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"People refer to this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, his breath creating puffs of condensation in the cold dusk atmosphere. "Numerous people have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to a parallel world." This expert is leading a traveler on a evening stroll through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth local woods on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of bizarre occurrences here go back hundreds of years – the forest is titled for a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the far-off times, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a unidentified flying object floating above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he states, facing the visitor with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from across the world, interested in encountering the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be among the planet's leading hotspots for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, called the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are advancing, and developers are advocating for permission to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Except for a small area housing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the initiative he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the authorities to acknowledge the forest's importance as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their shoes, the guide tells numerous folk tales and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account tells of a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family outing, then to return after five years with no recollection of her experience, having not aged a moment, her clothes without the tiniest bit of dirt.
• Frequent accounts explain mobile phones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions vary from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals state observing strange rashes on their skin, detecting ghostly voices through the woodland, or feel fingers clutching them, although sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the stories may be hard to prove, there are many things visibly present that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are vegetation whose trunks are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been proposed to clarify the deformed trees: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth explain their strange formation.

But formal examinations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's tours enable visitors to take part in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the opening in the trees where Barnea captured his well-known UFO images, he hands his guest an EMF meter which registers electromagnetic fields.

"We're stepping into the most powerful part of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The trees suddenly stop dead as they step into a complete ring. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this unusual opening is natural, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a place which inspires creativity, where the division is indistinct between fact and folklore. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to terrorise nearby villages.

The novelist's renowned character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure perched on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – seems real and understandable in contrast to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for factors radioactive, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a hub for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide comments, "the line between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."