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"Locals dub this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, the air from his lungs creating wisps of vapor in the cold dusk atmosphere. "Countless visitors have vanished here, some say it's a portal to another dimension." Marius is leading a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of bizarre occurrences here go back a long time – the forest is titled for a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea captured on film what he claimed was a unidentified flying object suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he adds, turning to the visitor with a smile. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, shamans, ufologists and ghost hunters from around the globe, interested in encountering the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the grove is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of more than 400,000 people, known as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a small area containing area-specific oak varieties, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the organization he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, motivating the authorities to acknowledge the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their footwear, Marius recounts various local legends and reported paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story recounts a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, only to reappear half a decade later with no recollection of the events, having not aged a single day, her attire lacking the tiniest bit of dust.
• Frequent accounts detail smartphones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses vary from complete terror to moments of euphoria.
• Some people report noticing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, perceiving disembodied whispers through the woodland, or experience hands grabbing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Research Efforts

While many of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, there is much before my eyes that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are trees whose bases are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to clarify the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or typically increased radiation levels in the earth cause their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's excursions enable guests to engage in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the meadow in the woods where Barnea took his well-known UFO pictures, he hands the traveler an ghost-hunting device which measures EMF readings.

"We're venturing into the most powerful part of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The vegetation abruptly end as we emerge into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the result of human hands.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to terrorise regional populations.

The novelist's famous character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure located on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – seems tangible and comprehensible in contrast to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for reasons related to radiation, environmental or purely mythical, a nexus for creative energy.

"Within this forest," Marius says, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."