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"Locals dub this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath forming wisps of mist in the chilly evening air. "Numerous visitors have disappeared here, many believe it's a portal to a different realm." This expert is guiding a visitor on a night walk through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval indigenous forest on the outskirts of the Romanian city 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 local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the long ago, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a UFO suspended above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he adds, facing the visitor with a smile. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, traditional medicine people, ufologists and supernatural researchers from worldwide, interested in encountering the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be one of the world's premier hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of more than 400,000 people, called the tech capital of the region – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a small area containing locally rare oak varieties, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide is confident that the initiative he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, encouraging the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide recounts various traditional stories and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account recounts a young child going missing during a family outing, only to reappear five years later with complete amnesia of the events, having not aged a single day, her attire without the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports explain mobile phones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses vary from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors claim observing strange rashes on their bodies, hearing unseen murmurs through the trees, or feel hands grabbing them, although sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there is much clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are plants whose trunks are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been given to explain the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the soil cause their unusual development.

But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's tours permit participants to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his well-known UFO photographs, he gives his guest an EMF meter which detects energy patterns.

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

The trees suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the work of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is indistinct between truth and myth. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to haunt regional populations.

Bram Stoker's well-known character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – seems tangible and comprehensible in contrast to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors related to radiation, climatic or purely mythical, a hub for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius states, "the line between fact and fiction is extremely fine."