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"Locals dub this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation creating clouds of vapor in the chilly night air. "So many people have vanished here, some say it's an entrance to another dimension." This expert is escorting a traveler on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth native woodland on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of bizarre occurrences here go back a long time – the forest is called after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, along with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a UFO floating above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he states, addressing his guest with a smirk. "Our tours have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and paranormal investigators from worldwide, curious to experience the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is a top global pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the forest is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, described as the tech capital of the region – are expanding, and construction companies are pushing for permission to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a limited section containing regionally uncommon specific tree species, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the initiative he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the authorities to acknowledge the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their shoes, Marius recounts numerous local legends and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• A popular tale recounts a young child vanishing during a family picnic, then to return half a decade later with complete amnesia of her experience, having not aged a day, her clothes shy of the tiniest bit of dirt.
• Frequent accounts explain cellphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Some people report noticing unusual marks on their arms, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or feel hands grabbing them, although sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the stories may be unverifiable, there is much clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are plants whose bases are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to account for the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or naturally high radiation levels in the ground explain their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours enable participants to participate in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the woods where Barnea captured his famous UFO photographs, he gives the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which detects electromagnetic fields.

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

The plants immediately cease as the group enters into a complete ring. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this unusual opening is organic, not the result of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which inspires creativity, where the line is blurred between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to terrorise regional populations.

The famous author's famous vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith located on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – feels real and understandable versus this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for causes nuclear, climatic or purely mythical, a center for creative energy.

"Within this forest," the guide comments, "the boundary between reality and imagination is extremely fine."