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"They call this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states a local guide, his breath forming clouds of mist in the cold evening air. "So many visitors have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." This expert is guiding a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient native woodland on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of bizarre occurrences here go back a long time – this woodland is called after a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a UFO suspended above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, facing the traveler with a grin. "Our tours have a perfect safety record."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, ufologists and ghost hunters from worldwide, interested in encountering the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is one of the world's premier destinations for supernatural fans, the forest is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of more than 400,000 people, known as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are advocating for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Barring a limited section containing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is lacking legal protection, but Marius hopes that the organization he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, persuading the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide tells various local legends and reported supernatural events here.

• A well-known account recounts a five-year-old girl disappearing during a family picnic, later to return five years later with complete amnesia of her experience, showing no signs of aging a day, her attire without the tiniest bit of dirt.
• More common reports explain mobile phones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Reactions vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals claim observing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, detecting unseen murmurs through the woodland, or sense palms pushing them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

While many of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose trunks are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been given to account for the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth account for their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have discovered insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours enable participants to engage in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the opening in the woods where Barnea took his renowned UFO images, he gives the traveler an ghost-hunting device which measures EMF readings.

"We're stepping into the most energetic 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 their shoes; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and appears that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a place which fuels fantasy, where the border is blurred between truth and myth. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt regional populations.

The novelist's well-known vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building located on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – appears solid and predictable versus these eerie woods, which appear to be, for causes radioactive, environmental or simply folkloric, a nexus for fantasy projection.

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