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"Locals dub this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, the air from his lungs forming wisps of mist in the cold night air. "Numerous individuals have gone missing here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." This expert is leading a traveler on a night walk through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here date back centuries – the forest is named after a regional herder who is said to have vanished 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 captured on film what he claimed was a UFO floating above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he states, addressing the traveler with a smirk. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, this woodland is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a few hectares home to locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide hopes that the initiative he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

When small sticks and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their shoes, the guide recounts various local legends and reported supernatural events here.

• A well-known account describes a five-year-old girl going missing during a family outing, later to reappear half a decade later with complete amnesia of what had happened, without aging a single day, her attire without the smallest trace of dust.
• Regular stories describe smartphones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Some people state observing unusual marks on their bodies, hearing disembodied whispers through the trees, or sense fingers clutching them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the stories may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are vegetation whose stems are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been suggested to clarify the misshapen plants: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased radioactivity in the soil account for their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have found inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's excursions enable visitors to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO photographs, he passes his guest an ghost-hunting device which measures energy patterns.

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

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a complete ring. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this unusual opening is organic, not the work of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a place which inspires creativity, where the division is unclear between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering creatures, who emerge from tombs to terrorise local communities.

The novelist's famous fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building situated on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – appears tangible and comprehensible in contrast to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for factors nuclear, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," the guide states, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."