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"Locals dub this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his exhalation producing puffs of mist in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, some say it's an entrance to a different realm." The guide is guiding a visitor on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of bizarre occurrences here extend back centuries – this woodland is titled for a local shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a flying saucer hovering above a round opening in the centre of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But no need to fear," he states, addressing his guest with a grin. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, shamans, ufologists and paranormal investigators from across the world, curious to experience the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is a top global pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are campaigning for permission to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Barring a limited section containing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is not officially protected, but Marius is confident that the company he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, persuading the government officials to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their footwear, Marius tells numerous folk tales and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale recounts a five-year-old girl going missing during a group gathering, then to return half a decade later with no recollection of what had happened, without aging a moment, her garments without the tiniest bit of soil.
• More common reports explain cellphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses range from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors claim seeing strange rashes on their skin, perceiving ghostly voices through the forest, or sense fingers clutching them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the tales may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose trunks are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been given to explain the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the soil cause their unusual development.

But research studies have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's tours enable visitors to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he hands the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which measures EMF readings.

"We're stepping into the most powerful section of the forest," he comments. "Discover what's here."

The plants immediately cease as we emerge into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which inspires creativity, where the division is blurred between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering vampires, who return from burial sites to terrorise nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's well-known vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building perched on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – appears solid and predictable compared to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for reasons related to radiation, climatic or entirely legendary, a center for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the division between reality and imagination is extremely fine."