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"They call this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, the air from his lungs producing wisps of vapor in the chilly evening air. "So many visitors have gone missing here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." Marius is guiding a traveler on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval local woods on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Reports of strange happenings here extend back hundreds of years – the forest is named after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a flying saucer suspended above a round opening 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 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, shamans, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from around the globe, interested in encountering the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is one of the world's premier destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the innovation center of eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are campaigning for authorization to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a limited section home to area-specific oak varieties, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the organization he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, persuading the authorities to appreciate the forest's importance as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

While branches and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their boots, the guide recounts various traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account describes a five-year-old girl going missing during a family picnic, only to reappear half a decade later with no memory of the events, without aging a moment, her attire without the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports detail mobile phones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings range from absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Some people state seeing strange rashes on their arms, perceiving unseen murmurs through the trees, or experience hands grabbing them, although sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

While many of the tales may be unverifiable, numerous elements before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are plants whose trunks are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to clarify the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth cause their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's walks enable visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the opening in the woods where Barnea took his well-known UFO images, he passes the traveler an EMF meter which registers energy patterns.

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

The plants immediately cease as we emerge into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the work of human hands.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a area which inspires creativity, where the division is indistinct between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt nearby villages.

The novelist's well-known vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith situated on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – appears tangible and comprehensible in contrast to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for factors related to radiation, environmental or simply folkloric, a hub for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."