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"People refer to this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, the air from his lungs forming clouds of vapor in the cold evening air. "Numerous individuals have gone missing here, some say there's a gateway to another dimension." This expert is escorting a traveler on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth native woodland on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here date back hundreds of years – the grove is titled for a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the long ago, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a unidentified flying object floating above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But rest assured," he adds, turning to the visitor with a smile. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, shamans, ufologists and supernatural researchers from around the globe, eager to feel the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is among the planet's leading hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the innovation center of eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are advocating for permission to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a few hectares housing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is not officially protected, but Marius believes that the organization he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, persuading the government officials to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

When small sticks and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius describes numerous local legends and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a little girl disappearing during a family outing, later to reappear five years later with no memory of what had happened, without aging a moment, her clothes lacking the smallest trace of soil.
• More common reports describe cellphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings include complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Some people report noticing unusual marks on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or experience hands grabbing them, even when sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the stories may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements clearly observable that is undeniably strange. All around are vegetation whose stems are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the abnormal growth: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or naturally high radioactivity in the soil explain their strange formation.

But research studies have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's tours enable visitors to participate in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the meadow in the woods where Barnea took his renowned UFO photographs, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.

"We're stepping into the most active section of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The trees suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and seems that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the work of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a location which fuels fantasy, where the border is indistinct between fact and folklore. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt regional populations.

Bram Stoker's famous fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a medieval building situated on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – feels real and understandable compared to these eerie woods, which seem to be, for reasons nuclear, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius says, "the division between truth and fantasy is very thin."