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"Locals dub this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states a local guide, the air from his lungs forming puffs of vapor in the cold evening air. "So many visitors have vanished here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." Marius is leading a visitor on a night walk through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient native woodland on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of strange happenings here extend back a long time – the forest is called after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the long ago, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea photographed what he reported as a flying saucer suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But rest assured," he continues, turning to the visitor with a smirk. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be a top global hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, called the tech capital of the region – are encroaching, and real estate firms are pushing for authorization to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Barring a small area containing locally rare oak varieties, the grove is not officially protected, but Marius believes that the initiative he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to appreciate the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

While branches and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius recounts various local legends and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, later to rematerialise after five years with no memory of what had happened, having not aged a single day, her garments without the smallest trace of soil.
• More common reports describe cellphones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Reactions range from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals claim noticing strange rashes on their bodies, detecting ghostly voices through the trees, or feel palms pushing them, despite being sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, there are many things before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose bases are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been suggested to account for the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the ground account for their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's tours allow participants to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his renowned UFO photographs, he gives the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which registers electromagnetic fields.

"We're entering the most powerful section of the forest," he says. "See what you can find."

The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and looks that this strange clearing is organic, not the creation of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is indistinct between reality and legend. In traditional settlements superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering vampires, who emerge from tombs to haunt local communities.

Bram Stoker's famous character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – feels solid and predictable compared to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for causes radioactive, climatic or simply folkloric, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the boundary between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."