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"Locals dub this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a local guide, his exhalation forming clouds of mist in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Numerous people have vanished here, some say it's an entrance to a different realm." Marius is leading a traveler on a night walk through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth native woodland on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of strange happenings here extend back a long time – the grove is named after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a UFO floating above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But no need to fear," he adds, addressing the traveler with a grin. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, the grove is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are advocating for approval to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Except for a limited section containing locally rare oak varieties, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius hopes that the company he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their shoes, Marius tells numerous folk tales and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story recounts a young child disappearing during a family picnic, only to reappear half a decade later with no recollection of what had happened, without aging a single day, her clothes shy of the smallest trace of dirt.
• Regular stories explain cellphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions include absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals report noticing strange rashes on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the trees, or feel fingers clutching them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the tales may be unverifiable, there is much before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are trees whose stems are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to account for the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the soil explain their strange formation.

But formal examinations have discovered insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's walks permit visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the trees where Barnea took his renowned UFO photographs, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.

"We're entering the most powerful section of the forest," he says. "See what you can find."

The trees suddenly stop dead as they step into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the work of people.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a place which inspires creativity, where the division is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to frighten regional populations.

The famous author's well-known character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith located on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – feels solid and predictable compared to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for factors nuclear, environmental or entirely legendary, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," the guide says, "the line between fact and fiction is extremely fine."