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"They call this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, the air from his lungs forming wisps of vapor in the cold night air. "Countless visitors have gone missing here, some say there's a gateway to a different realm." The guide is escorting a traveler on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval native woodland on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here extend back centuries – the grove is titled for a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the distant past, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a UFO suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But no need to fear," he adds, addressing the visitor with a grin. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, curious to experience the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, described as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for approval to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Except for a small area housing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is without conservation status, but the guide believes that the company he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, motivating the government officials to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their boots, the guide tells numerous traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale recounts a young child disappearing during a group gathering, then to reappear after five years with no recollection of her experience, without aging a single day, her garments without the tiniest bit of dust.
• Frequent accounts describe smartphones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings range from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals report observing unusual marks on their bodies, perceiving disembodied whispers through the woodland, or experience palms pushing them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

While many of the accounts may be unverifiable, there are many things before my eyes that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to clarify the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased radiation levels in the soil cause their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have found inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's tours permit participants to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the forest where Barnea took his well-known UFO photographs, he passes the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields.

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

The plants immediately cease as they step into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's clear that it's not maintained, and looks that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the border is unclear between truth and myth. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt regional populations.

Bram Stoker's famous vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith perched on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – appears solid and predictable in contrast to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors radioactive, climatic or entirely legendary, a hub for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius states, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."