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"People refer to this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his breath creating puffs of mist in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Numerous people have vanished here, some say it's a portal to a different realm." This expert is leading a visitor on a evening stroll through what is often described as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth local woods on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of strange happenings here go back a long time – this woodland is named after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the long ago, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a flying saucer floating above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he states, turning to his guest with a grin. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, shamans, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from around the globe, eager to feel the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, the grove is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are pushing for approval to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a small area home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the initiative he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, motivating the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

While branches and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their shoes, the guide recounts various local legends and alleged ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a little girl disappearing during a group gathering, then to return five years later with no memory of what had happened, without aging a day, her garments shy of the tiniest bit of dirt.
• Regular stories detail smartphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Feelings include absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Various visitors report observing strange rashes on their skin, perceiving unseen murmurs through the trees, or feel fingers clutching them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the stories may be hard to prove, there is much visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are plants whose trunks are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the deformed trees: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth explain their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's tours enable guests to participate in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the woods where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO pictures, he passes the traveler an ghost-hunting device which detects electromagnetic fields.

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

The trees suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this strange clearing is organic, not the work of human hands.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a location which stirs the imagination, where the division is blurred between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting vampires, who return from burial sites to terrorise regional populations.

The novelist's well-known vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure situated on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – feels solid and predictable in contrast to the haunted grove, which appear to be, for causes radioactive, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide comments, "the boundary between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."