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"They call this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, the air from his lungs forming wisps of condensation in the crisp night air. "Countless people have vanished here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." This expert is escorting a traveler on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted woodland: 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

Accounts of unusual events here go back centuries – the forest is named after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a unidentified flying object suspended above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But rest assured," he adds, facing the traveler with a smirk. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from around the globe, interested in encountering the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, this woodland is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and real estate firms are pushing for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Except for a few hectares housing regionally uncommon specific tree species, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the company he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, persuading the authorities to appreciate the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their shoes, Marius describes numerous local legends and claimed supernatural events here.

• One famous story recounts a five-year-old girl going missing during a family outing, then to reappear half a decade later with complete amnesia of the events, showing no signs of aging a day, her attire shy of the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports detail mobile phones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses include complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Some people claim noticing strange rashes on their arms, hearing ghostly voices through the trees, or experience palms pushing them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be impossible to confirm, there is much visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are plants whose stems are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Different theories have been proposed to account for the deformed trees: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the earth cause their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's excursions allow visitors to engage in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the forest where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he passes the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which registers EMF readings.

"We're venturing into the most energetic section of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The trees immediately cease as we emerge into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this unusual opening is wild, not the work of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to haunt nearby villages.

The novelist's renowned character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – seems tangible and comprehensible versus this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for causes radioactive, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a center for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius comments, "the division between fact and fiction is very thin."