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"They call this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, the air from his lungs forming puffs of vapor in the chilly evening air. "So many people have disappeared here, many believe there's a gateway to a parallel world." Marius is leading a visitor on a night walk through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval native woodland on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Reports of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – the forest is called after a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a unidentified flying object suspended above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But no need to fear," he continues, facing the visitor with a smile. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, traditional medicine people, ufologists and ghost hunters from around the globe, interested in encountering the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, the grove is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, described as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Barring a limited section home to locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and fall foliage break and crackle beneath their boots, Marius describes various folk tales and alleged supernatural events here.

• One famous story describes a young child going missing during a group gathering, then to reappear after five years with no recollection of what had happened, without aging a single day, her clothes without the smallest trace of soil.
• More common reports detail smartphones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Reactions vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Some people state observing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or feel fingers clutching them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be impossible to confirm, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Different theories have been suggested to account for the deformed trees: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the ground explain their crooked growth.

But research studies have found inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's walks enable visitors to engage in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his well-known UFO pictures, he hands the traveler an ghost-hunting device which detects EMF readings.

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

The vegetation abruptly end as they step into a flawless round. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this strange clearing is natural, not the creation of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a location which inspires creativity, where the border is blurred between reality and legend. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting vampires, who rise from their graves to frighten nearby villages.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – feels tangible and comprehensible versus this spooky forest, which seem to be, for factors related to radiation, climatic or purely mythical, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius states, "the line between reality and imagination is very thin."