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"Locals dub this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a local guide, his exhalation producing clouds of condensation in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Numerous people have disappeared here, some say it's an entrance to a parallel world." Marius is escorting a guest on a night walk through commonly known as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient local woods on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – the grove is titled for a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, along with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a flying saucer suspended above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But no need to fear," he continues, facing the visitor with a grin. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, shamans, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from across the world, interested in encountering the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being a top global destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, the forest is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Barring a small area housing locally rare specific tree species, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide hopes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, encouraging the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their boots, the guide tells numerous traditional stories and claimed supernatural events here.

• One famous story recounts a young child vanishing during a group gathering, then to reappear after five years with no recollection of what had happened, without aging a moment, her garments shy of the smallest trace of dirt.
• Regular stories detail mobile phones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Feelings range from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Some people report seeing strange rashes on their skin, detecting disembodied whispers through the woodland, or feel hands grabbing them, even when sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the tales may be unverifiable, there are many things clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose trunks are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been given to account for the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radiation levels in the earth explain their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have discovered insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's walks enable visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO pictures, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which measures energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most powerful area of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The trees immediately cease as they step into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the result of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a place which stirs the imagination, where the line is unclear between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing creatures, who rise from their graves to haunt local communities.

The novelist's well-known vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure located on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – appears tangible and comprehensible versus the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for reasons nuclear, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a center for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the division between truth and fantasy is very thin."