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"People refer to this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath creating clouds of mist in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "So many people have gone missing here, it's thought it's a portal to another dimension." Marius is leading a traveler on a evening stroll through what is often described as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is called after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the long ago, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea captured on film what he claimed was a unidentified flying object hovering above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he continues, facing his guest with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from around the globe, eager to feel the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, this woodland is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are pushing for approval to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Barring a small area home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the company he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, motivating the government officials to recognise the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their footwear, the guide tells numerous traditional stories and alleged ghostly incidents here.

• A popular tale describes a five-year-old girl disappearing during a family outing, later to reappear five years later with no recollection of the events, without aging a single day, her attire lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts explain cellphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses vary from complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors report observing unusual marks on their bodies, hearing ghostly voices through the forest, or feel palms pushing them, although sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there is much before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are plants whose bases are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been given to account for the deformed trees: strong gales could have altered the growth, or typically increased radioactivity in the soil account for their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's excursions permit participants to participate in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the clearing in the trees where Barnea took his renowned UFO pictures, he hands the visitor an ghost-hunting device which detects electromagnetic fields.

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

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the short grass beneath our feet; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is indistinct between truth and myth. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering creatures, who return from burial sites to haunt regional populations.

The novelist's well-known fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building located on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – feels tangible and comprehensible compared to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for causes nuclear, climatic or entirely legendary, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the boundary between reality and imagination is very thin."