading a guest on a evening stroll through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of strange happenings here extend back a long time – this woodland is called after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a unidentified flying object floating above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But don't worry," he adds, turning to his guest with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, traditional medicine people, ufologists and paranormal investigators from around the globe, eager to feel the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for supernatural fans, the grove is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, called the tech capital of eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are advocating for permission to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Except for a small area containing locally rare specific tree species, the forest is not officially protected, but the guide hopes that the company he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide recounts various folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• One famous story tells of a little girl vanishing during a family outing, only to rematerialise half a decade later with no memory of her experience, having not aged a moment, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of soil.
• More common reports detail cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses include complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors claim seeing unusual marks on their bodies, detecting disembodied whispers through the forest, or sense palms pushing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the tales may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements visibly present that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are trees whose trunks are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been suggested to account for the abnormal growth: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the earth cause their strange formation.

But formal examinations have found inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's tours enable visitors to participate in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the opening in the forest where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO images, he hands his guest an electromagnetic field detector which detects electromagnetic fields.

"We're stepping into the most powerful section of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a flawless round. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this strange clearing is wild, not the work of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a area which inspires creativity, where the line is indistinct between reality and legend. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing vampires, who emerge from tombs to frighten nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's renowned vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – an ancient structure located on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – feels solid and predictable in contrast to this spooky forest, which appear to be, for causes nuclear, climatic or simply folkloric, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius comments, "the line between fact and fiction is extremely fine."