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"They call this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath forming clouds of vapor in the cold night air. "Numerous people have disappeared here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." This expert is leading a visitor on a night walk through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval native woodland on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is called after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared 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 photographed what he reported as a UFO hovering above a round opening in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But don't worry," he adds, turning to the visitor with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the mysterious powers 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 western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, known as the Silicon Valley of the region – are encroaching, and real estate firms are campaigning for authorization to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Barring a few hectares containing area-specific specific tree species, the forest is without conservation status, but the guide believes that the company he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, encouraging the authorities to appreciate the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their footwear, Marius tells various traditional stories and claimed supernatural events here.

• One famous story describes a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family outing, only to return half a decade later with complete amnesia of the events, having not aged a single day, her attire lacking the smallest trace of soil.
• Regular stories explain cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses include complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals report seeing strange rashes on their bodies, detecting disembodied whispers through the trees, or feel palms pushing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose trunks are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been suggested to explain the deformed trees: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth cause their crooked growth.

But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's tours permit guests to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his famous UFO photographs, he passes the visitor an ghost-hunting device which detects electromagnetic fields.

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

The vegetation abruptly end as we emerge into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the result of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a place which fuels fantasy, where the division is blurred between reality and legend. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to frighten local communities.

Bram Stoker's renowned vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – appears tangible and comprehensible in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for factors radioactive, climatic or purely mythical, a hub for creative energy.

"Within this forest," Marius says, "the line between reality and imagination is extremely fine."