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"Locals dub this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states a local guide, his exhalation producing puffs of mist in the cold evening air. "Countless individuals have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." Marius is leading a visitor on a evening stroll through commonly known as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Reports of unusual events here date back centuries – the grove is titled for a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the far-off times, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a unidentified flying object suspended above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But rest assured," he states, turning to the visitor with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from around the globe, interested in encountering the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being among the planet's leading destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Except for a small area home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is without conservation status, but the guide believes that the initiative he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, encouraging the authorities to recognise the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their boots, the guide describes some of the traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story recounts a young child disappearing during a group gathering, later to rematerialise five years later with complete amnesia of what had happened, having not aged a moment, her attire without the tiniest bit of dust.
• More common reports explain smartphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Reactions range from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals report seeing unusual marks on their arms, hearing ghostly voices through the forest, or experience palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are vegetation whose bases are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been suggested to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the ground account for their unusual development.

But research studies have found insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's tours allow guests to engage in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the opening in the woods where Barnea captured his famous UFO pictures, he hands the visitor an ghost-hunting device which measures energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most energetic area of the forest," he comments. "Try to detect something."

The plants suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this unusual opening is wild, not the work of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a location which fuels fantasy, where the border is indistinct between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to frighten local communities.

The novelist's famous vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith situated on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – appears solid and predictable compared to this spooky forest, which appear to be, for factors related to radiation, environmental or simply folkloric, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," the guide says, "the division between reality and imagination is very thin."