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"Locals dub this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, the air from his lungs forming wisps of mist in the cold evening air. "Numerous individuals have disappeared here, it's thought there's a gateway to a parallel world." The guide is leading a visitor on a night walk through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of strange happenings here extend back hundreds of years – the grove is called after a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a UFO floating above a round opening in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But don't worry," he states, facing the traveler with a smirk. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and paranormal investigators from worldwide, interested in encountering the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, the grove is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the tech capital of the region – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a small area housing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the forest is without conservation status, but Marius believes that the company he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide recounts numerous traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale describes a five-year-old girl disappearing during a family picnic, then to reappear half a decade later with no recollection of her experience, having not aged a single day, her garments lacking the smallest trace of soil.
• Regular stories describe smartphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Feelings include absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals claim noticing strange rashes on their skin, detecting ghostly voices through the woodland, or sense fingers clutching them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there are many things before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to clarify the abnormal growth: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth explain their strange formation.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's tours allow guests to engage in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the forest where Barnea took his well-known UFO images, he hands the visitor an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

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

The plants immediately cease as we emerge into a flawless round. The only greenery is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the result of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a area which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between reality and legend. In traditional settlements superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting vampires, who return from burial sites to frighten local communities.

The novelist's renowned fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – an ancient structure situated on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – seems solid and predictable compared to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for reasons nuclear, climatic or purely mythical, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," the guide says, "the boundary between reality and imagination is extremely fine."