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"They call this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, the air from his lungs forming puffs of vapor in the crisp evening air. "Countless visitors have disappeared here, some say it's an entrance to a parallel world." This expert is guiding a guest on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth native woodland on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of unusual events here go back hundreds of years – the forest is called after a local shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, along with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a unidentified flying object floating above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But don't worry," he adds, addressing the traveler with a smile. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, spiritual healers, ufologists and paranormal investigators from around the globe, interested in encountering the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the forest is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are pushing for permission to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Except for a few hectares containing area-specific oak varieties, this woodland is not officially protected, but Marius is confident that the company he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the authorities to appreciate the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide tells various traditional stories and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account describes a five-year-old girl going missing during a family picnic, only to reappear after five years with complete amnesia of her experience, having not aged a moment, her attire without the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports detail mobile phones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors report seeing strange rashes on their arms, perceiving ghostly voices through the trees, or sense palms pushing them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the stories may be hard to prove, there are many things visibly present that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose bases are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been suggested to explain the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high radioactivity in the ground cause their unusual development.

But research studies have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's tours permit participants to engage in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the clearing in the trees where Barnea took his famous UFO pictures, he passes the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which detects energy patterns.

"We're entering the most energetic section of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The trees suddenly stop dead as they step into a flawless round. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it's not maintained, and seems that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which fuels fantasy, where the border is unclear between truth and myth. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering vampires, who return from burial sites to haunt nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's famous fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure situated on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – feels real and understandable versus these eerie woods, which appear to be, for factors radioactive, climatic or entirely legendary, a hub for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," the guide states, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is very thin."