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"Locals dub this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, the air from his lungs producing wisps of condensation in the cold night air. "Countless people have disappeared here, it's thought it's a portal to a different realm." This expert is escorting a traveler on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth indigenous forest on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Reports of unusual events here extend back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a UFO suspended above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But no need to fear," he continues, facing the traveler with a smirk. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, ufologists and paranormal investigators from across the world, curious to experience the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be a top global destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, the forest is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are advocating for approval to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a limited section home to locally rare oak varieties, the forest is without conservation status, but Marius is confident that the organization he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to recognise the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their footwear, Marius recounts various local legends and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account describes a young child vanishing during a family outing, only to rematerialise half a decade later with no recollection of her experience, having not aged a moment, her clothes lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts explain smartphones and camera equipment unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals report observing unusual marks on their skin, detecting unseen murmurs through the forest, or experience fingers clutching them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the stories may be hard to prove, there is much clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose trunks are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to account for the deformed trees: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth explain their unusual development.

But research studies have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's excursions enable participants to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the meadow in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO pictures, he passes his guest an electromagnetic field detector which registers electromagnetic fields.

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

The trees immediately cease as they step into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and seems that this strange clearing is organic, not the creation of people.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a location which inspires creativity, where the division is indistinct between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to frighten nearby villages.

The novelist's well-known vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith located on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – seems tangible and comprehensible versus the haunted grove, which seem to be, for factors nuclear, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a nexus for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius comments, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."