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"They call this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states a local guide, his exhalation creating clouds of mist in the crisp evening air. "Numerous individuals have vanished here, many believe there's a gateway to a different realm." The guide is guiding a traveler on a evening stroll through commonly known as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth indigenous forest on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is titled for a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a flying saucer hovering above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he adds, facing the traveler with a smile. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from worldwide, eager to feel the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are pushing for approval to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a few hectares containing locally rare oak varieties, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, motivating the local administrators to recognise the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their footwear, Marius tells numerous folk tales and claimed supernatural events here.

• A popular tale recounts a five-year-old girl going missing during a family picnic, then to reappear five years later with no recollection of her experience, showing no signs of aging a moment, her garments without the smallest trace of soil.
• Regular stories explain cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Reactions range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals claim seeing unusual marks on their skin, detecting disembodied whispers through the trees, or feel palms pushing them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the stories may be hard to prove, there is much before my eyes that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose bases are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been given to account for the deformed trees: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radiation levels in the soil account for their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's excursions allow guests to participate in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the forest where Barnea took his famous UFO pictures, he hands his guest an electromagnetic field detector which measures energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most powerful part of the forest," he states. "Discover what's here."

The vegetation abruptly end as we emerge into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the result of human hands.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a location which inspires creativity, where the border is indistinct between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing creatures, who emerge from tombs to frighten local communities.

The novelist's famous fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building perched on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – feels real and understandable in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for reasons nuclear, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," the guide says, "the division between truth and fantasy is very thin."