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"Locals dub this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his exhalation forming puffs of vapor in the chilly night air. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, it's thought it's an entrance to a parallel world." The guide is leading a traveler on a night walk through commonly known as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of bizarre occurrences here go back hundreds of years – the grove is named after a local shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea captured on film what he claimed was a UFO suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But don't worry," he continues, turning to the traveler with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, traditional medicine people, ufologists and supernatural researchers from worldwide, interested in encountering the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the tech capital of the region – are expanding, and developers are campaigning for authorization to clear the trees to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a small area containing regionally uncommon specific tree species, the forest is not officially protected, but the guide hopes that the company he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their footwear, Marius recounts various traditional stories and claimed supernatural events here.

• A well-known account tells of a young child going missing during a family outing, then to reappear half a decade later with no recollection of the events, without aging a moment, her clothes lacking the smallest trace of dirt.
• Regular stories detail smartphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Feelings vary from full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Some people state noticing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, detecting disembodied whispers through the forest, or sense palms pushing them, although sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the tales may be impossible to confirm, there is much clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are plants whose bases are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the deformed trees: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth explain their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have turned up inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's excursions permit guests to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the trees where Barnea photographed his famous UFO photographs, he passes the traveler an EMF meter which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most powerful part of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The trees abruptly end as they step into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it's not maintained, and looks that this strange clearing is natural, not the result of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a area which stirs the imagination, where the border is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to terrorise regional populations.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith perched on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – seems solid and predictable in contrast to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for causes related to radiation, climatic or simply folkloric, a center for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide states, "the line between reality and imagination is very thin."