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"They call this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, the air from his lungs creating wisps of condensation in the cold night air. "Numerous individuals have disappeared here, it's thought it's a portal to a parallel world." Marius is leading a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of unusual events here extend back centuries – the forest is called after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a flying saucer hovering above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But no need to fear," he adds, turning to his guest with a grin. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, shamans, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from around the globe, interested in encountering the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, the grove is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are campaigning for permission to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Barring a small area housing regionally uncommon oak varieties, this woodland is without conservation status, but Marius hopes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, motivating the government officials to recognise the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide describes numerous traditional stories and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale tells of a five-year-old girl vanishing during a group gathering, then to return half a decade later with no memory of her experience, without aging a moment, her garments without the tiniest bit of dust.
• More common reports describe cellphones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Reactions include absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors state observing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, perceiving disembodied whispers through the trees, or feel hands grabbing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, there is much visibly present that is certainly unusual. All around are plants whose trunks are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been suggested to explain the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth cause their unusual development.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's walks allow participants to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the trees where Barnea took his well-known UFO pictures, he passes his guest an EMF meter which measures EMF readings.

"We're stepping into the most powerful area of the forest," he comments. "Try to detect something."

The trees suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of people.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a area which fuels fantasy, where the division is blurred between reality and legend. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering creatures, who return from burial sites to terrorise regional populations.

The novelist's famous fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building perched on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – seems tangible and comprehensible versus these eerie woods, which appear to be, for factors radioactive, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius comments, "the line between fact and fiction is extremely fine."