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"People refer to this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, the air from his lungs producing puffs of vapor in the crisp night air. "Numerous people have gone missing here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." This expert is guiding a guest on a evening stroll through what is often described as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of bizarre occurrences here go back centuries – the grove is called after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the long ago, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a UFO hovering above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he continues, turning to his guest with a smile. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from across the world, curious to experience the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, described as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are advocating for authorization to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Except for a limited section containing locally rare specific tree species, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the organization he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, persuading the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their shoes, Marius tells various local legends and reported paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story recounts a little girl disappearing during a group gathering, then to rematerialise after five years with complete amnesia of the events, showing no signs of aging a moment, her garments shy of the smallest trace of dirt.
• Frequent accounts detail cellphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Reactions include absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Some people report observing strange rashes on their bodies, hearing unseen murmurs through the woodland, or sense hands grabbing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the accounts may be hard to prove, there are many things before my eyes that is undeniably strange. All around are plants whose bases are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to account for the deformed trees: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the soil account for their unusual development.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's tours allow participants to participate in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he passes the visitor an EMF meter which registers EMF readings.

"We're venturing into the most powerful area of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The plants abruptly end as we emerge into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this strange clearing is organic, not the work of people.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a place which inspires creativity, where the line is indistinct between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting vampires, who rise from their graves to haunt regional populations.

Bram Stoker's well-known character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure situated on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – seems solid and predictable in contrast to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for reasons related to radiation, climatic or purely mythical, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius comments, "the division between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."