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"They call this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a local guide, his exhalation forming clouds of vapor in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "So many people have disappeared here, some say it's an entrance to a parallel world." Marius is guiding a guest on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth local woods on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of bizarre occurrences here go back a long time – the grove is called after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he claimed was a flying saucer hovering above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But no need to fear," he states, facing the visitor with a smile. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from around the globe, interested in encountering the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being a top global hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, described as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Barring a small area home to regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide is confident that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the authorities to acknowledge the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide describes some of the folk tales and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a five-year-old girl vanishing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise five years later with no memory of her experience, showing no signs of aging a single day, her attire without the slightest speck of soil.
• Regular stories describe mobile phones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings range from absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Some people report observing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, hearing ghostly voices through the forest, or experience palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the stories may be unverifiable, there is much visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to clarify the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radioactivity in the ground explain their unusual development.

But research studies have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's walks permit visitors to engage in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the clearing in the woods where Barnea captured his famous UFO photographs, he gives the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which measures energy patterns.

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

The plants suddenly stop dead as they step into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which fuels fantasy, where the border is unclear between fact and folklore. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to frighten nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's famous fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure situated on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – appears solid and predictable in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for reasons nuclear, environmental or purely mythical, a hub for creative energy.

"Within this forest," the guide states, "the boundary between reality and imagination is very thin."