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"People refer to this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation producing clouds of vapor in the cold evening air. "Numerous people have vanished here, some say it's an entrance to a parallel world." The guide is escorting a traveler on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval native woodland on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of unusual events here extend back a long time – this woodland is titled for a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a unidentified flying object suspended above a round opening in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But don't worry," he adds, addressing his guest with a grin. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from worldwide, curious to experience the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be among the planet's leading hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, described as the Silicon Valley of the region – are expanding, and developers are pushing for authorization to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Barring a small area home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to appreciate the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

While branches and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their boots, Marius tells some of the traditional stories and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story describes a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, then to rematerialise half a decade later with complete amnesia of her experience, without aging a moment, her clothes lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports describe mobile phones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Feelings include complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Some people claim observing unusual marks on their skin, detecting unseen murmurs through the forest, or sense fingers clutching them, even when sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the accounts may be unverifiable, there are many things visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are vegetation whose trunks are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to explain the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or typically increased radiation levels in the earth account for their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have found insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's walks allow visitors to take part in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the trees where Barnea captured his renowned UFO photographs, he gives his guest an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most powerful area of the forest," he says. "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 clear that it hasn't been mown, and seems that this strange clearing is wild, not the result of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which stirs the imagination, where the division is indistinct between reality and legend. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to frighten local communities.

Bram Stoker's renowned character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – feels real and understandable in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for causes related to radiation, environmental or purely mythical, a hub for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the division between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."