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"Locals dub this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his exhalation producing clouds of vapor in the cold evening air. "So many visitors have disappeared here, it's thought it's a portal to a parallel world." This expert is leading a visitor on a evening stroll through commonly known as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth local woods on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here date back hundreds of years – the forest is named after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a UFO floating above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But rest assured," he states, addressing the visitor with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, eager to feel the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the grove is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, described as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are advocating for approval to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Except for a few hectares home to area-specific specific tree species, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes that the organization he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, encouraging the government officials to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their footwear, the guide describes some of the traditional stories and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a little girl vanishing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise after five years with complete amnesia of her experience, without aging a single day, her garments without the tiniest bit of dust.
• More common reports describe smartphones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings range from full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals claim observing unusual marks on their skin, detecting ghostly voices through the forest, or sense fingers clutching them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the stories may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are plants whose bases are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to account for the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the ground cause their strange formation.

But formal examinations have found insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's tours permit visitors to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the forest where Barnea captured his well-known UFO pictures, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which detects energy patterns.

"We're stepping into the most powerful section of the forest," he comments. "Try to detect something."

The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a complete ring. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and seems that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the creation of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is blurred between fact and folklore. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting vampires, who rise from their graves to haunt local communities.

The famous author's well-known character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith located on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – seems real and understandable compared to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for causes radioactive, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," the guide comments, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."