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"Locals dub this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, the air from his lungs forming clouds of condensation in the cold night air. "Numerous visitors have gone missing here, it's thought there's a gateway to a parallel world." This expert is escorting a guest on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval local woods on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a unidentified flying object floating above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, facing his guest with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from worldwide, curious to experience the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being a top global hotspots for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, known as the tech capital of the region – are expanding, and construction companies are campaigning for authorization to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Except for a limited section containing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is not officially protected, but Marius hopes that the initiative he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, motivating the authorities to appreciate the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their boots, the guide describes numerous traditional stories and claimed supernatural events here.

• A popular tale describes a little girl going missing during a family picnic, then to rematerialise five years later with no memory of the events, showing no signs of aging a single day, her attire shy of the smallest trace of dirt.
• Frequent accounts explain cellphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Reactions vary from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors report noticing strange rashes on their bodies, hearing ghostly voices through the trees, or experience palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the stories may be unverifiable, there is much visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are plants whose trunks are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been proposed to account for the deformed trees: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth explain their strange formation.

But research studies have turned up insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's excursions enable participants to engage in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the opening in the trees where Barnea captured his renowned UFO pictures, he hands his guest an EMF meter which detects electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most active part of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the short grass beneath the ground; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a location which stirs the imagination, where the border is blurred between reality and legend. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering creatures, who emerge from tombs to haunt nearby villages.

The famous author's famous character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith situated on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – feels real and understandable in contrast to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for causes nuclear, environmental or purely mythical, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Within this forest," Marius comments, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."