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"Locals dub this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, the air from his lungs creating wisps of mist in the cold night air. "So many visitors have vanished here, it's thought there's a gateway to a parallel world." Marius is leading a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval local woods on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of bizarre occurrences here go back centuries – the grove is called after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a UFO floating above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But don't worry," he continues, facing his guest with a grin. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, shamans, ufologists and paranormal investigators from across the world, interested in encountering the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the grove is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, described as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are campaigning for approval to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a limited section containing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius hopes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, motivating the government officials to recognise the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius recounts various traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story describes a little girl disappearing during a family picnic, then to rematerialise after five years with complete amnesia of her experience, showing no signs of aging a moment, her garments shy of the tiniest bit of dust.
• Regular stories detail cellphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Some people report noticing strange rashes on their skin, detecting ghostly voices through the trees, or feel fingers clutching them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, there is much visibly present that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are plants whose stems are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been given to clarify the deformed trees: strong gales could have altered the growth, or typically increased radiation levels in the soil cause their strange formation.

But research studies have turned up insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's walks permit participants to engage in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the forest where Barnea took his renowned UFO pictures, he passes the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.

"We're entering the most energetic area of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The plants immediately cease as the group enters into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and seems that this unusual opening is wild, not the result of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a place which fuels fantasy, where the line is blurred between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt regional populations.

The novelist's renowned character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – feels real and understandable versus the haunted grove, which seem to be, for reasons nuclear, environmental or entirely legendary, a center for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," the guide says, "the division between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."