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"Locals dub this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, the air from his lungs creating wisps of mist in the cold night air. "So many visitors have vanished here, it's thought it's an entrance to another dimension." The guide is leading a traveler on a night walk through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient local woods on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of unusual events here extend back hundreds of years – the forest is named after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a UFO floating above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But rest assured," he continues, turning to the traveler with a smirk. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from around the globe, eager to feel the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is one of the world's premier hotspots for supernatural fans, the grove is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the Silicon Valley of the region – are advancing, and developers are pushing for authorization to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Except for a limited section home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the company he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, encouraging the government officials to recognise the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their footwear, Marius tells numerous local legends and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story tells of a young child disappearing during a family outing, then to return five years later with no memory of her experience, having not aged a day, her garments without the tiniest bit of dirt.
• Frequent accounts explain smartphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals report observing strange rashes on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the trees, or sense hands grabbing them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements visibly present that is undeniably strange. All around are vegetation whose bases are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been suggested to account for the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the soil cause their strange formation.

But research studies have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's walks enable participants to take part in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the clearing in the woods where Barnea took his renowned UFO pictures, he hands his guest an EMF meter which registers EMF readings.

"We're stepping into the most powerful area of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The trees immediately cease as they step into a complete ring. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the creation of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a place which stirs the imagination, where the line is blurred between reality and legend. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt nearby villages.

The famous author's famous character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building located on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – appears real and understandable compared to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for reasons nuclear, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a nexus for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," the guide states, "the line between fact and fiction is very thin."