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"They call this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a local guide, his breath forming wisps of vapor in the chilly night air. "Countless people have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to a parallel world." This expert is guiding a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval indigenous forest on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here extend back hundreds of years – the forest is called after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a unidentified flying object suspended above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But rest assured," he adds, facing the visitor with a grin. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, eager to feel the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the innovation center of the region – are encroaching, and construction companies are pushing for authorization to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Barring a small area housing locally rare specific tree species, this woodland is not officially protected, but the guide is confident that the initiative he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their shoes, the guide describes numerous local legends and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• A popular tale describes a young child disappearing during a family picnic, then to reappear after five years with no recollection of her experience, having not aged a moment, her garments without the tiniest bit of soil.
• Regular stories explain cellphones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Feelings include full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Some people report seeing strange rashes on their bodies, detecting unseen murmurs through the trees, or experience fingers clutching them, although sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, there is much visibly present that is certainly unusual. All around are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the abnormal growth: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth cause their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's tours allow guests to participate in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his well-known UFO photographs, he gives his guest an ghost-hunting device which registers energy patterns.

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

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a flawless round. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and seems that this unusual opening is organic, not the result of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a area which inspires creativity, where the line is indistinct between fact and folklore. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering vampires, who return from burial sites to haunt nearby villages.

The famous author's famous fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith perched on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – seems real and understandable versus this spooky forest, which seem to be, for factors radioactive, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius says, "the boundary between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."