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"They call this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, the air from his lungs producing wisps of mist in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "Countless visitors have vanished here, many believe it's an entrance to another dimension." Marius is guiding a traveler on a night walk through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here extend back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a unidentified flying object hovering above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, facing the visitor with a grin. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, shamans, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are advocating for permission to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a small area home to area-specific specific tree species, the grove is without conservation status, but Marius hopes that the organization he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's importance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their footwear, the guide describes various folk tales and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story recounts a little girl vanishing during a family outing, then to rematerialise five years later with no memory of the events, having not aged a moment, her garments lacking the slightest speck of dirt.
• Regular stories detail smartphones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses range from absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Some people claim observing unusual marks on their bodies, hearing disembodied whispers through the forest, or feel palms pushing them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the accounts may be unverifiable, there are many things visibly present that is undeniably strange. All around are vegetation whose bases are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to explain the deformed trees: strong gales could have altered the growth, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the earth account for their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have turned up inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's walks enable participants to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the opening in the woods where Barnea photographed his famous UFO pictures, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields.

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

The plants immediately cease as we emerge into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the short grass beneath our feet; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this unusual opening is organic, not the work of human hands.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a area which fuels fantasy, where the division is blurred between fact and folklore. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to frighten nearby villages.

The novelist's well-known fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building situated on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – feels tangible and comprehensible in contrast to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for reasons radioactive, environmental or purely mythical, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Within this forest," the guide says, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."