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"People refer to this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states a tour guide, his exhalation creating clouds of condensation in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "So many individuals have disappeared here, it's thought it's a portal to another dimension." The guide is guiding a traveler on a night walk through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth native woodland on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of unusual events here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a flying saucer hovering above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he states, addressing the visitor with a smile. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, shamans, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from around the globe, interested in encountering the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, called the Silicon Valley of the region – are advancing, and real estate firms are advocating for approval to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Except for a limited section containing locally rare oak varieties, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the organization he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, persuading the government officials to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their boots, the guide describes various local legends and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale describes a little girl vanishing during a family outing, then to return after five years with no memory of what had happened, having not aged a single day, her clothes lacking the slightest speck of soil.
• Regular stories explain cellphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Reactions include full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals report observing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, perceiving ghostly voices through the woodland, or experience palms pushing them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the accounts may be hard to prove, there is much before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or typically increased radiation levels in the soil account for their crooked growth.

But research studies have discovered inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's excursions enable guests to take part in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO photographs, he gives the traveler an EMF meter which detects electromagnetic fields.

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

The trees suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a complete ring. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a area which stirs the imagination, where the line is blurred between reality and legend. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to haunt local communities.

Bram Stoker's well-known fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure located on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – appears real and understandable versus the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for reasons radioactive, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a center for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide comments, "the division between truth and fantasy is very thin."