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"Locals dub this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, the air from his lungs creating puffs of condensation in the crisp night air. "So many people have gone missing here, some say it's an entrance to another dimension." Marius is guiding a guest on a evening stroll through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval native woodland on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of unusual events here date back hundreds of years – the grove is named after a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea captured on film what he claimed was a flying saucer hovering above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But don't worry," he continues, turning to his guest with a smile. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, shamans, ufologists and paranormal investigators from across the world, eager to feel the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being a top global hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, described as the innovation center of the region – are expanding, and developers are campaigning for permission to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Except for a few hectares home to locally rare oak varieties, this woodland is not officially protected, but Marius is confident that the initiative he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius recounts various traditional stories and reported supernatural events here.

• A well-known account recounts a five-year-old girl going missing during a group gathering, only to reappear five years later with no memory of the events, showing no signs of aging a day, her garments lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts describe smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Reactions include complete terror to moments of euphoria.
• Some people report seeing unusual marks on their arms, detecting ghostly voices through the forest, or sense fingers clutching them, even when sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, there are many things clearly observable that is certainly unusual. All around are plants whose bases are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to explain the abnormal growth: strong gales could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the ground explain their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's walks allow participants to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the opening in the forest where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he passes the traveler an EMF meter which measures EMF readings.

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

The plants immediately cease as the group enters into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the creation of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a place which fuels fantasy, where the division is blurred between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering vampires, who rise from their graves to terrorise nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's well-known fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a medieval building perched on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the count's residence".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – appears tangible and comprehensible compared to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for causes nuclear, climatic or simply folkloric, a hub for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the boundary between reality and imagination is extremely fine."