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"People refer to this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath forming wisps of condensation in the crisp evening air. "So many individuals have vanished here, some say it's a portal to another dimension." The guide is escorting a visitor on a night walk through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval indigenous forest on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of unusual events here date back hundreds of years – the grove is called after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a flying saucer suspended above a round opening in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But don't worry," he adds, facing his guest with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, ufologists and paranormal investigators from around the globe, eager to feel the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the grove is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, called the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are pushing for authorization to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Except for a limited section housing area-specific specific tree species, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, encouraging the government officials to acknowledge the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius tells various traditional stories and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale describes a five-year-old girl disappearing during a family picnic, later to return five years later with no recollection of what had happened, having not aged a single day, her clothes lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts describe smartphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Some people state observing strange rashes on their arms, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or feel hands grabbing them, even when sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the tales may be hard to prove, numerous elements visibly present that is certainly unusual. All around are trees whose bases are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been given to account for the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the earth account for their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's excursions permit visitors to take part in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the opening in the trees where Barnea photographed his famous UFO images, he hands the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which registers EMF readings.

"We're stepping into the most energetic section of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a flawless round. The single plant life is the short grass beneath our feet; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this strange clearing is wild, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a place which stirs the imagination, where the line is indistinct between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to frighten regional populations.

Bram Stoker's renowned fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith located on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – feels solid and predictable in contrast to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for factors radioactive, environmental or simply folkloric, a center for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."