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"They call this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states a tour guide, the air from his lungs creating clouds of mist in the cold night air. "Countless people have vanished here, some say it's an entrance to another dimension." This expert is guiding a visitor on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval native woodland on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of unusual events here date back a long time – the forest is named after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a unidentified flying object floating above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he states, facing the visitor with a smirk. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, shamans, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from across the world, interested in encountering the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the forest is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are advocating for authorization to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Except for a small area housing regionally uncommon specific tree species, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but the guide is confident that the company he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, motivating the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

As twigs and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their boots, Marius recounts various traditional stories and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a little girl going missing during a family picnic, later to rematerialise after five years with complete amnesia of her experience, showing no signs of aging a day, her garments shy of the smallest trace of soil.
• More common reports detail smartphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses range from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Some people claim observing unusual marks on their skin, detecting disembodied whispers through the woodland, or feel fingers clutching them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the accounts may be hard to prove, there is much visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are plants whose bases are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been suggested to account for the deformed trees: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the soil explain their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have discovered insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's tours enable visitors to engage in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his renowned UFO photographs, he gives the traveler an EMF meter which detects electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most energetic part of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a flawless round. The single plant life is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the creation of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a area which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between truth and myth. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt local communities.

The famous author's renowned vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – an ancient structure located on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – seems tangible and comprehensible in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for causes nuclear, environmental or simply folkloric, a hub for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the division between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."