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"They call this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks a local guide, his breath producing clouds of mist in the cold evening air. "Numerous individuals have vanished here, some say it's an entrance to a different realm." Marius is leading a guest on a night walk through commonly known as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of bizarre occurrences here extend back centuries – this woodland is titled for a area shepherd 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 an army specialist known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a flying saucer floating above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he states, facing the visitor with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has brought in meditation experts, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from around the globe, curious to experience the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is one of the world's premier hotspots for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the tech capital of the region – are expanding, and developers are pushing for permission to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a few hectares containing area-specific specific tree species, this woodland is not officially protected, but Marius is confident that the organization he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, motivating the local administrators to recognise the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

While branches and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their boots, Marius describes numerous traditional stories and reported ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account describes a five-year-old girl vanishing during a group gathering, later to rematerialise half a decade later with no recollection of the events, without aging a single day, her clothes lacking the smallest trace of dirt.
• Regular stories detail cellphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses range from absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Some people claim seeing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the woodland, or sense hands grabbing them, although sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

While many of the accounts may be hard to prove, there is much visibly present that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are plants whose trunks are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the deformed trees: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the soil explain their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's tours permit visitors to engage in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the meadow in the trees where Barnea took his well-known UFO images, he passes the visitor an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

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

The trees abruptly end as we emerge into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this strange clearing is wild, not the result of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the border is unclear between truth and myth. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to terrorise local communities.

The famous author's well-known vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – an ancient structure located on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible in contrast to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for factors radioactive, climatic or purely mythical, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Within this forest," Marius states, "the line between fact and fiction is very thin."