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"Locals dub this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, the air from his lungs forming puffs of condensation in the cold evening air. "Numerous individuals have gone missing here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." This expert is leading a traveler on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval indigenous forest on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of unusual events here go back hundreds of years – the forest is named after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the distant past, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a flying saucer floating above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, turning to the visitor with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, ufologists and paranormal investigators from around the globe, interested in encountering the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be among the planet's leading destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the tech capital of the region – are advancing, and developers are advocating for authorization to clear the trees to erect housing complexes.

Except for a few hectares housing locally rare oak varieties, this woodland is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the government officials to appreciate the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide describes numerous traditional stories and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• A popular tale describes a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family picnic, only to reappear after five years with no memory of what had happened, without aging a moment, her attire shy of the slightest speck of soil.
• Regular stories explain mobile phones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Feelings include full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals report seeing unusual marks on their skin, perceiving ghostly voices through the forest, or experience fingers clutching them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the stories may be hard to prove, there are many things before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. All around are vegetation whose bases are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high radioactivity in the ground account for their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have turned up insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's walks permit guests to engage in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the clearing in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he passes the visitor an EMF meter which detects EMF readings.

"We're entering the most energetic section of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The trees immediately cease as they step into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the creation of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is unclear between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to frighten regional populations.

The famous author's well-known vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building perched on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – feels tangible and comprehensible versus these eerie woods, which appear to be, for factors related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius comments, "the line between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."