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"Locals dub this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his exhalation forming wisps of condensation in the crisp evening air. "Countless individuals have disappeared here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." The guide is escorting a visitor on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient local woods on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of strange happenings here go back a long time – the grove is called after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the distant past, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a flying saucer floating above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But rest assured," he states, turning to the visitor with a smile. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, shamans, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from around the globe, interested in encountering the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being one of the world's premier destinations for supernatural fans, this woodland is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are advocating for authorization to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Except for a small area home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the initiative he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, motivating the government officials to appreciate the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their boots, Marius recounts numerous folk tales and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account describes a five-year-old girl vanishing during a group gathering, later to reappear half a decade later with complete amnesia of her experience, without aging a single day, her attire shy of the slightest speck of dirt.
• Frequent accounts explain smartphones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Reactions include full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors state noticing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, perceiving disembodied whispers through the woodland, or feel palms pushing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the stories may be hard to prove, numerous elements before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are plants whose stems are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to account for the abnormal growth: strong gales could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the soil explain their strange formation.

But research studies have turned up insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours permit visitors to participate in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the woods where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO pictures, he passes the traveler an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

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

The vegetation abruptly end as they step into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the short grass beneath our feet; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the result of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is unclear between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, form-changing bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to terrorise nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's famous fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building perched on a stone formation in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – appears tangible and comprehensible in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for causes nuclear, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a nexus for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide comments, "the line between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."