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"Locals dub this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states a tour guide, his exhalation forming puffs of vapor in the cold night air. "Countless people have disappeared here, some say it's a portal to a parallel world." This expert is escorting a traveler on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth local woods on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of unusual events here go back centuries – the grove is called after a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of 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 adds, facing the traveler with a smirk. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from across the world, interested in encountering the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, described as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are advancing, and developers are advocating for approval to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a small area containing area-specific specific tree species, the forest is not officially protected, but Marius hopes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their footwear, Marius recounts various local legends and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account recounts a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family outing, then to return five years later with no recollection of her experience, showing no signs of aging a moment, her garments without the smallest trace of dirt.
• More common reports detail smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Reactions include full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals claim observing strange rashes on their skin, perceiving disembodied whispers through the forest, or sense hands grabbing them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the accounts may be hard to prove, numerous elements before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radioactivity in the soil explain their unusual development.

But formal examinations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's excursions permit participants to take part in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the forest where Barnea captured his famous UFO images, he passes the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields.

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

The plants abruptly end as they step into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and looks that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a place which inspires creativity, where the border is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to frighten nearby villages.

The famous author's famous fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – an ancient structure located on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – appears real and understandable compared to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors nuclear, climatic or simply folkloric, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," the guide says, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is very thin."