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"They call this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his breath creating clouds of vapor in the chilly night air. "So many people have vanished here, some say it's an entrance to a parallel world." This expert is escorting a traveler on a evening stroll through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth local woods on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of bizarre occurrences here extend back centuries – the forest is named after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea photographed what he reported as a UFO suspended above a round opening in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But rest assured," he adds, turning to the traveler with a grin. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, shamans, ufologists and paranormal investigators from across the world, eager to feel the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are advocating for permission to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a small area containing locally rare specific tree species, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes 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 value as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius tells some of the folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale recounts a young child disappearing during a family picnic, then to reappear five years later with no memory of her experience, without aging a moment, her clothes lacking the smallest trace of soil.
• Regular stories describe mobile phones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses vary from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Some people report seeing unusual marks on their bodies, perceiving ghostly voices through the trees, or sense fingers clutching them, even when sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the stories may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the deformed trees: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the soil cause their crooked growth.

But research studies have discovered inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's excursions permit guests to engage in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the trees where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO pictures, he hands his guest an ghost-hunting device which detects electromagnetic fields.

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

The vegetation immediately cease as the group enters into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and looks that this strange clearing is wild, not the result of human hands.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a area which stirs the imagination, where the border is indistinct between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering creatures, who rise from their graves to haunt regional populations.

Bram Stoker's renowned fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure located on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – feels solid and predictable versus the haunted grove, which appear to be, for reasons related to radiation, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a nexus for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide comments, "the boundary between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."