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"People refer to this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states a local guide, his breath forming wisps of condensation in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "Countless individuals have gone missing here, it's thought there's a gateway to a parallel world." The guide is guiding a visitor on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of bizarre occurrences here extend back centuries – the grove is titled for a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the long ago, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a flying saucer floating above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But rest assured," he adds, turning to the traveler with a smirk. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from worldwide, eager to feel the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for supernatural fans, this woodland is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, called the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a few hectares housing locally rare oak varieties, the grove is without conservation status, but Marius believes that the organization he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, motivating the authorities to appreciate the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their boots, the guide describes some of the traditional stories and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale tells of a young child going missing during a group gathering, then to return half a decade later with complete amnesia of what had happened, having not aged a moment, her attire lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• Regular stories explain mobile phones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses range from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Some people report noticing unusual marks on their skin, detecting ghostly voices through the woodland, or sense palms pushing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the tales may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. All around are plants whose stems are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been proposed to clarify the deformed trees: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or naturally high radiation levels in the ground cause their strange formation.

But research studies have turned up insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's tours enable guests to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the opening in the woods where Barnea captured his well-known UFO pictures, he hands the traveler an EMF meter which detects energy patterns.

"We're entering the most powerful section of the forest," he comments. "Discover what's here."

The plants abruptly end as they step into a complete ring. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this strange clearing is organic, not the creation of human hands.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a location which inspires creativity, where the border is blurred between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to frighten regional populations.

Bram Stoker's renowned vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – an ancient structure located on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – seems solid and predictable compared to the haunted grove, which appear to be, for causes related to radiation, climatic or simply folkloric, a nexus for fantasy projection.

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