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"They call this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, his breath creating puffs of vapor in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Countless individuals have gone missing here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." Marius is leading a visitor on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient native woodland on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is called after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea captured on film what he claimed was a UFO suspended above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he states, addressing the visitor with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, shamans, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from worldwide, curious to experience the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is a top global destinations for supernatural fans, this woodland is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are advocating for approval to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Except for a limited section home to area-specific specific tree species, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but the guide is confident that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide tells various traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story describes a young child vanishing during a family outing, then to reappear after five years with no memory of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a day, her garments without the smallest trace of dust.
• More common reports describe smartphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Reactions include complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors report noticing strange rashes on their bodies, detecting disembodied whispers through the forest, or experience palms pushing them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the stories may be unverifiable, there are many things visibly present that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are plants whose trunks are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been suggested to explain the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radiation levels in the earth account for their unusual development.

But formal examinations have found inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's walks allow participants to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the clearing in the forest where Barnea took his renowned UFO photographs, he passes his guest an ghost-hunting device which registers electromagnetic fields.

"We're entering the most powerful section of the forest," he says. "Try to detect something."

The plants abruptly end as they step into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a location which inspires creativity, where the division is indistinct between truth and myth. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering creatures, who emerge from tombs to terrorise local communities.

Bram Stoker's renowned vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building situated on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But even myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – appears real and understandable in contrast to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for causes nuclear, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a center for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," the guide states, "the division between reality and imagination is very thin."