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"They call this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his exhalation producing clouds of mist in the crisp evening air. "Countless individuals have disappeared here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." The guide is leading a visitor on a night walk through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of strange happenings here go back centuries – the grove is named after a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a UFO suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

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

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from across the world, interested in encountering the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is a top global pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the forest is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are advocating for authorization to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Except for a few hectares housing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is without conservation status, but the guide is confident that the company he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, motivating the government officials to recognise the forest's importance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their shoes, the guide describes various folk tales and reported paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story recounts a five-year-old girl going missing during a family outing, later to reappear half a decade later with no recollection of the events, having not aged a day, her clothes without the slightest speck of soil.
• More common reports explain cellphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Feelings range from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals state observing unusual marks on their arms, perceiving unseen murmurs through the forest, or feel hands grabbing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the tales may be unverifiable, there is much before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are vegetation whose trunks are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Different theories have been suggested to explain the abnormal growth: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radiation levels in the soil account for their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have found inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's tours permit visitors to engage in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the meadow in the trees where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO images, he hands the visitor an EMF meter which detects energy patterns.

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

The trees suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a flawless round. The only greenery is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and seems that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the result of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is indistinct between truth and myth. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing vampires, who rise from their graves to terrorise nearby villages.

The novelist's famous character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – seems real and understandable versus these eerie woods, which seem to be, for reasons nuclear, climatic or entirely legendary, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius says, "the line between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."